Page 25 of Goalie Interference
O’Shea juts his thumb in their direction. “Alone? With those two? Absolutely not.”
“Hey!” Brandon protests.
O’Shea levels him with a look. “I’m lonely enough as it is. I don’t need to be third wheeling you lovebirds.” He swaps his attention to Roysy. “You want to go out tonight? See if we can turn some of these Buffalo women into Mules fans?”
Roysy grins and comes up to O’Shea to bump his fist. “For sure. Even if we don’t get lucky, we can at least grab some good wings.” He looks at me as I’m removing my chest protector. “What about you, big guy? You in?”
“No.” I shake my head. With Brandon and Ryan now together, the three of us are the last remaining single Mules teammates. And while I have been known to go out and have some fun with them on occasion, I don’t always. Tonight my headspace isn’t right. I wouldn’t be much fun. Whether I go out or not, I already know most of my night is going to be spent worrying about how Ander is taking this loss. “You two are on your own tonight.”
“Damn,” O’Shea says. “You’re always our best wing man.”
Danton claps me on the shoulder again. “No one can resist our tall drink of water here.”
I look up at him. “Are you flirting with me? What will Vicky think?”
Danton explodes with laughter. “If only the rest of the league knew how funny you are.”
Hmm. I smile to myself as I focus on removing my leg pads. Ander thinks I’m funny too. But I’m going to keep that to myself.
Ander
By the time I exit the showers, most of the locker room has cleared out. I intentionally took my time getting cleaned up, keeping my gaze averted at the wall away from everyone. But I’m also not surprised that Gavin and Connor are the ones who are left.
They’re fully dressed, wearing the suits they arrived in, except now their hair is wet from having showered. Gavin’s hangs loose, but Connor is wearing a toque. They look ready to leave. I wish they would.
“Do you want us to wait?” Gavin asks when he sees me.
I shake my head.
They don’t move. Connor’s eyes are downturned and he’s worrying his lower lip between his teeth. “Tonight wasn’t all your fault,” he says.
I keep my eyes averted from them. “Yes, it was.”
“It really wasn’t,” Connor says. “It’s not like any of us scored. The whole team was bested tonight.”
“It happens to all of us,” Gavin says.
Finally, I look at him. “It doesn’t happen to me!” I bellow. I can feel my eyes burning with anger and frustration.
Gavin opens his mouth to speak, but Connor stops him with his finger. He stares right at me and holds my gaze. There’s fire in his eyes. “Do you think games like this happen to me often?”
I stare at him, unsure of what to say. Because no. I know games like this don’t happen to him often.
“I have been groomed since I was four years old to be the best,” he says. “I’ve had a spotlight on me for just as long. Winning is what has always been expected of me. And even that was never good enough.” He walks up to me and places his hand on my shoulder. “I get it. Losing fucking sucks. Feeling the weight of it on your shoulders sucks. But letting it completely derail you doesn’t help. Get that through your skull. We have another game in two nights. So this anger you feel right now? This embarrassment that’s weighing you down? Use it. Flip it. Do you hear me?”
I swallow and nod my head.
“Good,” Connor says as he wraps me in a hug. When he lets me go, he pinches my nipple.
“Ow!” I flinch away from him.
He’s grinning at me now. “I still can’t believe you’re hiding this chest under all that gear.”
“Connor,” Gavin says, shaking his head. His face is stern, but there is no mistaking the fondness in his eyes whenever he has Connor in his sights.
“I’m just saying it’s a shame he keeps those hidden,” he says, quickly moving to be by Gavin’s side again. “Now stop being a grouch. You’re it for me, you know that.”
Gavin cups his face and leans down to kiss him. An ache pulls in my chest at the sight. They just seem so happy and content. I want that. I want someone to make me feel that way no matter if I have a bad or good game.
