Picks & Pucks (12 page)

“There’s been more than one guy?”

“Well, yes,” he said. “But no one has made me feel all squishy like Taylor.”

“Jeesh, Eli, you’re fucked,” I said, because his description reminded me of how I felt the first time I saw Danny. The demons giggled and forced me to think about blond hair and blue eyes. At one time I probably did know the number of Danny’s eyelashes.

“Why am I fucked? And speaking of fucking, you still haven’t told me how I figure that part out.”

Janae held up her hands. “Too much.”

Eli snorted and blushed and asked more questions about how to catch this guy’s attention. He never needed any instruction to get dates before. Whenever someone grabbed his interest, he asked her out. No game playing or stalking.

I finished my dinner and listened as they talked strategies. I became so engrossed in their conversation I forgot to ask about the suitcases in the entryway. My phone beeped. “Time to go,” I said.

We cleared the table while Janae packed dinner for my dad. I rode to the arena with Eli and listened to him describe the outfit he planned to wear when we went out on Friday night.

“Eli, quit worrying about everything. If he’s there, you’ll talk to him. It’s not that big of a deal,” I said. “Tell me how you started working with Janae.”

“Oh, I’ve been choreographing programs in my head since you started skating.”

“Really? How come you never told me?”

“I thought it was fucking weird, but then, about six months ago, I needed someone to talk to and you weren’t here, so I settled on your sister. I found her at the rink, teaching some girl. I really liked how the girl moved and music kept floating through my head when she skated. So when I got home, I burned a disc, and the next day I brought it to Janae and told her my ideas. The rest is history, my dear Justin.”

We walked into the arena, bumping shoulders and laughing until we turned the corner and I ran into Danny. My breath caught for a few seconds, but I shifted away from him and moved down the hall before he could say anything.

“Is he following?” I asked, not daring to look back.

“No, but he looked like he wanted to cry. Maybe you should make a voodoo doll and do wicked things to it. It might make you feel better.”

I shoved him and we both started laughing.

“You could make him do a striptease on the ice during a hockey game.”

“I don’t need to see him naked anymore,” I said.

Eli stopped and bit his lip. The lines on his forehead deepened, and he frowned before he shook his head.

“Ask me questions about him when I’m drunk,” I said.

“You don’t get drunk anymore,” he whined.

“Not usually, but I’m considering Friday night might be a good time to break my rule.”

“Okay, I’ll wait until Friday,” Eli said. “I’ll see you on the ice.”

Although the practice was another long one, it felt good. Marina called near the end, so Janae waved me off. I didn’t stick around. I could hear my bed screaming my name. Eli dropped me at home. This time I opened the door carefully, but the suitcases were gone. A strange jacket hung over the back of a chair.

Fuck.

It had to be my brother. I loved him, but I didn’t really like him. He was angry and bitter about life, and I didn’t need his black cloud infecting my already fucked-up world. The worst part about it was he blamed his failures on me.

The demons dropped from the ceiling, so I ran upstairs and slammed my door. I blew off taking a shower and climbed into bed. It took five minutes for me to fall asleep and sink into terrible dreams. When the alarm went off, I gratefully woke from the weird dream where I couldn’t tie my skates. No matter how hard I tried, the laces kept breaking or knotting. I screamed for my mother to come help me, but she shook her head, holding up her ghost hands. I shouted about broken promises as she floated away. The announcer continued to call my name until time ran out and I was disqualified for failure to appear. When I tried to get on the rink, my laces tripped me up and I ended facedown at the feet of my archenemy, Brian Fonta. He laughed and flashed his gold medal in my face. The D-man skated by and sprayed me, burying me in a pile of snow. He laughed as he skated into the arms of a group of squealing puck bunnies.

“Shit,” I said, throwing off the blankets. My dreams had become more and more disturbing. The demons perched on my bed, and rubbed their hands together. They whispered and concocted elaborate plans to drive me crazy.

Ignoring them was easier than trying to figure out what the hell was going on with them. My workout clothes lay scattered around my room. I sniffed them, picking out the cleanest ones I could find. I needed to take some time to do laundry, or everyone was going to smell me before I entered the room.

I was busy sniffing my pits when I ran into a solid, naked, and definitely male, chest.

“Good morning,” a voice said.

“Er….” On the spur of the moment, that was the best I could come up with, because CJ Daly stood in the hallway with a towel draped over his bare shoulders. I stared at his chest, following the sparse line of hair until it disappeared into low-hanging black sweatpants. The outline of his cock was visible, meaning the guy wasn’t wearing underwear. How strange to notice so many things in such a short amount of time.

“You going to tell me your name now?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Right now I’m getting ready to take a shower before I have to be in class. And you?”

“Getting ready for a workout.”

He nodded. “Do I get a name?”

“I’m sure you already know my name.”

“Maybe I want to hear it fall from your lips.”

“Justin Corrin,” I shouted as I raced down the stairs and out the door.

My life was now in complete and utter chaos.

C
HAOS
HAD
a tendency to make my brain numb and my thoughts scattered, so instead of thinking about CJ living in my house, I noticed the warmer weather. It chased all thoughts of winter away like fallen leaves. As I jogged, I passed several people out for an early morning run or bike ride. Most smiled, some waved like just another normal day and no one had a care in the world. Of course, they didn’t have another fucking hockey player living in their house.

My brain catalogued everything I saw on my run to the arena. That felt nice, in an odd way, because I couldn’t afford to think about CJ Daly living right down the hall from me. Shit like this didn’t happen to normal people. My demons chuckled and told me I was so far from normal that if I wasn’t careful, I would get carted off to the crazy house. Why me, was on the tip of my tongue the entire time I was running. And why hadn’t Janae said anything to me? I remembered I’d blown my dad off last night. He had wanted me to stop by his office. Maybe that had something to do with the new housemate.

The arena was dark except for one small light coming from the office close to where they parked the Zambonis. I figured Kenny the ice guy must live at the arena. I could always count on him to help me with the lights or resurface the ice for me at the most ungodly hours. Once, he let me drive the Zamboni, but that was an incident I didn’t bring up in polite conversation.

I hadn’t planned on an early-morning skate, but CJ had thrown me off my game. I needed the solitude of the ice to relax, to find my center, and chase away any new demons that thought they’d take up residence with my already large pack.

Kenny sat slumped over his desk with his scruffy cheek resting against his folded arms. A steaming cup of coffee sat near his head.

“That you, Justin?” He raised his head, cleared his throat and coughed a few times.

“Yeah. You don’t have to get up, though. I can turn on the lights.

He ignored me and stood anyway. “Nope, that’s my job. Yours is to bring home that gold medal.”

He gripped the coffee mug and brought the steaming liquid to his lips and took a large gulp. “A few more snorts, and I’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”

“I never did understand that saying. I don’t mind being bright-eyed, but I have no desire to grow a bushy tail.”

Kenny snorted and slipped his hands into a pair of work gloves.

“Take your time,” I told him. “I’ll be out in about fifteen minutes.”

He clapped me on the shoulder and told me to get to work. We took off in opposite directions so I could change and stretch. My muscles protested and screamed with each new movement. Marina would know I had neglected my stretching exercises. All my muscles and soft tissue felt rigid.

As I worked my way through some yoga stretches, my muscles slowly started to loosen and soon I was ready to skate. The arena was fully lit when I stepped on the ice to do some stroking. It felt good to let the air whip through my hair, to feel the sting of the cold making my cheeks rosy. Kenny flipped the music on and a wonderful song flooded the arena. I lost myself in the music, allowing it to dictate the jumps and spins.

When the song ended, Kenny applauded and whistled. “What the hell was that?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t even know the name of the song.”

“Me either. I just pushed play, but it sure was better than some of that stale shit you’ve been picking lately.” Kenny leaned against the boards and took another drink of his coffee.

“What do you mean?”

“I can tell you don’t like your programs this year, and last year you only tolerated them.”

“When did you see my programs?”

“I’ve watched all your competitions on TV, and if I miss the broadcast, Marina sends your dad the videos.”

“Really?”

It shocked me that he even paid attention to me. I know he loved the game of hockey but figure skating wasn’t exactly his cup of tea. It took away ice time from hockey players. I thought he put up with me because I was Coach Corrin’s lunatic son.

“The spark isn’t there this year,” Kenny said.

I sighed. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“You can tell me anything,” he said.

“I feel nothing for either of my programs, but we’ve put so much work into them, and the competitive season is about to start. It would be suicide to start over now.”

“Start over?” Kenny said. He took his phone out of his pocket, thrust the screen into my face and pushed play. “If you ask me, you’ve already got the whole program planned out in your head.”

I
MADE
it through the entire morning practice without complaining about the current programs. Kenny had e-mailed me the video, and I watched it a few more times before Janae got to the rink. She was forty minutes late, and I wanted to ask if she needed a new alarm clock. She kept her lips sealed and didn’t offer any explanation as to why she was late, which gave me an opportunity to light into her about CJ. She shouted back, telling me she didn’t have a choice. The guy had no place to go. We glowered at each other the entire practice.

After the final run-through of the long program, she glared at me. “What the hell is going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” she grumbled and left me standing on the ice. The season hadn’t officially started and we were already at each other’s throats. We had a long year ahead of us. I left the ice feeling miserable and unsatisfied.

“You look less than thrilled,” Eli said. He sat down and handed me a sandwich.

“Janae is pissed at me, and Marina is going to kill me.”

“What did you do?”

“I don’t like my programs.”

“Did you find the CD I left?”

I stared at him for a few minutes before the meaning of his sentence became clear in my mind.

“You left it? I thought it was Kenny.”

“I gave it to him for safekeeping. It’s the music I would use for your long program.”

“It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. What is it from?”

“
Braveheart
.”

“I skated to it this morning. Kenny recorded me.” I pushed play on my phone. Eli draped himself over my back, watching carefully.

Janae burst into the room. “Justin, I’m sorry for shouting at you earlier. What are you guys watching? It’s not porn, is it?”

Eli chuckled. “It sort of is porn. It might even be better than porn.” He smacked his forehead. “Oh, I can’t believe I said that. Justin, you need to tell her.”

She backed away, and her nervousness filled the air. “God, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about CJ moving into Danny’s room. Dad said he was going to talk to you about him. He didn’t have anywhere else to go. I’m sure you’re pissed as hell, but my hands were tied. We did try to find him a place to live. We looked up until the minute he got on the ice.” She frowned. “Actually, you’re lucky Danny was able to find a room or you’d have to deal with two hockey players.”

“What the hell is she talking about?” Eli asked.

“Colton Daly is living in Danny’s room.”

Eli’s eyes widened. “You mean number seventeen is living in a room down the hall from you?”

“Seems so,” I said.

“Soap opera,” he said before turning to Janae. “That’s not even the biggest problem we have. Justin, take it away.” He waved his arms at me like he was calling me to the stage.