by Alley Ciz
She had a charisma about her that was captivating. Most of the guys on the team towered around six feet tall. Despite being a foot shorter than most of the guys, she commanded attention.
“I don’t know who’s more demanding, her or Ryan,” Tucker whispered.
He nodded in agreement. “I wouldn’t say that too loud. I don’t want to know what it would be like for Ry to push us harder.”
“True story,” Tucker said with a laugh. “Wonder what they’re cooking. Smells amazing.”
They watched Jordan stop abruptly to glare at Billy. “Billy don’t you dare try to add any Tabasco to my sauce. You know I put enough crushed red pepper in it, if you want it spicier you can add more to your own plate but I swear to God if you mess up the whole thing I’ll beat you up.”
Billy’s hand stopped mid-air. He looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “How did you know that’s what I was about to do?”
She smiled and shook her head as she walked over to Billy and placed a hand on his back. “Because I’ve known you for three years and you haven’t changed one bit.”
The guys all laughed.
Ryan drained the pasta in the sink. “The pasta is ready, now what sis?”
“Now we’re ready to eat.”
The meal was amazing. Fried bite size pieces of chicken mixed with linguini and fresh veggies topped with a butter sauce loaded with spices. Jake wasn’t sure how she came up with it but it was delicious.
Loud chatter and appreciation came from all the guys while they stuffed their faces. Most went for second helpings, him included.
Jordan smiled from her seat. The satisfaction of a job well done showed on her face. “I love how much you guys can eat.”
They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, if she kept cooking for the team like this, she was sure to capture all of theirs.
“Yeah, well you’re one to talk, JD. You can out eat Ryan and everyone knows that’s a feat.” Billy said as he polished off his plate and shared a pound with Ryan.
“That’s the good thing about you hockey players, you can eat. I tried to date this wrestler once but it just wasn’t working. I couldn’t be with a guy who was more concerned with his weight than I was.”
Ryan and Jase both looked up. “When did you date a wrestler? And how come we didn’t know about it?” They said in perfect unison.
“Relax, it was for like two weeks.”
Jake already guessed his friends were overprotective of their sister, but he was still trying figure out the specifics. He wasn’t the only one who could feel the tension between the siblings at the table.
“Sure, out eating Ry is impressive overall, but nothing beats the time she kicked Seth’s ass in the wing eating contest we had during the Stanley Cup.” Wade tried to distract.
Jordan nodded at the statement. “Oh don’t I know it.”
“You know Seth Coen?” Tucker asked around a bite of food.
“Yeah Ry’s freshman year he was roommates with Seth,” Jordan answered.
“You lived in the hockey house as a freshman?” Jake asked. It was unusual for a freshman to move into the house.
“Oh yeah. Ry was the star recruit. The team wanted him bad, so they made the exception as one of the selling points,” Nick clarified.
“They even said if Jase came to play for the Titans the following year, he could live in the house as a freshman too,” Chris added.
“You guys used to give me so much shit too. Not sure if it was worth it,” Ryan stated.
“Hey, they started going easier on you once JD started coming around.” Billy stopped laughing when Ryan gave him a death glare.
“Oh yeah. The best thing you ever did for yourself was have the twins visit.” Wade waved a hand in the direction of Jase and Jordan.
“Did you hang at the house a lot?” Jake was curious to learn how much she used to come around.
“I guess you could call it a lot,” Jordan said with a shrug.
“You guess? You were here all the time. Between visiting your brother and hanging out with your boyfriend, you practically lived there yourself… Ugh… I mean.” Nick’s statement trailed off as most of the table sucked in a collective breath.
The tension Jake felt was similar to that when Tucker asked why Jordan stopped coming around. The silence stretched on. He looked over at Tucker but his friend looked just as confused as him.
Jake decided to get the rest of the evening started. He looked around the table. “So what movie are we watching tonight?”
Nick was the first to respond. “Well since Jordan’s here we decided to watch The Boondock Saints because it’s one of her favorites.” He nodded at her with appreciation.
“Yeah it’s one of the few movies that makes me proud to be Irish,” Jordan leaned back in her chair smiling. “Ok guys you know the deal, I cook you clean.”
Jordan sat in the big, white leather arm chair on the side of the den drinking her beer. To keep with the Irish theme, the guys purchased Smithwicks and Killian’s Irish Red to drink along with the classic Miller Lite.
Her phone lit up with a text from Skye.
MAKES BOYS CRY (Skye): How’s movie night? So jelly BTW.
Jordan smiled. Skye usually joined Jordan for movie nights and she knew she was disappointed to miss Jordan’s first time back in two years. Unfortunately, Aunt Ei needed Skye to fill in for a bartender who called out.
MOTHER OF DRAGONS (Jordan): Putting on the movie now. It’s been… good
Skye knew her too well not to pick up on what she wasn’t saying and sent back the hands up, questioning face emoji. Jordan smiled as she texted back.
MOTHER OF DRAGONS: It started off great, just like old times
MAKES BOYS CRY: But…
MOTHER OF DRAGONS: The guys were talking about how much I could eat and Jake and Tucker were asking about how I know everyone and how much I used to come around… One thing led to another and Nick let it slip that I used to date one of the guys and things got… awkward
MAKES BOYS CRY: DETAILS NOW!!!
MOTHER OF DRAGONS: Don’t yell at me
MAKES BOYS CRY: Then stop stalling. I’m in between customers right now I need to know
She took pity on her friend.
MOTHER OF DRAGONS: Everyone got all quiet. No one would look Ry and Jase in the eye and Jake and Tucker looked so lost. Poor guys
MAKES BOYS CRY: Did they ask anything about it?
MOTHER OF DRAGONS: No. Thank God! But it was weird.
MAKES BOYS CRY: It’ll get easier. Ok gotta go
And with a kissy face emoji Skye said bye.
Jordan smiled as she put her phone down.
“Skye?” Jase asked.
She looked at her twin. “How’d you know?”
“Figured she was missing being here tonight. She always came in the past.”
“Yup. I told her she wasn’t missing anything. You guys are lame.”
“Lame?” Nick asked, offended.
“Yeah lame.” She tossed back with a smirk.
She watched Nick’s eyes narrow before he threw a pillow at her face.
“Hey, you made me spill my beer asshole.” She stood to pull her wet t-shirt away from her body.
On her way to the kitchen for a paper towel to dry her shirt, she walked by Nick and tapped the top of his beer bottle with the bottom of hers, causing his beer to spray out. Nick had to act fast to drink his beer before it got all over him.
Ryan pulled her onto the couch to join him and some of the other seniors. They all bent over in laughter.
“Oh my God, Nick, the look on your face. Priceless.” She barely got the words out because she was laughing so hard.
Billy patted Nick on the back. “Yeah dude you should know better than to mess with her, she has a thing for revenge.”
Laughter finally under control, she got up and made her way back to her chair. “Ok now that that’s out of the way lets watch the movie.”
A
s she settled back in, her eyes caught Jake’s from across the room and she realized he’d been watching her. He quickly looked away but not before she saw something flash in his eyes. She couldn’t figure out what the look meant.
She shook her head trying to derail that train of thought. They couldn’t have anything beyond friendship so it shouldn’t matter if he was attracted to her or not.
Chapter Seven
After a restless night of sleep, the buzzing of a cell phone woke Jordan. Throwing an arm over her head, her hand searched for the offensive object. Phone in hand, she squinted tired eyes at the unknown number flashing on the screen. She clicked to ignore the call, never answering unknown numbers.
Deciding there was no point trying to go back to sleep, she threw the covers off. She didn’t have to workout but needed a way to let off some of the tension she was feeling, luckily she had her backup swim gear in the car.
Swimming laps harder than usual, Jordan executed another flip turn. She should have known Jake would be at the hockey house but when the guys invited her over, she thought it was to hang with the seniors, not their movie night. She figured since Jake didn’t live at the house she would be free from seeing him, even if it was only from the distance of her bedroom window, for at least one evening.
So much for that idea.
She was trying to be good. Trying to stay away, even though everything about him drew her in. Apart from his amazing good looks there was also the instant chemistry that seemed to crackle every time he was near. Images from when they met at Rookies filled her head. The sight of him made her breath catch, but coupled with the way he looked at her, like she was something to eat, was enough to make her knees go weak.
Immediately after she shook those images from her mind, ones from the following days would wash over her. Jake in a beater and gym shorts with his hair all disheveled followed by Jake in a bathing suit playing with the kids.
Skye was right, he really was a nice guy. The way he interacted with Sean and Carlee touched a special place in her heart.
Angry with herself for allowing thoughts of how to make things work between them cross her mind, she pushed herself to do more laps than normal. She knew why she could never be with Jake. It was her own fault things had to be this way and maybe one day she would get over him.
Being home for winter break was both a blessing and a curse for Jordan. She let the guilt over the Tommy fallout distance her from her brothers. She was currently curled up on the couch in her favorite NYU Violets Swimming sweats, a mug of hot chocolate in hand, as she binge watched How I Met Your Mother hiding from them.
“So you want to explain why you’re avoiding me?” Ryan asked joining her on the couch.
“I’m not.” She spoke into her mug.
“Bullshit. Jase and I have barely seen you this past semester.”
“We’ve all been busy. Between school and swimming, you know it’s hard for me to come home too much.”
“Again bullshit. You haven’t even come to a game yet, instead you watch them on TV.”
She looked up when Ryan touched her arm and sighed. Damn him for calling her out.
“It’s too hard,” she confessed.
“What’s too hard?” The confusion clear was in his voice.
“Being around you guys and knowing I’m part of the reason you guys suck this season.”
Her brother laughed at her statement. “Oh we suck, do we?”
She sent Ryan her get serious look. “You know you do. I can see it on the ice. The chemistry isn’t there. You guys are missing whatever… I don’t know… for lack of a better word, spark that made you gel last year. And I can’t help feeling like it’s my fault.”
The silence stretched on. The tension grew so thick, Jordan knew Jase picked up on it when he joined them. He sat on the coffee table, putting himself directly across from her.
“What’s wrong?” Jase’s gaze pinned her in place.
When she didn’t answer, her twin turned to their older brother for clarification.
“I was trying to figure out why our darling sister here has been MIA for the past four months,” Ryan informed.
“Well?” Jase asked as he turned his attention back on her.
When she continued to be silent he again tried Ryan.
“She blames herself for the team’s losing record this season,” Ryan said.
“Bullshit.”
“That’s exactly what I said,” Ryan smiled.
Her brothers knew how much she hated when they talked about her like she wasn’t there. She cursed to herself as their tactic worked to break down her defenses.
“Are you seriously trying to tell me that what happened with Tommy didn’t have any effect on the team?”
She got blank stares in return.
“See even you guys can’t say that. You know it cost the team one of their star players. And Ry, can you honestly say the juniors and seniors don’t hold onto any animosity?”
Again she was met with silence.
“See you know I’m right.” She said, resigned.
“Wade and the guys ask about you all the time,” Ryan argued.
“It’s not the same,” she countered.
“How so?”
“Because they’re your year. They weren’t friends with Tommy first like the older guys. Wade, Nick, and all them got to know Tommy while they got to know me. They didn’t have already formed opinions.”
“So don’t come around the team. Just hang with us,” Jase suggested.
“How do you expect that to work?” She waved a hand in exasperation.
“Let us know when you’re coming to a game and after we’ll do something away from the hockey house,” Ryan suggested.
At her hesitation Jase pressed on.
“Come on Jordan, we miss you. Do you have any idea how much it sucks not having you at school with me? Not having you at the games is like not having my hockey stick.” She knew he was serious when he called her Jordan. His hazel eyes so like her own implored her to listen.
“I’ve been to a bunch of games.” She admitted in a whisper.
“You have?” They asked in unison.
She nodded. “Yeah. I sat high up instead of close to the boards.”
“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” Jase narrowed his eyes in question.
“You know why. I didn’t want to make things any more awkward.”
“Ok enough with the past. From now on will you let us know when you’re coming to a game? We won’t tell any of the guys you’re there. We can just meet up after,” Ryan offered.
“Fine,” she agreed.
Jordan continued to swim laps as memories of the past played through her thoughts. A part of her wished she was home swimming, where the underwater speakers would play music loud enough to drown out her thoughts. Instead the sounds of Aerosmith were muted by the water.
She expelled her frustration in her flip turn. As she pushed off the wall she noticed someone crouched at the end of the pool. Taking off her goggles she noticed the force of her turn had splashed water all over their shirt.
“Aww man, I’m sorry Jake I didn’t know you were there.”
His smile eased her worry. “It’s ok, don’t worry about it. I have extra clothes in the house. Ryan told me to tell you the pancakes are done.” She watched as he took off his wet shirt to spread out on one of the lounge chairs by the pool.
Even though she saw him without a shirt on in her pool last week, it was still a sight to behold. She watched his biceps bulge as he put his shirt down and turned to face her again.
What was it about this guy that drew her to him? He had some sort of spell about him and she couldn’t figure it out. It couldn’t be just his looks, she was around good-looking guys on the beach in Florida for the past month and none of them affected her this way. And then there were his eyes, it felt like they could see into her soul. It unnerved her. She realized she was staring, so she took her swim cap off and dunked her hea
d underwater.
She pulled herself over the edge of the pool and tossed her gear by her bag. Using the hair tie she kept on her wrist, she tied her wet hair up in a messy bun.
She pulled on the straps of the one piece she used as a drag suit and breathed a sigh of relief when the pressure from the too tight suit released from her shoulders. She usually wore two one piece suits when she trained, but since she only had her backup gear with her she had to settle on an old Speedo and bikini.
As she stripped she heard Jake call from behind her.
She looked up at Jake with a smile. “Yeah?”
“Here, do you need a towel?” He handed her a towel.
As she grabbed the towel her fingers brushed the back of his hand and the quick contact sent a shock down to her toes. It wasn’t the first time she felt it, there was no denying her and Jake shared a connection, but it still didn’t make it any less forbidden. Again she cursed the fact he was on the hockey team.
Her gaze never left his. At the contact of their hands she swore she saw his eyes darken in desire. Whenever she was in close proximity to him she could feel her self-resolve weaken. For the past week she had effectively avoided contact with Jake, but he was constantly thrown into her life and she wasn’t sure how much longer her self-control was going to last.
“Thanks.” She smiled as she admired his sculpted body one last time and wrapped the towel around her. “Come on let’s go eat, those pancakes are calling my name.”
JAKE AND THE guys woke up to freshly brewed coffee. Lined up on the breakfast bar were mugs, milk, sugar, bacon, and what looked like a tub of already made pancake mix.
Jake was pouring himself a cup of coffee when Ryan came running down the stairs, a worried expression on his face. “Hey guys have you seen Jordan I can’t find her anywhere?”
Nick pointed out the glass doors to the patio. “Yeah. JD is out in the pool and, I think, listening to Aerosmith.”
