Hockey Is My Boyfriend: Part Three

by Ting, Melanie

  Maddy looked quizzical, so I explained, “I met Ty in Vancouver, and he put Jimmy back in touch with me.”

  “Freeze will be forever in my debt for that.” Ty laughed some more.

  By the time Jimmy finally came in, most of the lounge had cleared out. He walked in talking with another player, a rangy blonde who I guessed was Leo Axelsson. Jimmy strode over and gave me a big, off-the-ground hug. I could tell he was flying after the win.

  “Hi, Kelly. Sorry I took so long.” He grinned and draped his arm over me, looking pretty proud of himself and possibly me.

  The other guy came up and shook my hand, “I am Leo.” He had a big grin and a slight Swedish accent. Then all the guys discussed which steakhouse they wanted to go to.

  As we got in the car, Jimmy asked me how everything had gone.

  “Great,” I replied. “Maddy and Cherie are sooo nice.”

  He leaned over and put his arms around me. “I told you not to worry. Everyone’s going to love you—as much as I do.”

  I kissed him. “Awww, you’re so sweet.” This whole life was so new and different, but being with Jimmy was my constant.

  30

  Sweetness

  It was scary that within a few months I was living this incredibly glamourous life and taking it for granted. We lived in a gorgeous place, I had a new ride, and we went out to expensive restaurants and nightclubs where we got V.I.P. treatment.

  My favourite part was going to the games. I loved the excitement of the United Center, seeing all my girlfriends, and of course the games themselves. Jimmy was having a great season. All the jerks who had criticized the team for choosing such a young captain were eating their words now.

  “We’re so lucky,” I said to Jimmy as we drove to a nightclub after dinner out.

  “Why?”

  “Everyone treats us so well. It’s kind of ironic that when you’re rich, people always want to comp things for you.” Dinner had been on the house tonight. When I was a poor student, I would have killed for a free meal like that.

  “They benefit too. If people find out the Blackhawks go there, it’s good for business.”

  “I know, but we’re still lucky,” I insisted. “I’m sure there are some NHL cities where the teams don’t get all the perks like you do.”

  “It has nothing to do with luck. None of this stuff was happening when the team was losing. A couple of years ago, we weren’t selling out either. Winning makes the big difference.” He sounded almost pissed off as he explained this to me.

  Jimmy worried a lot about his games. I hadn’t realized was how hard he took every loss. He felt responsible every time and was in a terrible mood afterwards. It reminded me of how upset he was that night in Toronto, and that stressed me out. I tried my best to cheer him up, but sometimes it was impossible. I suggested that he speak to the team’s sports psychologist, but Jimmy blew me off. He didn’t like the idea that he had any weaknesses, especially psychological ones.

  The team insulated the players to keep them safe from distractions or problems that might affect their games. And that became my job at home. We functioned around his schedule and, since he was making all the money, that seemed only fair. Of course, for someone who had nearly flunked Home Ec, maintaining a nice home was a bit of challenge, but I was learning.

  We pulled up to the club, and Jimmy handed off his keys to the valet. There was a big line-up outside, despite the light snow falling. Jimmy grabbed my hand and walked us to the very front.

  The bouncer at the door looked stern but broke into a smile when he recognized Jimmy. “Hey, James, great game tonight. I think your friends are already in the lounge upstairs.” He swung the door open for us, and in we went.

  It was dark and loud inside, and completely jammed. The guys liked to frequent certain bars and always got the celebrity treatment with as much privacy as they wanted.

  Most of the team were single. Ty turned out to be quite the ladies man, and had new girlfriends regularly. Leo Axelsson was the same age as Jimmy, but he had blond good looks and a European sophistication that had women swarming around him. Since I wasn’t a huge drinker, I spent a lot of time watching those guys operate.

  “You want to dance with me, Kelly?” Ty asked. Jimmy didn’t like fast dancing, so Ty always took pity on me. He had also discovered that being on the dance floor gave him a better view of the available women.

  “Am I your wingman again?” I asked, as we got on the dance floor.

  “Depends. You still dating Freeze?” His running gag was pretending he liked me.

  “Yup.”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to settle. Have you got any tips for avoiding psychos?”

  “Are we talking about Candy?” His latest girlfriend had been scary dumb and kept showing up long after it was over. “My suggestion would be to spend five minutes talking to them first.”

  “Five minutes. That’s a big investment.”

  “Yes, but think of all the time you save at the end when you don’t have to get the restraining order.”

  “Hmm. You make sense, wise one. What do you think of the redhead at two o’clock?”

  “She’s beautiful.”

  “You didn’t even look,” he protested.

  “Ty, they’re always beautiful. Your girlfriends are always tens on the outside. It’s the inside you need to work on. Maybe you should go for a nine, with a mind.”

  The music switched to something softer, and Ty pulled me into his arms for a slow dance. He started whispering in my ear, “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three—”

  “Unhand my woman there, Baller.” Jimmy loomed over us.

  Ty and I both started laughing.

  “What is it?” Jimmy asked. He put an arm around me and held me tight against his chest.

  “Nothing,” Ty said. “You’re a lucky guy, you know.”

  “I do know.” Jimmy smiled down at me, and we moved further onto the dance floor.

  “Does it bug you when I dance with Ty?” Jimmy wasn’t the jealous type, but I didn’t want to cause any trouble.

  He shook his head. “I trust both of you. But what are you guys laughing about all the time?”

  “Mainly his failures with women.”

  “That is a joke,” he agreed. “Hey, J.J. was telling me about this place you’d really like.”

  “Really, what is it?”

  “There’s a hotel with this chocolate buffet. Dozens of different desserts like brownies, cakes, puddings, dipped strawberries, and even hot chocolate to drink.”

  “Oh my gosh, I’m salivating already. That sounds incredible. Can we go sometime?”

  “How about tomorrow night? I have a practice at noon, but that’s it.”

  “Great! And let’s do all the Chicago tourist things we keep saying we’re going to do.”

  As soon as Jimmy got home the next day, we bundled up and headed out. We ate an early dinner in anticipation of the dessert pig-out. Then we went for a walk in Millennium Park. It was cold out and snowing a little, but we were wearing down jackets, jeans and boots. The park was really pretty with all the lights of downtown keeping things cheerily bright. I loved the Bean. It was a gigantic silver sculpture in the shape of a big kidney bean. We got someone to take our picture in front of it.

  “Now, we own the ultimate Chicago tourist photo,” I informed Jimmy.

  “I can’t believe you, you always want to do the corniest stuff.” He laughed and hugged me. When he went out with the team, they did sophisticated things. But I wanted to explore all of Chicago, not only the nightclubs and expensive stores.

  We walked by an outdoor rink and it was so pretty, surrounded with little trees covered in white lights, and the big office buildings twinkling above. Some people were out skating, but not too many.

  I tugged on Jimmy’s hand.

  “Let’s go skating.”

  “What? No way, we don’t have our skates.” He shook his head.

  “Oh c’mon. We can rent skates.�
�� I pointed to the rental place.

  “Rental skates suck, we won’t be able to skate as well.”

  “It's not a race, it's just skating—for fun. Please, please?"

  He looked down at me and smiled. "Okay. You're kinda like a little kid."

  "Ohhhh, that makes you a pervert then." I laughed, and we went to get skates.

  Jimmy was right: the rental skates did suck, but it was just so nice to be skating outside at night with all the sparkling lights. We skated a few really fast circuits, probably to show off, or perhaps because skating is like flying. It was always an amazing feeling to glide over the ice. Eventually we slowed down, held hands, and talked.

  I was reminiscing. “This feels so nice. Skating outside always reminds me of growing up in Ottawa. There was this rink about ten minutes from our house, where you could play hockey as long as you wanted. Well, until the big boys came and took over the rink. Sometimes, I played with them at the beginning, but they'd shoo me away eventually. Maybe that’s why I always wanted to play hockey with boys, because they never wanted me to.”

  Jimmy was getting nostalgic too. “We had a rink right in our backyard. My dad worked really hard to get it built up early each year. I stayed out on the ice all day on the weekends and right after school weekdays."

  “Did you have boards?” I couldn’t imagine having my own rink—that would have been heaven. Nobody else in my family even skated.

  “Just edges, to keep the ice in. But we had boards behind the goals so you didn't lose the puck all the time.” He smiled happily as he remembered. Although hockey was his job, he just loved playing. I felt the same way.

  An out-of-control toddler skated right in front of us, and we had to stop sharply to avoid crashing into him. His apologetic dad came by and grabbed him, but I saw him taking off again as soon as his skates touched the ice.

  “Were you like that?” I asked, pointing at the little guy.

  “Maybe a little. I loved skating fast. Racing everyone.”

  “And I bet you hated losing races.” I knew how crazily competitive he was, and that probably started early.

  “I wouldn't know.” Jimmy grinned cockily.

  “Oh, you never lost.” I smiled back at him. "But was it hard to find all those one-legged kids to race against?"

  “Very funny, Kelly.”

  I reached up and grabbed his toque and took off.

  “Let's see how you do against someone with two legs,” I called over my shoulder. I had a head start and was going full tilt, but I had to deke around a lot of people. It didn't take him long to catch up, and he put both arms around me from behind and squeezed me tightly into him. I was giggling my head off, and Jimmy was laughing too. It felt so good to be outside skating together. He tried to get the toque back, but I stretched it out of his reach.

  “What's the magic word?” I laughed and held my arm out.

  Suddenly, he stopped and loosened his grip on me, his arms only encircling me gently. I turned to look at him and his eyes were dark and faraway.

  “Kelly.”

  “Yes?” I asked. What was he thinking about now?

  “No, I mean the magic word: it’s Kelly.” He looked at me solemnly. “You make everything so great, every dumb thing is magic because you're here.” Then he looked down at the ice, like he was embarrassed to have said something so sentimental.

  “Oh Jimmy, that's so sweet.” I put the toque back on him and put my gloved hands on his cheeks. He kissed me passionately.

  We’d definitely had some adjustments to living together. But despite the warnings of my friends and family, I had done the right thing. I felt this warmth and tenderness inside me. When we broke off the kiss, he looked down at me with tenderness in his expression.

  “Jimmy, I love you so much. Getting back together with you was the best decision ever.”

  His eyes widened and then crinkled as he smiled broadly. “Oh wow, Kelly, you’ve never been the one to say, ‘I love you’ first. That’s so great. I love you, too.”

  He wrapped his arms tightly around me, and I rested my head against his solid chest. A few flakes of snow fell onto my cheek and melted like chilly tears of joy.

  31

  Cloudy With A Chance of Showers

  James

  * * *

  “You coming with us for dinner?”

  J.J. grinned down at me, as I sat in my cubby. Did he not give a shit that we had lost?

  “No. Not going.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  He left, and I looked down at the dressing room floor. “I don’t deserve to go.”

  J.J. heard me and came back. “C’mon, Freeze, you can’t take all the blame again. It’s just one game, we’ll get ’em next time!”

  I shook my head. I was the captain, and it was my responsibility to lead the team. Even more so tonight, I had the game on my stick, and I hadn’t made my shoot-out goal. Shit. I was going to have to put extra time in on my shooting drills tomorrow. Preparation was the key. I obviously hadn’t been prepared enough for tonight, and that wouldn’t happen again.

  I took a long shower and then met up with Kelly in the lounge. She was the only one still there. She greeted me with a kiss, but I shook her off.

  Kelly didn’t say a word all the way home. One of the reasons I wanted to be together was that she was so positive and happy. Now I was bringing her down with me. I didn’t deserve a girlfriend like her.

  When we got home, I went to kitchen and poured myself a big bowl of cereal. While I was adding the milk, Kelly walked in.

  “Sorry, I thought we were going out, so I didn’t get anything ready. Would you like me to make you some dinner?” she offered.

  I shook my head. Last night she cooked grilled chicken and potatoes. She set off the smoke detectors and when she was done, the chicken was burnt black on the outside and raw inside. How the hell did she even do that? The potatoes were rock hard and inedible. She should have been going to cooking school instead of broadcasting school. Maybe I did deserve a girlfriend like her.

  I had another bowl of cereal, some fruit, a protein shake and a Power Bar. I still felt so frustrated and irritated, and I didn’t know what to do. Maybe another shower would relax me enough to go to sleep.

  Once I got in the shower, I realized that there wasn’t any soap. Of course. Could nothing go right today?

  “Kelly, can you get me some soap?” I called out.

  A couple of minutes later, I heard the bathroom door open. As I turned, I saw Kelly. She must have been getting changed, since she was only wearing one of my white t-shirts.

  She opened the glass shower door, and I reached out. “Oh, thanks—”

  But instead of handing me the soap, she got into the shower and closed the door behind her.

  “Here’s your soap,” she said.

  The water was pouring down and making the t-shirt all see-through. It clung to her tits and I could see the outline of her big dark nipples. When I finally tore my eyes away, Kelly was watching me with a little smile. Her whole face was wet and her eyes had this teasing look in them. Fuck, she looked so hot in a bad girl way.

  “Let me help you with the soap,” she said.

  She got behind me and put her arms around my waist. Her hands caressed my chest, then down my ribs, and rested on my stomach. I could feel her warm, wet body against my back and pushed my ass against her. Then she took the soap and soaped up my back, beginning at the shoulders. She pressed hard against my delts, pushing her thumbs into the muscle tissue and massaging the tension away. She soaped up her hands again and moved down my shoulder blades, along my spine and then to my lower back. More soap and then she sudsed up my ass, massaging that as well.

  “You feel so good, so strong. I love your ass, Jimmy,” she murmured. I started slightly as she pushed her hand into the groove between my ass cheeks. Then she stuck a soapy finger into my butthole. Shit. I was already hard, but my cock leaped up when I felt that. I moaned as she started soaping up my balls
with her other hand. My legs were feeling a little weak, so I leaned both hands against the shower wall as she worked me over.

  Kelly stopped, ducked under my arm, and knelt in front of me. She took my cock into her mouth, sucking it as I got harder and harder. I watched her doing this. I reached down and pushed back her hair so I could see her beautiful face. The water coursed down over her face—her cheeks swollen full with my cock, and her head rocked rhythmically as she blew me. Oh man, it felt so good. I let myself relax into the sensations of the warmth, the water, and the newness.

  She reached back and played with my balls, then squeezed my ass cheeks, and inserted a finger up my ass again. Fuck, that sent me over the top. When I started to come, I pulled out and came on her tits and face. The shower washed away my come right away, but I was still so turned on by doing something different and kind of dirty.

  I pulled her up and French-kissed her hard. “Kelly, you bad girl.”

  She giggled. “You feel better now, right?”

  Yeah. I had pretty much forgotten about the game. All I could think about was what I wanted to do to Kelly the rest of the night.

  Some of the guys on the team had been riding me about having a steady girlfriend at my age and all the stuff I was missing out on. But Kelly was really into sex, so I figured that I could get her to do more different stuff and then I’d have the best of both worlds. And with her already acting so hot, tonight would be a good night to start.

  She came into the bedroom towelling dry her hair and wearing a robe. I was waiting in bed for her. I felt extra-excited.

  “Hey, Kelly. Why don’t you wear some of your new stuff?”

  We had gone to that lingerie store J.J. told me about and had a great time. Kelly had modelled all these little see-through nighties and bras for me in a private room. She had looked so hot that I had ended up doing her right then and there, although we had to be very quiet. The salesladies didn’t seem to mind since we bought almost everything. The store was probably used to that kind of thing.