8. Bad Habit

Song: The Big Pink - Dominos


JORDAN'S POV


When I’d called her phone on Wednesday some guy had answered. I should have known she had a boyfriend. What happens on holiday stays on holiday? Some of the guys on the team have the same outlook and play away whenever we go on the road -‘drink triple, see double, act single’- the exact thing Max had made his modus operandi. Well Max is always single but you know what I mean.

I had tried calling again on the Friday but it had gone straight to voicemail. So after that, I hadn’t bothered. I told myself I should just forget about her. Maybe I could get to her through Parise? I could ask him after the game on Monday night. After would be better than asking him on the ice. Forget about her Jordy.

I arrived at morning skate early on Saturday morning. I just wanted to skate around a few times before the guys came. The only person here this early was Crosby, but that was normal. I’d left TK asleep back in my apartment.

“You ok Staalsie?” Sid called across the ice as I entered without my stick. I nodded and kept my head down focusing on my speed and skating the line. I didn’t know what was wrong – but I knew I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it. It, whatever it was.

“Gronk! The Olympics are over,” Max shouted from the side around ten minutes later. “It’s too late to enter speed skating.” Do one Talbot. It’s too early and I don’t want your shit chat. Instead I planted a huge grin on my face before stopping right in front of the bench and hopping off the ice. Hopefully I’d chalk up some points with Dan or Mike for being here early.

Talbot was given wind sprints which showed the team that he’d never qualify for speed skating and should probably enter boxing instead.
“Diesel tonight? It’s been a week since I last got any,” Talbot told me as Yeo started yelling at him to stop chatting and finish his sprints. “A huh,” I said, leaning down to retighten my right skate. Maybe Ella would be there. Besides even if she wasn’t, it’d been too long for me as well.

“You… should… call… that… girl. Lola?” Max said when he’d finished his wind sprints. I passed him the puck. Lola had been, well insatiable. But she only liked me because I was a hockey player, and I played with Sid. Sid is like the Messiah to puck bunnies. Puck bunnies, they’re all the same. Still, she's good in bed.

“Maybe,” I said focusing on pushing the puck towards Marc-Andre. I could see him about to do his usual butterfly and flung the puck towards the top left hand corner of the goal. It went in. I could go to strength and conditioning now.

If we won tonight against Tampa Bay then I’d go to Diesel, that was my reasoning. And my mum and dad were flying in to watch this one. That’d be good. It’s nice for them to come support me, not that this one was a big match. If we lost, I’d take them out for a meal and they could talk about the sod farm which was always enough motivation for me to work harder… I didn’t want to be kicked out of the NHL and go back to driving tractors around for a living.

TK and I left around midday. I sent a message to Lola asking if she was going to go to Diesel tonight. If I went, I wanted to know she’d be there. Just in case.
“Staalsie, you haven’t been your normal self,” Tyler said as he handed me a sandwich. “You’re actually quiet.” He flopped down on the other sofa.
“You wanna tell me?” he asked.
I shook my head. "Tired," I justified. TK could be discreet but I didn’t trust him to be discreet on Ella. If I told him, he’d tell Max and then shit would hit the fan. She was in the same city but I couldn’t contact her. I had to hope that I’d run into her.

I finished up my sandwich, challenged TK to a game of table foosball before taking my two and a half hour pregame nap. I’m not really superstitious but I like to do the same routine on game days. TK and I ordered our usual Chinese before heading down to the rink.

We lost 2-1. The mood in the locker room was pretty grim as it always is after a loss even if Max is goofing around. Usually I join him and try and cheer the others up but today I didn’t feel like it.

I felt a wet towel whip against my naked butt. I spun around. Geno was stood there grinning like Alice in Wonderland’s bloody Cheshire cat that’d got the cream.
“You look sad,” he justified.
I shrugged, thinking of the best way to wipe that grin off his face. I picked up my towel and went to whip him back, only to be blocked by Sykora. “We Russians stick together,” he said, chasing me back to my stall with a towel.
“TK!” I yelled, knowing my sidekick would always take my side in any fight. Before long, Max, TK, Dupuis and I had ganged up on the Russians who were crying like girls in the corner.

I went out for a meal with my parents to the small Thai place the other side of the river from the Mellon which was pretty quiet. They’re pretty good when it comes to knowing what to say after a loss, they see it quite often now. Not saying that we’re a family of losers, but with three sons in different teams, it happens. I said goodbye to them at their hotel and drove back to the apartment. TK had gone over to Kelsey’s. He should just move in with her, he spends all his time over there. He’s so pussy whipped it’s untrue. I can see the thumbprint on his forehead.
I tidied up a bit before calling Lola. Fuck, I was tired, but I wanted a distraction. I downed a beer then another hoping it would have an effect. She was there in ten minutes.

Lola and I have this agreement, sex with no strings and nothing’s off limit. Nothing. She’s dirty. It’s been going on since New Year or thereabouts. On the road Max and I pick up girls but she’s always here in Pittsburgh. Don’t get me wrong, Lola’s hot but she’s not the girlfriend type. And my parents would have a shit fit if they saw her, she’s not exactly a conventional beauty. She has her nipples pierced for fuck’s sake.

“No Diesel?” she purred as I let her in.
I shook my head. “We lost.” She kissed me on my jaw before running a hand down my arm.
“Ssshh, I know and I’m here to make it better,” she said reaching up to kiss the bit of skin just beneath my earlobe before placing two hands in the centre of my chest and pushing me further into the apartment. She led me to my bedroom and pushed me down on the bed, pushing my t-shirt up over my head. I groaned, she knew exactly where to touch me.

Lola’s leather clad legs held me down on the bed as she worked her way across my chest. She kissed my neck slowly before trailing a line of kisses down to my right nipple as she agonisingly licked the skin around it before flicking her pierced tongue over my nipple. The cold metal felt so damn good against my warm skin. She dragged her tongue across to my left before moving her cold hands down to the tops of my jeans, running one finger down the line of hair that disappears into my boxers. She teasingly opened the top of my jeans, lowering the zip and running one finger down the material of my boxers at the same time. She was pressing all the right buttons but my dick wasn’t reacting. Fuck’s sake.
I sat up and lifted Lola off me.

“Sorry Lola, not tonight,” I said. Jeez, I felt so embarrassed. I couldn’t even get it up for the chick. Way to go Jordy. What a way not to end your dry spell.
Lola stood up, mumbled something and left, the door slamming behind her as she went.
My phone pinged, Max. “Get to Diesel, loads of choice.” I turned over and went to bed. Diesel can wait until Tuesday.