Chapter 9

Jensen

I always looked forward to playing against my brothers’ teams. There were three of them since Tanner was still in college, and I wound up seeing them at least twice every season. It was particularly nice when one or both of our parents were there. Tonight we were playing against the Oakland Eagles, where my oldest brother Kingston played.

“Hey.” We met at center ice during the warm-up and stopped to talk.

“You’re looking good,” he said, grinning.

“Thanks. How’s everything?”

“Pretty good. How about you?”

“Ah, you know. Same shit, different day.”

“Mom wreaking havoc on your life yet?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure it’s coming.”

We both chuckled.

“Oh, it’s definitely coming. Just wait. She’ll be fixing you up on a date a night if you’re not careful.”

“Bite your tongue!” I said, shaking my head. “I can find women on my own, thank you very much.”

“Yeah, I said the same thing. Look at me now.”

“You’re just old,” I teased. “Your metaphorical biological clock was ticking. I’m not even thirty.” King was only thirty-two, but it was fun to give him shit.

“Talk to me in a month and let’s see where you’re at.” He looked around. “Listen, I’ve gotta go, but are we going to get some food after the game?”

“Absolutely. Text me the details.”

“See you later.”

He headed toward his bench, and I skated over to where a group of my teammates were clustered, taking shots at the net.

“How often does your mother travel with the team?” Ivan asked as we waited for our turns.

“This is the first time she’s done it like this,” I admitted. “She retired from teaching last year and then her best friend died over the summer. My father is busy with his job, so I think she’s trying to fill a void. I mean, it makes sense. All of us kids are gone, she’s not working anymore, and she doesn’t have her bestie to hang out with. I imagine she’s lonely.”

“You think she’ll do this all season?”

I laughed. “Well, she went from my brother Kingston to Jakob and now to me. I’m willing to bet she’s heading to Tennessee after she’s done meddling in my life, and then she’ll probably make a trip to New York to see our sister Annie.”

“Too many kids,” he joked. “How do you keep track? I don’t think I could handle two, much less six.”

“Mom always said after the first two it got easier.”

“I don’t think I believe that.”

“Agreed.”

“You going out with your family after the game?” he asked.

“Yeah, why. You want to come?”

He hesitated. “No. I was thinking maybe we could go get drunk, but you enjoy your family. We’ll do it another night.”

“Everything okay?” I asked, frowning slightly.

He grinned. “My girlfriend went back to Russia. For good. So I’m back on the market, as you say here in America.”

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry, man.”

“It’s okay. It was time. Things had not been going well for a while. It’s better for both of us.”

“I’m sure it’s still hard. You were together a long time, right?”

“Yes. Almost ten years.”

“Any chance she’ll come back?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. And to be honest, I don’t want her to come back. It’s time for me to play the field.”

“Lots of women out there looking to date a hockey player.”

He grinned. “And I plan to give them all a chance.”

“How about we focus on the game first, and then your love life?”

“What about you? Anyone special in your life?”

For the first time all day, I thought about Empress.

She’d ghosted me the moment I told her I’d seen her at the restaurant, which was exactly what I’d been afraid of.

Either she was mad or afraid I was some kind of stalker, or some combination of both, and she hadn’t been online at all before I’d left on this trip. Mom had said to give her time, but I had a feeling she was gone for good.

“I met someone online I’ve been talking to for a few months, but she ghosted me,” I said after a moment. “So, I guess the answer is no. No one special in my life.”

“When we get back to L.A., we will go on the prowl.”

I nodded. “Absolutely.”

He skated back to the bench and I followed more slowly.

Was it weird that I had no interest in going out looking to meet any women?

I really needed to snap out of this infatuation I had for Empress.

There was nothing I could do about it if she didn’t want to be friends anymore.

It was disappointing, but I hadn’t done anything wrong. There was no way for me to have known she was going to be there. Or that I would find her beautiful. Or that we’d share a look that had been more intense than anything I’d experienced in a long time.

I’d reach out once more when I got home, but beyond that, the ball was in her court.

It was a busy few days on the road, between hanging out with King after the game in Oakland and then spending time with Jakob, his twin boys, and new girlfriend in Portland. Time with family was great, but it was exhausting during a road trip, and by the time Mom finally left to head back to L.A., I went to bed at eight o’clock that night. I slept straight through until seven the next morning and woke up with enough time to check email and notifications on my phone.

To my surprise, there was a message on Discord.

From Empress.

It had been a week, so I steeled myself, unsure what to expect.

@Empress: Hi, it’s me. I wanted to apologize for just leaving mid-conversation. I was a little freaked out that you’d found me, but I realize now I may have overreacted. I’m sorry about that. To be honest, I don’t know where we go from here. Part of me is uncomfortable that you saw me and have been to a place I go to regularly. On the other hand, we’ve become pretty good friends the last year or so, and I’d hate to lose that. If you want to talk, let me know. If not, I understand.

I felt a jolt of excitement as I quickly typed in a reply.

@Phantom: Hey. I’m glad you reached out. And yeah, I’d like to talk some more. But I totally get it. I would probably be freaked out if you showed up somewhere that I hang out too.

@Empress: Good morning. I wasn’t expecting a reply this soon. You’re up early.

@Phantom: I’m out of town on business and I have a breakfast meeting at eight, so I need to get in the shower and stuff.

@Empress: I won’t keep you. I just wanted to apologize.

@Phantom: Don’t worry about it. Seeing you at the restaurant was wild. I kept trying not to stare. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining seeing someone with crutches at a Peppa Pig themed party, or if I’d somehow conjured you up.

@Empress: LOL I never in a million years imagined you would recognize me from those few details I gave you.

@Phantom: I guess fate was messing with us. But I can’t say I was disappointed. You’re beautiful.

@Empress: Thank you. My name is Bailey, by the way.

@Phantom: A pretty name for a pretty lady.

@Empress: You look like a Jensen. I don’t know exactly what a Jensen is supposed to look like, but I think it’s you.

I chuckled.

For some reason, that was funny to me.

@Phantom: Well, you can thank my parents for the name, I guess.

@Empress: Is Thunderbolt really your brother?

@Phantom: Yup. None of the others are gamers, though.

@Empress: None of my friends are either, except for Manny, who plays with us. Normally, I wouldn’t have even gone to a party like that, but his daughter guilted me into it.

@Phantom: Why wouldn’t you have gone?

@Empress: I don’t go out much. I’m a home body.

@Phantom: I really want to ask more about this, but I have to get going. Can we pick this up later?

@Empress: Sure. Ping me when you have time.

@Phantom: I have meetings all day and a dinner thing tonight, so I’m not sure what time I’ll be back at the hotel, but tomorrow is a light day so we could chat then.

@Empress: I’m flexible. Talk soon, Jensen.

@Phantom: We definitely will.

I logged out and jumped into the shower.

I didn’t have much time before I had to meet the team for breakfast, but I’d wanted to talk to Empress for as long as possible.

Except I now knew her name was Bailey.

The name suited her, which was interesting considering she seemed to think the same about my name.

Something about her was vaguely familiar, but I was in too much of a hurry to give it much thought.

Hopefully, I’d talk to her again later or in the morning and find out more about her.

I didn’t know what we were doing, or even what I wanted to do, but I needed to talk to her again. Maybe even on the phone. I was dying to hear her voice and complete the mental picture I had. I knew what she looked like, I knew her personality in writing, and now I needed to hear how she sounded.

I really wanted to talk to her on the phone, and I would bring that up when we talked again.

For now, I considered the fact that she’d reached out a win.

I couldn’t explain the pull or why I wanted to see her again, but the attraction had been there since the beginning. Before I knew what she looked like, or anything else about her, I’d been drawn to her because of the conversations we’d had.

Even knowing that she might not be who she said she was.

But she was.

Now I had to figure out how to talk her into going out on a date with me.