“Means he can devote all his time to you and your brother.” Foreman took another drag of his beer. “What does he think of you trying things out at center?”
Reid hadn’t told him. It had only been a week since Coach Calhoun suggested it and they were still playing around with the idea in practice. Reid had felt good out there, like he had a renewed sense of purpose that didn’t have anything to do with what Henri wanted.
When he didn’t comment, Foreman gave a slight eyebrow raise to indicate he understood. Mr. Sensitivity.
“More pressure on you now that you’re in the same city as Durand Junior, I imagine.”
“Not because of Henri.”
“Oh, yeah, who needs a taskmaster like that when you’ve got yourself wielding the whip?”
“Something wrong with pushing myself hard?”
Foreman shook his head. “Nah, as long as you don’t overdo it. You have enough to contend with. Not sure adding an attractive woman you can’t bang to the mix is a good strategy.”
“She’s not that attractive.”
“Fuck yeah, she is.” Theo walked in, put the brownies down on the counter, and started yanking open drawers. “We’re talking about Kennedy, I assume?”
“No,” Reid said at the same time Cal said, “Yes.”
Kershaw removed a steak knife from a block and eyed Reid. “So how does that work?”
“How does what work?”
“Are you turning the thermostat down?”
Reid exchanged a puzzled glance with Foreman, who elected to take another sip of his beer and leave Reid to ponder the hard questions.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Kershaw?”
“The best way to ensure you don’t have a half-dressed woman running around your living area, tempting you into a sexual frenzy, is to turn the thermostat down a couple of degrees, keep the place chilly, and then she has to layer up. Simple!” He snapped his fingers.
Foreman gestured toward Kershaw with his beer bottle and spoke to Reid. “There’s a certain method to that madness.”
Jorgenson came in. “What have I missed? Wait, there are brownies?”
“We’re talking about Kennedy,” Theo said as he handed a square of Kennedy’s brownie to Erik. No plate or anything. Heathens. “Specifically about how to keep Reid out of her panties.”
“Oh, good. That means you and she are not …” Erik trailed off as he stuffed his face with a big slab of brownie. Some of the crumbs fell to the floor, making Reid itchy.
“Sounds like she’s a free agent, Jorgenson,” Tate Kaminski said, the latest entrant to this annoying conversation, “so go for it.”
Erik nodded while he chewed. “That’s what I thought. I texted her this week to ask her about getting a goat.”
“A goat?” Reid spluttered. Better that than do what he really wanted: punch Jorgenson in the throat. As for Kaminski with his free agent observation? Number two on Reid’s throat-punching list.
“I figure she’d have some advice about animals. Women really dig baby goats—it’s big on social media—so I’m wondering if that would be better than a dog. Then I could get Kennedy in to look after it.”
“She’s taken,” Reid bit out. When Cal gave him a weird look, he added, “She has a full-time job with my dog.”
“She already texted back that she wasn’t sure a goat was a good idea because you can’t keep them in an apartment. But she said she’d meet me for coffee to talk about it. She wants to go to her old place of work with a hot hockey player to show them she’s doing just fine after they fired her.”
“Good work, Jorgenson.” Kaminski offered the high-five, and Reid came this close to intercepting it. Not good work, Jorgenson. Bad work.
That conversation with Kennedy a few days ago came to mind: he’d offered to, well, fuck her when the season was over and she said it probably wouldn’t work. Because she might have already slept with someone he knew. Like Bast. Or a Rebels teammate.
And why wasn’t she asking Reid to hit the coffee shop for her show-and-tell? He went there every day!
“Still doesn’t solve Durand’s problem,” Theo said. “He has a hot woman in his apartment exactly at the time he doesn’t need a hot woman in his apartment.”
“I do need her.” Before he could get pissed at Foreman for another knowing look, he added, “for my dog. What I don’t need is to make my apartment into fucking Antarctica just so she can overdress and keep me from going into a blue ball toxic shock whenever she walks around the place she’s living in. We’ve already discussed it.”
“So it is a problem!” Kershaw pointed dramatically and searched the faces of the rest of the crew for consensus.
Jesus. There was a reason he didn’t do this buddy-buddy shit. All the conversations devolved into this nonsense. Yet at the same time, there was something comforting about knowing these guys understood what he was facing.
“It’s … sort of a problem. But I’m working on making it not a problem.”
“Twice a day in the shower,” Tate chimed in.
Theo nodded. “Hell, when I was keeping little Theo on the down low after I knocked up Ellie it was more like three.”
“Three times a day? And now? You’d better not be doing it at work, Kershaw,” Cal said. “I don’t need that kind of imagery when I come out of practice.”
“Now I’m going to wonder what Theo’s up to if he takes too long in the hotel bathroom,” Erik said.
“Moisturizing.” Theo raised his eyebrows comically. “That’s what I’m doing.”
“How are you working on it not being a problem?” Cal asked Reid.
“Not three times a day in the shower.” Which everyone found hilarious.
Erik wiped his mouth. “These brownies are fucking amazing.”
“My roommate made them.”
Kaminski chuckled. “She bakes as well? Durand, you are fucked.”
Burnett put his head around the door of the kitchen. “Hey, ya kickers, quit the jerk-off talk and come watch me beat Bond into submission in Battlefront 2.”
“Heh, beat Bond into submission,” Theo said. “Good one, Alamo. Add that to the collection.”
“Jerkin’ the gherkin,” Kaminski said.
“Cruising for an oozing,” Theo offered.
“Five knuckle shuffle.” Kaminski again.
Reid caught Foreman’s eye, and it was all either of them could do not to laugh.
“Painting the ceiling,” Jorgenson said as they headed into the living room, to which Theo went as wide-eyed as a child confronted with a giant ice cream cone.
“Fish! Something you need to tell me about your super powerful joystick?”
Foreman grinned. “Aren’t you glad you stopped by, Durand?”
“Thrilled.”
He was only half-lying.
20
Kennedy took a break from researching tattoo parlors for Edie—she would automatically find all of them wanting—and checked the flights to Bangkok for New Year’s Day. She had the money, she knew she wanted to be on the road soon, and Edie was very clear that Kennedy should not be putting her life on hold for an old lady.