“Over a spa day? Don’t the girls go all the time?” Charlene’s nails are always perfectly manicured, and I know she’s not doing them herself.
“Dude, do you have any idea how relaxed and happy Violet is after a day at the spa? And smooth. Every single inch of skin is like satin. And she smells fucking fantastic.” He shifts around in his seat, his knee bouncing with excitement.
“So you’re sending her for your own benefit?”
Alex gives me a look, like I’m dumb. “It’s mutually beneficial. She gets to relax for the day, and when she comes home, I get to enjoy the aftermath of her relaxation. Usually for several hours.”
I tap the steering wheel, considering this. “But can’t she set that up on her own?”
“Well, of course she can, but it makes me look good when I’m the one who does it for her. All I have to do is call and ask them for the deluxe spa day package, and they do the rest. Then I reap the benefits when she gets home. It’s win all around.”
“I wonder if Charlene would want to go with her.”
“Probably. I made the appointment early this week, but sometimes they have cancellations. You want me to call and find out if they have space?”
“Sure.”
Alex makes the call while I drive to the gym. He’s put on hold while they check for openings. A few seconds later, I learn it’s my lucky day because someone had to cancel on short notice. He’s still on the phone when I pull into the underground lot. I should probably check to make sure Charlene is available for whatever Alex is helping me set up.
I call instead of text, because it’s easier. She answers on the second ring, sounding out of breath.
“Hi, sexy. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No. Nope. Not at all. What’s up?”
“I’d like to make a change in your plans for today.” I glance at Alex who’s giving me a strange look.
“Oh? You don’t have to cancel, do you?”
I like how concerned she sounds about the prospect. “No. Nothing like that. Violet’s going to the spa today. Would you like to join her?”
“At the spa?”
“Yes. At the spa.”
“Umm…that sounds nice, but I don’t have an appointment, and the place she goes is usually booked up weeks out.”
“I’ve already taken care of that, but only if you’re interested. Otherwise I can cancel.”
“Wait. What?” She sounds confused.
“The appointment is already made if you’d like to go. I believe there are several services you can take advantage of.”
“Seriously?”
I’m not sure whether I should be entertained by her disbelief or not. “Yes. Seriously.”
“That would be amazing.”
Now it’s my turn to smile, although she can’t see it. I give Alex the thumbs-up, and he finalizes the appointments and writes the start and end times on a piece of paper so I can tell Charlene.
“Excellent,” I tell her. “I’ll take care of everything. All you have to do is show up. You can coordinate with Violet on getting there, and your first appointment is at ten thirty. Your final appointment will end at four. Of course, if there’s anything you want to do differently, feel free to make changes.”
“Okay. Um, Darren?”
“Yeah, sexy?”
“This sounds wonderful, but I might not have time to go dress and lingerie shopping.” Her voice is soft, nervous and excited.
“Hmm… You have a point. Would you still like to try to make time for that, or should I expect that you’ll be unable to fulfill that request?”
“Would you still like me to try to make time for that?”
I don’t answer right away. If Charlene is worried about dress shopping, she’s not going to be nearly as relaxed—in fact she’ll be on edge, which usually isn’t a bad thing. But I feel like it might defeat the purpose of what I’m trying to do here.
“I don’t think that’s necessary. Of course, if you have the time, please feel free to use it, but it would be perfectly acceptable for you to provide options for me to choose from when I pick you up. Does that seem like a reasonable compromise?”
“It sounds perfectly reasonable, Darren.”
“Fantastic. Enjoy your day, and I’ll see you tonight.” I hang up the phone feeling good about myself, at least until I get a load of the look on Alex’s face. “What?”
“What the shit was that about?”
“What was what about?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know about you sometimes, man.” He puts his phone to his ear. After a moment he says, “Hey, baby, I’ve got another surprise for you.” There’s a pause while he listens to whatever Violet is saying. Then he laughs. “No, baby, not that kind of surprise. Yeah. You can pick some of those up—not the ones covered in sugar though. They’re messy, and I don’t like the way they feel. Yeah—Yeah. Those are my favorite, but that’s not why I’m calling… Listen, Charlene’s gonna spend the day with you at the spa.”
There’s some high-pitched shrieking, and Alex laughs again.
“Darren set it up for her on my suggestion, so feel free to come up with some creative ways to thank me later, if you want.” He’s quiet for several seconds, his grin growing wider. Eventually he ends the call and shoves his phone in his pocket. “Tonight’s gonna be fucking awesome.”
“Agreed.”
We get out of the car and take the elevator up to the gym. “You can’t use your sex-a-thon tonight as an excuse to pussy out on today’s workout,” I warn him.
He flips me the bird. “Whatever, dude. This is my warm-up.”
We start with laps on the indoor track and move to weights. Alex is still recovering from his accident last season, so he’s on low weight and high reps for his shoulder. He gets frustrated pretty easily with how slow his progress is, but I don’t let him push himself beyond what’s reasonable. We’ve been friends long enough that he doesn’t get too pissed when I tell him to take it easy.
It’s harder for him to stay within his limits when we’re working out with the team, so he and I go at least three times a week on our own—and that’s on top of his physical therapy sessions.
After weights, we hit the pool and then the hot tub, followed by the sauna. No one’s in there but us, so we sit down and relax, letting the heat do its job.
“I can’t wait to check out the tattoo designs.” Alex runs his palm over the most recent addition to his body art—he had The Cup tattooed on the inside of his right bicep after we won it. He doesn’t have a ton of ink, but he keeps adding to it, so I’m assuming at some point he might end up making it a half sleeve if nothing else.
If there’s one thing I know about addictions, it’s that once you get a taste of something you like, it’s hard not to keep going back for more. I don’t think it’s any different with body art. Ballistic is about to start another full sleeve, and Romero has a massive back piece. Miller and I are the only ones who haven’t bitten the ink bullet before now. I figure if there’s one thing I can safely put permanently on my skin, it’s something hockey-related.