Hard Pass (St. Louis Mavericks 3)

“Oh, god. That’s…”

I laughed. “You’re getting an up close and personal look at hockey today.”

Wes brought the jersey back, and Alvarado was right behind him, giving me a pissed-off glare.

“Are things a little moist in there, Alvie?” I asked him.

“Don’t call me that.”

“The rookie has a nickname!” Drew called to everyone. “Alvie!”

“You guys are a bunch of assholes,” Eric muttered.

“Hey, there’s a lady in the room,” I said.

“Who, you?” he scoffed. “You’re almost as pretty as she is.”

He reached down and adjusted himself and immediately made a face. “Holy shit, what the…?”

Grabbing his crotch, he turned and ran toward the bathroom, pulling his pants down on the way.

“Is he okay?” Sariah asked, looking concerned.

“He will be. Just got a nice big shot of Icy Hot on his balls.”

Her mouth dropped open in shocked amusement.

“The rookies are the butt of pranks around here,” I said.

Laughing, she said, “I’ll leave you guys to it. Thanks for the signatures.”

She left the locker room and I finished putting my skates on, then checked my phone one last time before practice. I saw a text from Sariah that had been sent around thirty minutes ago.

SARIAH: Just thinking about you. How’s your day going?

NASH: Better now that I’ve heard from you. How’s your day?

I figured she left her phone on her desk, but she must have had it in her pocket because she wrote back immediately.

SARIAH: I’m close to closing a big sale. I think I might be pretty good at this job.

NASH: Of course you are. Whoever you work for, they’re lucky to have you.

SARIAH: I’ve been thinking about what you said about us meeting. I’m not ready to meet tonight or anything, but I was thinking…soon?

Shit. I couldn’t meet her as Rob, but I also didn’t want to blow her off and hurt her feelings. The hole this lie had me in just kept getting deeper.

NASH: I’m leaving tomorrow for a work trip, but maybe after that?

SARIAH: Yes. What will we do for our first meeting?

NASH: Well, according to the conditions of my parole, I can’t leave the city or be out after dark.

I waited for a response, but after about a minute, I couldn’t hold out any longer.

NASH: Completely joking! My rap sheet consists of one speeding ticket, which was total BS.

SARIAH: Ha! You had me there for a second.

NASH: What can I say? I love a good joke.

SARIAH: I just found out a guy who works at the same place I do played a funny prank on a coworker today.

Ding ding ding. Sariah was talking about me to Rob. I just hoped this time she wouldn’t make fun of my one and only foray into modeling.

NASH: Yeah? What was it?

SARIAH: Icy Hot in his underwear, I think?

NASH: Savage. I like this guy.

SARIAH: He keeps the mood light.

NASH: What would you like to do the first time we meet?

SARIAH: What would I like to do? Do you mean like…?

NASH: I mean a detailed list of sex acts, obviously. What did you think I meant?

SARIAH: Okay, this time I know you’re joking.

NASH: ;)

SARIAH: Dinner?

NASH: What’s your favorite restaurant in the Lou?

SARIAH: I’m not picky. I like small locally owned places.

NASH: Perfect. I know of a great little Italian place.

SARIAH: BREADSTICKS

“Hey Nash!” Wes yelled from the door to the locker room. “You coming to practice today?”

I looked up and saw that the locker room had emptied while I was immersed in my text exchange with Sariah.

“Yeah, on my way.”

NASH: GTG, duty calls!

SARIAH: Better than doodie calling, right?

NASH: Ba dum bum! I feel like you’ve been saving that one.

SARIAH: Possibly…

NASH: Text later?

SARIAH: Sure.

I put my phone back in my locker and grabbed the gear I needed for practice. As expected, I was the last player on the ice.

“Nice of you to join us, Reilly,” Coach said.

“Sorry, Coach.”

He wasn’t really mad. How could he be? We were in the playoffs. Practices these days were light and easy, mostly just some skating and a few shooting drills. We had to save our energy for game nights.

It was during one of our shooting drills that Alvarado bypassed the net and fired a puck directly at me instead. It hit me in the thigh, but I hardly felt it with my pads on.

“What the hell was that, Alvarado?” Coach yelled.

“He’s just a lousy shot, Coach,” I said.

Shaking his head, Alvarado said, “My hand slipped.”

“I heard you’ve got wet drawers on today,” Coach said, grinning.

“I do, Coach. Thanks to Reilly.”

“Everyone was a rookie once, Alvarado,” Coach said. “Take your lumps.”

Practice was so casual today that we had time for conversations while we were skating. Lars skated up next to me and said, “Hey.”

“Hey, man.”

“Are you going to ask Sariah out?”

I shrugged. “I think it’s too soon.”

“Why?” He scrunched his face in confusion.

“I can just tell she’s not going to be into that. It needs to happen organically.”