Captain. It's the title bestowed on Hayes Hansen by his professional hockey team, the Carolina Cyclones. Even if a lifetime of feeling inadequate had caused him to question his worthiness of the title. Enter Maggie Evans, she's fun and willing to be...
I'm waiting in the private hallway just outside the locker room when the team begins to emerge. The grin on my face is wide and excitement and adrenaline leftover from the game still charges through my veins like a field of racehorses just after the starting gun has sounded. If I feel like this just from watching the game from the stands, I can't imagine how geared up the team has to be. Then again, for them this is really just another day in the office.
The players trickle out. I recognize a few of them from the party at Hayes' house and they offer me a head nod or similar as they make their way down the corridor or to their own loved ones who wait for them. None are as boisterous as Jax who appears in the hallway, yelling out cheers and practically beating his chest. I stifle a laugh, he's obnoxious but you can't help but smile at his antics. He's like that crazy uncle every family seems to have that always provides the entertainment after one too many eggnogs at the Christmas get together. Though, I know Hayes isn't always happy with Jax's choices and how they affect the team.
Finally, Hayes appears. He looks momentarily surprised to see me but that quickly fades and a grin takes over his face as he nears me. Slipping his arms around my waist he pulls me close and presses a long kiss to my lips. He tastes like mint and smells amazing. That fresh out the shower smell that makes a man so fucking irresistible.
"I was under the impression that you were going to be waiting for me at home." He whispers seductively into my ear. My breathing hitches, goosebumps rushing to cover the surface of my skin.
I let out a shaky breath and pull slightly away from him. It's hard to think with him so close, stealing the air and overwhelming my senses.
"I just thought with the big win you'd have a duty to your team to go out for a drink or something." I say, my head tilting slightly. Had I made the wrong assumption?
Hayes releases a groan and lifts his eyes momentarily to the ceiling before his shoulders deflate and he looks back to me. "I probably should go for at least one drink. But when the options set before me are drink with a bunch of smelly men I spend entirely too much time with or spend some much needed time between the sheets with the woman I'm crazy about, I was very set in my decision to blow off the team."
"That doesn't sound very captain-y." I tease.
For a moment Hayes' face falls and I worry I've made a mistake and hit a sore spot. I remember him confessing his recurring feelings of inadequacy as the captain and I quickly try to recover.
"Hey," I say, reaching out to touch his forearm. "You're a great captain, Hayes. Look at all that you guys have accomplished. Your leadership is a part of that, a huge part. Your teammates look up to you, respect you. Even if you may not always see that. It was evident to me the first time I met them."
He doesn't say anything right away, instead he grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers and giving a small squeeze before he leads me down the hallway.
*
Hayes
"Captain! I thought you were ditching us?"
Wesley yells across the bar as I enter, my hand firmly gripping on to Maggie's as I pull her through the throngs of people here celebrating the win and in the direction of my teammates.
"This one's a bad influence." I tease, nudging my shoulder softly into Maggie's. "Said she thought it would be wrong to let a win like that go without a celebratory drink, so here we are." I say, holding my hands out for a round of sarcastic jazz hands as I pull back a bar stool for Maggie to join me at a high top table where several of my teammates are sitting.
"So, we have you to thank for this?" Jax asks. There's pure fucking delight in his eyes as he takes Maggie in and a rage I can't remember ever experiencing begins to build in me.
I've known Jax a long time now. I've stood up for him, defended him. And yet there's something about his tone and the way he looks at her that burns me up inside.
I fight back a snarl as I remember our conversation from earlier.
He thinks I'm out of my depth with her. The most disgusting part is that because of my fucking self loathing I kind of believe him and that makes me want to throw myself off the nearest bridge.
He'd surely swoop in on her then though, so I'll refrain. If only out of spite.
Getting lost in my head means I've missed the next bit of conversation and by the time I've decided to rejoin it Jax is pushing away from the table, his eyes set on a new target, a heavily tanned woman in a micro miniskirt who's leaned over the bar and leaving little to the imagination.
Good. Maybe he'll stay the fuck away from Maggie then.
Because you know if he went after her and she had to pick, she'd never choose you.
My subconscious tortures me with that in a nasally little voice that makes me want to scream but I try to play it cool outwardly, reaching forward and taking a sip of the beer the bartender brought me. We come here a lot, and at this point, the bar staff knows what I like and that I'll only be having one.
"You okay? You've barely said anything since we got here?" Maggie asks, her fingers trickling over my arm and up towards my neck.
Suddenly my worried thoughts seem so distant. Jax forgotten as she brings me back under her spell where nothing else matters except the way she makes me feel.
"Yeah!" I say, shaking my head to clear my train of thought so I can focus on her. Only her. "Sorry about that, you know I get in my head sometimes."
"Yeah well, I hope you weren't back to self deprecating. Especially about what I said earlier."
I feel my face crumple in confusion.
"About not going out and your captain-y-ness. I swear I didn't mean anything by it, Hayes. I mean look around. All of your teammates are just itching to come say hi to you. They want to give you their support. You just have to let them in."
"I want to believe that. But there's been enough chatter that I know not all of them have support to give."
"So demand it." She says, that spunk I'm growing to love flashing it's appearance.
"That's not really my style."
She sighs and leans in close, her lavender perfume tickling my nose as she leans against my shoulder. "You really are your own worst enemy you know?"
"Yeah babe," I say after a moment, "I know."
An: well that took longer than expected 😅
Summers used to bring me so much time to write but now they're full of my toddler and squeezing in a chapter when I can. Maybe the school year will bring more consistency! Let's all hope so!
Love you, Sav 🖤
Ps: here is a picture said adorable toddler who is getting SO big for tax
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