The Dating Deal

Ch. 10: Team Dinners and Lap Dances

Kris

"Fuck that was a close one," Holden groaned as he took off his jersey and threw it on the locker room floor.

It was close indeed. Had Atlas not scored in the last fifteen seconds of the game, we would have had to kiss the championship goodbye. Coach had said the same a few minutes ago, just in a more colorful vocabulary as he'd listed all the mistakes each one of us had made throughout the game. He then told us to shower and bring our sorry asses to practice early tomorrow morning before slamming the locker room shut.

"I'll analyze all that later. Right now I need food," Andre, our center forward grumbled, patting his belly. "Should we stop by Joana's for dinner or order pizza at home?"

My stomach rumbled viciously at the thought of driving home and waiting for pizza to arrive. The other guys probably thought the same because instantly there was a chorus of "Joana's" from them. Stuffing ourselves with burgers and fries was perfect after a game where our performance was average but we still won.

Not that we didn't go there after our spectacular wins or abysmal losses. After all, it was one of the few diners nearby that stayed open way past midnight and had a serving large enough to satisfy voracious hockey players.

The locker room chatter quickly shifted from the game to food and soon moved onto something completely random. I quickly divested myself of my hockey gear and grabbed my toiletries from my locker. I couldn't really think of anything to chat about when my stomach was ringing alarm bells and demanding to be fed. Sadly, not everyone around me felt the same.

"Are you okay, Kris?" Holden asked, his brows furrowed in concern. "I saw Bethany in the stands earlier."

My appetite immediately died at that. I had seen her as well during the game and did my absolute best to ignore her. We were at such a crucial point in the game, I couldn't have let her distract me.

Ethan scowled. "Yeah, me too. She had the audacity to come wearing your jersey too."

Ethan was one of the kindest guys I knew. It was extremely rare of him to get mad at anyone, but he was also one of the few who'd seen me deteriorate after my breakup with Bethany. Since then, Bethany was number 1 on his hate list.

"I saw her approach Ashley later," Dylan added and my stomach dropped. His face was turned away from me as he rummaged in his locker so I couldn't see his expression. And that worried me.

The guys swore simultaneously at Dylan's words and everyone looked at me with varied expressions of concern. Dylan turned to face me as well, his expression impassive. "Does she know about her?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "She knows."

I slammed my locker shut then and walked off toward the shower stalls. I needed a tall glass of beer at handy to have this conversation. And since there was no beer, that was the end of discussion.

Once everyone had showered and dressed, the mood lifted again as the conversation went back to the topic of food. I was feeling better as well and knew I'd feel ever better after having a large burger all to myself.

I'd taken only a few steps out of the locker room when I saw Ashley bounding toward me. A smile stretched across my lips, but before I could say something, she flung herself into my arms, holding me tight. The scent of jasmine enveloped me, calming my nerves. My arms instinctively wrapped around her to steady us.

"Exes alert," she whispered in my ear.

I looked over her shoulder, clocking Shane standing in the lobby with his girlfriend and then Bethany near the exit. My gaze locked with Bethany who immediately whirled around and exited the building. Thank the Lord!