The Trade - A Jamie Oleksiak Story

Chapter 3

Tuesday morning came way too soon. All Star Break was officially over. Everyone was back in town and the team had their first practice today. Their first game after the break was tomorrow night.

This also meant I was back to work today. Even though I had a large inheritance and technically didn't have to work, Chubbs helped me get a job with the Stars a few months ago when I was depressed. I had been running the team's social media accounts for the last few months and I loved it. Not only did I get to see my best friends at work every day, I also got to travel with them to away games, so I wasn't alone in Dallas when they were gone.

Normally, I was excited to wake up with the guys and head to practice, but today was different. Today, I didn't want to be there.

Today was Jamie's first practice back in Dallas followed by his welcome party with the team.

After convincing my roommates, including Dennis who was now equally pissed at the Big Rig since Roope filled him in, that I was going to work, we all jumped in Radek's truck and headed to the practice facility.

As we filed in, I passed by most of the team. I didn't see Jamie yet, but most of the guys were already walking around and warming up. They all gave me soft smiles and hugs and while I appreciated their support, it was just making me more nervous. I just wanted everything to be back to normal.

I headed to my small office and started jotting down notes about what I wanted to post on the team's social media accounts. I knew I'd have to get pictures and make posts about Jamie, and I'd also have to help the media team get his pictures and bio on our sites updated.

I spent the next half hour scrolling through his stats from his time in Pittsburgh and updating the information until there was a knock on my door.

"Come in," I called out.

When the door opened, Chubbs walked in with a scowl on his face. It was nothing new for him to look angry; it was basically his permanent hockey face, especially when we were at the rinks, but he was radiating a different type of anger and it worried me.

"Give me your phone." He grunted. My brows furrowed and I looked at him like he was crazy.

"Why?"

He rolled his eyes at me and I had to stop myself from throwing something at his head. This was Captain Jamie Benn. He was an entirely different person than the Jamie I saw outside of the rink. He was stern and commanded those around him with a no-nonsense attitude. It made him a great captain, but he knew better than to use his captain voice with me.

"You'll have to post about him, right?" He asked, not waiting for an answer. "I'll go take pictures on the ice, bring you your phone back, and then you can post what you need."

I stared at him for a long moment before standing up silently and crossing the room. I shut my office door and then spun back around with my arms crossed in front of my chest and stared him down. Captain Jamie Benn may intimidate grown ass men on the ice, but he didn't intimidate me and he sure as hell knew it.

"Listen here, Captain." I snarled. "He's not going to come back here and run me out of my house, my job, or my life. I'm going to go down to the ice and get pictures of him. I'm going to act professional and cordial and get what I need. Then I'm going to go meet up with the media team and help them get his pictures done there." I sighed and took a step closer to him.

"I love you. You're like family to me. But you can't keep me in a bubble and try to hide me away from him. He's back and it doesn't look like he will be going anywhere anytime soon, and neither am I. Let me do my job or were going to have some problems here, Captain."

We stared at him for a moment and I could see his jaw clenching. I knew he was battling with if he should listen to me or throw me over his shoulder and lock me away somewhere.

And I knew why.

I knew he was thinking back to those weeks after Jamie was traded away.

"Okay, fine. I'm just worried about you, Savvy." He took a few steps closer to me until he could reach out and grab my arms. He tugged my arms away from my chest and then held onto my hands. "You have to promise me that if things start going like they did before, you'll tell me." He flipped my hands over and ran his thumbs along the scars on the inside of my wrist. "You have to promise me that you'll tell me if you ever feel like this. You have to promise me that if he starts making you feel like this again, you'll tell me before anything like this happens. Promise me, Savvy."

Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked down to where his thumb was tracing the scars. "You know it wasn't him that caused this, Jaim. It was everything that happened after." I whispered.

Jamie dropped my hands and wrapped his arms around me tight. He held me to his chest and kissed the top of my head. I felt him nod. He cleared his throat, but I could still hear his voice crack from the emotion when he started to talk.

"I know. I know, Savvy. But if he would have been here for you. If he would have manned up and talked to you or answered your calls or even talked to me or any of the guys long enough so we could explain what was happening it could have been different."

I shook my head against his chest and sighed. "We don't know that. It might have been different, but it might have ended up exactly the same. There's no point in worrying about the what-ifs. I'm here. I'm okay. And I promise I will tell you if anything's wrong, Jamie. I promise."

Jamie nodded against my head again and held onto me for a few more minutes. When we heard talking coming from the other side of the door, he pulled back, cleared his throat again, and then nodded to me once.

"Okay, then. We better get to work." I smirked at my best friend, gathered my phone and notebook, and followed him towards the ice.