SlapShot Sweetheart (Pucks and Promises #2)

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

THEO

“Who are you?” Coeur chuckled, punching him playfully on the shoulder. “I mean, I get it, but seriously… you want me to what ?”

“I need you to leave ‘er a message on ‘er voicemail,” Theo began again, whispering quietly to his friend. “My accent is too thick, and I don’t wan’ ‘er to know it was me.”

“We’re both Canadian.”

“You’re a Newfie – we sound very different.”

“I sound cultured… and you sound like a drowning animal?”

“Cultured like a rotten egg?”

“Hey, you came to me for the favor… remember?”

“Forget it – I’ll ask Giroux.”

“So you want some hick with a Texas accent warming up your girlfriend?”

“Better than some Newfie who crawled off the…”

“What are you two fighting about now?” Lafrenière snapped. “You are on the same team, remember?”

“Je me souviens… allors, il son…”

“No! No, ‘buts’,” Lafreniere interrupted. “Same team, same colors. You’re brothers, and we’re a family.”

“Ask him,” Coeur grinned, slapping him on the chest. “Lafrenière, Boucher, Thierry… your brother Batiste wants you to sweet talk his girlfriend.”

“I ‘ate you sometimes,” Theo muttered, embarrassed and feeling totally humiliated. Coeur was always so cool and collected with the ladies. The man could sneeze and pick up three chicks.

“What is going on?”

“I need someone without an accent to leave a voicemail for my friend.”

“His girlfriend ,” Coeur clarified.

“Is it gonna be dumb, sappy, or emotional?” Boucher interrupted. And before Theo could answer the man, Lafrenière spoke.

“Nope. I’m out. I don’t want to mess around with a bunch of stupid mind games that women play. I’m never dating, never getting married, because women are a bunch of drama.”

“Amen, brother,” Coeur agreed emphatically. “Not gonna happen!”

“It’ll take a miracle, and I’m not even putting myself in danger of that happening.”

“What’s wrong with you two?” Theo snarled angrily. “It’s just a voicemail.”

“People love a French accent, just use what you’ve got, and if she guesses it’s you…”

“Then she’ll bash my brains in!” Theo interrupted, pointing at his head. “She doesn’t like me.”

“Then why are you doing this?” Lafrenière asked, laughing as Coeur joined in. The two of them were having a grand ol’ time at his expense, and he could feel his temper surging deep down inside.

“I DON’T KNOW!” he screamed angrily, flinging his hands into the air and stomping off and leaving the men standing there. He pushed past Giroux’s stunned face, heading toward the gym to exert himself and work off some frustrations. He didn’t say a word, instead marching over to the stationary slider. He slipped on the boots and started slamming his body into the lateral lunges.

Twenty minutes later, he was sweating buckets. His legs were on fire and aching as the guys walked in, looking at him. Their faces looked concerned, which immediately made him feel like the biggest fool. “What?”

“What do you need?”

“Nothing.”

“Batiste, what do you need?”

“It was a stupid idea…”

“What if we each do a little something, and you can leave the recording so it’s personal, but if you have different voices, accents, and help – then maybe it will remain a surprise,” Thierry volunteered quietly, watching him. “If we do a bit of everything, then it will make it hard to pin it on someone.”

And Theo stopped skating, hopping off the stationary machine and looking at their concerned faces as he breathed deeply, sucking in his breath several times as he tried to cool down from the abusive exertion that he was putting himself through. Right now, he was practically panting, and his legs felt like Jell-O, but his heart felt hopeful for the first time.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

“Don’t ‘of course’ me – you were just laughing at me.”

“Only because we didn’t realize what this meant to you,” Coeur muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. “Think about it, Batiste – if I came to you and said ‘ hey, I need to impress my girl, but I want to do a bunch of goo-goo romantic crap’ …”

“Then I’d think you were lying,” Theo muttered, nodding in understanding.

“What’s your plan?” Giroux asked, and surprisingly, Lafrenière stepped forward with a sheet of paper wadded up in his hand, causing Theo to pause curiously.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“I can be sneaky,” Lafrenière protested. “Don’t look at me like this.”

“I’m not looking for sneaky,” Theo muttered hotly. “I’m looking for romantic.”

Coeur was rolling his eyes and shaking his head while Giroux was looking over the goalie’s shoulder – approvingly. The center glanced at him, nodding and smiling, as he pointed. “This is all stuff my wife would love. These are all great ideas.”

“It is?” Coeur balked, looking shocked. “Are you serious?”

“Wait,” Gerry paused, “Lafrenière has ‘ romantic’ ideas?”

“I could date if I wanted to – I just don’t feel like dealing with the rest of the drama,” the man growled, looking insulted as he snatched the paper away again, his cheeks reddening. “Forget it. You twerps can figure it out on your own and…”

“No! I need help, ami ,” Theo began quickly, stepping forward. “ S’il vous pla?t?”

“No laughing,” Lafrenière growled, “And no judging. I have four sisters, and they like all this sort of garbage.”

“What’s first?”

“Well, I think we need to arrange the moment…”

“The moment?”

“NO JUDGING!” Lafrenière roared and Theo’s hands shot up in surrender.

“No! No! I’m listening and will do as you say, mon frêre …”

“Here’s what we’re going to do – and it will take all of us,” Lafrenière began, smoothing the paper and putting it on the weight bench nearby, pointing. “Step one, we’re going to need rope.”

“What did he say?”

“Oh boy, this is gonna be kinky…”

“You’re sick…”

“Nooo,” Theo whispered, staring at the paper in amazement and then looking at the frowning goalie whose lips were pressed together angrily. “This is incredible… merci beaucoup. ”

Lafrenière nodded and began again.

“Step one, the rope. Step two, we need an element of surprise…”