What If I Knew You (Anaheim Stars Hockey #3)

5. Bodhi

CHAPTER FIVE

BODHI

T onight’s game was a disaster.

I don’t know what came over the team but every single one of us had a hot mess moment at some point during the game, which led to the Grizzlies ending the game with a 4-2 victory. Bear has been seething since we got off the ice because somehow he let Minnesota into his net four times, which is very unlike him. He hit the ice bath pretty quickly after the game.

Hopefully he’s alright.

Once we got back to our hotel most of us stopped in the bar where they gave us a roped-off area to enjoy a late dinner and a few drinks. Oliver headed upstairs about forty minutes ago to call Scarlett and August and Ella went up together as well with their hands all over each other. Ledger said something about the two of them still living in their honeymoon phase. Either way they’re lucky to have each other. Especially when we’re on the road.

The rest of us are three beers in and have been discussing Griffin’s collection of pajama pants and how even though he sometimes looks like a complete bum, he’s never at a loss for women.

Ledger sips his beer, trying not to snort it through his nose. “Like, do they come up to you and tell you how fucking hot you look in your pants? Do they whisper, ‘Nice pants, Ollenberg’ in their husky sexy voice or something? Is that how you reel them in?”

Griffin laughs. “Dude, I can’t help it if I’m just a sexy ass motherfucker who exudes all the things the ladies want. Plus, I’ve got a cock they all like to suck on.” He shrugs helplessly. “What can I say?”

Harrison belches and then laughs. “You’re so full of shit, Griffin.”

“You think so?”

“Know so.”

He leans forward in his chair, his arms stretched on the table. “I’d be willing to bet you a thousand bucks my dick will be in the mouth of a beautiful woman, if not two beautiful ladies, by the end of this night.”

“No go, man.” Harrison shakes his head. “How am I supposed to know if that really happens? You think I’m going to watch or something?”

Griffin sits back with a smirk on his face. “Guess you’ll have to take my word for it. Or maybe I’ll take a pic for good measure.”

“Speaking of hot ladies,” Ledger says, standing from his chair. “That one over there looks thirsty. I think I need to buy her a drink.”

I whistle as he walks away and Griffin reminds him to wear a rubber. Then he turns back to me.

“What about you, Roche?”

“What about me?” I ask, licking my lips after a sip of beer. The tension in my body during today’s game is finally floating away thanks to the alcohol.

“How come you’re not prowling for someone to take to bed?”

“Why do I need to do that?”

“Because everybody does that.” He laughs. “And your reputation precedes you.”

I cock a brow. “It does?”

He nods. “Yeah. You think we didn’t hear all about you before you joined the Stars?” He huffs a laugh and his eyes narrow. “We heard all about your playful ways.”

“Don’t know what you heard, but most of it was probably bullshit.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhmm,” I say, lifting my glass to my mouth again.

“I heard people call you the Puck Bunny Prince.”

I nearly spit out my beer, some of it trickling down my chin. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah. Rumor has it you’re damn good at picking up the ladies.”

“Not true, man.” I shake my head. “Not even a little bit. Don’t know where you heard that but you’ve been led astray.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“So why would I have read that somewhere?”

I laugh. “I have no idea.”

“So, you haven’t had hundreds of sexual partners over the last couple of years.”

“Fuck, no. Where did you read this?”

“So not even like, I don’t know…fifty puck bunnies?”

“Dude, not even one.”

Griffin freezes, his drink halfway to his mouth.

“Huh? You mean you have a steady girlfriend?”

“Nope. Never had a girlfriend.”

Harrison laughs next to me, having picked up on our conversation. “Come on Pickle Pants. Don’t tell us you’re a virgin.”

“Okay.” I laugh nervously but shrug like it’s no big deal. “I won’t tell you.”

“Wait.” Griffin’s eyes grow unusually large. Like, scarily large. I don’t know how they’re not just falling out of the sockets. But then he shouts, “Wait, wait, wait. Are you seriously saying you’re a virgin?”

“Shhh!”

Jesus, fuck! Does he have to be so damn loud?

“Jesus! Can you say that any louder?”

“Yes. Yes. I can.”

“Well, I’d appreciate it if you keep your voice down, alright?”

“Dude, is it true?” he asks, quieter this time. “You’re a fucking virgin?”

I bob my head, weighing whether or not to be honest. “Yes. I’m a virgin. Why? Are you planning a sacrifice of some kind?”

“What? No, dumbass.” He laughs. “But how the fuck are you a virgin?”

Harrison leans on the table and brings his fist to his chin, suddenly interested.

Griffin lowers his voice and murmurs, “Is it a limp dick issue? I mean it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of guys have that problem.” He shrugs one shoulder. “Granted, they’re usually in their seventies but still.”

“No Griffin. I do not have a limp dick issue. But thank you very much for your concern.” Ugh I really didn’t want to have to go through this but if I don’t give them the whole truth, I might never live this down. “I did it for my dad.”

“Your dad asked you to remain a virgin?” Griffin scrunches his face. “Dude, that’s?—”

Harrison nods as if he gets it. “Did you have a strict don’t-touch-the-remote policy growing up in your house?”

Cocking my head, I glance at Harrison and wonder what the fuck kind of childhood he must have had to even ask a question like that. “I feel like there’s a lot to unpack in that question, Meers. But no, he didn’t ask me to be a virgin,” I say, shaking my head. “My father made it possible for me to have this life. He bent over backwards to give me the ability to play hockey and so I never wanted to disappoint him.”

“Oookaaay…” Griffin says, clearly unimpressed.

“And then he died from cancer four years ago. Cancer that I didn’t know he had until it was too late because instead of spending his goddamn money on cancer treatments he was traveling around the country watching me play college hockey. After all he did for me, how could I ever look myself in the mirror if I were to accidentally knock up some chick I fucked for the fun of it?”

Harrison sits back in his chair. “Wow. That’s…”

“Deep.” Griffin nods. “That’s deep.”

Harrison’s expression softens. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“Ditto,” Griffin says. “That must’ve been hard.”

“It was. I just…didn’t want to be a disappointment to my father after all this time, you know? I mean, when I was young I was just hyper focused on being the best so I didn’t allow myself to give a moment of my time to girls.”

“Wait, so you didn’t even like…” Griffin pumps his curled fist up and down to which I roll my eyes.

“Of course I did. All the time when I was younger. I’ve just never…”

“Put the ham in the ham wallet?” Griffin suggests.

“Slap the beaver?” Harrison adds.

“Slam the hen?”

“Shoot the sherbert?”

“Take Willy Wonka to Wonderland?”

Harrison points at Griffin and smiles at him. “Ooh that’s a good one, Bro.”

The two of them fist-bump as I sit watching them with a deadpan expression.

“Yeah. I’ve never done any of those things. So, no way in hell am I walking up to some hot puck bunny who’s looking for a good time when I’m really not at all confident that I can give it to her. I mean what if I suck balls and she tells every goddamn person she sees that I’m terrible in bed?”

Griffin lifts his finger. “Okay first of all, dude, you don’t suck the balls. She does.”

I roll my eyes again and let out a frustrated sigh. “You know what I mean.”

He nods. “Yeah, I hear you. So, it sounds like you need to find a friend.”

“A friend?”

“Yeah like, a friend with benefits. Someone you trust who you can practice with.”

“Why a friend?”

Griffin cringes. “Because dude, what else are you going to do? Hire a hooker? Do you think that won’t end up on the front page of every tabloid known to man? Besides, that’s gross.”

“How is it any less gross than the puck bunnies hanging around here?”

“Well for starters they’re usually a lot cleaner and you don’t have to pay them. They just want bragging rights,” Harrison explains.

Griffin nods and then leans in and whispers, “Yeah, and if they’re really good, they can become regulars whenever you’re in their town so you’re not whoring it up with hundreds of different partners. Not that that’s a particularly bad thing.”

“But also,” Harrison says, swirling the drink in his glass, “sex comes pretty naturally really. You just need to make sure you’re aware of the sounds your partner makes. If you touch her and she moans or something, that usually means she likes it. Most of the time, you’ll know if she’s not into something and then you can change things up.”

I wipe my hand down my face. “But how am I supposed to know what to change up and how to change it if I’ve never done it before in the first place?”

Harrison glances at Griffin who smiles and nods before they both look at me and say, “Porn.”

“What?”

“Dude, just watch some porn.” Griffin shrugs. “Not like the wild and crazy stuff but just some general sex. You’ll get the idea of what girls like and how to do things. But if you’re really that worried about it, I’d seriously go find yourself a friend.”

I slouch in my chair and drain the last of my drink. “Where the hell am I supposed to find not only a female friend, but one who wouldn’t mind letting me fuck her a few times to see how good at it I may or may not be? I can’t just put that out there on social media.”

Harrison gives me a sympathetic half smile as he shakes his head. “Definitely can’t do that, no. You seriously don’t know anyone?”

I’m quiet for a moment as I consider the one and only female I know in California who, as luck would have it, happens to reside in Anaheim. My pause is just enough time for Griffin to raise a suspicious brow. “So, you do know someone?”

I tap my finger on my glass nervously. “There’s…there’s this one girl.”

“Well, there you go!” Griffin says, sitting back in his seat and raising his arms in victory. “That’s your in!”

“Wait, wait, I don’t even really know her though.”

“What do you mean?” Harrison asks.

“I mean she texted me a while back but she was texting someone else. I was the wrong number but I was just messing around and texted her back.”

Harrison’s brows pinch. “Weird. Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know. I was bored? It was just this innocent conversation about spaghetti. It was stupid but then she texted me a day or two later with a picture of her dinner just as a funny add-on to our conversation and we’ve kind of been texting here and there ever since.”

“But you’ve never met her?”

I shake my head. “Nope. All I know about her is that she’s single and she knows I’m a virgin.”

Griffin’s eyes bulge again. “You TOLD her?”

“Yeah, why not? She has no idea who I am.”

“You didn’t give her your name?”

“Hell no. I’m a virgin, Griffin. Not an idiot.”

Harrison asks quietly, “So, do you think she would go for the idea?”

I rub the back of my neck. “Ugh, I have no idea. And how would I ever bring that up?”

“Is she a virgin too? Because if she is, you guys could both work together.”

I pause, trying to recall if she ever mentioned her sexual experience to me. “You know what? I don’t think I know the answer to that.”

“Well, maybe you need to find out. That might not be a terrible place to start.”

“Yeah.” I nod slowly. “I suppose maybe you’re right.”

“Okay well, good luck with that,” Griffin says, eyeing a group of ladies giving him googly eyes. “I’ve got to go.”

“Where are you going?” I ask as he lays a couple twenties on the bar and taps them with his hand.

He gestures to the ladies with the lift of his brows and murmurs, “At least three of those ladies over there are going to offer to suck my dick tonight.” He smiles. “Who would I be to say no to that?”

“Me,” I murmur as he walks away. “You would be me.”

“Aw come on, Pickle Pants.” Harrison caps my shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“Why aren’t you over there picking up a woman for the night? Don’t let me keep you from them.”

He lifts his shoulder. “Nah. I’m not feeling it tonight. And this isn’t my scene.”

“No?”

“Nah.” He shakes his head. “I’m a relationship guy. Not a one-night stand kind of man.”

“That’s…admirable.”

“Patience comes with age, Roche.” He lifts his glass and clinks it with mine and then tosses money onto the bar making sure the bartender sees it. “When the right woman shows up in my life, I’ll know it. And you will too. I promise.”

“Thanks, Harrison.”

“No problem. Have a good night, Bodhi.”

“Yeah. You too.”

Not wanting to sit by myself, I pay for my tab, leaving a generous tip, and then make my way back to my hotel room. Lying on the bed I try to come up with the right thing to say to Corri in order to find out if she’s a virgin or not, but nothing good comes to mind.

Me: Hey, are you a virgin too?

Nope. Delete.

Me: Want to be virgin buddies?

No. That’s stupid. Delete.

Me: I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.

I chuckle, shaking my head. “Definitely not.”

Delete.

Me

I think I need sex lessons. Is that a thing?

Send.

“Shit! I hit send!” I bolt up on the bed frozen in place with my phone in my hand. “I fucking hit SEND! Oh fuck. I wasn’t thinking. How do I erase it? She can’t see this.” I stare at my phone in my hand and shout at it, “UNSEND! No, wait, DELETE!”

Nothing happens so I tap the screen and say it again. “DELETE! UNSEND! UNSEND! UNFUCKING?—”

Three dots appear…

“Oooh, fuck.”

Standing from the bed I pace back and forth unable to tear my eyes away from the screen. I bite my lip and rub one very clammy hand down my pant leg.

God, it’s hot in here all of a sudden.

Do those windows open?

Shit. They don’t open.

Fuck. What am I going to do now?

She’s going to tell me to fuck off. I just know it.

I shouldn’t even care, but for some reason I do.

I swear to God I’m breaking out into a nervous sweat anticipating what she might say.

Corri: Uh. You’re a loser bye.

Corri: Sex lessons are not a thing. Are you that stupid?

Corri: You want to pay someone to teach you how to have sex?

Corri: Just watch porn dumbass.

Finally, the three dots disappear and her message comes through.

Corri

Sure. But I don’t work for free. Might fuck for food though.