Silk Encased Steel

Chapter ten

JT  came back, changed and clean ready for whatever they threw at him. He sat with Val perched on his lap, and watched fascinated with the group's dynamics.  Instead of the third degree he was regaled with stories of how valentina had turned down  everyone at the table at one point or another. He began to feel like a hero who had scaled everest,  while no one else had even gotten off the ground. 

“So I’m done playing against Malkov, and I come out of the locker room to see this tiny thing,” John paused gesturing to Valentina, “chewing him out over how much time he spent in the penalty box. And I figure I’ll go over and save her from his wrath. Little do I realize he is standing there totally calmly taking it in, and then he comes over and apologizes for the cheap shot he took.   She’s the Malkov Whisperer. So of course I ask for her number and she looks at me like I have two heads, while Malkov is laughing. ‘I don’t date hockey players.’ She says in this offended tone.”   

“So I’m standing there like an i***t staring from her to Malkov, who has his arm around her thinking crap  I just hit on his girlfriend. And Val sees the confusion on my face and goes into this mock horror and pushes Malkov away, saying ‘eeww he’s like my brother that’s so gross!’.  So that made me feel a bit better at least.” John related good naturedly.

JT laughed with the rest, “She spent half the night on my lap at Malkovs party, telling me how cute my accent was. And laughing at my hockey stories, then says ‘it’s too bad you got drafted, but we will still be great friends as long as you take your hand off my butt’.”  Yve admitted.

John sighed, “It’s the vibe, she just gives this cool chick vibe. When you are used to puck bunnies who are constantly hanging off you,  asking for autographs and plotting.. it’s nice to be around someone who doesn’t take you so seriously.”

Val rolled her eyes, “Who can take you guys seriously? You basically all have temper tantrums when someone takes your toy.” 

Frank laughed, “So sports are basically just grown ups fighting over legos in the school yard?”

Valentina shrugged, “getting paid millions to do it, but really when you think of it yeah.”

“She’s reducing my lifes work to a giant temper tantrum.” John complained to Robin across the table.

Robin snorted, “You guys love it, you are basically friends with her to keep your ego in check.”

“At least I am star big baby.” Yve said with a shrug. As long as he was successful at it, he didn’t care what it was called.

JT was surprised at how easy it was with Valentina and her friends, there wasn’t any third degree, a lot of the conversation was similar to what he sat around with his brothers talking about.  He enjoyed a relaxing few hours with her snuggled on his lap joking around with the others, knowing it would be a at least a couple of months before he could do it again. With playoffs coming up he hoped to have at least a few weeks of being exhausted and busy, then he had appointments to assess his body and what damage had been done during the season. He looked around the table and realized they probably felt the same way; it would be a while before they could all get together again. 

  As entertaining as it was when Valentina snuggled into him more and laid her head against his shoulder he had the strong urge to leave, “We should get going,” She announced to the table,  not caring that everyone knew exactly why she wanted to leave early. She had less than a 24 hour time span with JT and she was perfectly fine with spending most of it without her pants on.

“Careful he doesn’t break you in half!” John called out as they left after saying their goodbyes.

Valentina laughed seeing JT’s face go red, “For a man that likes doing such dirty bad things, you blush an awful lot about it.” She teased getting in the passenger side and letting him drive. 

JT pulled out of the lot and started down the road, taking her directions easily, “My mother raised a gentleman.” 

Val laughed harder, “That’s not what the handprint on my butt says, Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde much? It’s no wonder the press has a love affair going with you, you are just such a good guy off the field. But you definitely have a darker side behind closed doors.” 

JT shrugged, “What happens on the field, and in public is one thing, in bed isn’t the presses or fans business.” He glanced at her,  “I cannot believe you know Bradford, we watched an entire game over the phone together and you didn’t say a word. Not to mention Yvegeny Andreiko and Dmitri Malkov...”

It was her turn to shrug, “Do you want me to get you an autograph?” She asked dismissively, “You don’t advertise your pension for rough s*x and I don’t announce my friendships with the players. I’m not a fame w***e, I don’t have any interest in collecting famous friends,  I just tend to meet them randomly.” She added raising a brow at him, “You are constantly paranoid I’m with you for your money, or celebrity, saying by the way I have half a dozen pro athlete guys I hang out with... not helpful.”

“Maybe,” He conceded. “I guess we still are in the getting to know you phase, I probably shouldn’t make any assumptions about your life. But just so you know, you are not making me into one of the guys.” He warned.

Val smiled and looked out the window, she admitted to herself that she really didn’t want to push him into being a friend only like she had with the others. John had come really close to being dating material as they had gotten to know each other years ago, but Todd had come into the picture.  He had seemed normal and able to offer the stability that she craved. She had pushed herself into a relationship with Todd because he was the textbook forever kind of guy. Good job, reasonably good looking without being crazy attractive like some of her friends,  he had a normal schedule. 

She still kicked herself at the time she had wasted with someone who had been good on paper but never that good in reality. There had never been the excitement to see him like she got every time she and JT even video chatted. Then again it was the excited feeling that scared her, it was  a far way to fall when things didn’t work out. 

“You’re thinking too much again.” He announced as he parked in her driveway. 

She snapped out of her daydreaming, “Yeah, I do that.” He came around to her side of the car and opened the door for her.