Inside The Penalty Box

"Liv, get your ass moving! I want to get our food and drinks before the puck drops!" I heard my best friend Danielle Rodriguez yell from our living room.   We've been best friends ever since she came to the orphanage when we were 6. She lost her parents in a fatal car accident and I was dropped at the orphanage door step as a baby. We became inseparable almost instantly and bonded over our love of hockey. We would sneak out of our rooms after hours and catch the local Seattle Razorblades game.   "Hold onto your panties, D. I need a minute." "You've had 45 minutes. The Razorblades start in less than 30. What the hell are you doing in there?" "Ok, ok, I'm done. Lets go." I said walking out of the bathroom. "Damn Liv. You look hot." Danielle looked me up and down then growled. "Are you trying to distract the other team so we can win? Because it just might work babe." She giggled then looped her arm in mine leading us out the front door. "For your information, Ben is joining us tonight." I said with a half there smile. She froze with the key inches from the car door and groaned loud for 5 whole seconds. "Boring Benjamin again, Liv. He has the personalty of a dish towel." I let out a small chuckle, "He may have zero personality but he's good in the sack," I said, sliding into the passenger seat then giving her a seductive wink. "Besides it's just s*x and he knows that. We've agreed it can never be anything more. Plus I don't think I'm meant to fall in love." I shrugged my shoulders. "Ugh if you say so." She said climbing behind the wheel. I didn't have to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes. "You know he's going to eventually catch feelings for you right? It's only a matter of time." I shook my head. "Just keep him from talking about his boring life tonight so I can fantasize about Tyler O'Neal in peace." She let out a soft moan. "I'm going to have his babies one day."  "Oh yeah and I'm going to marry Jackson Knight." I said sarcastically. "As if D, they don't even know we exist." Tyler is the goalie for the Seattle Razorblades and Jackson is the starting centerman and captain. They are undoubtedly the best in the league. Their stats are by far the highest in NHL history. Danielle parked the car outside the arena and we made our way to the front doors. After getting our tickets scanned by the doorman, we climbed the stairs to the concessions to grab some beer and nachos.  "Do you think the Razorblades have a chance to make the championship?" Danielle asked as we took our seats. "I don't know. Tyler is the best goalie in the league but he had several pucks get passed last game that were easily stoppable. Not to mention whatever is going on with Jackson lately. They won't get far with the best center in the league in the penalty box most of the game." I let out a sigh. "If those two don't get their s**t together I don't think they have a shot."  I looked to my right just in time to see Ben sit down beside me, "I agree that Jackson Knight is a no good hot head. He's bringing the whole team down this year. Someone should pull the stick out of his bum." Ben said with a chuckle. He's always been super conservative, never says a curse word. To be honest Danielle and I just love when he searches for a non-curse word to use, you can just see the gears in his head turning. Ben isn't the smartest guy in the world but he tries. But there's not much you can expect from a huge mama's boy. This man leaves his mothers house with her lipstick still on his cheek from her goodbye kiss. If I didn't have to pick him up for our "dates" because he's so afraid to drive then I would have assumed he was sleeping with other women.  "Hello Benjamin, thanks for joining us. Gosh you look so handsome, love the sweater," Danielle said sarcastically.  I couldn't help but laugh, I mean he did show up to a hockey game in a sweater vest from the 80's while every man, woman, and child are wearing team gear. Ben has no sense of fashion and owns more sweater vests than a snobby Ivy League frat boy. He also doesn't get sarcasm, like at all. He still lives with his mother in her basement at the age of 36 and works as a manager at a bank. Poor guy really has nothing going for him at all other than he knows his way around a woman's c******s. No idea how he managed to learn that but I give that person or website my gratitude.   Ben kissed my cheek and turned towards Danielle, "Thank you Danielle. This is my favorite sweater," He said smiling.  Danielle looked like she was going to explode with laughter. She took a deep breath and mouthed it's his favorite. I gave her the 'be nice' look and turned my attention to the starting faceoff.  Everyone takes their positions at center ice and the puck is dropped. Jackson takes the faceoff and digs it out for the Razorblades right winger, Blaine Lemieux to pick up. He races down the ice then passes to Jackson who sends it top shelf and scores! Everyone is at their feet cheering as Jackson is surrounded by his teammates to celebrate his goal. Several drinks and what felt like a pound of nachos later, Danielle and I are really getting into the game. Jackson scored 2 goals and looking for a hat trick. "Lets go Razorblades," We chant with the crowd. It's now the 3rd period and we are ahead 3-2. The teams are at each others throats and it's getting intense out there. Danielle and I are at our feet chanting. Fans are banging on the glass as the players fight for the puck at the boards. Jackson heads that direction but before he gets close he receives a crosscheck to the back of the head.  "Hey, you going to call that! Are you f*****g blind!" I don't know what came over me but I was enraged. Nothing I hate more than a sore loser. I turned my attention to Jeffery Davis the guy who gave the blow to Jackson, "That's a cheap shot Davis, you want to fight the great, throw down gloves like a real man!" He followed my voice and gave me a wink. I literally gagged out loud.  "Ew, what total scum bag," Danielle said.  Jackson was slow to get up. He made his way to the bench but refused any kind of medical attention. I was so caught up in watching Jackson that I didn't see Davis fling the puck up in my direction. I didn't realize the puck hit my face until I saw blood fall to the floor.  Danielle's voice was loud in my ear, "Oh my god! Liv are you ok? He totally did that on purpose!"  I saw something out of the corner of my eye, it was Jackson's gloves flying from the bench. He crossed to Davis so fast and grabbed his jersey then started swinging, hard. Davis fell to the ice and Jackson didn't let up, he kept pounding until he was pulled off by 2 refs and 3 of his teammates. He looked up at me then said something to the ref. He made his way to the locker room without listening to his reply. "Jesus, is my cheek bleeding bad? Does it look like it needs stitches?" I turned to Danielle. "Uhh, you may need a stitch or two, but Ben probably needs to get his head checked.." I looked over to Ben and he was face down on the floor.  "He must of passed out from the blood," I said. He's always been squeamish around blood but I didn't think he would actually pass the f**k out, pansy.  "Ma'am would you come with me please, I'm going to have a doctor look at that cheek of yours," a man with STAFF written on his jacket handed me a clean towel then helped me out into the aisle. He led me into a small room with a large padded table. "Please take a seat, I'll grab the doctor." I sat there with my hands filling with blood. I swear if I catch that Jeffery Davis out, I'll f*****g kill him. Just when I thought of walking out a young blonde haired man came into the room. "Hello, I'm Doctor Jester," he said with a smooth voice. "But you can call me Neal. Let's have a look at that cheek." He cleaned away some blood with a moist towel and started to examine my face. His hands were so gentle and to my amazement extremely soft. He was incredibly handsome. Sharp clean shaven jawline, green eyes and a perfect set of white teeth. "So what's your name?" "Dr. Olivia O'Connor, but everyone calls me Liv." "Well Liv, looks like you'll need a couple stitches under your eye. Luckily it didn't do too much damage, you'll only need one layer of stitches." Neal got the bleeding to stop enough to numb my eye then started to stitch me up. "So you're a doctor?" He asked between passes of thread. "A surgeon." I said. "I'm a Pediatric Neurosurgeon. So Please tell me I won't look like Frankenstein? I can't bare to scare my patients."  "I promise," Neal said laughing. "Neurosurgeon," he said. "I was leaning towards that specialty but decided on plastics instead. Now I fix up the team," he chuckled. "Davis really picked the wrong girl didn't he?" "What do you mean?" I asked.  "Well from the beating that he got from Jackson, seems you're someone special," he smiled down at me. "Ha, you're funny doc. Jackson doesn't even know that I exist let alone care that I got a puck to the face."  "Oh, I've never seen him so quick to pound someone the way he did for you tonight." "Well Davis did crosscheck the back of his head. Anyone in their right mind would have fought back, hell even I wanted to." I said through gritted teeth. "Davis is a s**t player. He has no respect for the game and he has the lowest points in the league. He's lucky he hasn't been sent to the minors yet." "You got that right, Angel." A smooth velvety voice came from behind me.  Neal's eye looked over towards the doorway, "Hello Jackson, I'll be with you in just a minute. Let me finish up with Dr. Liv here." Fuck. Did he just say Jackson. Dammit, Jackson f*****g Knight is standing 5 feet behind me and here I am covered in blood looking like Carrie center stage on prom night. My heart started thumping so loud I'm sure Neal could hear. I looked at him for any sign that he could but he just looked up at Jackson then nodded his head. "Alright, Liv. All done. Keep your cheek clean and you may want to put some ice on later to help with the swelling. I assume you can take out the stitches on your own," He asked.  I nodded, "Thanks Neal. I appreciate your steady hand."  "No problem at all," he said as he walked out the door. I snapped my eyes shut tight. My heart started beating faster and my hands became sweaty. I'm alone in a room with the Jackson Knight. My eyes shot open when I heard heavy footsteps. s**t he's coming over here. I wiped my hands on my jeans and slid off the table. Of course my legs had to fail me and I nearly face planted. Jackson caught me by my elbows and said, "Careful Angel. Getting hit in the face with an 80 mile an hour puck will throw off your center of gravity. But I'm sure you know that being a doctor." His voice was like butter it was so smooth and husky, it made my body shiver. He tucked a stray hair behind my ear and whispered, "Damn you are so beautiful." HOLY s**t!! Jackson just called me beautiful. Calm down Liv, you have to say something, or do something....anything. I couldn't look up at him my face was so beat red I could feel it. "...T-Thank you.." I finally stammered. He released my elbows and took a step back. After a beat I finally had the courage to look up at him and there he was all 6 foot 8 inches of him. Wavy black hair that was still wet from his shower looked so soft I wanted to run my fingers through it. He had it buzzed short at the sides but left the top long and hanging over to his left. His chin had a little stubble, like he hadn't shaved in a couple days. I breathed him in; he smelled like mint and a very expensive cologne I couldn't quite put my finger on. Icy blue eyes looked down at me and his soft full lips curved into a smirk. I couldn't help but blush. "Like what you see?" His perfect mouth said. My brain didn't fully register what he said until he chuckled. "Uh, I'm s-sorry." I muttered. This time he laughed. My god that laugh, it's something I want to hear forever.  "Don't be sorry. I could get lost looking at you as well." He smiled. "So you're a doctor?" He asked. I cleared my throat. "Um yeah. I'm a pediatric neurosurgeon. I work at Seattle Memorial"  Jackson's eye widen. "Wow. Smart and beautiful," he said flashing his bright white teeth.  I blushed and looked down at my feet. "U-Um, well.. I-I guess I better go, my friend is waiting for me and I'm sure you need this room to get checked out." "I actually didn't come here to get checked out. I came to see if you were ok," he confessed. I saw his cheeks flush a shade of pink and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed. "I heard what you said to Davis after he hit me and honestly I wanted to hear your voice again." I met his gaze and it  looked like all of his confidence went out the window. I smiled at him and my nerves settled. "You wanted to hear my voice again?" His cheeks got even pinker as I opened my mouth again, "you're joking right?" As I giggled, I raked my hair with my fingers and tied it up in a quick bun. Seeing him look so nervous was firing me up. I couldn't help but provoke him a little bit. "So Captain, you say that to all the girls?" I asked. He looked like he was trying to find the right answer, "N-no I actually don't get out much. Only when Tyler drags me out, like tonight. Is that really lame? Hey, you should join us, you and your friend. It will be fun. I swear i'm not trying to pick you up or anything like that.. I-I mean I'm not looking to just hook up..." He trailed off then sighed. Slapping his palm to his forehead he continued, "f**k I'm new to this, I don't really do this kind of thing." He looked flustered. "You're probably seeing someone or something and I'm just making a fool out of myself. Sorry I'll let you get back to your friend." He stepped over to his left to let me pass. The Jackson Knight was trying to ask me out..ME, a nobody. He was famous and super models threw themselves at him, he could have anyone but here he is looking at me like he just got the worst news of his life. "I'm actually not seeing anyone at the moment." I said matching his smiling eyes. "No? So the guy who fainted wasn't your boyfriend?" He asked anticipating my answer.  I laughed, "Who Ben? That's a 'Friends With Benefits' thing. Just using each other for s*x. Nothing more." Jackson's face stiffened and a wave of anger flashed over. I placed my hand on his arm and asked, "Are you okay? You look ready to kill someone." His face softened as he put his hand over mine. "Yeah. It's all good." He shook his head. "Just don't like the idea of another man touching you, even though you aren't mine." I gave him a questioning look, hoping he would continue. I don't know what he was thinking but I could see the gears in his head turning. Whatever it was, he was in deep thought. Why would he not like another man touching me? He doesn't even know me and he looks ready to kill Ben. I don't know why but I wrapped my arms around his large frame and hugged him tightly. His stiff body softened at my embrace and he rested his chin on the top of my head. "Thanks, Liv," he let out a sigh. "I don't remember the last time I got a real genuine hug was." He squeezed my small frame lightly then buried his nose in my hair. I released him and smiled, "Anytime. I'm always free," I giggled.  Jackson let out a harsh breath, "I'm sorry, I just feel so comfortable with you. I don't know what I'm doing. It's like when I look at you I just go blank. My mind stops working and you now probably think I'm some kind of lunatic." He shook his head and adverted his eyes from mine. He stepped aside again, giving me room to exit and kept his eyes on the floor. I stepped up to him and placed a hand on my hip, "Well," I said, "Aren't you going to ask for my number?"