Only For Tonight, page 2
My father saw the game she was playing and, in the end, didn’t give a shit about the money and just continued paying her, even if I stopped going. Until I was eighteen that is, but she stopped caring about me long before that. The last time I saw her was when I was twenty-four and she showed up at my house, trashed out of her mind and looking for a place to stay. I put her in a cab and gave the driver the address to a hotel. She sent me texts the next morning, telling me I was dead to her. It’s been over seven years since I’ve heard from her. It was no skin off my back, especially since I considered Evelyn my mother.
“Let’s go.” My father motions with his head toward the hallway. I follow him out of my room at the same time my sister comes out of hers. She’s wearing a long-sleeved, tight black dress that covers her all the way from her neck to her mid-calf.
“Hi, Daddy.” She smiles at him as she turns and walks down the stairs, and there it is. Her back is bare all the way down to practically the crack of her ass. “You approve that dress?” My father looks over at Evelyn, who shrugs.
“She’s of age to wear what she wants,” she replies, her voice low, “she’s a full-blown adult.”
“She’s also of hearing,” Victoria tosses over her shoulder, “and you bought me this dress.” She points to my father when she gets down to the last step.
“You mean you charged my credit card,” my father grumbles as he follows her down the steps. “That doesn’t mean I bought the dress; it means I paid for it.”
“Same thing, Pops,” she retorts. “Come and take a picture with me.” She walks to him and holds her phone up in front of her, taking a selfie. “Even though you are opposed to social media.” She smiles big at him. “That’s going to get me so many likes.” She lifts her hand and pats his chest. “I’ll tag you.” She smirks at me. “You’re welcome.”
“You look so handsome,” Evelyn states from beside me, and when I look at her, I see her smiling at me with love written all over her face. “I love when you wear blue suits.” She gives me a side hug. “Makes your eyes even lighter.”
“Come and take a picture with me,” Victoria says to me. “I can caption it single and ready to mingle.”
“We aren’t mingling.” My father puts his hands in his pockets and looks up at the ceiling. “No one is going to mingle. This is a family event.” His voice goes higher and higher. “There is no mingling. Please, don’t start this.” He looks at my sister. “I beg of you.”
“Why do you think Jaxon’s driving his own car tonight?” Victoria asks my father. “So if he finds someone he wants to mingle with, he doesn’t have to come home and we don’t have to hear moaning for two minutes.” She winks at me.
“Okay, for one, two minutes? Please.” I roll my eyes. “And that is not why I’m taking my own car.” I shake my head. “I’m taking my own car because if I want to leave, I can leave and not have to wait for you guys. Or, if I’m having too much fun, I don’t have to leave when you guys are leaving.”
Victoria holds her hand up, snapping her fingers in the air, moving her hips side to side. “That means he’s ready to mingle.”
“Don’t ever move like that again,” I grit through my teeth. “Now, are you going with me or Mom and Dad?”
“I’ll go with you, so Mom and Dad can make out in the car and get it over with so I don’t have to see it when we get there.”
My father wraps his arm around Evelyn’s waist. “I’m never going to get over making out with her.” He bends his head and kisses her lips and she sighs, as if it’s the first kiss he’s given her and not that they’ve been together for over twenty years.
“Is Kiera coming?” I look up the steps toward my youngest sister’s bedroom.
“She’s gone skiing for the weekend,” Victoria announces. “Besides, she’s sixteen and the last thing she wants to do is hang out with the old people.”
“We are not old,” my father snorts. “We are—” He tries to think of a word but Victoria cuts him off.
“Old,” Victoria repeats. “See you there.”
She walks out of the door and snatches my hand, pulling me with her. “See you there,” I say quickly before I’m pulled out into the cool air. Taking the keys out of my pocket and unlocking the door, I open the door for her. “Get in, Tori.” I use the nickname that she got when Kiera couldn’t say her whole name and she just became Tori.
“I don’t know why you are still single.”
“Because I want to be,” I answer her honestly. “Besides, I haven’t found the right person yet.” She gets in and looks up at me.
“How do you think you’re going to find the right person when you keep dating the same old girl?” she asks me, reaching out her hand for the door handle but I close it before she touches it.
I walk around to the driver’s side as I spot my parents walking out of the house. Hand in hand, my father rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip, no doubt having just had a make-out session with Evelyn. I guess they are the reason I haven’t found my person. I don’t just want a person to date. I want a person I can grow old with. A person who walks into the room and all I can do is think about kissing her. A person who will stand by my side through the good and the bad, not just when it’s convenient for them. Like my last girlfriend, who didn’t understand why I couldn’t go out on the town while I was recovering from an injury that took me out of the game for three weeks. The sound of the horn honking has me opening my driver’s side door.
“It’s freezing,” my sister hisses.
“You might be warmer if your dress covered your back,” I tell her and she snorts.
“If that isn’t you deflecting, I don’t know what is.”
“What am I deflecting?” I ask her as I start the car and she messes with the heat in the car, rubbing her hands together.
“That you keep going for the same girl over and over again.” I pull out of the driveway.
“I do not.” I focus on the road.
“You so do.” She laughs. “It’s those artificial girls who are all ‘my boyfriend plays for the NHL.’” She makes a fake voice. “You have not had a girlfriend for longer than six months. And the reason for that is because you know it’s safe since you don’t actually want anything serious with them. It’s called sowing your oats, Mom says.”
“I was with Tiffany for almost a year,” I remind her of the girlfriend I just broke up with.
“And you broke up with her because?” She taps her finger on the door handle. “Shall we discuss all the reasons that you broke up with her?” She tilts her head to the side, waiting for me to answer.
I don’t bother answering her because she is kind of right. Tiffany was a party girl, even though she was two years older than me. She was the “it girl” because I was burning up the standings. She would always want to go out and celebrate, even though we were a couple months into the season, and anything could happen. It got to the point where we just had different ideas on what our future looked like so we, or better yet I, decided we should maybe stop wasting each other’s time.
I pull up to the hotel and head straight to the valet, getting out at the same time Tori’s door is pulled open. “Keys are in the cupholder,” I tell the guy who gives me a white valet tab.
“Okay, big brother,” Tori urges, “how about you let loose”—she throws her hands up in the air—“have a drink. Have two drinks. Bring out the vacation Jaxon who is funny and witty. Unlike this Jaxon who plays hockey and is all serious and focused, if only for tonight, yeah?”
I chuckle as she wraps her hand around my bicep. “Yeah, only for tonight.” I make fun of her words. I never thought that this would be the night that my life was going to change.
two
Ariella
I’m collecting my things to put in my purse—lipstick, lip gloss, a compact, even though I never actually reapply my lipstick, and then my phone. Looking down, I see that I’ve missed about five text messages.
“Oh my,” I say to myself as I open the app, “how long was I in the bathroom for?” I scan the text messages. Spotting a text from Lexi, who is my cousin and best friend.
Lexi: Have fun tonight. Give everyone my love and a little hug. Call me in the morning! Send me a picture of your dress!
I decide to snap a picture of myself in the full-length mirror near the door, sending it to her and adding in:
Me: These shoes already kill my feet but they make my legs look hot.
She replies right away.
Lexi: That’s because they are hot.
Another from my cousin Zoey.
Zoey: I’m here and I’ve done five shots already.
I snort, knowing that her husband, Nash, is going to be carrying her home at the end of the night. Not that he cares, he would do anything for her.
My brother texts me next.
Brookes: I’m going to be here for two hours and then I’m leaving.
Brookes: I’m with Maddox at a table, if you are looking for me.
He mentions his best friend and our other cousin. The two of them have been thick as thieves since Maddox was adopted into the family. They are two months apart and have been each other’s shadow since.
I step out of the hotel room and hear the sound of the door clicking at the same time I put the key card in my purse and my phone pings with a message.
Mom: We are in the ballroom. It’s on the second floor.
My head is down as I walk toward the elevator door, my heels sinking into the carpet as I round the corner and hit the tiled entryway, where three elevator doors greet me. I take in my reflection. The black lace dress was something I bought today when shopping with Zoey and my mother. It was a spur-of-the-moment purchase, but it fits like a glove, so I had to have it. The lace sleeves are see-through and go to my elbows. The front comes down into a V and is tight all the way until my mid-hips, and then it flares into a ruffled bottom that hits mid-thigh and drapes longer in the back. The bottom part sways right and left when I walk. My black sky-high pumps with a gold T in the back complete the look. I didn’t go big with my makeup, opting for a natural look, with my long brown hair in beach waves. My blue eyes look a light gray tonight.
I press the button for down before answering everyone with the same message.
Me: On my way down.
The pinging of an elevator has me looking up and I see the last one has the white light on top of it, so I walk over to it at the same time the doors open. I step in, pressing the second button before the door closes. I put the phone in my purse, holding it in front of me as I watch the numbers go down from twenty-seven to two. Luckily, it doesn’t stop at any other floor, and when the doors open, I can hear the music coming from one of the ballrooms. I look around, seeing people everywhere. My heart starts to speed up with a bit of nerves as I make my way toward where all the people are.
My phone vibrating in the purse in my hand has me stopping and opening my clutch and pulling it out while it vibrates another four times. I look down and see I now have twelve missed texts. The big red bubble shows me the number.
Pressing the green app, I see that it’s the thread I have with my sister, Callie, and my cousin Zoey.
Callie: I need someone to hook me up with one of the hot guys from the hockey team.
Zoey: I can’t help you there. My husband is an executive. You need to get Ryleigh to help you.
Callie: Where is she?
Zoey: She should be there any second.
Callie: There is this guy at the bar, I think I heard him say his name was Nikolas or Atticus.
Zoey: Pics or it didn’t happen.
Callie: Okay, I’m now deceased.
Zoey: I’m coming, what happened?
Callie: I tried to snap a picture of him but it’s so fucking dark in here that my flash went off.
Zoey: RIP, you will be missed. Also, rookie mistake.
I shake my head and try not to laugh out loud as I take a couple of steps and run smack into someone. “Oh my God,” I quickly blurt when I feel hands on my upper arms. The heat from their hands going right through the lace of my sleeves. “I’m so sorry.” I look up and into ice-blue eyes. But they’re not all the way ice blue, the border around them is darker and all you can do is stare into them.
“Ariella?” His voice is smooth and husky all at the same time, and my eyes widen in shock.
“Wait, Jaxon?” I say his name, my mind finally placing him as he moves his hands off of me, and I take a step back to look at him. “Hi.” I move into him again, this time to kiss his cheek. “I haven’t seen you in, like, forever.” His musky cologne makes my knees buckle a little.
“Yeah.” He takes a step back and out of my way so he can look down at me. My five-foot-six height is nothing compared to his six-foot-whatever frame, I think, he’s a foot taller than me. “I usually can get out of attending certain things,” he starts, putting his hands in his pockets and I stupidly give him an up and down, “but this is one I couldn’t get out of.”
“Same,” I admit to him, laughing as he does his own up and down of me and I have to say I’m really happy I wore this black dress. It shows off my toned legs, as well as the toned body I spend seven days a week doing Pilates for. “I couldn’t get out of it.” I look around, wondering if he’s here with someone.
“When was the last time I saw you?” he asks me, and I’m taken aback by his question as he stands here talking to me.
“Whenever it was, you didn’t have the beard.” I point to the soft beard he has, which makes him look even more rugged.
“I think the last time I saw you, Zoey was sneaking you drinks, since you weren’t of age,” he jokes with me and I push his shoulder.
“I think I had just turned eighteen, if I’m not mistaken.” I shake my head, smiling. “What about when you were sixteen and got drunk in one of the hockey suites during a game, and you threw up on Evelyn’s shoes?” I remind him and he throws his head back and lets out a barking laugh. “It’s ’cause of you that for the next ten years all alcohol was monitored and they brought in a bartender.”
“I forgot about that.” He puts one hand to his stomach and I see the ink on his hand, and my mouth waters. He has definitely added that since the last time I saw him. “Definitely good times.”
“There you are.” I see his sister coming up to him and her eyes light up when she sees me.
“My favorite babysitter in the whole world,” Tori declares, hugging me tightly as she moves me side to side. “Ariella used to always bake with me,” she says to Jaxon.
“I’ve never seen you bake in my life,” he tells Tori.
“It was a million years ago,” she scoffs at him, “I was eight.”
“And it was not her strong suit,” I cut in, “but she was good at other things. No one could color quite like her.”
He just stares at me and, for the first time, I feel nervous around him, which is crazy since I’ve known him my whole life. He is seven years older than me, so we never really hung around with each other too much. I was probably the young annoying kid who was always asking him questions. When he got older, he was never really around, especially once he got drafted.
Our fathers played hockey together and then retired at the same time and worked in the front office of the organization, side by side. They are still the best of friends and vacation together all the time. My phone buzzes in my purse. “I have to get in there before they send out a search party,” I tell them and Jaxon nods.
“Yeah, Mom and Dad are looking for you.” Tori looks at Jaxon, who just nods his head at her as he looks over toward where people are walking into the two doors pushed open. My eyes are transfixed on the ink on his neck, and I’m curious to see if his whole chest and arms are tattooed.
“I was coming,” he says and waits for me to walk ahead of him before he follows a step behind me.
“Did you just get here?” I ask him over my shoulder.
“We got here together,” Tori fills in for him, “but he forgot his phone in the car.”
“The horror,” I joke with him as we walk into the ballroom. The green, white, and black balloons are everywhere, mixed in with gold all around the room. “Wow.” My gaze travels around, noting the pictures of the Dallas Oilers organization throughout the years. “Look at our dads.” I point over to a picture of my dad with Manning on the ice from when they won the Cup. Manning is holding the Cup in the air and handing it over to my father.
“I still remember that game,” he says with fondness in his voice and I laugh.
“That’s how old you are.” I push him with my shoulder jokingly, and it hits him mid arm since he’s so much taller than me.
He doesn’t have a chance to answer, he just smiles while his father comes up to him. “Was looking for you,” he states. “Come say hi to the guys,” he tells him and then Jaxon looks over at me, then Manning notices me.
“Holy shit, Ariella,” he blurts, coming to me and giving me a big hug and kissing me on my cheek. “I didn’t even—” he starts to say, letting me go. “You look different. More grown up.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Jaxon counters right away, “she looks the same.”
“Well, I hope I look a bit older than I did when I was sixteen with braces,” I joke. “It’s nice to see you, Manning.” I nod at him. “If you guys will excuse me, I have to find my sister and my mother, who are blowing up my phone right now, thinking I’ve been kidnapped.” I look around. “Got to say, I’m a little disappointed they haven’t sent out a search party.” That makes Jaxon laugh and, for the life of me, I don’t know why I like to hear it so much. “I’ll see you guys later.”
