The Games We Play

A few days went by and James and Ali went back to their usual smooth, enjoyable cohabitation with one another. Not much more was said about James’ fight with the ex, except he’d confided in Rebecca about it, just to make sure he was reading Ali right in the aftermath. She promptly yelled at him for being a jerk, which didn’t help him much.

Ali told Brittany about the incident, considering she also grew up in the town and knew Tony well. Brittany took James’ side, since she never liked Tony anyways, and it was left at that.

One evening in the days following, Becky invited Ali over to the house to relax and watch the kids with her. Although the two made plans a few days prior to hang out together at a bar, Becky’s husband had a late meeting that night, so they were restricted to Becky’s house. Ali certainly didn’t mind; she rarely got to see Becky’s kids, and when she did, she loved spending time with them. Ethan was a little spitfire, and Jessica was just a sweetheart.

Ali was on the couch with Jessica as the little girl showed her a brand new doll she’d gotten over Christmas. Ali was helping to comb the doll’s hair when Becky brought her a glass of white wine.

“Thaaaank you.”

“You are oh-so-welcome” Becky replied. She curled up on a cushy chair that was adjacent to the loveseat Ali and Jessica occupied.

“Mommy, look.” Jessica held up the doll, showing her the style Ali had done to her hair. It was pulled up into a side ponytail where the length was braided, and it wasn’t done very well. Haphazard pieces stuck out here and there, but Jessica was quite pleased.

“I tried” Ali said with a smile.

“Very nice, Jessi!” Becky began applauding them.

The little girl looked up at Ali and sat up straight, feeling special and proud of the new hairdo.

“I think you missed your calling” Becky said to Ali.

“Sure looks like it, doesn’t it?” She took a drink of the chilled wine, feeling herself relax further. “Thanks for inviting me over…it was good timing.”

“For me too” Becky said. “Why for you?”

“James had Geno and Paulie over tonight. They all have to sign a million hockey pucks and photos of themselves for some promotional thing they’re doing.” Ali shrugged. “I’d bet my next paycheck they’re watching the basketball game.”

Becky laughed, her cheerful voice ringing in the room. “They’re cute, aren’t they? Boys?”

“I guess” Ali said, taking a drink of wine.

“Mommy?” Jessica looked up. “Ethan’s not cute and he’s a boy.”

Ali’s eyes went wide, biting her lip to keep from giggling at Becky’s girl. She thought it was hilarious, and even Becky cracked a smile.

“That’s not nice, Jessi.”

Jessica looked up at Ali again and she gave the little girl a wink. “Someday you’ll like boys, Jessica. Trust me.”

“Eww.”

“You’ll still say that about them, too” Ali muttered, nursing her wine. Her eyes met Becky’s, who had that look on her face.

“Speaking of…when are we going dress shopping?”

It had been in the back of Ali’s mind for a while now, but she was actually feeling afraid to go look. The whole picking-out-a-wedding-dress thing seemed so overwhelming. She’d gotten enough ideas from magazines and websites that she had at least a clear vision of what she was looking for….but it still overwhelmed her to think about.

“You didn’t already get one and not tell me, did you!?” Becky’s eyebrows rose as if this sudden revelation might be true.

“I would SO tell you, Becks!” Ali said with a laugh. “When are we both off work together? We can try going then?”

“Try!?” Becky set her wine glass down hard, emphasizing her point. “You can’t procrastinate forever. You’re marrying a Penguin, for goodness sake!”

Jessica looked up from her doll, her sweet little giggle filling the room. “You can’t marry a penguin, mommy! Penguins live in the South Pole!”

“A few penguins live in Pennsylvania” Ali said, wiping back her floppy blonde bangs.

“At the Pittsburgh Zoo” Becky added.

“Hmm….that’s true.” The girl went back to changing the dress on her doll, satisfied with the answer.

Ali’s attention returned to the question. “I have Wednesday and Thursday afternoons off, what’s your schedule look like?”

Becky gave her the ‘one minute’ finger, then trotted into the kitchen. After a few seconds, Ali heard her cheering.

“I have off!” She clapped excitedly. “See? See, NOW I’m excited. I’m excited for you! I’m excited for me! It’s all of the fun and none of the stress!”

“Way to brag about it” Ali joked.

“Well?” Becky looked guilty. “It’s true…”

Ali smiled. She knew wedding dress shopping was likely the first thing every girl wanted to do when they got engaged, and here was Becky, a woman who got married ten years ago, and was still excited to go look, even when it wasn’t to buy. It actually made Ali feel even more excited to go.

“It’s settled then” Ali replied. “Wednesday we begin.”

* * *

Back at the house, James handed both Paul and Geno another beer, then regained his seat at the kitchen table. Inside the living room, the basketball game was indeed on and placed on the loudest volume the guys could get it, so they wouldn’t miss a thing. They sat in a row at James’ table, resembling a small assembly line. After two hours of signing stuff and doing a fair amount of bullshitting in between, they were finally down to the last box of pucks and pictures.

Geno handed James and Paul two pucks, then signed his own. James took all three and put them in a different box next to his chair. Over and over they did this. It was part of a promotional package the organization would be giving away, in conjunction with UPMC Medical Center, in hopes to raise money for the children’s hospital.

In the middle of the final box, James got a text from Ali. He raised the bottle of beer to his mouth as he read it, immediately sensing the excitement in her tone.

Just made plans to go wedding dress shopping Wednesday. :-)

“Oh shit, that’s awesome.” James went to write back but Paul poked him in the shoulder with the end of his marker.

“What’s awesome?”

“Ali made plans to go try on wedding dresses.” He sent his reply, then set the phone back on the table.

“Can’t believe you get engaged, Nealsy.” Geno handed him a puck.

“Me either, really.”

Paul signed another photo of himself then set it on the pile. “So it’s for real then? Late June?”

“If all goes well, yeah.”

Geno glanced at him. “What would go wrong?”

James shrugged. “I could get hit in the face with a puck and break my jaw?” He saw Geno smirk at this. “It’s true though. There’s a lot of hockey in between now and then.”

“Playoffs…” Paul was shaking his head as he finished signing another photo. “Who the hell can tell what will happen?”

With a heavy sigh, James leaned back in his chair and rubbed his neck. They’d been hunched over signing stuff for close to three hours, despite knowing if they watched less basketball and drank a little less beer in between, they would’ve been done a long time ago.

“Can you imagine if we went all the way?” James said.

Both Geno and Paul looked up.

“To the Finals” James finished. “And I had the Cup at my wedding?”

Geno was smiling big time. “Would be cool, no?”

They all sat there silently, imagining what it would be like to have the Stanley Cup all summer. Geno already had that chance once before, but for James and Paul, it would be a first. James wanted that picture of him and Ali with the Cup more than anything.

“Ah, well.” He took another puck and scribbled his signature across with his silver marker. “Seems like a ridiculous thought anyway.”

Geno slapped him hard in the arm. “We go together, all the way.” His face was serious.

“I know, G. I didn’t say we wouldn’t have a chance, I was just saying having the Cup at my wedding was ridiculous.”

Geno signed a puck and tossed it in the box. “Fine. But we have good chance….Real good chance.”

“Agreed” Martin chimed in, his easy smile appearing. “Honestly.”

“I know, guys. Wasn’t implying anything more than that.” Whether he’d admit it or not, James just didn’t want to get his hopes up for some silly idea that he could have everything he ever wanted in one year. He’d have the girl, he’d have the Cup, he’d have everything…at the age of 26. It was too good to be true. Because of this, he pushed it out of his mind.

They chugged along, continuing until they finally finished signing everything in the boxes that Bylsma had given them. Grabbing another round of beers, they went into the living room to finish watching the basketball game. It proved to be a lively on, and James was enjoying the hell out of some downtime with his two boys. Geno had the occasional outburst, as did Paulie, but for once, James remained the most restrained out of the bunch.

After his fifth beer, James was positive the game was blurrier than it had been, so he sat back and watched his friends go crazy over the nonstop fouls that Pitt was getting called for. Geno was yelling more at the tv than he did during an entire hockey game, causing James to laugh a little more than he normally would. Some of the shit he said made James laugh so hard his eyes were watering, and Geno just kept it up. It was a fun night in, and it wasn’t just the buzz he had.

By the end of the fourth quarter, James heard the garage door over the noise of the game. A part of him got excited that Ali was home. He loved his guys, but that last beer made him feel a little horny, and he was in the mood to not give a shit about it in front of his friends.

“Hey guys!”

James watched Ali walk into the room to an echo of hellos. She met eyes with him and gave a little smile.

“Hey babe.”

“Hey sexy.”

Paul looked over at Geno, drinking from his bottle but not saying anything.

James waved his hand for her to come closer. “How was Becky’s?”

“It was relaxing and nice.” Ali went to sit next to him on the couch, but James pulled her onto his lap. She made a tiny noise out of surprise, which made James smile.

“Tell me about it” he said, voice just above a growl.

Ali noticed the blue of his eyes were burning at a more intense shade. “Well….we basically sat around talking and drinking wine and doing a little bit of what you’re all doing right now.”

“Nice.” James bounced his knee a little, causing Ali to bounce with it. She was grinning at him as if she saw right through him, and he was hoping she did. It’d make this all go easier.

“FUCK!” Geno shot up off the couch again, mouth open in awe. “You see that!?!?”

Paul was laughing and shaking his head. “How the hell could they NOT call that!?!?”

Ali was watching the two men, but brought her eyes back to James. “I know that look” she whispered.

James knew she did. That’s why he was smiling so stupidly…or what he thought must have looked stupid. His eyes were definitely glazed over from his buzz, but his mind was sharp as a tack.

He reached up Ali’s back and gently pulled on her hair. “I can ask them to leave, ya know…”

“No, don’t do that.” She went to stand up, but James’ grip tightened on her like a vice.

“Don’t go.”

She gave him a smirk and tried to get up again. James unwillingly let go this time, watching her hips sway with her every stride as she backed away from him.

“You guys good on beer?” Ali pointed at Paul and Geno. They both raised their bottles and thanked her. She looked over at James. “You good, babe?”

“For now.”

Ali held his fiery stare until she turned the corner and couldn’t see him anymore. Lazily, James drew his eyes back to his teammates flanking either side of him; Paulie in the chair, Geno on the other end of the couch.

“Hey guys.”

They looked at him.

“I kinda want to fuck my girlfriend now, so could we wrap this up?”

Geno’s eyes widened. “For real?”

James nodded, not caring one bit if he was being rude. They’d understand.

Paul stood up. “Welp. That’s all I need to hear to get out of here.” He drained the last of his beer and set the bottle on the table. “You coming, G?”

“You score, Lazy. Nice.” He tapped James upside the head in a brotherly way as he stood up from the couch. “Have beer?”

“Take ‘em all, just get out of here” James said, jest in his tone. “And thanks.”

Paul saluted him, then pushed Geno out of the living room. As they rounded the corner, Ali was grabbing a granola bar out of the cupboard to snack on and stopped when she saw them heading for the door.

“Where ya going?”

Geno hurried over and gave her a huge hug, ruffling her hair. “You go easy on Lazy, k?”

“O….kay?” She watched his long strides take him out towards the front door, with Paul not far behind.

“Have a nice night, Ali” Paul said, then closed the door behind him.

Ali stood there, staring blankly. Their abrupt departure took her by surprise. Setting her granola bar down, she walked into the living room to see James still sitting on the couch, legs spread comfortably, a dumb smile on his face.

“Why did they leave?”

“I may not be the Captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins” he said, a smile still stuck to his face, “but when I tell them jump, they ask how high.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense, babe.”

“I told them to leave.” James stood up, eyeing the tight jeans that needed to be removed from Ali’s legs. “Hope that’s okay.”

It wasn’t a question, and James wasn’t looking for an answer. He placed his hands on Ali’s waist, looping his thick index fingers through the loops where her belt was. He yanked her against him hard, pressing a kiss to her lips.

“Wow, you really are horny, aren’t you?” She looked up at him, seeing the answer in his eyes.

“So what if I am?”

“It’s definitely not a bad thing.”

“Are you horny?”

Ali laughed. “Stupid question.”

“Hmm…True.”

Their mouths met again, and James ran a hand through Ali’s hair. Her lips tasted like vanilla; the faint flavour of lip gloss she’d been wearing earlier. This made him want to taste even more of her, which made the ache below his waist grow stronger. He nudged Ali down onto the couch in front of him and unzipped his hoodie. Ali’s face was calm, but her doe eyes were as alive as ever as they looked up at him.

“You in charge tonight?” Her smile teased him.

“Feel free to take over whenever.”

“I just may.”

James lifted his undershirt up over his head, revealing his full sleeve that adorned his entire left arm. He knew it made Ali weak, though he’d never understand why she liked it so much.

Running her hands up the length of his torso, Ali held open the inside of his bare right arm to expose the tattoo of his last name. “Should I get one?”

He smiled. “Like this?”

Ali nodded and smiled. “N...” She licked the letter. “E...” She kissed this one. “A….” She drug her open lips across this to the L, where she looked up at him. “L.” She bit him gently.

James felt his cock throb hard beneath his jeans. “Y-yeah….get one….wherever you want.” If he thought the basketball game looked blurry, it was nothing compared to what Ali was doing to him.

Looking down, he noticed Ali undoing his belt. He was still wondering just how she managed to get him every time, in some new and exciting way, even after a year…he’d never know. He didn’t want to know. He just wanted to feel the way he felt with her—

His eyes snapped shut when he felt Ali’s mouth lock over his dick. He exhaled at the sensation, his body rock hard yet melting at her touch.

“I, uh….” Focus, Neal. “…I wanted to…”

“Hmmm?” Ali hummed over his dick. She looked up and saw him biting his bottom lip.

“I wanted to go down on—“ Jesus Christ, that feels good. He thought this as her hand and mouth worked him again.This wasn’t how I wanted this to go…

James grunted, hoping the sound would pull him out of the deep well of ecstasy he was falling in to. He managed to lift Ali up and away the massive hard-on that was crying out for her mouth. He quickly lifted her light blue long sleeve top over her head. Her perfect tits stared up at him.

“Leave the bra” he said. “I like that one.”

“Really?”

It was a white bra with black, lattice-patterned lace over it. For some reason, James always felt a little more blood pump through him whenever he saw it.

Ali smiled. “It stays then.”

Next, James yanked her jeans down, then let out a long sigh at the sight before him. “You’re going to kill me someday.”

“Why?” Ali asked innocently.

“This.” James looped a finger under the barely-there side of her thong, even though there was hardly enough fabric there to floss with. “Where did these come from?”

“Same purchase as the yellow ones.”

“Damn.” He kissed the spot on her hip where he was lifting the piece of the fabric. “Fucking sexy.”

His lips worked their way a little faster up her toned body than he would have liked, but he was hungrier for her than he originally thought. When he got to her mouth, he kissed the corner of her lips, pushing his nose close to her temple so Ali could hear him clearly.

“Lay back, baby. Enjoy the next few hours because I’m going to give you the best fucking of your life.” He kissed her lips. “And I’m starting with my tongue.”

The last thing Ali felt was James’ tongue as it slid over her clit, and then she had no further coherent thoughts the rest of the night.

* * *

The Pens locker room was livelier than it had been in weeks. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, including James. His night before with Ali had been amazing; he just skated his ass off during practice and won the favour of the coaches, and Stamkos was in town tonight. James was looking forward to that meeting, if only for the chirping.

One by one, he and the others handed their skates over to the equipment managers, and then turned in their practice jerseys to be washed. Since they were playing the Lightning that night, they knew the game would prove to be an interesting one. Despite this, stressing about a potentially difficult game seemed to be the last thing on anyone's mind that morning.

James sat down at his stall, removing strip after strip of tape from his calves up to his knees. In front of him, Geno and Beau were getting into a good-natured argument over who had better flow: Tanger or Zatkoff. Zatkoff had been growing it out all season, and his blonde mop had now turned into just a bad bowl-cut.

Geno sat down next to James, giving him a nudge in the side. He nodded up at Zatkoff, laughing. "Who you think, Nealsy?"

"I think you’re all wrong - Sunny's got 'em all beat with that comb-over he's been sporting." He met Beau's stare with a grin. "Love you, baby."

"Love you too, asshole." Beau walked into the shower room, but took his sweaty face towel and rubbed it over his balls before tossing it at him.

James caught it and promptly handed it to Geno. "Here. Happy Valentine's Day."

Sid passed by in his sweatpants and yellow crocs, so Geno tossed the towel at him. He made an exaggerated move to step away from the nasty towel, and both Geno and James had a good laugh.

Around him, more and more guys were finishing tearing down and showering, but a few stuck around, taking their time getting out of there. It was a relaxed atmosphere, for once. The team needed it after a couple hard losses. Whatever was going on in the room was making James feel better and better. He wondered if it was possible to laugh and smile as much as he had already in the past two days.

Tossing his used tape into the large garbage can in the middle of the room, James proceeded to strip off the rest of the tape around his wrists. Nothing but tight black compression gear and white pads over his chest and arms remained. As he was tugging the padding up over his head, Beau's deep voice was heard coming out of the showers.

"What? No retaliation?" He held up his hands as he exited, freshly showered.

"Guess it’s your lucky day" James chirped back.

"You getting soft on us since you got engaged, Nealer?"

He laughed. "Ahhhhh, I wouldn't be so fast to call me soft, Sunny."

"Oh yeah?" Beau walked past to his stall. "You got a hard on now, or...." He faked to look at James' package and squinted. "Oh, sorry...can't tell from here."

"Weak."

Beau made a smoochie face and continued getting dressed.

“Someday, when you’re grown into a big boy” James said, peeling off his compression shirt, “I'm gonna tell you something about your stall over there."

Sid and Geno both looked over at James as he stood in the middle of them, adjusting the band of his tights.

Beau stood with a smirk on his face. "What the fuck does that mean?

James shrugged, pretending he never said anything in the first place. To the few that still remained in the locker room, they saw well past the arrogant grin that showed up far too often on James' face when he was up to something. To James, this was all just a light hearted game, one that he knew they’d never figure out anyways.

Sid leaned back against the wall, water bottle pressed to his lips, quietly observing as James and Beau went back and forth.

"You do something to my shit, Neal?" Beau asked, half laughing. "Because if so...you just wait, we'll see who the weak one is."

"I didn't do anything to your gear, if that's what you're asking" James replied.

"What'd you do, Lazy?" Geno asked, pulling his sweat stained Pens hat on over his wavy hair.

James was feeling brazen. Good sex, good practice, good game coming up, good feelings in the locker room. He said it would be his little secret, but he wasn’t exactly revealing everything by what he was saying.

He walked over to Beau's stall and bent to look at the bench. "Oh good. No staining."

Beau, Geno, and Sid all looked at one another.

"Staining?" Geno asked, his goofy grin growing even bigger. "You piss on it?"

"No, G. Think."

Sid knew what James meant, but he was staying out of this one.

It took Beau a little longer, but when it hit him, it hit him hard. "Wait..."

James was grinning. Top that one, Sunny. They may be teammates, but they each had their own competitive edge against one another, and James wasn't about to lose this round.

Beau looked at his stall. "How the fuck...."

"I have my ways.” James pointed to the bench Beau was standing next to. "Don’t worry, we weren’t on your bench for the entire time. We were on the floor for most of it.”

Geno busted out laughing. He looked over at Sid. “Hey Sid, you hear?” His gaze returned to James. “No fooling us?”

James shrugged, giving them nothing to work with.

Sid sat wondering if what James was saying was even the truth. Ali wouldn't do that...would she?

"You fucking lie, man, look at you!" Beau was laughing now. "You ARE getting soft! You're making up shit!"

James shook his head. "Believe what you will, then."

"You for real though, Neal?" Sid asked.

Wouldn't you love to know. He smiled. "Why would I lie?"

Sid looked at Geno, who looked at Beau, who looked at James. It was a circle of disbelief, and the only person smiling was James. He yanked his tights down over his long legs and then stood, his lean body now fully naked. He grabbed a towel and pointed at his package. "See it now?"

Beau rolled his eyes and then James went to grab a shower. In the meantime, Geno, Sid, and Beau all stared at one another.

"He wouldn't..."

Geno shrugged, leaning over his legs. "He might."

Sid shook his head. "I don't buy it for a second."

Beau looked at his stall again. "I bet he just pissed on it."

The three of them looked at one another, but none of them spoke. They decided to drop it, since it was so far-fetched to believe James had brought Ali into the locker room with him, let alone get away with having sex with her in there. James talked a big game, they knew it, but this was a little too big of talk for any of them to believe it.

Luckily, when James came out of the shower, Beau had left and Geno was just about to. Sid wasn’t in the room at the time, but his bags still were. James used the time to himself to get ready at a relaxed pace. He ran the towel through his hair and over his body a final time, then tossed it with the other towels in a pile near their stalls. He threw on some jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater before grabbing his bag and heading out. Just as he was leaving the room, his phone rang. He didn’t even look at the name as he took the call.

“James Neal speaking.”

“Who the fuck answers like that?”

“Hello to you too, Mike.”

“You busy?”

James hit the button on his keys, hearing his car beep in the garage. “Leaving practice, why?”

“I got a favor to ask you.”

“You mean another favor?” he asked with a smirk.

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Can Jill and I stay with you overnight tomorrow?”

“What? Are you guys in town?” James’ brow bent.

“Tomorrow we are, that’s why I’m asking.”

“Yeah, I get that, Mike.” He got in his car and shut the door. “But why?”

“She’s touring with me, and we had a few days off between games. Thought we’d drop by on our way up to New York. Our flight leaves as the ass crack of dawn, so you won’t have to deal with us for more than a night.”

“Thanks for the warning.” James thought about it for a minute. “Yeah, what the hell. We can have you for a night.”

“You have a game or anything?”

“Tonight I do. Stammer’s in town, too bad you weren’t here tonight.”

“Give him a kiss for me when you see him. Special delivery.”

James started his engine, rolling his eyes at his little brother. “I’ll be sure to.”

“I’ll call you when we’re close. Thanks again.”

“Later.”

James tossed his phone in the passenger seat and put the car in reverse. Another idea popped into his head, so he hit the breaks and grabbed his phone again. Why let the good times end? He scrolled down and sent a quick text to Stamkos:

Heard you were buying me a congratulatory drink tonight. I’ll take a scotch, since I heard married men were more refined.

He hit send, feeling good.

Only 6 hours until game time.

* * *

Notes