"Where is this bitch?" Amanda said, looking over her shoulder for the hundredth time. She was meeting Darcy for lunch in Erin's section at Wild Wings, and her date was three minutes late. "Bet she called in sex to work today."

"Come on! You don't even know anything happened," Erin chided. She felt protective of Ryan, though, not Darcy. Even if Darcy seemed surprisingly nervous about her young gentleman caller.

"You know guys peak at eighteen," Amanda looked at her phone. "They've probably broken the bed by now."

"Nah. Ryan's too skinny," Erin laughed. "She might just be...."

Darcy walked through the door, phone at one ear and Blackberry in hand. "Yes. Yes. End of day. Uh huh. Bye," she rattled off, then practically slammed the phone down on the table. "Edit your own fucking reports, asshole! I didn't go to college to keep you from missing deadlines!" She shook her body dramatically. "Okay, sorry. Hi."

Amanda and Erin exchanged glances. "Guess she wasn't teaching sex ed," Erin said.

"I thought you were busy riding the Ryan Express," Amanda confessed.

Darcy dumped her coat and bag into an empty seat. "We, ahem... I decided not to complicate our relationship. He's young and impressionable and...."

"I think he's just horny," Amanda interrupted.

"And gorgeous," Erin added.

"Funny, too," back to Amanda.

Erin leaned her elbows on the table. "Did you know guys peak at eighteen?"

"Well let me tell you, I am regretting it now. I could've gotten knocked up last night and this morning when my boss asked me why the coffee in the kitchen was cold, I’d have told him to fuck off and die," Darcy didn’t even reach for the menu. "Two beers and a cheeseburger, medium. Can we do shots?"

Erin wagged her finger. "Not good for the baby. So that's it?"

Darcy shrugged. "Ry's great but he's just a kid, you know? I don't want to be fooling around. I mean, I like him, but he's a holding hands at the movies kind of guy, not a throw you up against a wall guy."

"Untrue. I have seen said throwing, and that guy was much bigger than you," Amanda reminded them of the Barons game.

"What did he say?" Erin asked.

"Well he wanted to, obviously," Darcy shook her hair back and sat up straight, smirking, "and I swear kissing him I could almost forget he's nineteen."

"You kissed him and then told him no? Darcy! Poor guy was so nervous after the first night, now he probably thinks he's bad!" Amanda yelped.

Darcy shook her head. "No, no. We talked about it. I told him he was an excellent kisser, which led to more kissing and got us totally off track," she laughed. "I actually had to stop us more than once."

"So you're just friends?" Erin asked. The answer was yes.

Amanda snorted. "Till y'all get drunk at the Halloween party."
____

Time passed more slowly than Jordan could ever remember ever, but not in a bad way. The Barons practiced and traveled, but played almost exclusively Thursday through Sunday. He stayed at Erin's a lot, though he felt bad about leaving Ryan alone in the hotel night. The kid was a little down about Darcy only because he hated being told he was too young for anything. They still hung out together in the group, but so far no more kissing incidents.

Two days before Halloween, the guys were at Wild Wings for Monday Night Football, equal parts watching the TV and watching Erin work. She and Ryan had whispered for a few minutes on arrival and Jordan was trying to figure out why.

"It’s nothing!" Ryan insisted.

"Darcy," Taylor guessed.

"No." Ryan still sounded a little defeated about that one. Jordan clapped him on the shoulder.

"Halloween costumes," he guessed. "Party's in two days and Erin won't tell me hers, you won't tell me yours."

"We're going as Top Gun," Taylor said though no one asked him. "I got a jump suit and Amanda got this hot little dress," he gestured somewhere around the bottom of his ass for length. Ryan grimaced. "What? You better hope Darcy wears something easy access, you might get to second base if she's drunk enough."

"Shut up," Ryan said rather forcefully. Taylor made a face.

"Just saying man, she wants a piece. Get some drinks going and you can give her a little high stick in the crease," he said. Jordan swung at him as Erin came around with a tray of meals.

"Looks delicious," she said right to Jordan, dimples flashing. It still surprised him sometimes how beautiful she was. It also slowed his reflexes.

"He's fine," Ryan pushed under Jordan's chin, closing his mouth. "For a monkey."

Another customer waved for her and Erin started to turn away. "Hey, what are you wearing for Halloween?" Taylor called loud enough for the nearby tables to hear.

Without looking back she said, "Nothing but my Taylor Hall jersey."

He whooped as she left, slapping Jordan's leg. "God, she is good."

"I thought you didn't like her," Jordan said, though he was deeply relieved every time Taylor skipped a chance to throw Julie in his face.

Taylor looked seriously at his best friend. "Stop it. You know I always liked her."

"So it was me and her you didn't like together?”

"Just you," Taylor said, "and it was trust. I didn't trust you not to fall in love with her. Now, I just... well you did anyway, eh? Not her fault it's gonna fuck you up when we leave."

"And Amanda? How is that so different?"

Taylor shrugged. "I like Amanda, but we’re clear. Your situation is different because you're different, Ebs." Jordan looked like he was going to say something, but was beaten to the punch.

Ryan sighed, “I wish I had a situation.”

Putting the discussion aside, Jordan went back to his beer and dinner. Erin had rigged up a chicken sandwich with the cooks that they could eat pretty frequently and still be healthy. Whatever game was on TV served as enough distraction to keep him quiet as he mulled over Taylor’s change of heart. He had fallen for Erin and the story was unfolding predictably. Taylor’s endorsement was another way of reassuring Jordan he’d be there for the messy end, yet again. Jordan was thinking about the inevitable ‘I told you so’ when Taylor’s phone chirped, face down on the table. Right away his own pocket buzzed just as Ryan was reaching for his jacket. It took a split second for them to realize what all three phones ringing at the same time meant.

“Shit,” Jordan whispered.

New NHL offer. Meetings tomorrow. Stay put but it’s a big move from last round. News soon.

The text was from his agent. Taylor worked with a different firm, but his and Ryan’s messages would say the same thing. They each stared at their phones for a second, then looked at each other. Jordan’s heart was pounding.

“You guys okay?” Erin came from behind, passing between two tables. She wasn’t supposed to hang on the customers so just she put a hand on his shoulder, just a friendly gesture. Jordan flinched, whipping his head around. Then he grabbed that hand and pulled her right through the dining room toward the front door. Erin almost stumbled in surprise, but quickly caught up so it would look like she was going on her own and kept her head down so her boss wouldn’t see. A play on TV made the whole place groan and no one noticed them passing through.

“What is...,” she said as he threw the outside door open. Jordan made it just past the restaurant windows before he pulled her in and kissed her. “What are,” she couldn’t get her lips back, “Jordnnnnnnn!’ Then she froze. He felt her whole body go stiff in his arms. That soft mouth went slack and fell open, not the kind meant for kissing.

“It’s over?” Her voice was so small that Jordan wanted to cry.

“No. But we just heard there’s a new offer and a meeting tomorrow. It could get voted down. I don’t know what’s in the deal but...,” Jordan was talking a mile a minute, his words all colliding like cars on a derailed train. He didn’t even know what he was saying until Erin crushed his lips with another kiss, forcing him to stop. Linking his arms behind her back, Jordan lifted her off the ground and kissed her for all he was worth. They came apart gasping, Jordan still in mid-sentence.

“... it’s a big one.”

“Fuck,” she said. “I mean, I’m happy for you. I hope it goes through. I hope you get everything back but it’s too soon, Jordan.”

“I know.” He could not believe the traitorous sound of his own voice. Waiting for this very moment, expecting it to sneak up and bite him had been nothing compared to looking at her face and telling her it might be over. Or might not. Which was worse? Jordan pulled her in tight and stood there, holding her, as if he could slow the whole thing down by wishing.

Erin felt sick. Another month wouldn’t make it easier but it would make it more worthwhile. Every second, even this hug in the parking lot while her tables starved and pounded their empty glasses, made what was coming more worthwhile. Only now she was genuinely scared.

“What are we going to do?” Jordan whispered, his face buried in her hair.

What can we do? she thought. But she told him, “Go back inside. Then come over when I’m off. Can you?” He smiled, so genuinely pleased to be able to give her anything she wanted, that Erin almost burst into tears.

“I’ll be waiting right here. That’s not creepy now that I’m your boyfriend, right?”

They walked back inside, Erin holding Jordan’s hand for as long as she could without it being visible to customers. He gave her a squeeze before she headed for the kitchen.

Boyfriend, he thought. That’s gotta be worth something.

The same word echoed in Erin’s mind. Boyfriend. What’s the point?

Taylor and Ryan had eaten rather quickly, and Jordan finished his food too. Erin gave them a brave smile when she brought the check. They suddenly couldn’t wait to get out of there, even as much as Jordan wanted to stay where she was. The car ride was silent. Agents and parents would be called, other players who might have a line on what the new deal was. Even Twitter had more information than they did now.

Jordan dropped onto his hotel bed, laptop open, and began to scour. Thirty minutes later all he’d found was a headache. The League was teasing the deal as a fifty-fifty split. It was well below what the players had asked for originally, but with a month’s worth of games already cancelled he wasn’t sure resolve held as strong. His agent knew nothing else, so he called his mom.

“What have you heard?” she asked. The news was even slimmer on their end, though she had talked to Ryan and Taylor’s parents. It always made Jordan feel like they were in grade school when their parents checked in on each other’s sons. “Well, I don’t want to get my hopes up but you could be back in a fews days! If they signed something tomorrow, that’s,” she counted in her head, “maybe back on Halloween, start playing the second week in November.”

“I have a Halloween party here. I’m not missing it,” Jordan said flatly.

“And you... what?” Lisa Eberle interrupted herself. “A party?”

“Yeah, we put together a party and it’s in two days and I’m not leaving before that. They can’t just tell us we have to come here then when we get here, say turn right around! I’m so sick of this!” He only ever talked like this to his mother, because Jordan was well aware he sounded like a whiny baby.

“Jordan. What’s wrong?” Just like that she knew. Nothing ever got past his mom.

“I met a girl.”

Somewhere beyond his frustration, above the stone in the pit of his stomach, Jordan could have laughed. His mother spent her free time trying to do for him what he’d finally done for himself, and this was her payment. He’d found a girl without his mom’s approval and now he didn’t want to come back to his real life. She’d be so happy and so very annoyed.

“Who is she?” The tone was clipped.

“Her name’s Erin. You’d like her.”

“Would I?” she asked skeptically.

He rolled onto his back, wondering where Ryan had gone. “Yeah, mom. She didn’t know anything about hockey before we met. Never been to a game before the season opener. Never been to Canada, never heard of me. She even looks out for Ryan.”

“Well,” and her voice started to thaw, “maybe she can visit.”

“UGH,” Jordan covered his face and the phone with a pillow. “I hate this! I want to come home and play, I want the season to start. I want to stop waiting.”

“And you want to stay,” his mom added. He could hear the smile coming to her face. “For a girl. Does she know how lucky she is?”

“She knows I’m leaving, mom. She’s known from the first day that I really like her, I try to be with her all the time and that I’m leaving any second. Ditching her and this place with barely time to say goodbye.”

“She wanted to date you anyway?”

“Yup,” he dropped with like the word weighed a hundred pounds. “She did.”

“Then you’re right,” his mom said. “I like her.”

“So what do I do?” The ceiling over his bed held no answers, and he’d long since counted the tiles anyway. They had stayed in this transient place to make leaving easy. So much for that. Jordan vowed to himself that if the NHL’s deal fell through, he would move them all into an apartment and stop pretending he could control any of this.

“Tell me about her.”

Starting with how they met, Jordan gave his mom a pretty accurate picture of Erin. He even admitted that Taylor had to beg her to call him for their first date. “Taylor didn’t nab her first? You’re getting better,” she laughed.

“Thanks, Mom, real nice. She turned Taylor down, in fact, the night we met. She wanted my number instead.”

“Well she’s smart, I’ll give her that.”

Jordan had described the ways his AHL schedule was different, mostly playing around weekends and how it gave him free time. Erin’s schedule was erratic, but left a lot of days open. She came to games whenever she could and always cheered the loudest, wearing her borrowed Eberle sweater.

“Want me to send you a real one?”

“No thanks. She doesn’t know the Oilers. I’ll get her a Barons jersey when... well,” Jordan stopped himself, “maybe never now. Who knows. But if we stay.” He said goodnight to his mother and got a few encouraging words in return. She’d never wish against something Jordan wanted, but she was a practical woman used to the rigors of hockey life. Setting down roots in this situation shouldn’t be done, and this was the reason. Jordan hung up, glad that he still had another night of Erin to look forward to.

When it was time, he drove to Wild Wings. Erin was sitting on the curb outside, using her phone. She jumped in as he rolled to a stop. “Am I late?” he asked.

“No. But I wanted to hurry.” She passed him her phone with a map already displayed. “Take me to the drive-in?” They followed the same route as their first date, out of town and off a highway exit, down to a lonely field that used to be a nightly movie theater. The white screen still watched over an empty lot, sheets of screen hanging loose in squares. Jordan pulled into the front row parking spot again. Erin leaned over to kiss him... as she climbed into the backseat.

“Coming?” she smirked from her new location. Jordan went the easy way - out the drivers’ side door and into the one behind. He situated his back against the corner, legs stretched legs across the seat with Erin’s back to his chest.

“Do you come here a lot?” he asked, playing with a piece of her hair.

“Sometimes. It’s too bright to see the stars downtown, but anything more desolate than this freaks me out. In the summer we have parties here,” she took his hand, making a small circle in his palm with one thumb. Jordan shivered.

“You do that a lot, you know. With your thumb,” he said, enjoying the gentle touch.

She snickered. “I have never done this to anyone before you. You seemed so nervous that first night....”

“I was nervous. For all I know, you might kill me and leave my body here! Strange girl asking me to drive her to the middle of nowhere,” he scoffed, then his voice got soft. “Now we’re back here. I hope it’s not our last night.”

“You’re not supposed to want that.”

He reclaimed his hand just to tilt her face up. “I don’t get to decide what I do. I can at least decide what I want.”

She kissed him gently, and his heart cracked right down the middle. As if he could prove that he meant what he said, Jordan deepened the kiss and pulled Erin higher against his body. They were all weight and confined space - anywhere they pressed together was the right place. Erin shifted around to get at more of him, her hands sliding up his thighs as she kissed his neck. Everything started to pick up speed.

“Do you want to go back? I can drive really fast,” Jordan said.

Erin laughed against his collarbone; she’d pulled the neck of his shirt open to reach that sensitive spot. “Nope. I let a boy take me to the drive in, and I intend to fool around in his car.” Really she didn’t think she could wait as she straddled his wide thigh. With a fluid movement, her shirt came up and off, dumping her wavy hair down her back. Jordan took two handfuls of lacy white bra and quickly worked the cups down. Erin responded by grinding against him like a lap dance. His moan was muffled against her breast.

“You like that?” she teased, and did it again. Jordan’s eyes rolled right back in his head. Leaving her breasts bouncing in perfect proximity to his face, he held Erin’s hips close, clearly defining his growing erection against her inner thigh. She squeaked in surprise. “Guess you do.”

“I like you,” he said in a hoarse voice. “A lot. I need you to know that, just in case.”

“I know, Moose.”

Getting naked in the backseat of a car is an ancient art form in which Jordan had no practice. He got elbowed and Erin hit her head on the window as they tried to scramble out of enough clothes to make it count. She was smaller and quicker. When she was down to her panties, Erin climbed back up astride him. This time the lap dance was for real. Jordan let his hands roam her body as she ground against his hard-on, trying to catch her lips but equally enjoying the view. Her soft hair brushed his face as she moved.

Erin felt wild. She supposed it was the whole ‘sex and death’ reflex, the abject fear of losing Jordan made real by a single text message. In a month, she’d let herself get completely out of control. Might as well keep the parade moving. She worked his boxers down just far enough, then licked her palm and smoothed it over his cock. Jordan groaned - she loved that noise. A single move and he was inside her. His fingers dented her flesh wherever they could grab a hold. Erin pushed her knees farther out to get lower along his shaft. He kissed her hungrily, almost desperately, as they moved together. It was so different, just to hold her this way, like the cherry on top of a sundae.

“Jordan,” she whispered. That did it. He heard it in the primal part of the male brain that waits for a woman to call your name during sex. It made him painfully harder, and he gritted his teeth as he stroked deeply enough to lift them clear off the seat. She cried out. That was the only other sound he could handle.

“Oh God,” he gasped. The orgasm blindsided him. With all of Erin all over him, he never saw it coming. He thrust one last time as he burst inside her. “Oh God.”

Erin felt him go. It was powerful, to take a guy and reduce him to that. If only Jordan knew he held all the cards. The way he kissed scared Erin, like he really thought each one might be the last. As his back curled with the force of his release, she came too out of sheer desire not to let him go alone. A panting, heaving tangle of limbs fell quiet.

Jordan brushed away the sweaty strands of hair that stuck to Erin’s temple. He put his lips to the same spot, wishing he had something to say that was worthy of the night. First the emotional roller coaster, now the physical. He felt like the whole thing had run him over. Drawing Erin into his chest, they held still and shared the feeling of Jordan relaxing inside her.

“I can never bring anyone else here now,” she finally whispered. “This is your place. Anytime you want, from Canada or wherever, I’ll be here. Okay?”

He nearly choked on a single word. “Okay.”
____