Make You Miss Me

The next morning, Tyler made his way down to the hotel banquet room where they were told the team breakfast buffet would be held. He had one goal in mind that morning and that was to corner Demers and talk him into giving up some information on Lily.

He got in line for the buffet behind Cody, who was engaged in a rather serious conversation with Jordie ahead of him.

“Legs for fucking DAYS. I mean … fuuuuuck.”

Jordie nodded in agreement, scooping up some scrambled egg whites onto his plate. “I hear ya, man. Who knew this city had that kind of a talent, eh?”

“You think Dems is hitting that? I mean, probably not, but WHAT IF?”

Jordie burst out laughing, “There’s no way. You know that if he was, we would never hear the end of it.”

Tyler, eavesdropping on his teammates’ conversation, knew they were talking about Lily. Completely zoned out, he started putting food on his plate not realizing people around him were starting to take notice.

“Leave some food for the rest of us, eh Seggy?”

Tyler’s eyes widened at the sound of Lindy’s voice behind him. Looking down at his plate, he saw that he had about five pancakes piled up, with a sixth one between the tongs in his hand, midway between the chafing dish and his plate.

Sheepishly, he looked behind him, “Just real hungry this morning, coach…”

Coach chuckled and lightly slapped him on the back. Tyler continued moving down the line, awkwardly attempting to add food on his plate around the trillion pancakes while still listening in on Cody and Jordie’s conversation.

“True, true. You think I could hit it?”

Jordie burst out laughing again, loud enough to turn a few heads. He shoved Cody lightly, ruffling his fiery hair, “Not a chance, bud. You’d better stick to jerkin’ it to that nudie mag you hide under your pillow.”

“Fuck off, Jordie. I don’t have nudie magazines under my pillow…Asshole.”

“Haaah! Sure there, gingerbread man. In other related news, the sky is blue and the sun is ho—Seggy! How’s your tongue today? Manage to get it untied yet?” Great. My epic crashing and burning was public knowledge. Fucking. Great, he thought.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. “ Tyler tried to play it cool, focusing his attention back to the buffet spread in front of him, but Jordie was not planning on letting him off easy.

“I gotta say, I expected better, Seggy. I expect that behavior from the ginger vampire over here, but never from you. Zero out of ten on all counts. I don’t wanna see that shit ever again, you hear me?”

Tyler exaggeratedly rolled his eyes, refusing to meet Jordie’s stare, “Fuck off, Jordie.” He mumbled.

Jordie poked him hard in the arm to get his attention. Tyler relented and looked at him, huffing in annoyance.

Jordie stared him down hard, saying nothing, which only lasted a few seconds before his face cracked and he let out a laugh before slapping Tyler on the back and walking away, shaking his head but still laughing.

Tyler scooped a few more items onto his plate before turning and scanning the room, looking for Demers. Relieved to see Jason sitting at a table by himself, Tyler made his way over.

“Seggy.” Jason acknowledged him, nodding with a mouth full of food, as he took a seat.

Tyler reached across the table and grabbed the bottle of ketchup, shaking a dollop out onto his plate, “Have a good night last night?” He asked, trying to be as casual as possible.

Jason just nodded, stuffing a wedge of pancakes into his mouth.

“Did … uh … Did Lily have a good time last night…?”

Jason nodded again, “Mmmhmm.”

This conversation was going nowhere. Tyler wracked his brain for ways to get Jason talking without sounding too desperate himself.

“You gonna hang out with her again while we’re here?”

Jason shook his head, “Nope.”

“No?”

Jason swallowed down his food and wiped his mouth with a napkin. Knowing exactly what Tyler was trying to do, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat, grinning at his teammate. “She’s a busy gal, Seggy.”

“Is …… she a single busy gal………..?”

Jason barked out a laugh, not answering his question and going back to eating the food on his plate.

“C’mon man, she’s a fuckin’ smokeshow. Throw me a bone, here.”

Still grinning, Jason took a slow sip from his coffee cup and acknowledged Jamie who had since pulled up a chair before answering, “Yes, Segs, she is a single busy gal.”

“So…can you give me her phone number….?

Jason took another sip of coffee, “Not a chance.”

Jamie burst out in a giggle while Tyler fell back in his chair completely exasperated.

“Come ON, DEMS! Why the fuck not??”

“She’s way too much for you to handle, brother.”

Now Tyler was just annoyed. “What does that even MEAN?”

Jason gave him a knowing smile before answering, “Trust me, man. Stick to your puck sluts and southern belles.” He stood up and squeezed Tyler’s shoulder before making his way out of the banquet room.

Tyler looked across the table at Jamie, face scrunched up in confusion.

“I don’t even … what the fu-…I just … what just happened??!!”

Jamie looked to be in deep thought over the exchange.

“He’s either trying to tell you that you’re not good enough for his friend or that she’s too good for you”

“Jamie. Those literally mean the exact same thing.” Tyler sighed, running his hand over his face. “You know what? Fuck it. I can do this myself.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow in question at his friend.

Tyler whipped out his phone, quickly tapping in his passcode to unlock it. He pulled up the Instagram app, “Everyone has Instagram. He’s gotta be following her.” He searched for Jason’s profile, clicking on the name when it popped up. “He’s only following 196 people. This is going to be easier than I thought!”

With his tongue sticking out between his lips in concentration, Tyler slowly and meticulously scrolled through the list, stopping on every possible handle and viewing the profile and going back to Demers’ profile when it wasn’t what he was looking for.

Finally, about three quarters of the way down the list, he came upon @lilforbes.

He clicked on the handle and her profile graced his screen. Winner Winner, chicken dinner.

Except her profile was set to private so all he could see was the teeny tiny profile picture. Regardless, he knew it was hers.

“Jamie. Jamie. Jamie..CHUBS!”

Jamie’s head snapped up from looking down at his own phone.

“I FOUND HER”

Jamie raised his eyebrows at Tyler, “Seriously bro, you’re in some real stalker territory right now…”

Tyler waved off his comment, “Her profile’s locked though. Do I request her?”

Jamie shrugged, offering up no bro-assistance whatsoever.

Tyler’s thumb hovered over the follow button for several seconds, trying to talk himself into sending her a request. He hummed and hawwed about it a bit too long because before he knew it, coach was standing at the front of the room turning the projector on announcing that their video review session was about to start, instructing one of the trainers to turn off the lights.

Before he could talk himself out of it, Tyler quickly hit ‘follow’ before blacking out his phone screen and shoving it into the front pocket of his hoodie, making a concerted effort to pay attention to the screen at the front of the room.


__


With her fingers poised over the keys on her keyboard, Lily sat at her desk, taking in her surroundings. Designer furniture, expertly selected and placed around the room to ensure proper feng shui (whatever that meant), abstract paintings on the walls ordered from some exclusive artist in Europe that her stepmother insisted was ‘all the rage with the rich and famous’, beautiful fresh white orchids, varying in size sitting atop end tables, coffee tables and her beautiful white desk.

She drew her gaze down to the dark, nearly black, flawlessly polished hardwood floors, a stark contrast to the pure white walls of her entirely-too-big office. She reflected on how those three words basically summed up her life – ‘entirely too big’. Being the daughter to a major Canadian oil tycoon, who was in the process of grooming her and her brother to take over the business, was a tad overwhelming at times to say the least. From private jets, to expensive cars, clothes, jewelry and real estate, the Forbes family were incapable of keeping anything small. Go big, or go home. That’s what her dad always said.

Calgary was home to a certain extent, in that their family home was there along with what could be considered their company’s home base. Her father William Forbes was one of the most well-known oil tycoons in the Western Hemisphere and was in the process of making a name for himself in the East. He had a knack for striking gold – or more accurately, oil - everywhere he went. The man knew his stuff, and having been around rigs for most of her life, Lily was becoming quite good at knowing when and where to strike as well.

William was more than ecstatic when his baby girl showed signs of interest in the family business, and that was when the real work started. The work that came with the territory meant that she was constantly jetting off around the world, meeting with very important, high powered businessmen, wining and dining, and being wined and dined, herself.

Lily could never complain, no matter how exhausted she was most days. Her life was great. Fucking fantastic, even. She worked her ass off but the payoff was beyond measure. She indulged in the finer things in life and refused to settle for anything less. But while the Forbes family had homes in different cities around the world where they frequently visited or vacationed, Lily often longed for the feeling of staying in one place, a place to call home for real…sometimes she even longed for crazier things, like wanting someone to come home to. And like her grandmother always reminded her, “You’re not getting any younger, Lillian”. Unfortunately, her busy schedule left little time for extra-curriculars with the opposite sex in any way shape or form. It didn’t help any that she got bored easily either. But when you get burned enough once, you get pretty good at avoiding catching feelings altogether.

Taking her hands away from the keyboard, she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, turning her gaze towards the floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the rolling hills of their property and snowcapped Rockies in the background.

She thought back to the previous night. She smiled remembering how Tyler tripped over himself in her presence. Lily was no stranger to the world of professional hockey, and certainly no stranger to the world of professional athletes. Tyler was hot, no doubt about it, and despite his unexpected lack of confidence last night, his reputation still preceded him. Not to mention Jason had given her an earful after they left the bar, but she would be lying if she said that she wasn’t the slightest bit intrigued. Not that it was even remotely a possibility, but a girl was allowed to lust over attractive men from time to time.

“Earth to Lilian…you in there, space cadet?”

Jolted out of her trance, she turned her attention to her older brother who was standing in front of her desk, looking at her like she was crazy person.

“Jackson! Hey! Hi! I’m here, yeah. What’s up?”

“No word of a lie, I have been standing here for at least 5 minutes waiting for you to notice me and you literally didn’t move a muscle. I don’t even think you blinked. Weirdo.”

Lily shook her head, “Just zoned out for a sec. What do you need?”

Jackson plopped down onto the one of the plush chairs on the other side of her desk, propping his work boot-clad feet up on her desk, making himself comfortable.

Lily raised an eyebrow at her brother, her eyes darting back and forth from his boots to his face until he got the idea and placed his feet back on the floor.

She stared at him some more, waiting for him to vocalize what he wanted, “Other than walking through the entire house and leaving a track of filth in your path, did you actually have a purpose or….?”

Without looking up from his phone, he asked “What’d you get up to last night?”

Lily raised an eyebrow at her brother again. When she didn’t answer, he looked up from his phone and stared back, waiting for an answer.

She rolled eyes at him, “I went out, Jackson.”

“And?”

“And NOTHING! God! What is with you?”

“Talked to Jase earlier, he said he brought you around his team last night.”

“Jesus Christ, Jackson. I had a few drinks, NOTHING else. So please spare me the lecture.”

“He said you spent a lot of time chatting up that Seguin kid.”

Lily threw herself back into her chair, sheer frustration all over her face, “Fuck sakes, Jackson! I already got an earful from Jason when I dropped him off at his hotel. I don’t need a second one from my brother. I’m a grown woman. It’s a crazy concept, but I am allowed to talk to guys.”

Jackson shook his head disapprovingly, “Not hockey players. You know better than that.”

“That’s so – ugh! I’m friends with Jason, so why do you never make a big deal out of that?”

“Because Jase is shit scared of me and I know he’ll never try anything with you. And if he did, he knows he’d be a dead man.”

“I had a CONVERSATION with the guy. I’m not fucking DATING him. I know not to date hockey players, Jax. You and Jason have done a pretty good job of drilling that rule into my head, thanks.”

He didn’t respond, just stared at her pointedly, waiting.

Lily rolled her eyes for the millionth time, “I don’t date hockey players anymore.”

Ok, fine. She slipped up one time, with a minor-leaguer back in college. He was charming, handsome, and made her believe he was in love with her. Until one day, he had passed her his phone to read an article about him and his team and some whore texted him a series of naked pictures of herself. At which point she learned there were several other women in his phone, all of which were under the impression that they were the only one. So that was the end of that, to say the least. The guy was really lucky that Jackson hadn’t gone and beat him to a bloody pulp and ripped him limb from limb. It took a lot of begging and pleading on Lily’s part to talk her brother into letting it go, because at 6’4, and 220lbs, her ex wouldn’t have stood a chance. Not that he wouldn’t have deserved it, she just really loved her brother and didn’t particularly want him going to jail in her honor.

Jackson stared hard at his baby sister. He loved her more than anything and while he was fine with her being such good friends with Jason, whom he trusted and knew would never step out of line, he certainly did not trust any of Jason’s friends around her. Lily was a tough cookie to crack, he knew that, so he took some comfort in knowing that she wasn’t one to be easily impressed, especially by these guys who figured their names and salaries were enough to get women into their beds. But he wasn’t stupid either; Lily would be seen as a challenge, which only meant she would end up getting hurt, and then he’d have to kill a man, which didn’t really work well for any of his future plans so…


“Jackson, seriously, chill out. It was just a conversation, and judging by how fucking weird he was acting, he was definitely drunk and probably doesn’t even remember. Now did you actually have something work-related to talk about or did you just come in here to yell at me about giving boys attention.”

Giving up for now, Jackson threw a USB-stick at her, “Dad wanted me to give this to you. Some smarty pants geological report thing for a new project that I haven’t got a hot clue about.”

Lily gave her brother an endearing smile, “You know, Jax, I would be more than happy to teach you all about these smarty pants geological reports things one day.”

Jackson chuckled, standing up and smoothing down the front of his red and white flannel shirt, “No way, Lily pad. You can stick to being the brains behind the operation. I can’t be wasting my good looks behind a desk. A face like this needs to be out in public.”

Lily burst out laughing, “Oh yeah, definitely. You’re the epitome of style and beauty, there bud.”

He went around her desk and gave her a hug in her chair, “Missed you, little sis.”

She patted his giant bicep that was nearly smothering her face, “Missed you too, Jax … death grip … can’t…breathe…”

Laughing, he kissed the top of her head and let go. “You leaving again soon?”

“Yeah, tomorrow. Gotta pay South Dakota a visit for a bit. You?”

“Heading up to Mac this afternoon. Inspection season’s around the corner. Gotta make sure rigs are in tip top shape, y’know.”

“Hmm … inspection season eh…. Wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain Lacey McAllister who happens to reside in Fort Mac, would it….”

Jackson let out a loud bark of laughter and held up a middle finger behind him as he made his way out of her office.

“Two can play this game, Jacky boy!”

He was already out of her office and down the hall when she heard him yell “Love youuuuuuu!”

She laughed softly, shaking her head. Straightening in her chair, she brought up her email program and got started on the 33 unread messages in her inbox. She was seven emails in when she was startled by the vibration of her phone. She stopped what she was doing and picked it up, assuming it was probably a text from Jackson who probably just thought of a come-back to her last comment, but was surprised to find it was an instagram notification.

tseguin92 has requested to follow you!

Lily blacked out her phone screen, and turned it on again to make sure her phone wasn’t playing tricks on her.

How did he even find her profile? Why was he requesting her? Was she supposed to accept his request to follow her? Should she ask Jason about it? Maybe Jase stole his phone and this was a test and maybe Jackson was in on it too and maybe – She gave her head a shake and told herself to settle down. She just told Jackson she was a grown woman that was allowed to talk to guys.

But Tyler isn’t just any guy… She gave her head a shake again. You’re being stupid. He probably just wants to save face after being such a weirdo last night…ACCEPT!!!!

She chewed on her bottom lip while she debated accepting his follow request. If she accepted, she would never hear the end of it from Jackson and Jason. But ever the self-conscious one, she didn’t want to decline the follow request and have someone think she thought she was too good for them and stuck up, now could she? Before she could talk herself out of it, she quickly tapped the green check mark, and then gave him a follow back.

No harm in making a new friend, right?

__


Tyler bounced his leg impatiently while Lindy went over video of the Flames’ last game, pointing out defensive weaknesses and telling them how they need to capitalize on the Flames’ mistakes tomorrow night.

…blah blah blah hockey …blah blah blah get pucks on net…blah blah blah forecheck…blah blah blah score goals. Tyler wanted to listen, he really did, but any and all focus was gone the second he felt his phone vibrate two consecutive times a few minutes before.

Did Lily accept my follow request? What if she DM’d me? Did she like any of my posts? Was she looking at my profile this very second? His mind was racing. He started mentally looking through his instagram feed. Were there any questionable, scandalous pictures? Was there anything on there that a girl he was kinda sorta interested in shouldn’t see? He tried to be as smart as possible when it came to what he posted, but sometimes, after a few bottles of Jack, pictures with puckbunnies seemed to always find their way in there…

He could not sit still if his life depended on it. Coach had a very strict no-phone policy during video review and after all the unwanted attention on him from the previous night, he wasn’t about to risk getting called out again.

He shifted in his seat a few times, resting his elbow on the table, crossing one leg over the other, uncrossing and then crossing the opposite leg. He crossed his arms across his chest and uncrossed them, then shifted again, this time crossing his legs. Once more. He shifted one more time before Jamie threw a crumpled up napkin at his head.

Tyler whipped his head around and stared at his captain, “What?!” he mouthed.

“Quit it!” Jamie mouthed back.

Tyler stared back expressionlessly, blinking his eyes a few times before turning his attention back to the front of the room.

Just when he thought he was going to explode with impatience, Coach dismissed them. Tyler was up and out of his seat before the lights even came on. He beelined for the elevator, pressing the up button repeatedly, willing the elevator to get there faster, hoping he could beat the rest of the team and get into his room unnoticed. Of course, that couldn’t be the case. Jordie, Jamie, Jason and Cody came barreling up just as the doors opened.

“Seggy! We’re heading downtown in a bit, you wanna come?” Jordie asked.

They all piled into the elevator with a bit of playful pushing and shoving.

Tyler declined Jordie’s invite, “Nah, I’m a little tired, might get a nap in before lunch. Maybe I’ll just meet up with you guys later?” Tyler gave Jamie a warning look as his friend stared at him knowing he was lying through his teeth.

“It’s cool, we’ll wait for you. We can go for lunch downtown, there’s a really good Mexican place Lily was telling me about that I wanna try out.” Jason knew that would get Tyler’s attention.

That it did. Tyler’s ears perked up but not wanting to show it, he nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders and nodded, “Yeah, sure, whatever. Give me a couple of hours.”

The elevator dinged and came to a stop on their shared floor. They all piled out and headed in the direction of their respective rooms.

“Reconvene back here in 2 hours, eh boys?” Jordie yelled from down the hall.

Various forms of grunts in acknowledgment echoed down the hall as everyone went into their rooms.

Finally in the solace and privacy of his room, Tyler pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the screen. He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face when he saw the two notifications.

@lilforbes has accepted your follow request!

@lilforbes has followed you!

Failing to contain his excitement and thankful he was alone, he pumped his fist in the air.

Plopping down onto the bed, he poised himself to do some Instagram creeping and swiped his thumb across the screen, opening up her profile. What he saw next was definitely not what he was expecting. He double-checked and then triple checked that he had the right profile because there was no way …

There were pictures of her in front of a private jet, in a private jet, in foreign countries, on beaches and yachts. Pictures of her dressed to the nines at black tie events and then pictures of her looking filthy dirty, like she was working in trenches – he scrolled and scrolled, absolutely dumbfounded. Who was this girl??!!

His creeping was interrupted by a knock at his door. Without looking through the peephole, he swung the door open to find a very unimpressed-looking Jason Demers staring back at him.

Jason looked fuming mad as he held out the screen side of his phone, Instagram open on it.

“What the fuck is this, Seggy.”

Tyler rolled his eyes and turned his back to his teammate and walked into his room, knowing Jason was going to be hot on his heels.

“Looks like Instagram, Dems”

“Don’t play fuckin’ dumb with me, Segs. I told you to leave her alone which I didn’t realize translated into fucking stalking her on instagram?!”

Tyler shrugged his shoulders, standing on the opposite end of the room from Jason, making sure the bed was between them in the event Jason tried to lunge at him, “I don’t know what to tell you, bro. She’s fucking hot, so I wanted to see what her deal was and holy fuck did I ever – that’s some serious Rich Kids Of Instagram shit right there. What does she do and is THAT why you’ve been keeping her a secret?”

Jason was visibly getting more and more upset as Tyler kept talking. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid. He never should have agreed to bring her the other night. He was already on the cusp of getting his ass beat by her older brother, but this was probably going to solidify that beating. He frustratingly ran his hand over his face with a growl.

“Her dad’s in the oil business. They have more money than they know what to do with in that family. Her and her brother each own a part of the company and they work their asses off. She’s busy all the time, that part I wasn’t lying about. It’s a miracle I even got to see her last night, which BY THE WAY, I got a ton of shit for from her brother. He’s a motherfucking BEAST, Seggy. Like the guy could probably bench both of us at the same time and not even break a goddamn sweat. Fucking terrifying, and guess what? He fucking hates hockey players. So I’m gonna tell you one last time to leave. her. ALONE.”

Tyler paused for a moment to think about what Jason just shared with him, “If he hates hockey players, why is he ok with you being friends with her”

Jason thought his head was going to explode out of frustration, “Really, Segs, Really? THAT’S what you took away from what I just told you.”

Tyler didn’t say anything, instead just waited for him to answer the question.

Sighing, Jason gave in and answered, “I’ve known her and her brother since college and he knows damn well he’s put the fear of God in me, so it’s cool. I’m on his good side. YOU on the other hand are in the fast lane to getting on his bad side. Which is not a good place to be, bro.”

“Ok but to be fair, she didn’t have to accept my follow request, she could have just declined but instead she accepted AND followed back. I think it means something, Demsy…”

Jason balled his fists and willed himself not to take a swing at his younger teammate, “Seggy…I swear to – it means she isn’t a fucking asshole and accepted because you’re my teammate and didn’t want to hurt your goddamn feelings! It means nothing. She doesn’t date hockey players, and even if she did, she’d give you 5 minutes of her time, get bored and then move the fuck on. She’s way out of your league, out of any guy like us’ league. Trust me.”

Out of my league? Guys like us? Tyler repeated Jason’s words in his head, trying to process what his friend was saying.

“When you say ‘guys like us’ … what exactly does that mean.”

Jason sighed, “Seggy. How many girls have you fucked who’s named you didn’t know, or didn’t even care to know.”

Tyler shrugged, guiltily refusing to give an answer.

“How many girls have you claimed to be committed to, and then broken up with shortly after.”

Tyler shrugged again, this time, keeping his gaze focused on the black carpet.

“Now how many of those girls’ feelings do you actually give two shits about at this very moment.”

Tyler mumbled something incoherent.

Jason crossed his arms across his chest, “I rest my case. Lily is better than all of those girls. Lily deserves better than the girls guys like you and me get involved with. She’s special, Segs. And did I mention her brother is basically the Hulk?”

Tyler was stubborn and he wasn’t about to let Jason dictate who he could and could not get to know. “Ok yeah, I get it Dems. But I’m not unfollowing her. Because then that would make me look like a total creep who followed her and then unfollowed her. I made a big enough ass out of myself last night, at least let me save SOME face with this girl.”

“If her brother gets on my ass about this, I swear to god, Seggy, I will throw you under the goddamn bus SO FAST—“

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I’ll deal with Bruce Banner if the time comes. Now will YOU get off MY ass, please and thank you?!”

Jason shook his head. He did not like the idea of Tyler getting to know Lily, not one bit. “It’s your funeral, brother.”

Tyler didn’t say anything as he watched Jason turn around and leave his room. He rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of what just went down in his room. What was so wrong with wanting to get to know someone? He especially wanted to get to know more about her now after seeing all her pictures. He pulled up her Instagram profile again, scrolling through post after post. He stopped at one of the pictures, a candid selfie of her and another girl on an exotic beach. He double tapped the picture, liking it, knowing damn well it was date stamped from months ago. He figured if he was going to be a creep, he may as well let her know he was being a creep.

A few seconds later, he got a notification at the bottom of the app that he received a like. Curious, he tapped the heart icon. She had liked a picture of his from the summer when he was in Los Angeles with MDZ.

Feeling a surge in confidence, Tyler tapped on the inbox icon and typed her name into the search bar. Without hesitation, he sent her a direct message.

@tseguin92: Hey

He waited a few moments before a message bubble popped up on the screen.

@lilforbes: Hi :)

Tyler grinned. Game, set, match.

Notes

My loves! Thank you for your patience! Don't you just hate it when life gets in the way? I will be better at updating, I promise! This whole story is practically written in my head, it's just a matter of finding time to get it typed out. Hope you like the 2nd chapter! xoxo