Chapter 26 – The Rule

Nef’s POV


Okay. Sasha and I had a rule. That rule stated that the night before a game we would not spend the night together. We had only broken that rule once before – that was the day that I met his parents. January was a busy month for the caps. Every month was a busy month but January more so. The condensed schedule seemed to come to a head in January and the boys didn’t have more than a night between games up until the Olympic break.

Well with every other night being either a game night or the night before a game our rule went out the window. The only good thing about January was that most of the games were at home. After they got back from Florida there were only 2 more away games for the rest of the month. I was grateful that the University of Maryland’s winter break was six weeks long and I didn’t have classes again until the end of January. Classes didn’t start again for me until Thursday January 28th.

I met Svetlana, Sasha’s older sister. I also met her husband and their two young children. I got to meet them before they went back to Russia. Svetlana or Lana as Sasha called her was a nice woman. She looked a lot like their dad. She and I actually got along. She spent a great deal of time telling me lots of wonderful stories about Sasha when he was younger.

The day before the Redwings game Sasha had taken his sister and I to lunch. We had hung out a few times and exchanged numbers.

”He’s always been all about hockey. I didn’t think that he would ever bring a girl home.”

”I’ve had girls before! It’s just that they weren’t worth bringing home. This one is a keeper.”

“Come on. It’s time for you to go home,” I said to him later that night.

“No, I stay with you.”

“No. You play the Redwings tomorrow. You need to sleep in your own bed.”

Sasha stuck out his bottom lip. He had taken to pouting whenever I told him no. “I sleep better with you.”

How could I say no to that? Argh! One of us had to be the responsible one. I turned to him and firmly told him that he needed to go home.

“I want spend time with you. When class start for you, you be busy then Olympics and I go to Vancouver. We not have time then so we have time now.”

He was right. There was a road trip right before the Olympic break. Sasha would be flying out of Columbus on February 14th and wouldn’t be back until potential March 1st. After practice on the 2nd they would be flying to Buffalo to play the Sabres on the 3rd. If January was busy, February would be impossible.

“Okay. You can stay.”

He kissed me and told me he would be right back.

“Where are you going?”

“Get bag from my car.”

He returned with a duffle bag that he had packed. It was mostly overnight things, sweats to sleep in, a tooth brush to leave here, a few pairs of clean underwear so that he could shower here if need be.

“I know we have rule but…I know you want spend time with me too.”

“So you thought that we could just forget about the rule? That you could stay over whenever you wanted?” Oh I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. Arrogant little shit!

“Da.”

I cleaned out one of my dresser draws for him to put his things in. He stripped down to his boxer briefs and crawled into bed. Okay I’ll admit that sleeping next to Sasha was better than sleeping without him. I’ve always had weird sleeping habits. I don’t think I’ve ever slept through the night. It had been one of those things that had driven my parents crazy when I was an infant. When I slept next to Sasha it was different. I don’t know if it was the warmth of his skin, or the strong circle of his arms around me, or even the steady rhythm of his heart but I slept peacefully and heavily.

In the mornings I always woke before Sasha. That boy could sleep the day away. He’s not a morning person at all. I tried to slip from his arms without waking him but his arms tightened around me.

“Hmmm,” he groaned nuzzling his face into my neck, “no.”

“I have to get up.”

His long body stretched against me and he mumbled so weird mix of English and Russian. I tried to get up again but this time he pulled me underneath his body. There was no way that I could move his 208 pound ass off of me.

“No…too early.” He looked at the clock and saw that it was 6:45am.

“You can sleep but I need to shower before work.”

After a few moments he released me. I slipped from the bed and he snuggled deeper in to the blankets. I sat on the bed for a few minutes slowly trailing my fingers through his brown curls. His hair was getting long and he would need a hair cut soon. I tried to be as quiet as possible in getting ready so I wouldn’t disturb him. Before I left I reset the alarm clock to wake him with enough time to get to the morning skate.



Sasha’s POV


Morning skates are optional. Most of our practices were optional. There was a rule that we had to attend one of the two. Now that our schedule was so compressed Coach B tended to give us days off. On days when Nef had to work I went to practice. On days when Nef didn’t have to work I opted to skip practice and spend time with her or time with my family. My sister and her family would be leaving to go back to Russia this week. They’d been here for about 2 weeks. Lana and Nef had gotten along well. They had exchanged numbers and had been talking frequently.

After the morning skate a few of the guys came over to my house for a pregame meal that my mom and Aunt Tanya – yes, I call Ovie’s mom Aunt. I call his dad Uncle Mischa - had made. It was me, Ovie, Nicky, Mike, Eric, Flash, and Brooks.

“Sash, I almost thought you wouldn’t be here,” Eric said as we sat at the table eating.

“I live here.” Why wouldn’t I be here?

“Really? I thought you lived with Nef.”

“He don’t love us no more.” Flash put his face in his hands and pretended to cry.

Since I introduced Nef to the team they guys had taken to making me the victim of the locker room jokes. It got worse when I would spend time with her instead of hanging out with the guys when we were home.

“How you do this to me?!” Ovie asked, his face on the verge of tears. “I thought you love me. You leave me for her?”

Ovie placed his head on Nicky’s shoulder and pretended to sob. Brooks rushed to Ovie’s side and said “Shhh, it’s okay. I’ll take care of you!”

Why am I friends with these idiots again?

“Why?! Why?! Why?! How could you?” Flash

Mike was laughing hysterically. “I’d go for Nef over you any day.” He said to Ovie.

Ovie’s head shot up and he threw his dirty napkin at Mike’s face. Ovie walked around the table. I thought that he was going for Mike. Instead he wrapped his massive arms around me and squeezed.

“No! You can’t leave me! Don’t leave me!”

I hate my friends. I felt a hand reach into my pocket and I tried to get it. I couldn’t, Ovie arms were wrapped too tight. I looked up to see Brooks with my phone in his hand. He called Nef and I could hear her cheery voice say “Hi Kitten!”

“How could you take him from us?” Brooks shouted into the phone. “He’s ours. We need him!”

For a moment Nef was confused but then I heard her respond “But I need him too!”

“You’re just being selfish. You can’t have him all the time!”

“I don’t get him all the time! Only on non-game days.”

Nick took the phone from Brooks and started speaking in Swedish. I had no idea what he said. This was one of the few times when having a girlfriend that was fluent in 6 languages was a bad thing. Nick came over to hold the phone to Ovie’s ear. I struggled to break his hold but his arms tightened and it was harder to breathe.

I tried to listen for what they were talking about but Ovie didn’t say much. Nef’s voice had lowered and I couldn’t make out what she was saying. When Nick took the phone away he ended the call.

“What that about?” I asked when Ovie released me.

“Nothing.” Nicky was far too quick to answer. I knew he was lying.

After the meal the guys went to their respective homes for pregame naps.