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He was so tired, he wasn't sure he'd be able to fall asleep.
Today's game was brutal, even more than usual. The Admirals were putting on their A game, and Ilya had to make sure they wouldn't lose to Scott fucking Hunter of all people. He would never be able to live with that shame.
Boston won at the end, not by much, but it was enough. Now every part of Ilya's body was screaming. He took some nasty hits; a couple of his ribs were probably bruised at least. But it was all worth it for being able to laugh into Hunter's pissed-off face.
Giving up on trying to fall asleep, Ilya was about to reach for his phone to bother Hollander when it buzzed on the bedside table.
Huh, it looks like he wasn't the only one thinking that.
Ilya picked up his phone, expecting to see a text from Jane, but instead he found one from an unknown number.
He was about to delete it unopened - he didn't trust unknown numbers -, but something caught his eye. Lily. What the fuck?
His interest piqued, he opened the text.
Unknown number
"Hi, Lily, this is Jackie Pike, Shane's teammate, Hayden's wife. I'm sorry to hit you up out of the blue, but I got your number from Hayden, and I was wondering if you would like to chat? We have this groupchat for all the Metro WAGs, and I would love to invite you if you would be interested."
Ilya was looking at the little text bubble for minutes, completely dumbstruck. What the hell? Did Shane give Pike his - well, Lily's - number?? That didn't seem like something Hollander would do. But how else would Pike's wife have his number??
Bile and panic were rising in Ilya's throat as he slowly typed his answer.
Boston Lily
"Did Shane give your husband my number?"
The answer came quickly.
Unknown number
"Uhm, I'm not sure to be honest, he seemed a bit cagey about that. Shane might not know about this at all… I'm sorry, but Shane never talks about you, and Hayden says he lights up like the Sun everytime he is texting you and always dissappears from their hotel room whenever they are in Boston. I just wanted to reach out to you. I know how hard is to date someone in the League."
The panic slowly settled in Ilya's stomach, making way for a whole bunch of other emotions. Hollander lit up when they were texting? That was good to know.
With a lazy grin spreading on his face, Ilya decided to play along. This might be fun. He saved the number to his contacts.
Boston Lily
"That's very kind of you, Jackie. Would love to chat. Sorry, was just surprised."
Jackie Pike
"It's okay, I ambushed you. So tell me more about you. How long have you known Shane?"
Ilya furrowed his brow. He had to trace carefully here, not give out too much, but still be believable.
Boston Lily
"We met a while ago, but we are taking things slow. Very casual. Just having fun, you know?"
Ilya bit his lower lip, contemplating whether he should say more.
Jackie Pike
"Oh, I understand you. Long distance can be a bitch to maintain, I know all about that. Casual is nice if that's what both of you want."
There was a little silence.
Jackie Pike
"So would you like to join our groupchat? It's me, and the other girls, it's fun, we support our team and talk shit about our men. Would you like that?"
Ilya smirked. That sounded too good an opportunity to give up. No one had gossip like the WAGs.
Boston Lily
"Sure thing, sounds good. Thank you."
In a heartbeat, there came another notification.
Jackie Pike added you to 'MTL Metro Girls'
Jackie: Hi, Lily! Girls, say hello to Lily from Boston.
Sarah: Hi, Lily!! Good to have you!!
Alice: Heeey giiiiirl, finally we get some dirt on the captain! Spill the tea, sis!
Jackie: Alice, don't scare the poor girl away. Sorry, Lily, I swear we are not crazy.
Emma: Speak in your own name, Jackie. Hollzy is an enigma. I, for one, am dying for some insider intel.
Lily: Hello. Thanks for having me. I'm Lily, from Boston.
Alice: Boo for Boston. We hate Boston in this house.
Emma: How long have you been seeing Shane?
Lily: Couple of years on and off. We are casual.
Alice: Never thought Captain had a casual bone in his body.
Emma: Spill the tea, girl, is he a good lay? He always looks so focused on ice. Is he like that in bed?
Jackie: Emma, please. Boundaries.
Emma: Come on, I tell you all the dirty deets. Where is the sisterhood? Where is the solidarity?
Ilya was grinning even wider now. Oh, this was priceless. The chirping material he could gather here was endless. First-hand information about all the Metros.
Lily: is fine, I don't mind 😉 All I can say is that freckles go darker when he is blushing and they go on…
Emma: you are such a tease.
Lily: sorry, I don't kiss and tell.
Jackie: And that's completely okay, you don't have to.
Jackie Pike
I'm so sorry for the girls, they can be a lot. I hope they didn't make you uncomfortable.
Boston Lily
Is fine. I don't get uncomfortable easy. They are fun. Thank you for having me.
Jackie Pike
Any time they get too much, just say the word.
Boston Lily
Will do. Thank you.
Ilya almost wrote something about how Jackie was too good for that stupid husband of his, but he quickly stopped himself. Lily would have no reason to say something like that.
But Jackie was surprisingly charming. Of course, she probably wouldn't be if she knew who she was really talking to.
That thought felt too bitter too suddenly, so Ilya quickly exiled it from his mind. No need to dwell on things he couldn't change.
He quickly switched over to his text thread with Hollander
Lily
What are you wearing?
He didn't have to wait for long.
Jane
Good evening to you too.
Lily
Yeah, yeah, good evening. Now tell me.
Jane
I'm in a hotel room, and I'm not alone, so please don't sext me. Last time you sent that picture, I nearly dropped my phone.
Lily
Boo, you are so boring, Hollander. Are you with Pike? Say hello from me. His wife is too good for him. Tell that too.
Jane
What the fuck, Ilya? I will not tell him that. And how do you know Jackie, anyway?
Lily
Is my secret, Hollander. We are best friends now. How do you say? Besties.
Jane
??? Are you serious? I can't tell if you are serious.
Lily
I'm always serious, Hollander. It's Russian thing.
In his hotel room, on the other side of the country, Shane looked up from his phone with a frown.
What the hell did Rozanov mean by that? Was he just chirping?
"Is everything alright? You are looking at your phone like you are afraid it might bite you." Hayden said from the other side of the room. "Is it Lily?"
Shane could feel heat spreading in his face.
"What?"
"It's ok, dude. We all know about your Boston girl. It's fine."
Dread was slowly settling in Shane's stomach. This wasn't looking good.
"Hayden, what did you do?"
He turned to his best friend, who at least had the good grace to look guilty.
"Look, you wouldn't talk about her, but she obviously means a lot to you. And Jackie was pestering me for ages about wanting to add her to that stupid group chat of hers and the other WAGs. So I… kinda took her number from your phone while you were in the shower. I'm sorry. I realize that was a huge crossing of boundaries. Please don't hate me."
Shane completely froze, phone still in hand. Jackie Pike had Ilya's number. Well, technically, she had Lily's number, but still. What if she calls him? This was bad. This was really bad.
Hayden looked properly nervous now, coming over to Shane's bed and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I fucked up. I will tell Jackie not to use the number. She was just… You know how she is. And you always have this special smile on your face when you are texting Lily. I thought it would be nice for her to know the other girls. Please say something."
Shane took a long breath. There was nothing much he could do about it now, because according to Ilya's text, Jackie already made contact. But Ilya didn't seem pissed about it. And obviously, Ilya already knew who she was, so he won't accidentally pick up the phone now. There was no immediate crisis.
"It's… Well, it's not okay, I would have preferred a heads-up before. But I'm not mad. You had good intentions. How did you know my phone's passcode, though?"
Hayden let out a relieved sigh. "Come on, man, your passcode has been 1410 since forever."
Shane could feel himself blush again. Yeah, his passcode was that since that Toronto photoshoot, and it was pathetic how he never changed it.
"Well, Jackie definitely been in contact already, so whatever happens now is out of our hands. Good luck to us, both."
"Is it that bad?" Hayden asked, another flavor of nervous now.
"Oh, man, you have no idea how bad it is."