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Jackie arrived at Lily's house before the others, leaving her parked car with a bottle of wine in hand and the eager anticipation of finally meeting the woman who captured the heart of one of her best friends. Hayden may get dibs on calling Shane his best friend, but she would literally die for the man she considered part of her family now. And since Shane was family, that meant whoever he ended up with was family too. And he was crazy about Lily even if he was super secretive about her, the dopey grin he got on his face every time he got a text from her was all Jackie needed to see to know how serious he was about her.
Having Hayden steal her number from Shane’s phone for her to add to the WAGs group chat probably wasn’t the most honest thing she’d ever done, but she was glad she’d done it. Lily was a riot, not the kind of woman she thought Shane would go for, but they say opposites attract. She’d taken to the group chat like wild fire to a forest; creating chaos and sowing new seeds, helping them all grow and flourish. While terrorizing them with her blatant support for the Boston Raiders (really Shane?! Why!?). She also gave gospel level relationship advice and was always there to help the other women with the perfect tip to spruce up an outfit to a 10. The whole chat adored her and welcomed her into the sisterhood, but what sold Jackie on her was how clear it was that she was so head over heels in love with Shane. Jackie was practically ready to invite Lily into her family.
So, the fact they’d never met face to face was starting to kill Jackie. She wanted to know Lily. The fact she lived in Boston didn’t help. She wondered how Shane and her dealt with the distance of their relationship? But planning a night out for them after Montreal’s next away game in Boston seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally meet her friend. When Lily asked if she could host the girl’s night at her place instead of meeting at a bar or club, the chat went wild.
The night finally arrived, and after consoling Hayden after their 2-3 loss against the Boston team, (Fuck Ilya Rozanov and his last minute goal to complete a hattrick in overtime), Jackie found herself in the driveway of the address texted to the chat earlier that day before the agreed upon meet time. She told herself it was because, as the designated “mom” friend, she wanted to help Lily set up, but deep down knew she was just excited to meet her friend.
The house had a warm glow as the lights from inside poured into the surrounding darkness of the night through the floor to ceiling windows that lined the one side of the house. It was gorgeous and reminded her of the windows in Shane’s cottage. She wondered if the two had bonded over architecture and that’s how they got together. She laughed at the idea as she approached the door.
Three sharp knocks announced her arrival. She heard the click of the door unlocking before her hand moved fully away from the door. Even though she was early, Lily was already waiting by the door for her friends to show up. She smiled, knowing her friend was just as excited to meet them as she was to meet her.
Her smile dropped and she froze the moment the door swung open revealing in the place her friend should be standing, Ilya Freaking Rozanov, the captain of the Boston Raiders and arch-rival to one Shane Hollander.
Her first thought was, This can’t be happening, quickly followed by, This is some fucked up joke Lily is playing on us. It seemed like her type of humor. But then she felt bad about thinking ill of her friend. Lily seemed really excited to host all the girls. Maybe this was on Jackie. Maybe she’d just gotten the address wrong and in a fucked up coincidence ended up at the house of a man who, hours earlier, she watched shoved her husband into the boards on the ice and humiliate his team. She needed to check her texts again.
“Oh, sorry. I must have the wrong hou–” she started to say, coming out of her shock long enough to say something to the man whose door she’d just knocked on only to be cut off.
“Jackie!” the exclamation of her name in the Russian’s accented English was something she never thought she’d hear, let alone in a tone of excitement. She didn’t realize he even knew who she was. It was accompanied by thick arms wrapping her in a hug. Her mind reeled at the embrace and she hugged him back for a moment on autopilot before her brain caught up with what was happening, with who just leaned down to hug her.
It didn’t last long. He pulled away and she was staring at him again knowing she must look like a deer caught in the headlights. She didn’t know what was happening here.
“You bring wine, good,” he said, seeing the bottle still in her hand. “This why you Best Pike. I have wine too, and vodka. Tonight will be fun. We party, yes?”
Her mind stirred with a vague memory of the first time she’d texted Lily and Lily had insulted Hayden and declared her the “Better Pike” but her brain hadn’t quite latched on to the implication of what that meant.
When she said nothing in return, he tried again, “Will the others be arriving soon?”
Rozanov was acting like he expected her to show up at his door tonight. Like he knew about the girls' night plans, and like he was included in them, which meant….
Lily. Ilya. Oh Fuck.
And then the implications of what that meant started rushing through her head.
Shane. Shane was gay, or at least liked men. And the man he was hopelessly in love with was his rival. His rival whose number he’d saved in his phone as a girl so no one would figure out what they actually were to each other. His rival whose number she had stolen, put in the Montreal WAGS group chat, and then became friends with herself. His rival who was now standing to the side of his own home’s door looking nervous in a way she’d never seen him before on the ice as he tried to invite her, his friend, into his house for a get-together he’d apparently helped plan.
She blinked. When had he moved? The door stood agape and he was standing to the side, his hand sweeping in a way that said, “won’t you please come in?” His relaxed face looked practiced as he smirked confidently at her, but she could see tension in his shoulders. He looked like he was bracing himself for a rejection he expected to come. He looked at her expectantly. She hadn’t moved since he opened the door and she hadn’t answered his question. She knew he was waiting for her reaction.
Straightening her shoulders, she breezed past him into his home, “Well ‘Lily’,” she started. The accusation hung in the air for a moment, but he didn’t deny it. Merely held his breath and waited for her to give her judgement. “I came early to see if you needed help setting up, but the others should be coming shortly,” after she passed him, she turned back to him. The confident smirk no longer adorned his face and he was looking at her with open awe and eagerness. Perhaps hope was a better word to describe what she saw. “But now I believe we have some things we should discuss before they get here though. Don’t you think?”
Now it was his turn to stand in shock, but he recovered quicker than she had. “Yes, of course,” he said, before motioning for her to remove her shoes and moving to lead her through the house.
They entered the living room and her eyes caught on all the decorations. Lit scented candles littered every available surface. Flowers adorned the entertainment system, far enough from the nearest candles so they wouldn’t catch fire. A spread of finger foods and appetizers were carefully placed along the coffee table including a charcuterie board with the words “Live, Laugh, Love” emblazoned on it under the assortment of cheeses. Next to it stood several selections of wine and other alcohols including the aforementioned vodka. But the most eye-catching thing in the room was the banner hung over the fireplace with the words “Welcome WAGS” written across it. Ilya Rozanov stopped under the sign, in the middle of it all, and turned back to her with his hands clasped in front of him and his back and shoulders ramrod straight.
She paused for a moment, taking in the sight before her. Then she couldn’t hold it back, she laughed. And laughed. And laughed. Her knees came into her vision as she doubled over. When she looked back up at him, a slack jawed concerned face met hers. And the laughter retook her. This was ridiculous. She’d accidentally invited the captain of their rival team into their lives and instead of using the opportunity to gain intelligence on the team, he gave outfit and relationship advice, gushed about how much he loved Shane and went way too hard preparing a girls night for his new friends. The complete opposite image of the Ilya Rozanov she had in her head since she’d married Hayden their rookie season.
“This looks like a Pinterester's wet dream,” she got out between breaths as she tried to calm her fit of hysterics. Her hand gestured to the room as the laugh cramp eased and she stood back to her full height.
“Is what a girl’s night looks like, no?” He said, defensive.
She rolled her eyes, “Well, sure. But you went all out.”
“Of course,” he said, mock offended, “Only the best for my girls.”
She tucked away the fact he called them his girls, “I haven’t even gone this hard hosting a girl’s night. And I’m the Lead WAG.”
“Maybe I’m coming for your job.” A hint of the cocky bravado he showed in his games flared up, “I am dating your team's captain after all. That automatically makes me Lead WAG, right?” she would have been affronted if it weren’t for the twinkle of mischief she could see in his eyes. He was just messing with her.
“Oh yeah? Well, good luck prying the position from my cold dead hands.” She gave him a competitive grin, which he easily matched before it slipped into something quieter, and more real.
“Or maybe I decorated because I wanted to make good first impression,” he said quietly as he sat on the couch, not looking at her. “To make up for…” he went silent and made a vague gesture.
“For what?” she asked, sitting on the couch next to him, unclear what he meant.
“For being me.” he ducked his head a little, before giving her a guarded look through the fringe of his curls.
Jackie looked back at him, and only then, did it truly sink in what this was.
“Hey, you’re our friend, you have been the whole time. Even if you have the face of the enemy,” she gave him a smirk trying for levity, but it didn’t land as he only half heartedly returned the smirk, so she continued, “Have you ever been anything other than yourself in the chat?”
“I mean-” he started.
“Besides the obvious changes you had to make to hide your identity,” she corrected.
“No, I’ve always been myself,” he confessed.
“They’ll see that. It may be a shock, finally putting the face to the name, but I think they’ll come around. And If they don’t, then you still have me.”
He looked at her in wonder and smiled, “You really are the best Pike.”
She clasped his hand and squeezed to show her support. They sat like that for a moment, surrounded by the candles and flowers and food. Silently, she prayed to whatever god would listen that their friends would react well to finding out Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov were in love. Ha! Her husband would–
She startled away from Ilya, “Oh my god!”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, concern coming back to his voice.
“Hayden! What am I supposed to tell Hayden?” she said as she launched from the couch.
As she panicked, he began to laugh, rolling back on the couch. “It is okay. We talked about it. Shane made plans to tell Pike tonight. You will not have to lie to your husband.”
Her breathing eased at his words. Good. She would have kept the secret for them, but she would have hated every second of it.
He continued, “I would not have done this without his expressed permission. Coming out to you all. You have all become my friends. I did not like hiding from you, but when a secret is not yours alone, you do not get to reveal it. That is also why Shane did not come out to you and Pike sooner, I think.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Russia is not friendly to people like Shane and me. I still have a Russian passport, so if our secret got out, it would be bad for me,” he huffed a little, a wry smile taking over his face before it turned back to something more serious, “and my Shane does not take the threat to my safety lightly. The league and what they would do to us is one thing, and it is true that potentially losing our careers over this weighs on him, but Russia is another thing. If this got out and I lost my work visa for any reason, as a public figure, I could be charged with ‘promoting homosextuality’ which is a crime back home. I would be imprisoned. More likely, an ‘accident’ would be set up for me. I do not like to think about it.”
Jackie stilled at the admission. She hadn’t thought about what them being together meant in the larger scheme of things, too wrapped up in the immediate absurdity of the reveal.
“Why tell us at all then, if it's so dangerous?” Jackie asked, immediately concerned for her friend's safety. “Fuck. Why did you respond in the chat at all when I stole your number?”
She was glad he had. Loved the friend she’d made, but now all she could think was that it wasn’t worth it. What were a few friendships gained with women he’d never met face to face if the risk was that severe?
He gave her a sad smile, “I do not think you understand how lonely it is to carry a secret like this. Shane is the most important thing in my life, and I can tell no one about us. About how much I love him.”
She thought about what her life would be like if she couldn’t tell anyone about how much she loved Hayden. It sounded absolutely miserable. She nodded along as he continued.
“Then, you invited me to chat and it was a space where it was okay for me to say all the things I couldn’t say anywhere else,” he grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, “Thank you for that Jackie. I don’t think you know how much that helped me. Even if it was a breach of Shane’s privacy.”
He gave a wink and her cheeks heated with the mix of happiness and embarrassment for her action. It definitely had been worth it on her side, and she guessed Ilya felt the same way too.
Before she could ask him anything else, twin buzzes came from both of their phones. Ilya pulled his out first and Jackie followed suit. It was a message to the WAGS chat informing them the others were on their way. Ilya drew in a breath before his fingers were tapping out a message, saying the door was unlocked and to invite themselves in when they got there. Jackie followed up, letting them know she’d already arrived and she couldn’t wait for them to meet Lily. Ilya reacted to that with a winky face emoji before setting his phone down.
“Do you think they will be good?” he asked, his nonchalant mask slipping partially back on.
Jackie reached out and gave his hand another squeeze, “They will be, I know it.” Jackie had known most of these women for years at this point, and she truly believed they would be understanding towards Ilya, at least after the initial shock wore off.
Ilya nodded at her words, “Shane plans to come out to the team soon, but not about our relationship. You get special permission since Pike is Shane’s best friend, but do you think they’ll be able to keep me a secret from their men?”
He looked worried about this, more so than he did about them knowing Lily was Ilya.
“You’re worried the team won’t be good to Shane.”
“I hope they will be good about him being gay, but hockey players are hockey players. Adding to that, he is dating a man they all hate. I don’t want to be the reason the locker room changes for him. He shouldn’t lose his team because of who he loves.” He looked sad at the prospect, but resigned to the idea that it was a likely possibility. Jackie frowned, they had so much to worry about. It broke her heart.
She squeezed his hand again, tighter. “WAGs spaces are sacred,” she said dead serious, “Your secrets will not leave the group.” It was a promise. One she intended to make absolutely true.
Ilya stared at her, a smile slowly creeping its way back onto his face. Then he stood up and cleared his throat, though it sounded a little wet. “I am being bad host. You need a drink, I will get.” He busied himself with opening the bottle of wine she’d bought and getting two glasses ready.
While he was occupied, she opened her phone and started a new chat, naming it THE LILY PROTECTION SQUAD .
Jackie: You are all swearing blood oaths right now that everything you find out about Lily tonight stays with the WAGs and DOES NOT make it back to the men. If I find out any of you snitch, I am hunting you for sport.
She muted the new chat and closed her phone. Whatever messages they were about to send her would all be answered in person soon enough. She accepted the glass Ilya handed to her with a smile. She would protect her new friend no matter what.
The smile stayed on her lips as she clinked her glass against Ilya’s and raised it to her lips, but was interrupted by an insistent string of buzzes from her phone. She groaned, the ladies better not be blowing up the regular WAGS chat since she wasn’t answering the new one, but Ilya’s phone wasn’t buzzing too so probably not. She pulled out her phone to be met with a string of progressively more urgent texts from Hayden.
Ilya leaned closer to read over her shoulder and burst out laughing.
“Well, I guess Shane telling him went about how I expected,” he said between laughs. She couldn’t help it, she laughed too and her husband’s antics.
“Oh, the double dates are going to be so much fun!”