Chapter 11: Chapter Ten

I had told them bits and pieces of my past, but I never mentioned Lorraine, telling Joe that secret had made me realize that someone like Alexander would not just let it go. He’d drag me back to New York and have her arrested and I really couldn’t imagine myself telling this story in court and having people laugh at me.

I doubted that anyone would believe me, I mean, she was a woman and I’d gotten an erection, hell I even ejaculated every time. I’d done other things too, touched her and made her reach orgasm. She’d taught me everything I knew, and I couldn’t imagine telling that story to anyone else.

As much as I loved Alexander and my brothers, there was no way I was going through that public humiliation. Alexander had eventually cancelled my sessions with my therapist once I started talking to them. I changed in ways I never thought I would, and I became a big brother.

Our bond was what I loved most, the trust we had with each other and the fact that we’d always stick by one another, no matter what. I had finally found a family.

My birthday was on Friday and on Monday we’d start school, and I could tell the guys were a bit dismayed when I said I didn’t want to do anything for my birthday. I couldn’t remember ever having a party before, even when I had still lived with my mom.

It was just another day, but I knew something was up when Alexander came to wake me at midnight and told me to get dressed and to bring my skates. Everybody was waiting for me in the foyer, and they all yelled ‘Happy Birthday’ the moment they saw me.

“What’s going on?” I asked still rubbing sleep from my eyes.

“We’re taking a trip,” Alexander said as we all filed out of the house.

We took the jet to New York, and I stopped breathing as Alexander parked in the parking lot of Madison Square Garden Arena. There were cars in the parking lot, and it was almost seven am. We all filed out of the car and followed Alexander inside where he was greeted warmly with cheers and shouts from the players on the ice.

“That’s….” I pointed and my heart was beating so loudly I couldn’t hear anything else.

“Justin O’Brien,” Alexander finished my sentence for me as the man himself skated towards us.

“Hey Kage, locker rooms are that way, gear up and get on the ice,” he said with a smile and skated back to his teammates.

“What?” I asked dumbfounded.

“Get your ass in there!” my brothers yelled at me.

Alexander took me to the locker rooms and there was a piece of sticky tape with my name on one of the empty lockers and skating gear placed on the bench in front of it. Alexander left me then and I quickly got dressed sporting the number zero on my Rangers jersey with my name on the back instead of my surname.

I walked out of the locker rooms wearing full gear and headed out onto the ice as the team skated towards me. They introduced themselves but I already knew all their names and the Coach looked at the zero on my back.

“That’s a good number, Kage,” he said.

“Yeah, it was worn by Andy Aitkenhead in 1934,” I said.

“Oh, I thought it was worn by Sheehy,” he said.

“Neil Sheehy was the first skater to wear zero on his jersey, Andy Aitkenhead was a goalie, it’s a stupid distinction to make but yeah,” I said.

“Okay, number zero, show me what you’ve got,” Coach said as I skated further out onto the ice and the guys welcomed me within their ranks.

We played an easy game with me as right wing, my preferred position and I only got slammed into the plastic twice. These guys were big, and both times hurt although I knew they weren’t set on hurting me, they were just used to playing this way.

“You’ve got talent, Kage,” Coach said once we were done with their training regimen for the day. I had managed to score ten goals the entire four hours we were on the ice, and not because they let me. The first time I’d scored there was surprise on everyone’s faces, especially mine.

“Thanks, Coach,” I said to him.

“Don’t lose your speed playing high school hockey, no matter what your new coach tells you, keep your speed, keep up the sprints,” he said.

I had gone back into the locker room and showered and gotten dressed while the Rangers were still busy on the ice. They all formed a crude line and hit their sticks on the ice as I came back to the bench to leave with Alexander and my brothers. It was them showing me respect and I almost started crying right there.

“Alexander, this was the best thing anyone’s ever done for me,” I said as we headed out to the car.

“You deserve to skate in that rink, Kage. Madison Square Garden is yours for the taking,” he said.

“This was really awesome,” I said.

“So, what next? What do you want to do? We still have the whole afternoon and night ahead of us,” Alexander said.

We went to a diner and Alexander looked at me as we picked a large booth in the back. It was the diner where Joe had brought me for my birthday the previous year after giving me that cupcake. It felt right coming here again.

“A diner? This is where you want to eat?” Alexander asked me.

“It’s special to me and also because I want to introduce you to someone,” I said.

“Okay, who’s this someone?” he asked me.

“Joe. He owns the gym down the block, and he looked out for me, gave me a job after I broke into his gym. He kept me grounded and he’s a friend,” I said.

“I look forward to meeting him,” Alexander said earnestly.

I had texted Joe to tell him I was in New York for the day and asked him to meet me at the diner. I stood up when the door opened, and I recognized his big frame as he walked inside. His face broke out into a smile when he saw me, and we hugged each other in the middle of the diner.

“Shit look at you. What the hell have they been feeding you? It’s only been three months,” Joe said as I led him back to our table.

“Joe, I wanted you to meet Alexander,” I said.

Alexander stood up from his seat and he shook Joe’s hand with a smile. I could see the two of them sizing each other up, each one invested in me. Alexander was slightly shorter than Joe, maybe half an inch and Joe was bulkier.

“It’s nice to meet you, Joe. Kage talks about you all the time,” Alexander said.

“Same, Alexander, I hear good things from the kid,” he said.

We all sat down, and I introduced him to my brothers. We ordered food and spent the next few hours just laughing as Joe told them about finding me in his gym and how we became friends. It was a great day, the greatest one in my life so far.

I felt at peace this time as we left New York in the same private jet I had three months earlier. This time though I could say goodbye to Joe and the next morning as we stopped at the house I felt like a different person.