Nine

Allison

Game fucking day. For two weeks, I’ve buried myself in my work. I’ve avoided even going in and working from home and thankfully there was no issue with it. But today my body is on high alert, knowing I have no choice but to see him. When I saw him in the gym that night, I was shocked, that was for sure, but then he spewed that fucking garbage out of his mouth and I never really hated someone more in my life.

So I grab my pantsuit that I bought especially for tonight. A one-piece blue pantsuit. A little lace in the middle of the collar. I pair it with my favorite pair of silver heels. I grab my leather jacket and put it on since it’s sleeveless and I’ll probably freeze in the arena. I don’t have time to think twice when I hear a beep outside. I run down, grabbing my purse, and seeing the two limos pull up. My family is down for the big game. In one limo, there is Matthew and his family and in the other limo is Mom, Dad, Zara, Zoe, and Justin. The driver comes out and opens my door and I slide in.

“Hey, everybody,” I say, seeing my mother smile, but my father is scowling. “What happened now?”

My brother pipes in, “Zoe and Zara asked Dad at what age would he think about using a walker since he’s old now.”

The twins just shrug their shoulders.

“Not something that is a surprise. Last week he went skating and then sat on the bench for forty-five minutes,” Zoe chimes in.

“I think it was an hour,” Zara says.

“I had a cramp, and I was coaching.” He points at them and my mother looks out the window, rolling her lips together to not laugh at him. He points at the twins. “Don’t make me bring boot camp back.”

Justin laughs now. “Dad, that lasted two days, two. They complained so much I thought you would pull your hair out.”

“What did I do?” he says, lifting his hand in the air. “You two are grounded.” Now we all laugh, knowing it lasted maybe fifteen minutes.

“It’s okay, Dad,” Zoe starts and then Zara continues.

“We will still love you when you’re hunched over.”

They both nod at him.

“That’s enough out of you two,” Mom says, then turns to Dad. “I will love you even more.” She kisses his lips. “Now it’s Matthew’s big day and Allison has worked nonstop, so you will behave or no Wi-Fi for a month.”

They both look at each other and then back at Mom, knowing she is the one who will actually go through with the threat.

We pull up to the arena and I get out.

“Okay, I’m going to go in and make sure everything is okay. I’ll catch you all later.” Inside I grab my badge and phone and start walking around. It’s just two-thirty, but the festivities are already underway. Luckily, Mindy was here this morning guiding things. I walk around checking everything, smiling to myself when a little boy bumps into me.

“Sorry, lady.” He puts his glasses back on straight.

A woman comes up to us, holding him to her. “I’m so sorry,” she says and I smile at the boy. I look behind her to see that she is with about twenty kids and four adults.

“I’m Allison,” I say to the little boy and then the lady. “I’m the PR for the team. Who are all these fans?”

“Hi, I’m Denise and these are some of the patients from Hudson Children’s Hospital.”

I smile at all the kids. “Hey there, guys.” I look back at Denise. “It’s so great that you got tickets.”

“Yeah, we have a pretty generous donor that always shoots us tickets. I’ve tried to get in touch with someone about setting up a players’ visit day since some of the really sick kids can’t venture out due to their immune system being so low.”

The wheels are already turning in my head. “That sounds like such a fantastic idea.” I look at the kids. “So who is your favorite player?” I ask them and they all answer at the same time, “Max Horton.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “Wow, I’m sure he would love to know that,” I say sarcastically. “Why don’t we go and take a picture in front of his stall?”

“For real?” the little man with the glasses asks.

“Well, we can take a pretend picture here, but how about I sneak you guys down to meet him before the game?” I think about if he doesn’t want to do it there are guys down there who will.

They all cheer and start to walk over to the fake locker room. It looks almost real as each stall has the player’s name and their equipment. Their jerseys hang proudly.

“Okay, everyone, let’s take a group picture and I can post it on the team website. If that is okay?” I ask Denise, who nods as we all pose around Max’s name. I smile as they take our picture and then Denise’s phone rings and my smile fades the minute I see him. Max, standing there in a perfectly tailored fucking suit, smiling at Denise. Fuck, it’s probably his girlfriend. Great.

I can’t hear any of the conversation because the thumping of my heart is echoing in my ears. I excuse myself and say bye to the kids. But as I walk away from them, I can’t help but feel his eyes on me. I run into Vivienne, who is with Franny. “Hey.” I kiss her on both cheeks.

“You look amazing. And is that a look of love?” she asks me as always.

“Um, is the look of love someone who hasn’t dated in what is going on fifteen months?” I kid with her, but not really.

“Well, whatever you are doing you look amazing,” she says as we walk together back to where my family is.

“Where is Matthew?” I ask.

“He went down to get in the zone,” Karrie says while Cooper holds mini Cooper and shows him different things as Franny reaches out to him also.

He takes Franny in his arms also and turns to the twins. “Old my butt.” He walks away, having us all laugh.

We spend the rest of the afternoon visiting all the kiosks around the arena. I check Twitter and Facebook and the hashtag #StingerTown is trending with people posting and retweeting.

“There she is.” I hear Doug shout loudly. “This.” He looks around. “This is exactly why you are so good at your job.”

I smile at him. “Well, thank you, but Mindy did help.”

He smiles, not willing to argue his point. “I can’t wait to see what you do when the cup comes back.”

“Let’s work on the season first,” I tell him and then the lights flicker, telling us it’s almost that time. “I have to go and make sure some special guests are taken care of.” I walk away, almost speed walking, my feet starting to ache in these heels. Once I make it downstairs, I see that everything is taken care of and Jason is standing by, waiting as the twenty kids walk around the changing room getting their special jersey all signed. They all have Horton jerseys, another thing I made happen. The smiles are worth being nice to the asshole.

Denise sees me and smiles her thanks as I walk away from the room and go to my office where I sit down and take my feet out of my shoes. A knock on the door has me looking up to see Jason.

“Hey, just letting you know that I escorted them to their seats.” He smiles at me.

“Thanks, Jason, and do me a favor,” I say, grabbing my purse, taking out my credit card. “Whatever they want is on me.”

He puts his hands in his pockets. “No need, it’s already been taken care of.”

I lean back in my chair. “Really, by who?”

“Max makes sure his sister is always taken care of.” He leaves the room. Holy shit, Denise is his sister. I shake my head and get up when I hear Coach Dan yell.

“Let’s do this.” He walks down the hallway past my office.

I get up, grabbing my jacket, and follow in last. Putting my shoulder against the wall, I try and alleviate the sting in my feet.

“Okay, boys, this is it, opening night. Lots of people put a lot of work into tonight. Allison, I’ve never seen so many happy fans before.”

The team claps their hands while Ryder pipes up, “I think I should take you out and thank you for the team.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me while Matthew throws his glove straight in his face.

“Dickhead, she’s my sister. No way I’m letting your pencil dick near her.”

I lean my head down and laugh at Ryder, who puts his hand up and says, “Big dick.”

“That’s enough, Ryder.” Coach laughs and shakes his head. “I like you, kid, but no way will you survive against Matthew.”

The whole room laughs and Paul nudges him sideways. “Okay, let’s go out there and make our fans proud to wear our colors.” He slaps his hands together.

Everyone gets up and starts lining up. They are starting the announcement of the whole team tonight. Everyone lines up according to numbers, except Matthew, Phil, and Max, who go out last.

I get a list of celebrities that are in the crowd. They range from Jerry Seinfeld to Matt Lauer, but nobody is as popular as Cooper Stone, who gets the biggest applause when they show his face on the Jumbotron. Slowly the players skate out one at a time, leaving just the three of them at the end.

“This is it,” Matthew says. “Let’s make this a good season, yeah?”

Max just looks ahead, nodding, while Phil looks down, bouncing. They introduce Phil, leaving just Max and Matthew.

“You did good, squirt,” he says, winking at me, and the crowd starts to chant Mad Max. “Who the fuck started that nickname?” Matthew says and I don’t know what to say.

I don’t have to say anything because Max just gruffs out, “Your sister, who else?” He runs toward the ice and skates on.

Matthew shakes his head. “He’s such an asshole,” he says, and the crowd whistles and hollers when they start talking about Matthew, and then my brother is off, doing the same thing Max just did. When they are all out and the national anthem is being sung, I make my way to the lodge where I plan to sit the whole fucking game and eat a plate of nachos and pizza. I get to the lodge and see that the kids are not watching the game, too interested in their iPads.

“Sweetheart,” Cooper says as I walk in. “Hands down the best fucking opening day ever.” He grabs me sideways around the shoulders, kissing the side of my head.

“Thanks, Dad.” I grab him around the waist. “Now if you don’t mind, I want a drink and some nachos.” I head to the seats just out of the lodge where I sit beside Karrie, and my mother sits on my other side, holding my hand.

My family, my support system. They are everything. As I look around the arena, I try and find Denise. I finally see her and we make eye contact when I wave at her and she tells the kids, who all turn and wave at me. I smile, thinking about how she can be so nice and her brother is the polar opposite. I look back at the ice when I hear the whole arena gasp.

Max is shoving someone in the corner and I see Phil down on the ice. On his knees. I watch the replay on the screen showing the guy goes after Phil, cross checking him and his skates leaving the ice. Max is circling around with a referee, who is holding him back from hitting the culprit. I don’t know what they’re saying. All I can make out is “Fuck you.”

The referee leaves Max and goes to the guy, ushering him to the penalty box while Max spews, “Watch your back, pussy bitch.”

We all see Phil get up and shake his head while going to the bench. His wife is standing up and watching everything to make sure he is okay while she cuddles their three-year-old son on her hip.

The first period is a fight to see who is going to score first, but it ends with zero. The second is worse than the first, with penalties coming left and right but resulting in the same score as the first period. At the start of the third period, Cooper stands up.

“It’s going to be a blood bath.”

And I wish I didn’t feel the same way, but as soon as they drop the puck, you see the aggression from both sides. The same guy who knocked Phil out in the first period goes after Max, only to be taken down as Max bends over and he flies over him. Max turns back around and throws his gloves to the ground, whipping his helmet off. He pulls up his sleeves, ready to pounce, but the referee intercepts and kicks the kid off the ice before he really ends up dead. The hits keep coming, harder and harder, the boards echoing louder and louder. It’s really becoming uncontrollable. Cooper is bouncing on his feet with every chance they get and running his hand through his hair when they miss. And then the unthinkable happens when Max puts out his stick to poke check the puck, but it trips up the other player and they send him to the penalty box for two minutes. The whole box goes quiet looking at the time left. Two minutes nine seconds. Short-handed for the last two minutes. He goes to the penalty box with his head down and doesn’t watch. Instead, he sits there with his head bent the whole time. They get an offside, which has the whistle blowing for a face-off. There are ten seconds left in Max’s penalty. His helmet is back on as he stands up.

The other team wins the face-off and brings it back inside the zone with our four players making a box and not giving them a chance to take a shot. It passes from the left defenseman to the right, but Matthew puts out his stick, knocking the puck out of the zone but leaving it clear for Max, who just got out of the box. He gets the puck and goes on a break away with the defenseman right on him, but his legs move faster since they rested for two minutes. He crosses over to the right and moves his body left so the goalie goes down on the left side, but he quickly shoots from the right, having it go right over his pad. The puck lands right in the back of the net while Max kicks up his one leg and throws his hands in the air. It’s a beautiful shot. The arena is wild and everyone is on their feet. Matthew gets to him with a smile on his face, and then the others come where they celebrate and the whole arena chants Mad Max as he skates to the bench and high-fives everyone. The puck drops one more time before the buzzer ends and the game is over.

“Okay, peeps, I have to head down. I guess you aren’t coming to the after-party?”

Cooper and Mom shake their heads, but Karrie says yes.

“We are going to take the kids back and Karrie is going to follow with Matthew.”

“You guys can stay with me and then we can go over tomorrow morning,” I suggest and we all walk out. I kiss Mom and Cooper and hug my sisters and brother before walking downstairs, following the loud noise from their locker room. The press is in there, so I know no one is undressed, so I walk in and smile at everyone.

Paul is the first to talk. “How the fuck did you get Jay Z to come and sing?”

“What?” I shrug my shoulders. “By the way, you each have to sign like fifty jerseys for his charity. You’re welcome,” I say, smiling as he finishes taking off his shirt.

“Congrats, boys. I’ll see you all over at the after-party.” I wave at everyone and make my way over to the restaurant that is hosting our bunch. I make sure the club that is hosting us is shut down from the public, that all the stuff is ready. I go to the corner, pulling out my laptop that I brought with me, and post some pictures while I wait for them to trickle in. I see the photos from tonight and I was right. The shot of Max celebrating is fucking amazing. I post it right away with his hashtag Mad Max. A couple of the players turn up first along with the wives or sisters. I put my stuff away as the food comes out of the kitchen. Everyone grabs something to drink and the food right away. I see Matthew make his way with Karrie on his arm. “Hey there, superstar.” I go to him. “That was quite a game.”

“Yeah, it was a good one, better that we won.” He looks around to find a table. “I need to get my girl off her feet. They hurt and I heard we are staying over at the brownstone, so you know what this means, kids free sex.”

“Eww,” I say, pretending to gag. “I put your bed upstairs,” I tell them.

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t think I was going to sleep on the mattress that you guys banged on, did you?” I say as we make our way to a table where I sit down and then Vivienne comes in.

“Mon Dieu.” My god, she says. “This place is packed with fresh meat.” She wiggles her eyebrows and takes off her jacket, showing off her shoulders in the bustier she wears, pushing up her girls.

“You’re naked?” Matthew says as he finally gets some food.

“Not yet, but I see a couple who I wouldn’t say no to.” She points to Ryder. “Lui.” Him, she says. “That’s the lucky guy tonight.” She pushes off from the table and makes her way over to him like a cougar getting her prey.

I put my head back and laugh. “Poor guy never stood a chance,” I say and she starts to talk to him. His eyes almost go in the back of his head.

“Okay, folks, that’s it for me,” I say, grabbing my bag. “My carriage is turning into a pumpkin. And I may or may not burn these fucking shoes.” I point to my feet.

“Wait for us. We will come,” Karrie says, but I shoo her away.

“You guys never go out. Stay and enjoy adults.” I lean in. “Have sex here so you don’t have to do it in my house,” I tell them and start to make my way to the door to leave. I’m about to push the door open when it’s swung open and there stands the man who is the star of tonight. “Sorry,” I say, walking around him and away from him as he holds the door. I walk into the street when I hear his voice.

“What the fuck are you doing, Allison?”

I put my hand down. “Well, Max, this,” I say, putting up my hand, “means I need a cab.”

“Where is your brother? Jesus,” he spits out as he walks to me.

“My brother is having a date with his wife and I’m tired. So seeing as I’m a big girl, I said I was going home.” I turn around and put my hand up again. But my bag is almost ripped from my hand. “What the fuck is your problem now?” I ask, but he doesn’t answer. He just walks across the street with my bag, pressing a button in his hand, and I hear a beep on the black truck parked across the street from the club.

“Get in.” He opens the door for me, tossing my bag to the floor as he waits for me to go to the truck.

“You really should take a course in people skills,” I say when I get in front of him. His hair is still wet but perfect and he isn’t wearing his tie, so I see his smooth skin under his collar. “You fucking suck, by the way.”

“Yeah, so I’ve been told. Now let me do something nice by driving you home.”

I cross my hands over my chest. “You wouldn’t know nice if it bit you in the fucking ass and dragged you around,” I say to him and he laughs.

“You’re probably right, but it seems I owe you an apology.”

“Really?” I tilt my head to the side. “What makes you think that? Was it when you barked at me? Was it when you told me I was an afterthought or it might have been when—” I don’t finish because he puts his hand up.

“Okay, I get it. I think we both got off on the wrong foot. You hate me because of everything that happened with your brother.” This time I put my hand up.

“If I’m honest, you both got the raw deal that time.” His eyes open in shock. “But ever since I spoke to you that first day on the job, you have been nothing but an asshole.”

“You’re right.”

I turn around on the street as the sound from the club is getting louder and louder. “Holy shit, did Hell just freeze over?”

“Very funny, Allison, now get in the car so I can do the good deed tonight.”

He smiles, like really smiles, and it suits him. Way too much.

“Fine, I’ll get in, but I’m still not biting on the whole friend thing.” I get in and don’t get to finish because he closes the door after me and gets in the car.

“How is this?” He starts the car and pulls out. “I’ll bring you coffee the next time and promise if I’m an asshole you can throw it on me.”

“Will it be a cold coffee or scalding hot?” I watch him drive, one hand on the steering wheel while the other is resting on the middle console.

“You need to be my friend to find out.”

I don’t say anything. I just look out the window.

“Seriously, thank you for today. What you did for Denise and stuff, it means everything.”

“I like your sister. I can see how much you guys differ.” I watch him laugh.

“She’s been trying to get together with Mindy for three years, but Mindy didn’t give her the time of day, yet five minutes with her and she thinks you hang the stars.”

“I would do it no matter who she was.” I point out.

“Oh, trust me, I know.” He turns onto my street. He stops in front of my house and double parks, so I grab my bag. “How about this? You forgive me for being an asshole and I’ll forgive you for making me Mad Max.”

“So a truce?” I open my door, getting out. “Don’t make me sorry, Max. I would hate to have to kill you. I really like Denise.”

He throws his head back and laughs. “See you tomorrow, Allison.”