A Walk of Shame. But Not Mine This Time

 

The next morning I get up extra early. Aubrey is still sleeping, satisfied and exhausted. Brent 51 and DPMB are lying on the floor. Yeah, I made sure she celebrated the New Year with multiple orgasms. The toys filled in—quite literally—when I had to wait to get hard for the next round.

As I make my way downstairs, I catch sight of Lainey slipping in through the front door. It’s a walk of shame if ever I’ve seen one. And I’ve seen a lot. Hell, I’ve had many of my own, from before I met Aubrey.

“Oh, hey, Brent,” she says shyly when she sees me.

“Have fun last night?” I ask, cocking a brow as I take in her disheveled appearance—rumpled dress and heels in hand.

Yawning, she says, “Yeah, I had far too much fun. I think I’m going to crash till my flight leaves later.”

As she heads to the bedroom we gave her on the first floor, I can’t resist asking, “Nolan treat you okay?”

She stops, turns around. A blush creeps up her neck as she demurely replies, “Yeah. He’s an, uh, interesting guy.”

“That he is.”

I’m dying to know if he nailed her, and I kind of think he did, but I’m not about to ask directly. I may not even find out from Nolan. He usually keeps that shit quiet, especially if he really likes the girl he’s hooked up with.

Before Lainey continues on her way, she hesitates. “Is Nolan, like, seeing anyone?”

I shake my head. “No.”

She smiles. “Okay, thanks. I better go get some sleep.”

I should warn her not to get her hopes up—Nolan isn’t a relationship kind of guy—but she’s gone before I have the chance. Maybe it won’t matter anyway since she has to go back to Minnesota. Her final semester starts in a couple of days, and I’m sure she’ll forget all about Nolan Solvenson soon enough.

 

 

With the contract worries out of the way, and no hard feelings between Aubrey and team management—it was their mistake, after all—she and I have a blast. She comes to every home game, and I pay for her to travel with the team when we’re on the road. No one has a problem with her presence. In fact, all the guys love her, even more so than before since she’s officially with me. I think they realize what a positive influence she’s been, and continues to be, in my life.

There’s no question about that, seeing as I’m leading the league in scoring and the team remains securely in first place.

Benny is still her bestie on the team. Breeze likes her a lot too. She and Nolan verbally spar all the time, like always, but I’ve come to accept that it’s just their way. It makes me glad that anything going on between him and Lainey fizzled out. That is, if there ever was something there to begin with.

Nolan hasn’t owned up to sleeping with her on New Year’s Eve, and Lainey’s not mentioned a word to Aubrey.

If she had, I’d surely hear about it.

Aubrey still has no idea Lainey stayed over Nolan’s house the night of the party. I thought about saying something, but, really, it’s Lainey’s tale to tell. Not to mention, I’ve learned enough to know to stay out of their sisterly crap.

I do get a little suspicious from time to time that something is going on with Lainey and Nolan, especially when we have a road game against the Minnesota Wild and Nolan goes MIA, save for practice, which is not like him at all. When I ask Benny if he knows where Nolan’s been wandering off to, he tells me he has no clue and I believe him.

The real kicker, though, is when Aubrey can’t convince her sister to meet her for lunch on game day.

“Lainey’s acting really sketchy,” Aubrey complains to me when she puts down her phone. “She claims she has exams to study for and can’t get away to go to lunch. Something feels off, Brent.”

“What do you mean?” I carefully inquire.

She shrugs. “I don’t know, but I bet it has to do with a guy. Maybe Lainey has a secret boyfriend or something.”

Oh, fuck.

Sighing, she adds, “I guess she and I will have to hang another time.”

“Guess so, babe.”

I’m trying to maintain a nonchalant tone, and I guess it works since the subject is dropped.

Shit. I don’t have the heart to tell Aubrey that Lainey may be holed up with Nolan, banging the day away till game time. I don’t know if it’s true, so I keep my mouth shut. No need to get shit stirred up.

Further bolstering my suspicions, however, Nolan arrives at the arena shortly before game time looking rather satiated. He plays really well, scoring late in the third period on a drop pass from me. That breaks the tied score and we end up winning.

We actually do a lot of winning throughout all of January, and into February. Things are great with my family, as well. Dad continues to improve, and my mom is back to her usual happy self. Also, for me, life remains incredible with Aubrey in it. The only thing threatening to fuck things up is that damn upcoming LA assignment.

Fuck that celebrity dude. I don’t want her to leave me.

Two days before she’s set to fly out of Vegas and onto LA, I am miserable. Still, I keep my promise to be supportive, even offering to help her pack.

Up in our bedroom, grasping at straws, I sit down on the bed and say, “Do you really have to go, babe? Playoffs are only a little over two months away. I need you here with me now more than ever.”

She sighs. “Brent, what can I do? This is my job we’re talking about.”

She’s been pretending to be committed to this new assignment, but I can tell she wants to stay with me as much as I want her to. I haven’t told her yet, lest I get her hopes up for nothing, but I talked with Dolby the other day. I asked him if there’s any way the team can hire Aubrey on in a permanent position.

Before you laugh and think I’m just a fool in love, it’s not that far-fetched of an idea. The team’s ownership likes her being around all of us. And why wouldn’t they? We’re winning like crazy, in part because Aubrey keeps us all grounded.

Just the other day, Benny was jonesing for a drink. “One won’t kill me,” he said on the flight home from an away game.

“Dude, don’t do it,” I warned.

“You’re an ass if you ruin your sobriety now,” Nolan threw in, shaking his head.

It was Aubrey, though, who got Benny over the hump.

She moved next to his seat. And though she knows enough about hockey these days that she could probably teach a class of her own, she started asking Benny about game strategy and plays.

Of course, he was into that. So much so that the old dry-erase board was dusted off and brought out. Unfortunately, its emergence came just as Coach Townsend was heading up to the lavatory in the front of the plane.

“Hey,” Coach T said, stopping in the aisle. “Is that one of mine?”

“Uh…” Benny turned beet red. “Yeah, uh, I may have borrowed it a while back.” Sheepishly, he added, “You have a bunch, so I didn’t think you’d miss just one.”

“Maybe not, but even so…” Coach sighed. “I’ve been looking for that particular board since October. See that heart drawn on the back?”

Benny flipped over the board, and we all leaned in to have a peek. And wouldn’t you know it, there was a little heart drawn on the back.

“That particular dry-erase board,” the coach went on, “was a gift from my wife.”

Benny’s eyes widened. “Wow, I never noticed that heart there before. I’m really sorry, Coach.”

He started to hand the board back, but Aubrey put out her arm. “Can you hold up a minute, Coach T? This is actually all my fault. I asked Benny way back in the fall if he could teach me the game. He borrowed the board so he could diagram a bunch of plays for me.”

Coach smiled. He clearly liked what the board had been used for and immediately softened, which you don’t see much of with him.

Easing the dry-erase board back to Benny, he said, “Ah, hell. My wife gives me one of those things at the start of every season. That’s why I have so damn many. Just go ahead and keep that one, Perry.”

Even Coach T is positively affected by Aubrey, lending further credence to my assertion that hiring her makes total sense. She hasn’t worked for the team since the contract termination in December, but business is business. If they believe she’s worth the investment they’ll hire her in a minute.

Only problem is the minutes are ticking away. The day Aubrey has to fly to LA is almost here.

And I’ve still not heard a thing from Dolby.