Now here we are five hours later on the way to the arena for the game tonight. I’m walking next to him while he has his earphones in his ears. The minute we step off the elevator he goes into game mode. The arena is one street over, so we opted to walk instead of taking a car over. I don’t say anything to him when we get there because the camera crews are already there, so instead I walk to the side where Mindy is waiting for the players to come by.
“Hey there,” I say to her, smiling while she hands me a Starbucks cup. “Oh, thank you so much.”
“Well, I kind of need a favor, so that’s to butter you up.” She starts saying to me. “We have two functions going on in November and another in December and I was hoping you could drag Matthew to them. He’s heating up the ice, his game is on point, and he’s the big talk on the circuit.”
I take a sip of the coffee. “Next time lead with wine. What functions exactly?” I ask her.
“We have the Pediatrics Dinner with a secret auction. The kids love Matthew. Then we have the team Christmas Party. So far he told me a fuck no to the second and a maybe to the first.” She tilts her head.
“That sounds about right.”
“I even told him he could bring a date for that night and he glared at me. I think he just needs to get laid,” she says, leaning in, almost whispering, “I don’t know how you deal with him.”
“Yeah, it’s been really hard lately.” I smile to myself, thinking of the pun I just did. Her phone rings and she excuses herself.
I turn to walk away and come face to face with Max again. Jesus, what is it with him today?
“There you are,” he says to me, pulling his buds out of his ears.
“Here I am,” I say to him.
“Sorry about before. I should have known you would have your toddler with you.” He tries to be funny. “So about dinner.”
“Max, listen, I don’t want to be rude, but I’m really not interested.” I try to continue but more guys come in, all yelling at us saying hello. Max nods at me and walks in with his teammates, making me blow out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
I walk down the same corridor as the guys, heading to one of the boxes that our team has during the game. The television is blaring in the background.
“Matthew Grant is on point. I have to say it’s great to see this kid skating again. By seeing some of the plays he’s been doing it’s only going to be a matter of time before he’s placed in the top line. The question is who is going to be knocked down?”
I listen to the sport reporter talk about everyone on the team with their stats. I sit here, pride washing over me. He is killing it and I couldn’t be more proud. When the puck drops three hours later, Matthew’s line is the first one on the ice, where it takes them eleven seconds to find the back of the net. Their tic-tac-toe passing makes it really a team effort.
The rest of the game is even better with him scoring his first hat trick of the season, giving him the most ice time of the team. Everyone is celebrating the win except Max, who slams his stick on the boards and walks back to the dressing room.
I get a text from Matthew while I’m walking outside of the lodge.
Will be here for a while. Interviews and stuff. Meet me back at the hotel.
Great game, Grant. I send him back a response, walking out with Mindy.
I’m in the hotel room for about an hour watching television when the phone rings with Matthew’s ring tone. Something that he changed when I wasn’t paying attention. Now it’s set to “Sexy Bitch” when he calls.
“Hello,” I say, tossing the remote back on the bed.
“Come down to the hotel bar. We are going to eat here.”
I can barely hear him.
“Please?” I say into the phone.
“Please with a cherry on top.” He laughs at me and hangs up.
Grabbing my jacket, I head downstairs. I have changed out of my skirt to a pair of black jeans with a white tank top and a black leather jacket to tie up the look. I put my heels on, making it classy-ish.
I make my way down to the hotel bar and I’m shocked to see it completely crammed. I see different players from the team. They all give me the chin up when I walk in. I spot Matthew at the bar with Phil. The two of them are surrounded by five girls. My heart starts to beat a bit faster when I see one of them lean in and whisper something into Matthew’s ear. I’m about to leave when he notices me. He gets off his stool, pushing the girl aside, walking up to me.