Reed (Cold Fury Hockey 10)

"I honestly need to be drunk to understand what you just said," I mutter, and take another long sip of my wine.

"This is it for Reed," Aiden says confidently. "He cares for you so deeply he's willing to sacrifice his happiness to ensure you get yours. Of course, he's wrong about you needing something more than what he provides, but that's beside the point. He's truly doing this with nothing but pure altruism in his heart. Mark my words."

Aiden continues to smirk at me, completely pleased with his analysis. "You're saying he loves me and that's why he told me to give you another shot?"

"It's totally screwed up thinking for sure, but yes...that's what I'm saying. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that Reed's never been in love before. This is a life-changing moment for him and he's acting in your best interests. Again, his reasoning is kind of stupid, but what can I say...he's a dumb jock."

"Hey," I say irritably, and smack his chest. "Don't call him that."

Aiden laughs and finishes off his first glass of wine. I finish mine too and he pours the rest of the bottle between our two empty glasses.

"Come on," he says as he walks into the living room. "Let's sit down and just get drunk. Unpacking can wait."

Sounds reasonable to me, so I follow Aiden into the living room. He sits in a recliner and I take one end of the couch.

"I don't think he's ever had a serious relationship," I say as I swirl the wine in my glass.

"I think that would be a good guess, seeing as how he's not handling this very well," Aiden surmises. "And if you spill that wine on my white couch, you're buying a new one for me."

I immediately stop swirling the wine, and when it settles, I take a big sip to bring the level down a little. "You know how I first met him?" I ask Aiden.

He shakes his head.

"He was banging some woman at his apartment and the damn headboard was knocking against the wall and I could hear her screaming. I went over to his place and gave him a piece of my mind."

Aiden's mouth falls open. "Seriously?"

"Yup," I say with a giggle, and that's totally the wine, as I'm not a giggler. "I called her Screaming Barbie and she didn't like that at all."

"Barbie, huh?"

"He had a type and I watched them come and go from his place. Let's see...there was Screaming Barbie, and Ditzy Barbie, and Fashionista Barbie. Oh, and Carbie Barbie."

Aiden lets out of bark of a laugh as he throws his head back and his wine sloshes over the edge of his glass. Luckily it just splashes on his pants and not his white recliner. "You're making that up?"

"I am not," I say indignantly, my head already swimming a tiny bit from drinking so fast. I take another long swallow. "But I guess his type has changed now, huh?"

"I'd say so," Aiden says on a low chuckle. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I'm going to continue getting drunk with you, since we already started, and I deserve it after this shit Reed's put me through."

"And tomorrow?"

"And tomorrow I'm going to go knock some sense into Reed. Or maybe I'll tell him I slept with you and he's absolutely right. That you're the guy for me."

"Thatta girl," he praises me with a laugh, holding his wineglass up in a toast. "But I think you'll get better results with just knocking sense into him."

I raise mine in return salute and then I smile at him. "Thanks for being a good friend, Aiden. I know this can't be exactly easy advising your ex-girlfriend on her current romantic troubles."

"My pleasure, Josie," he says and his smile drifts away. "And again...I'm sorry for hurting you. It was the last thing I wanted to do."

"It's all right," I say, brushing off his apology.

"No, it's not."

"Actually," I tell him with a sober look. "It's all right, Aiden. Because I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be, and with the man I'm supposed to be with."

He nods with a wistful smile. "Agreed. But if he hurts you further, I'm so going to kick his ass, and then I'm going to sweep you back off your feet again."

I laugh at his jest, although I know there might be some slight truth to it. But the thought of Aiden and me together is implausible.

There's only one person for me, and I just need to make sure Reed knows that I wouldn't change a thing about him, nor could I ever want anything more than what he gives me.

Chapter 27

Reed

"And on this page here," Stacy says as she points to a place on the document. I scribble my signature and she flips the page, pointing to one last place I need to sign. "And right here."

I scrawl my name for what seems like the hundredth time and she flips the thick contract back into place. Looking to me with a bright smile she exclaims, "Congratulations, Reed. You are now the primary spokesperson for Fast Advantage Sports Shakes."

I grin back at her. "Why, thank you very much, Miss Nichols. It's a pleasure doing business with you."

Stacy throws back her head and her blond curls bounce as she laughs at me. "We make a good team."

That we do. Stacy Nichols has been my agent since I entered the NHL. She's brokered some amazing deals for me and has made me a very rich man. She's also made a shit pot of money off of me too.

"What time do I have to take you to the airport?" I ask her.

She stands up from my kitchen table and rotates her neck until I can hear the bones cracking. Stacy was a college and professional women's basketball player before she turned sports agent. While she has an athletic build, she is also quite voluptuous and drop-dead gorgeous to boot. Her sex appeal, though, hasn't seemed to have hindered her playing in a man's world of sports entertainment. She represents a few other Cold Fury members as well, and we all love her for what she's done for us professionally.

"We've got about another hour before we need to leave. I'm flying to Pittsburgh to sign Arturo Rodriguez."

"You're kidding me," I say with surprise as I push up out of my chair. I walk to my refrigerator and pull out two beers, knowing that Stacy won't say no to one.

"Incredible, right?" she says with a laugh. I hand her her beer and she twists the top off, setting the cap on the counter.

Arturo Rodriguez is the most sought after center fielder in professional baseball. While Stacy does well by the handful of hockey players and few professional football players she represents, Arturo will definitely be the biggest feather in her cap. This pleases me, because it will give her more credibility in future negotiations on my behalf.

I twist the cap off my bottle and hold my beer out to her. She taps the neck against mine and I say, "Congratulations. That's amazing."

She offers a blase shrug. "It helps that I used to date the cousin of his high school coach."

"Bullshit," I say with a stern look. "Your talent speaks for itself."

Stacy puts her forearms on the counter, holding the beer bottle loosely. She looks up at me with a smile. "So, what's new with you, Reed? Anything exciting going on in your life?"

I must hesitate too long before I say, "Not really," because Stacy's eyes narrow at me.

"But there's a story there," she says confidently.

She's fucking right there's a story there. I haven't been able to think straight since Josie walked out of my house yesterday. My fucking big mouth goading her right into Aiden's arms. I barely slept last night, and I must have looked out the front window a million times waiting for her car to come back. It never did, and it wasn't there this morning either.

My gut says that Josie would never have betrayed me with Aiden. She was pissed when she walked out of here, but I can also tell she had not given up on me. She's got far too much loyalty to let anger make her do something impulsive and stupid the way my doubts led me to push her out that door.

At least I hope that's the Josie I know. And yet, I cannot pretend I am not bothered by the fact that fifteen minutes ago when I looked out the window again, her car still wasn't outside.

"Spill it, Olson," Stacy says with a pointed look. Then her voice

turns soft and she says, "Tell me what's wrong."

I tip my bottle of beer up and take a few hefty swallows, enjoying the respite of an ice-cold pale ale going down my throat. I'm so bent out of shape with all the stuff with Josie that I'd really like to get shit-faced drunk, but I know that would not be a good thing. No telling what I would do.

With a sigh, I admit to her dejectedly, "Girl trouble. The worst kind."

Stacy nods at me knowingly. "You did something stupid, didn't you?"

I give a tiny bark of humorless laughter and nod. "I pretty much screwed up yesterday and pushed away a woman I'm confident is my soul mate."

Stacy tilts her head and says, "Awww. That may be the sweetest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Fuck off," I say with a chuckle. "I sort of pushed her away because I didn't think I was good enough for her, and she hasn't come back home all night."