I’m not sure she’s asking me the question or answering it herself.
“Hello?” I ask, sitting up.
“He was in court being charged with robbery,” she huffs. “I swear we had a moment.” She continues huffing as she walks faster. “Okay, now back to you, you met him?”
“I did, in the gym. I was on the treadmill watching the Kardashians and he came in.”
“How many times did I tell you not to watch that show in public? You never listen to me. Merde,” she curses in French.
“I missed the last three weeks and it was about Kim’s robbery. You know I’m going to watch just to see her cry,” I tell her, trying to find a good reason for watching that. “Plus, who goes to a hotel gym?”
“Obviously people who want to work out?” She points out.
“Whatever,” I huff out. “He was in there with sweat all over him, huffing and puffing while he ran.” I roll my eyes. It was actually gross. Okay, maybe not, but still.
“Did you talk to him?”
“No, although he did bump into me walking to the elevator, and I thought he stabbed me in the back, except it wasn’t a dagger!” I giggle.
“He stuck his cock in your back? Like in your pucker hole?”
“Are you insane? I haven’t even had sex the whole way yet. Well, like full-blown sex.”
“Two pumps is not sex!” she yells out somewhere on the streets of New York. “Then he got soft and collapsed. He should have his penis taken away. Permanently.”
“You know I saw him last month making out with a guy. Maybe my vagina broke his penis.”
“Your vagina did no such thing. So when is this meeting?”
“Tomorrow. I’m arriving at eleven to go over the clauses in his contract. He gets there at noon.”
“Okay, I want you to text me right after, and don’t forget to dress sexy. If he got a boner with you in shorts, imagine you in tight stuff. He might be tenting all meeting long.”
“Au revoir,” I tell her, hanging up, going into the shower, and turning the water back up to hot. “It’s going to be fine. It’ll be good. I got this,” I tell my reflection in the mirror, right before I close my eyes and picture him naked.
Chapter Three
Matthew
I pick up the suit jacket, shrugging it on. I’m not putting on a tie, so the collar is open. I pull out the cuffs so my sleeves are smooth in my suit. I pick up my wallet, putting it in the pocket inside my suit jacket. I grab my phone and walk out ordering an Uber. As soon as I schedule the pick-up, my phone rings and a picture of Allison with her tongue out flashes on my screen.
“Why are you calling me at eleven? Aren’t you in school?” I ask her, listening to her giggle.
“Calm down there, big boy. I’m on lunch. I was calling to wish you luck. Don’t fuck this up.”
“Watch your mouth.” I shake my head. My little sister isn’t so little anymore. In her place is a fifteen almost sixteen-year-old spitfire. She is the reason I see some extra white in Cooper’s hair, and the other ones are for the twin girls, who are almost going to have to be homeschooled they are in trouble so much. The only sane one is my brother.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay, well, don’t mess this up. I gotta go. The teacher is coming.” And she clicks off.
I send her a text instead.
Liar, you said you were at lunch!
She doesn’t answer. Instead, she just sends the kisses emoji. She might be adding white hair to my head, too. I make it down to the lobby and escape without anyone seeing me. My Uber app shows me that the car is waiting for me. I jump in, saying hi and nothing else.
Instead, I scroll on TSN and Hockey News. My hands are sweaty. My stomach is rumbling. We make it to the building ten minutes before my meeting, but you know what they say, the early bird gets the worm. I shake my head, thinking about the saying my grandfather used to always tell me.
Walking up to the security guy, I give him my name and he lets me in since I’m on the list.
I make my way up to the reception desk after stepping out of the elevator. I smile at the girl who sees me and then blushes. “Hi there. Matthew Grant. I have a meeting.” I don’t even have to say anything because she nods.
“Yes, Mr. Grant.” She gets up and walks around her desk. “Follow me. I’ll take you to the conference room.” She walks ahead of me, swaying her hips so wide I hope she doesn’t fall.
When we reach the end of the hall she opens the door, allowing me to walk next to her. I see Robert getting up, walking over to me. “Hey, Matthew, looking good.” He shakes my hand while I nod at him. “This is Doug Cooney, the owner of the team. I’m just waiting for Dan, the coach, to get here. Let’s have a seat.” He points to the chairs.