13. Brent
Lucky Me
Life in the wake of going public with my relationship remained fairly normal for me, other than the ever-increasing message requests, the frequent story tags, and the daily screenshots Berkley sent me of nasty comments and DMs about her.
Unfortunately, the next week was a flurry of road trips and endless studying. If our brief conversations were any indication, Berkley was struggling to keep it all together, and my inability to be there for her caused a constant ache in my heart.
The Warriors were on the road in North Carolina, ending a three-game road trip that had started in Florida. I was in my hotel room, TV turned to Criminal Minds reruns, when Berkley called.
Instantly, I knew something was wrong.
“Hey, babe,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Brent,” she said, voice thick, as though she were on the verge of tears. “I wish you were here.”
“So do I,” I said, “but tell me what’s wrong.”
“A girl in one of my classes dumped coffee over my head.”
I sucked in a breath, rage spiking. “Why?” I asked through gritted teeth, though I already knew the answer.
I’d never hated my fame until this moment.
“She told me I wasn’t pretty enough for you,” Berkley said, sniffling. “And that you should be with someone like her.”
“Berkley, I don’t want anyone but you. You know that.”
“Well of course I do!” she snapped, then added quietly, “I’m starting to regret this whole thing.”
A chill raced down my spine. “This whole thing? As in…being with me?”
“Oh, God, no,” she said quickly. “I’m sorry. I meant going public. I can’t help but think that everything would be fine right now if we had just ignored that waitress and left people to wonder. Instead, I have to miss my next class so I can go home and clean up.”
I sighed, wishing there was something I could do to take the heat off her. Unfortunately for us both, this came with the territory. If I took to socials and asked the public to leave her alone, not only would it fan the flames, but Berkley would be furious. Her stubborn streak was a mile wide.
“I know, Blondie,” I said at last, trying to placate her. “But we can’t go back. The only thing we can do is move forward.”
She snorted. “Easy for you to say,” she said, an edge to her tone. “Your life hasn’t changed a bit, and you’re not the one wearing a caramel macchiato right now.”
“Look, I’m sorry,” I said. “But don’t get mad at me. I’m not the bad guy here. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but we agreed that, in order to be together, taking our relationship public was going to have to happen eventually.”
“I just didn’t expect it to be this bad,” she said quietly, the fight in her voice from moments before seeming to have left her. “I didn’t think people would be accosting me in broad daylight.”
“I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but we’re in this together.”
“I guess. Although, if that were the case, people should really be pouring drinks over your head.”
I laughed, relaxing. If she was joking around with me, I knew she was calming down. “I would welcome that if it would make you feel better,” I told her honestly. “But unfortunately, no one but my teammates ever gets close enough for that to happen.”
Berkley sighed. “I’ll do it for you when you get home.”
“Deal.”
“Well, thank you for talking me off a ledge. I was about to do something reckless.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” I said. “Leave the reckless behavior to me, please.”
“Will do,” she said. “I’m heading home to take a shower now. Call me after your game tonight, please.”
“I will. Bye, baby.”
“Bye.”
I sat back on my pillows and tipped my head toward the ceiling, wishing I could do more for her than offer words of security.
Ever since my college days, I’d been acutely aware I was good-looking. During my high school senior season, I hadn’t quite grown into my limbs yet, and I was gangly off the ice. But college preseason training had bulked me up a lot, that summer before college dramatically altering my physical appearance. Almost overnight, I’d gone from an awkward teenager who couldn’t put on weight to save his life, to a man with well-defined muscles and a sharp jaw constantly lined with stubble. Thanks to my blue eyes and unruly mop of hair that women seemed to love, I’d begun to receive far more attention than I ever had before.
The longer I played, the more notoriety I gained. Women became more obsessive, too. I could hardly step off the bus at an away game without fans lining the sidewalks, screaming my name. Frequently, women had accosted me in hotel lobbies, asking if they could come up to my room with me.
I was ashamed to admit I’d let it happen on more than one occasion.
But I was unashamed to admit that Berkley had changed all of that. The first time I’d seen her, there had been a spark of recognition, as though some piece of her had spoken to some piece of me.
And now that I had her, now that she was mine, I was never going to let her go.
A knock sounded on my door, and I found Mitch waiting outside.
“What’s up?”
“Just wanted to check in,” Mitch said, pushing past me into the room. “I know taking your relationship public probably hasn’t been easy. How’s your little lady holding up? I texted her a few times, but I haven’t heard back.”
“She’s hanging in there. Fans have not been kind to her, unfortunately. She called me a bit ago to tell me a classmate dumped a cup of coffee over her head.”
Mitch, in the process of dropping himself onto one of the chairs by the windows, widened his eyes and let out a colorful string of curses. “What is wrong with people?”
I shook my head. “I wish I knew.”
“She’s a tough girl,” Mitch said. “It’ll all blow over soon, and then you guys can laugh about it.”
“I hope you’re right. If only convincing her was as simple. She has so much on her plate already with law school and studying for the Bar. I never wanted to be a problem for her, and she tells me I’m not, but lately I’m not so sure. I just wish there was something I could do to make things easier on her, you know?”
“What about a vacation?” Mitch suggested.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, dude, but between hockey and law school, we don’t exactly have a lot of free time.”
“So don’t go far. There are plenty of places in Michigan you could go for the weekend. Just get out of Detroit for a few days.”
“You really think that’ll help?”
“I think what she needs right now from you is your support,” Mitch said, rising to his full height—an inch over my own six-three—and clapping a hand onto my shoulder. “And what better way to give her that than by getting away from the city, just you two? Spend some quality time together.”
I mulled over the possibilities. Traverse City was out of the question. The last thing she needed when trying to relax was her family nearby, adding more pressure. Grand Rapids was always an option, as was heading back to our old stomping grounds of East Lansing.
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said, then frowned. “Why do you always have the best ideas?”
Mitch smiled. “It’s a gift.” He walked to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob to look at me. “For what it’s worth, I recommend Frankenmuth. I heard they’ve got this winter festival coming up that sounds perfect. Now get up and put your suit on. We’ve got a game to go play.”
He disappeared, leaving me alone, tapping away into the Google search bar.
We won our game against Carolina that night and flew home to Detroit the next morning. My research the day before had indicated the Frankenmuth Winter Festival began the upcoming Wednesday and ran through Sunday. Since we played at home on Friday before having three days off, I figured, as long as I could convince Berkley to sneak away, we were in the clear.
The second I walked back into my condo, I called my girl.
“Hi, babe,” she said when she answered.
“Hi,” I said back, smiling at the sound of her voice. “What’re you doing?”
“It’s Monday. What else would I be doing but studying?”
I laughed. “Okay, stupid question. So look, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay…” She sounded dubious.
“I know things have been really hard for you lately, and I haven’t been around much. So I wanted to whisk you away for the weekend if you can swing it.”
I didn’t tell her I’d already booked the Airbnb and planned everything. If I did, she’d throw a fit, and I didn’t want to guilt her into anything.
“Whisk me away to where? You don’t need to plan this fancy vacation and spend a bunch of money on me.”
“I want to take you to Frankenmuth. They have this winter festival this weekend. I thought it might be nice for us to go Saturday and stay overnight. We could get away, unplug, and relax, just the two of us.”
I held my breath while I waited for her to answer. I knew she was weighing whether she could get away with not studying for a few days against her desire for a break.
“When would we leave?”
“Early Saturday morning, and we can come back as early or as late as you want on Sunday. That’s all I’m asking, Berk. Forty-eight hours, tops.”
“Okay,” she said. “Forty-eight hours. I can do that.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Thank fuck. I already paid for everything. And I’m really looking forward to getting you into the hot tub at our Airbnb.”
“Brent!”
“Bye, babe!”
With a chuckle, I hung up before she could protest further.
I arrived at her apartment early on Saturday morning, surprised to, for once, not be greeted by the cavalry. When Berkley let me in, the first words out of my mouth were, “Where’s your posse?”
“Oh, uhm…” Berkley trailed off, waving a hand at me. “I’m not exactly on speaking terms with Kimber and Amelia right now.”
“What?”
“Yeah…we got in a big fight before I left for Christmas break and haven’t talked since. Actually, it was more me and Kimber fighting, but of course, Amelia took her side,” Berkley added wryly.
“But…why?”
“They refused to respect my boundaries.”
She said it so simply, brokering no room for argument, and I didn’t press for details. I figured she’d give me the whole story when she was ready.
Instead, I nodded at her suitcase and said, “You ready?”
“Yep!” she said brightly, wheeling it toward me.
The thing was half as tall as she was, dark green, and pocked with scratches and scrapes. When I hefted it off the floor, I was shocked by its weight. “What do you have in here?”
She huffed, blowing her hair out of her face as it got caught up in the collar of her coat. “Sweaters and boots are bulky.”
“We’re literally going for one night.”
She simply shrugged. “I know that. If it makes you feel better, I’d probably pack twice as much if it was summer.”
“No, actually,” I said, following her out of her apartment. “That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“Too bad,” she said. “You’re stuck with me now.”
Before she could walk away, I grabbed her wrist and tugged her against my body, capturing her mouth with mine.
“Lucky me,” I said against her lips.
It had snowed the night before, a dusting that coated the trees along the highway in white frosting. But the sun was out, and the roads were clear, making the short trip north a smooth one.
Frankenmuth was referred to as Michigan’s Little Bavaria. It was an apt moniker because it looked for all the world like a little German village had been uprooted and dropped at the base of Michigan’s thumb. The area had been settled in 1845 by fifteen Germans, led by a minister, with the express purpose of evangelizing Native Americans. A church was the first building constructed, followed by a school. Less than a decade later, the settlement had boasted eighty cabins and farmhouses. Now, it was a bustling city home to the world’s largest Christmas store.
“I’m already looking forward to that hot tub you promised,” Berkley said, shivering and pressing herself further into my side as we walked toward the shops.
I was, too, though definitely not for the same reasons.
Winter Festival was a citywide celebration of the winter season. Large ice and snow sculptures were erected all over town, and people from all across the Midwest traveled to see them. Large entertainment tents were set up, lined with space heaters and filled with tables and chairs. Stands served staples like beer, soda, hot cocoa and cider, while other vendors offered all manner of cuisines. Even a month after Christmas, Frankemuth hadn’t shed its holiday cheer. The German-inspired buildings made it feel like Santa’s village year-round.
“My parents used to bring us here as kids,” Berkley said as we stopped in front of a storefront to admire the local architecture. “But this is the first time I’ve been back in ages.”
“You’ve been busy.”
“Law school really has been kicking my ass,” she admitted.
“Then I’m making it my mission to take your mind off of it. What do you want to do first?”
“I want to go check out the sculptures,” she said. “Then wander through the trinket shops.”
So that’s exactly what we did.
The sculptures were incredible. It was truly amazing, the way these artists could take things as plain as snow and as fragile but as ice and turn them into something as beautiful as a swan or a house of cards. There were animals of all shapes and sizes, buildings tall enough that I could easily walk inside, and one scene depicting children having a snowball fight.
“This is amazing,” Berkley said.
“I can’t believe I’ve lived in Michigan for over a decade and never knew this existed.”
“How did you find out about it?”
“Mitch,” I said with a shrug.
“You talked to Mitch about us?”
“Technically, he brought it up. He was worried about you, and our relationship, after going public. He suggested taking a little trip.”
Berkley raised an eyebrow. “Do you get a lot of your ideas from Mitch?”
“Not really,” I said. “But he’s my best friend. We talk about stuff like you would with Lexie. And speaking of Lexie…”
“She really likes him,” Berkley said.
“That’s good, because he really likes her. I actually got the feeling that Mitch wanted to bring her here this weekend.”
“She’s out of town for work.”
“That explains it, then. I guess we’ll have to enjoy this enough for us and them.”
“How so?” Berkley asked.
“I’ve got a few ideas in mind.”
And every single one of them involved getting my girl naked.
For the next few hours, she led me through several shops, picking up ornaments, scarves, and other items for her family and friends. As we moved down the sidewalk toward another shop, we passed the entrance of a food tent. The smell of chicken and apple pie and other things I couldn’t name wafted out, stopping Berkley in her tracks.
“Are you hungry?”
In response, she tugged me inside. Long, rectangular tables laden with food lined two of the walls, and smaller, circular tables filled the rest of the space. I paid at the door, and Berkley and I loaded our plates from the buffet-style spread and chose a spot in the corner.
We ate in silence for a while before I spoke. “You know, it’s funny. I feel like I’ve known you forever, but sometimes, I also feel like I don’t know you at all. Like, Lexie was the one who told me you have siblings. I feel like that’s something we should’ve discussed before.”
“Well, to be fair, there is a lot we can still learn about each other.”
The way she said it had me snapping my eyes up to meet hers across the table. As I watched, she gave me a small smile and bit her lip, winking.
“Berkley Daniels,” I said, leaning closer. “Are you saying you want to take advantage of me?”
Berkley laughed, and an older couple seated at a table nearby turned to glare at her. “Get me out of here, and you can find out for yourself.”
“Done,” I said. With efficient movements, I stacked our plates, grabbing them with one hand and Berkley’s with the other, dropping them in a garbage can and towing us back into the snow.