13. Wren
13
WREN
… a few months later
“Great work, Stefan,” I tell him as we leave the stadium to head home.
Even after all this time, it’s weird to call his beach house home but it has become somewhat of a home for me. I’ve even made friends with a girl a few doors down. Fern and her fiancé, Bradford, are so loved up it’s sickening at times. He may be twenty-years her senior but he adores her. He’s book fiancé material … and mighty fine on the eyes for a silver fox.
“It was horseshit,” he hisses at me.
Stefan just did a podcast for a couple of kids who are diehard LA Legends fans. They were so starstruck to be on air with Stefan that it was a train wreck from the start. I will give it to him, he was an absolute legend—pun intended—and I have no doubt, those kids will remember today for the rest of their lives.
“Give em a break, they’re twelve.”
“When I was twelve, I was a gun on the ice.”
“Brag much?” I throw at him as he opens the door to his G-Wagon for me. “Thank you,” I say as he waits for me to climb in.
“And it’s not bragging if it’s the truth,” he replies before closing the door.
Currently, we’re in one of Stefan’s good phases, but I’m waiting on the bench for the horny shoe to drop. Going on previous history, he does so well and then boom, Doucheman Stefan is back and we’re at square one with his image again. In the last few months, he’s really turned his image around. He’s attended many charity events, without whining, and he’s spent countless hours down at the group home. He’s great with the kids, and I think he actually enjoys himself.
After Stefan was caught having a threesome in an alley behind a club, Tania and I felt that in order to keep this polite version of Stefan around during the offseason, he and I would hide away in Bumfuck, Colorado at Emerald Creek, the ranch Tania owns … because, of course, she owns a hockey team AND a ranch. FYI, she also owns her own private jet, an island in Fiji, and a chateau on the French Riviera—Tania Clotsdale is one rich lady. Her wealth aside, we all thought it was a good idea for Stefan to hide away so we relocated from the beach to her ranch.
Stefan and I were getting along great and he was actually being nice … and a normal human being. Then the ranch hands arrived for the summer season and it all fell apart.
Stefan had gone weeks without hooking up and drinking excessively and in less than twenty-four hours, he worked his way through a bunch of ranch hands and caused three of them to quit. Well, they were fired for fighting … over Stefan … and who blew his mind the best.
After that, as “punishment,” and I use the term loosely, Tania sent us to her island in the Pacific. Waking up to crystal-clear water being just a hop, skip, and a jump from my front stairs was ah-may-zing in every way, and I forgave Stefan for his fuckups and luring us into this “punishment” in paradise.
With the new season just around the corner, we’re back in LA and diving headfirst into things. Currently, we’re heading into the LTS office in downtown LA to meet with Jaxson and run through a few things. He and I have been collaborating on new ways to overhaul Stefan’s image and keep him in-line without losing who Stefan is as a person, and we think we’ve found the perfect solution.
“This is fucking brilliant,” Stefan shouts, slapping the conference room table. He’s smiling a genuine smile, and I think we finally found the “thing” that will make Stefan happy and keep him on track. “When do we start?”
Stefan, in conjunction with Hockey Inc., is releasing a sportswear line. He’s always complaining about something not fitting right or this being too long/loose/tight. I happened to mention it in passing to Jaxson a few months ago. Well, Jaxson being Jaxson knew someone and then BOOM, discussions were had. And now Hockey Inc. is meeting with Stefan to finalize the details, but there is one part I’m not sure Stefan will go for.
“Stefan,” I broach, finally putting my big girl panties on. “As part of this arrangement, ummm …”
“Just spit it out, Wren.”
“They want you to donate a portion of the proceeds to underprivileged kids.”
“Too easy,” he says without missing a beat.
“You will also have to help raise extra funds, atten?—”
“Attend their galas and spend time with the kids down at the group home, which, by-the-way, I’ve already been doing. I can do all that,” he states matter-of-factly. He hasn’t argued any of the finer details regarding this deal and he actually looks excited for this.
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Mmmhmpf.” He nods.
“Really?” I ask, shock laces my tone as I stare across the table at Stefan. Going by the look of glee on his face, he means it. He really is excited for all of this.
“Really-really,” he replies. “It may come as a shock to you, but I wasn’t raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had to work hard for everything I have. Sure, when Mom passed there was an inheritance but there were kids on my team and around me who didn’t have what I had. Now I’m in a position to help them achieve their dreams too.”
Stefan goes on about ideas of what he can do but before he gets carried away, we need to actually get this off the ground.
“I will arrange a face-to-face with Steph at Hockey Inc., and then we can go from there,” Jaxson interrupts Stefan, who is listing all the things he wants to do in the future regarding this venture.
“Awesome,” Stefan agrees. “Let me know when and where and I’ll be there. So, what else you got for me?” Stefan asks, shocking the two of us.
“Just that for now,” I tell him, while Jaxson adds, “Let’s see how much time this takes and then we can go from there.”
“Cool.” He looks to me. “Ready to head home?”
“I’ll drop her home later,” Jaxson answers for me. “We have LTS stuff to discuss.”
“Cool, cool.” Standing up, he shakes Jaxson’s hand, smiles at me, then spins around and exits the conference room. The door clicks closed, and Jaxson and I sit here silently. Each of us has a quizzical look on our face.
“Did that just happen?” I ask, breaking the silence surrounding us.
He nods. “Yep, Doucheman wasn’t a douche, and he jumped at this opportunity.”
“Can you pinch me?” I ask, holding out my arm. He reaches over and pinches me. “Ouch, why did you do that?”
“You asked me to,” he says with a shrug.
“It’s rhetorical, you dick, but seriously, I must be dreaming cause … wow.”
“Maybe you’re rubbing off on him after all.”
“Let’s not count our chickens yet. Do you really think he can be the face of this and not fuck it up?”
“With you monitoring him, I think he can do anything. You may not think you’re getting to him but, Wren, that’s a different guy than the one who left New York.”