44. Reid
FORTY-FOUR
REID
“What’s the plan for the Super Bowl?” Maven asks, cuddling up to Dallas on the couch in their apartment. She rests her head on his chest and smiles. “I know you all are taking the team plane to Pasadena, but what about the rest of us?”
“Never fear, Mae. Puck Daddy Mav is here,” Maverick chimes in, and I roll my eyes.
“No one calls you that,” I say. “No one has ever called you that.”
“That’s not true.” He flips me off and drapes his arm around Emmy’s shoulders. “There’s a whole thread on the internet dedicated to my nicknames.”
“Are you sure you didn’t make the thread yourself?” Emmy asks. “Seems like something you would do.”
“Fuck me, I guess.” He pouts and scoots away from her. “I was going to mention the private jet I chartered to get us out west, but you assholes can get there on your own.”
“Wait! What if I’m an innocent bystander? Can I still come on the jet?” Avery asks.
“Yes. Only Avery is allowed,” he tells all of us. “And June Bug too. The rest of you can drive or take the train. Maybe the bus.”
“Careful,” I murmur in Avery’s ear. “Being stuck in a metal tube with him for six hours might be a new level of hell.”
“I can hear you, dickbag.” Maverick throws a pillow at me, and I block it from hitting Avery in the face. “I hope you have to fly economy.”
“Almost hurt my girlfriend again, and we’re going to have a problem,” I warn him.
“Oh.” Avery tugs on my shirt. “That was hot. I didn’t know I was into nerds who were protective of their women.”
“Guess that means I need to do it more often.”
My phone buzzes with a notification at the same time as Avery’s. I look at her and roll my eyes. “You didn’t tag me in something when I’m sitting right next to you, did you?”
“I thought we were past that, Duncan,” she says, tapping her screen. “Holy fucking shit.”
“What?” I glance over her shoulder. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“You know how Griffin Harrison announced next season will be his last year and inked a huge broadcasting gig that’s worth more than he ever made playing?” Avery asks.
“Yeah. Ten years, three hundred million dollars. It’s fucking insanity.”
“That might be in jeopardy now.” She turns her phone so I can read the alert she’s showing me. “His OnlyFans account got hacked. Turns out he’s been sending money to some girl for months now. She’s the only one he follows on there, and one of the tips he left was four thousand dollars. Oh, shit. Some of their messages got leaked too.”
“ What ?” Dallas jumps up and grabs the phone from Avery. “No fucking way. Griffin barely talks to anyone. I’ve seen him smile three times, and I’ve played next to him for months.”
“Wait, why is this a big deal?” Maven asks. “Whoever this girl is, she’s legal, right? Who gives a shit who the guy is sending his money to. I wish I had that kind of cash to dole out to hot women.”
“The deal he signed is with a company that’s very, uh, conservative, even though he’s not. They’re ‘family oriented’. Whatever that’s supposed to mean,” Avery explains. “Finding out the guy they hired to talk about football for the next decade has an OnlyFans account is probably going to raise some questions.”
“This is going to be a media shitstorm.” I groan and drop my head back. “You’re going to use this as content, aren’t you? You’re going to poke fun at it.”
“I already have half a dozen ideas,” Avery says, and she sounds fucking giddy. “There’s no coincidence in this coming out right before the Super Bowl. Someone wanted to distract him.”
“Wouldn’t put it past the Pistons fans. They’re ruthless. Anything they can do to take down an opposing player, they will,” Maven says, and Dallas’s phone rings.
“It’s Shawn. I better take this.” He slips into the kitchen, and Maven follows behind him.
“Do you want to head out?” Avery asks, and I frown.
“Why would I want to head out?”
“You’ve had a busy week at work, and now this news coming out? You know the comment sections are going to go crazy.”
“I’m not on the clock right now,” I say.
“You’re a salaried employee. Aren’t you always on the clock?”
“That’s not what I mean.” I pull her into my lap, ignoring Maverick’s whistling. “I’m here with you and my friends right now. Is this a crisis? In a sense, yeah, but it’s not my crisis. So a bunch of people flood the comments of our posts? Big deal. I’m not missing important moments in my life just so I can talk to some clowns on social media about a player’s dick.”
“Important moments?” Avery turns her chin to look at me. “We’re just playing board games.”
“Any moment with you is an important moment, Ave. I’m not risking this—” I gesture between us. “For this,” I say, picking up my phone. “I’ve been there before, and it sucks. Nobody wins. Whatever is going to happen tonight can wait until tomorrow.”
“I think I just fell in love with you all over again.” She smiles and rests her forehead against mine. “You’re a smooth talker, Reid Duncan.”
“Whatever keeps you interested.”
“What if I told you I’m wearing a new pair of lingerie and bought you a comic book today?” she asks. “Would that be classified as an important enough reason for us to head home?”
“We have to go,” I announce, standing and setting Avery on her feet. She laughs next to me and pulls my hoodie over her head. “I have shit to deal with. Fires to put out.”
“Girlfriends to fuck,” she whispers in my ear, and I haul her by the waist to the door. “I’ll see you later this week?” she adds to Emmy.
“I’ll text you when Moneybags over here sets up all the travel stuff,” Emmy says. “Maybe we can go shopping for some new bathing suits before we head out west.”
“We’re leaving too,” Maverick yells, and Emmy rolls her eyes when he tosses her over his shoulder.
“Really, pretty boy? Do you want to make why we’re leaving any more obvious?”
“Oh, like you didn’t hear Avery tell Reid what she bought today,” Maverick says, and Avery buries her face in my shoulder. “Enjoy your work, Plant Daddy. Don’t let it keep you up all night.”
I flip him off, and when we get to the elevator, I close the doors in his face. Avery laughs when we’re alone, finally showing her red cheeks.
“That was so embarrassing,” she says. “I can never see them again.”
“Fuck it. We’ll find new friends. I didn’t like them anyway. Tell me more about what you’re wearing underneath that sweater. Are we going to your place or mine?”
“Your place. It’s red. And that’s a shame, because I really liked your friends.”
“Fine. We’ll be friends with them again. Only because you said so.”
She laughs again. “Reid?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Is that what your nights looked like before we met? When we only talked through our phones?”
“Yeah.” I rub my jaw, smiling at the memory of the late nights when I was in the guest bedroom, wide awake because I couldn’t stop scrolling through the Thunderhawks’ Instagram feed. Typing then deleting messages to her, too chicken to actually send them. “There was more cursing back then, though.”
“I like being in your spaces,” Avery says. “I like seeing the parts of your life I only had glimpses of. I like putting names to faces, and I like to imagine you were thinking about me in all the moments I was thinking about you.”
“I was. Spitefully, of course, but I was. And I have no plans of stopping anytime soon.”
“Good. You’re going to include me too, right?”
“Baby. You’re going to be fucking sick of me soon.”
“Doubtful. I’ve always been a little obsessed with you, Duncan. It’s about time you caught up.”