Chapter 2
TWO
Rain
“What do you mean, is it supposed to look like a penis? Of course, it’s not supposed to look like a penis.”
“You sure, Rainy? Because it looks like a penis to me. Might’ve been a while since I’ve seen one, but I’m pretty sure I still know what they look like.”
Taking a deep breath, I shook my head then let it rest on my hands, fisted on top of each other on my desk. Monday morning after a game weekend was always quiet. Practice was optional, and a week before Christmas, no one wanted to spend more time here than they had to. Which made it the perfect time to get some work done.
Except everything seemed to be going wrong today.
“Fred.” I tried to hide my sigh but wasn’t completely sure I succeeded. “Do you see the Devils’ logo anywhere on that proof?”
The other end of the line went silent. Fredricka Gaines had taken over her parents’ sporting goods company last January. And while it hadn’t been a disaster, this wasn’t the first hiccup. And it wouldn’t be the last because I wouldn’t even think of using another company unless Fred’s company went under. The Devils were loyal like that.
Some would say to a fault, but… Well, anyway.
“Um, no. No, I don’t.”
“Then I don’t think that’s our proof.”
Silence from the other end of the line. Then, “Shit. I’m sorry. You’re right. Of course, you’re right. Let me look in my email again.
“No problem. Hey, I’m going to send it to you again right now, then we can go over it together.”
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
Fred went quiet, and a picture of her popped into my head. Strawberry blonde ringlets to her waist, pixie features, and all of five feet, the woman was a whirlwind of energy, constantly in motion, her brain always working. Brilliant, funny, and the most disorganized person I knew. But she always managed to get whatever she needed to do done. Even if it was down to the wire.
Then Fred sighed, long and loud. “How do you do it, Rain? How do you keep it all together? Somedays I feel like I’m drowning.”
Fred sounded so absolutely forlorn, I wondered for a second if she was going to quit right there and then. And I couldn’t live with myself if that happened.
“You’re doing fine,” I said, my voice calm and collected. “Give yourself a break. I’ve been doing my job for almost five years. You’ve been in yours a year.”
“But you always seem so in control of everything.”
I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t want to seem flippant as I clicked the button to resend the email with the logo. Which I’d sent last week. “Not all the time. Sometimes, I’m just faking it.”
“No way. I don’t believe that.”
It was more true than she’d ever know, or that I’d ever admit, but that was part of the job. Making it look easy and then working my ass off to make it happen.
Sure, I manifested that shit like a boss. But, yeah, my ducks were in a row and no squirrels allowed. When those suckers popped up their heads, I made sure to bop them like I was playing Whack-A-Mole.
“Seriously, sometimes you just gotta believe it’s all going to be okay and then jump into the deep end and hope you don’t drown.”
“Well, I feel like I’m drowning in the shallow end right now.”
“Then snap out of it, because I need you to make sure you got the right proof. Check your email. That’s all you need to do right now. I don’t trust anyone else to do our specialty sweaters.”
Another huge sigh.
“Yep, it’s there.”
“Now open it and make sure there are no penises on the proof.”
There was the laugh I wanted to hear.
“You’re right. No penises. But… Wait, are these shirts pink? And do those bats have heart bodies?”
“Yes, they are and yes, they do. Do you like them?”
I’d designed them myself, and I thought they were some of my best work so far. But they weren’t our normal style. They were a little softer, a little less in your face than our normal logo. Since Dad had given me carte blanche to design the specialty sweaters when I’d come to work for the team, I’d stuck to the tried-and-true variations of the grinning devil’s face that was our regular logo.
This year, I’d wanted to do something different.
“Rain, these are too good to be on hockey sweaters. You totally missed your calling. You should’ve been an illustrator.”
My lips curved in a happy grin. “Thanks, Fred. I’m glad you like them.”
“I love them. Seriously, these are quality. I’ll try not to screw them up.”
“Stop it. You’re not going to screw them up. I have faith in you. Hey, I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got a meeting with Rowdy and Dad, and I need to make another call before then. Text me, and we’ll make a date for lunch after Christmas.”
“I would love that, Rain. And thanks.”
“No problem. I’m here. Whatever you need. Just ask.”
I hung up, making a note to follow up on the proofs in a couple of days. And to make sure Fred didn’t need anything. If she did, she knew she could count on me.
Dad needed me? Be right there. Mom needed me? I’m on my way. My brothers? Hell, even they knew if they called, I’d drop what I was doing and be at their side. Friends needed a shoulder to cry on or a bridesmaid to stand up for them? I stock tissues and ice cream in bulk and I’m always up for buying a new dress.
But lately, some of those friends had begun to suggest there was a correlation between my lack of a significant other and my good friend status. Like, maybe I used friendship to avoid relationships.
Well, what was wrong with that? Considering how my last relationship had ended, who could blame me? I wasn’t eager to jump back into the dating pool. I didn’t need a man to make my life complete. So there.
Sticking out my tongue at no one in particular, I grabbed my planner to see what was next on the to-do list, even though I knew damn well what it was. I’d been avoiding this for a week, but now I absolutely had to get this done.
Picking up my phone, I pulled up my contacts and found the one I needed.
After the third ring, I thought I was home free, but then it connected, and a gruff voice said, “Lawrence. What can I do for you? I’ve only got a couple minutes before I have to leave.”
Gritting my teeth, I took a breath before speaking, because my smart-ass tongue had gotten me in trouble many times before, and I just didn’t have time to deal with this asshole the way I wanted to right now.
“Wyeth.” I made sure my tone was friendly, with just the right amount of fuck-you. “I’m calling about the sweaters for the March home-and-home games. I plan to send over the designs later this week?—”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine. I’m good with whatever you come up with.”
My mouth dropped open, but I couldn’t think of a damn thing to say. Usually Wyeth, who owned the Bentonville Badgers, had to stick his two cents into everything. Didn’t matter if it was as simple as changing one word in a slogan or wanting a complete design overhauled a day before it was due to the printer.
Then he continued. “Just send them to me when they’re done. We’ll talk then. Have to go.”
And he hung up. Leaving me rubbing my temples at the tiny hammer that had started to beat there.
In my mind, a mental picture of Harry Wyeth formed, and it wasn’t flattering. If I didn’t know the man well, I’d think he was handsome. Sandy blond hair, blue eyes, and a stocky build. A carbon copy of his dad. But his smile tended toward mean, and his eyes were arctic blue, cold and calculating.
Harry had always reminded me of a sleazy salesman who wanted to sell me something I didn’t need and wasn’t going to leave until I bought it. We’d had a lot of dealings together over the past three years, since we’d occupied basically the same position for our dads’ companies. We’d been able to work together without too much friction, but when he’d taken over all hockey operations after his dad’s death a year ago, his true nature had come out.
His dad had been old-school but never condescending. Harold Wyeth had struggled with having women in hockey, except as cheerleaders, of course. But at least he’d been respectful. Harry, however, had inherited all his dad’s bad qualities and none of the good. Which made every interaction with him something I dreaded.
Not that I couldn’t handle him. I could. I just really, really, really didn’t want anything to do with him. But if the damn man didn’t stop hanging up on me every time I called, like I was one of his damn lackeys, he was going to learn the hard way that I was not all sunshine and light, like my name might imply. After dealing with me on a bad day, some people (namely my brothers) had suggested I change my name to another natural phenomenon: Lightning. All jagged edges and a flash of angry growl.
Sometimes it was good to know they feared me, but I never doubted their love. Not my brothers’ or my parents’. But anyone else, besides my closest friends… Yeah, I had a real hard time believing a word out of their mouths. It made for rocky relationships. But could you blame me? I mean, my last relationship had been a total bust, but that was mostly my fault for dating a hockey player. Again. Obviously, I hadn’t learned from the first disaster.
Another man’s face popped into my mind. A man with auburn hair that he kept short because otherwise it got curly, hazel eyes, and a nose that’d been broken not just once, but a couple of times, including once by my brother, Rebel.
Damn the man for continuing to pop up in my thoughts when I least expected it and for no reason whatsoever. Except for the fact that he had coldcocked my shitty ex, who I should have known was an asshole. But no, of course I hadn’t listened to my brother Rebel, who thought he knew how I should live my life better than I did.
Except he hadn’t been wrong about Mo Zelinsky, had he? As much as I hated to admit it, Rebel had been right about Mo. Total dick. Supreme asshole who looked like god’s gift to women.
Brian… Not a dick. But also… Gone. After he’d coldcocked Mo, who’d been the captain of Brian’s old team, Brian had disappeared. I’d asked Rowdy, just once, where Brian had gone. Rowdy had said, “Home,” like I was supposed to know where that was. And since I didn’t want Rowdy to wonder why I was asking about Brian so much, I broke down and asked Rebel, who’d shrugged and grunted, which was guy speak for, “Don’t know, don’t care.”
Sometimes I slapped Rebel upside the head just because I could, and because I’m sure he deserved it for something.
So I’d searched for Brian online and found out he hadn’t played at all the rest of last season. And he wasn’t on a roster this season. Anywhere in the world. Trust me, I’d checked. And his social media hadn’t been updated for at least a year.
Okay then.
You really need to stop obsessing.
“I am not obsessing,” I muttered under my breath as I pulled up the Devils’ social media accounts and added a few more posts to the queue. The season had started more than two months ago, and while Dad wasn’t worried about it, ticket sales were down slightly. I know, I know, high school football was just winding down and the holiday was almost here?—
“Rainbow! Come up here for a minute.”
My dad’s voice boomed down the hallway, scaring the shit out of me because I hadn’t realized he was here. We weren’t supposed to meet for another hour.
I muttered, “Oh for fuck’s sake,” while putting a hand over my chest as my heart pounded against my ribs.
“Dad! This is why we installed a phone system!”
And yes, of course, I yelled back at him without using the phone. Because that was how we rolled around here. I hadn’t known anyone else was in the building, which was kinda creepy, because anyone could’ve walked in and murdered me. Hey, it could happen. There had to be some people out there who didn’t like me. Probably none who wanted to take an ax to my?—
You know what? I should probably lay off the crime podcasts for a while.
“That wouldn’t be as much fun!” my dad yelled back. “Just come up here.”
With a heavy sigh, I pushed away from my desk, my dreams of a quiet, uninterrupted morning dashed. Oh well, there was always tomorrow. I said that a lot around here.
Halfway up the hall, I yelled, “What’s the problem?”
I got to his door before he had time to answer. And what I saw in his office made my mouth drop open and my brain skip like a needle on a scratched record.
“Brian? What the hell? Where have you been? What happened to you? And why the hell didn’t you?—”
I stopped before I could finish that question because it would raise way too many other questions from the other occupants of the room. Mainly, my brother Rowdy. Who was staring at me like I’d just revealed I was a secret superhero.
My dad’s brows were arched and curious too.
Snapping my mouth shut, I focused on my dad, because I didn’t want to have to deal with Rowdy. That was a conversation I wanted to avoid.
“What’s going on?”
Dad paused for a second before he said, “Just wanted to let you know we’re bringing Brian on for the rest of the season.”
The bottom fell out of my stomach. At least, that’s what it felt like. And my lungs constricted until I felt like I was going to suffocate. I had so very many questions, most of them for Brian, but I couldn’t ask them, not with Dad and Rowdy in the room.
I slid a quick glance at the man who had punched his then-captain because the guy was being a dick to me. And then he’d left the league and disappeared before we could discuss it. Before I could yell at him for stepping into my business. And thank him for coldcocking the aforementioned dick. What the hell I’d seen in that man, I couldn’t tell you now. Maybe I’d been blinded by his looks. Maybe I’d dated him because I knew it would piss off my brother Rebel, who still treated me like I was twelve and should follow his every order. Which I never had, anyway.
So I asked another question farther down the list. “I thought we had a full roster?”
I looked at my dad with raised brows because I knew we had a full roster, but that sounded more diplomatic than, “How the hell can we hire this guy? We don’t have the space for him.”
Had something happened to another member of the team? Why hadn’t anyone told me? I wasn’t just in charge of marketing, I was also serving as the entire HR department because our full-time HR director, Tabitha, was out on maternity leave and wouldn’t be back for a few months.
Dad just shrugged. “We’ll make it work. I’m sure you’ll figure out something.”
My mouth dropped open again, and my brain replayed his words on a loop. You’ll figure it out.
“Dad—”
“Rain,” Rowdy’s quiet voice cut in, and my gaze shot to him. “Put me on the DL.”
Brian’s head whipped around to Rowdy. “Wait, no. That’s not what we agreed to.”
I’d been no slouch in college. I’d graduated cum laude. And while most people thought I was a spoiled brat who should keep my mouth closed a little more than I did, I knew when to actually do it.
Brian and Rowdy went back years, to college. Brian had joined the Devils a year before Rowdy, and they’d played together for a year before Brian moved to Anderstown for his third year. I’d never learned why Brian had left the Devils, but I knew it had something to do with Rebel. Who had never breathed a word of it to anyone. At least, not to me.
“What exactly did you agree to?”
I asked because I was too curious not to. And yeah, it was because I’d had a secret crush on Brian from the first moment he joined the team.
I’d been a senior in high school, working at the arena in the concession stand, because my parents believed it built character to work from the ground up. Of course, they were absolutely right, but I’d bitched because I was seventeen.
Truth was I’d loved being at the arena. Still did. It was my second home, just above my actual home and Crack One Open, the local coffeehouse/radio station/weekly newspaper, where I helped out my friend Erin occasionally.
I’d been at the arena the day Brian had walked in to sign his contract. He was a year older than Rowdy, whom he’d met at Penn State, where they’d both played for the college team.
It’d been August, my senior year about to start, and I’d been in Dad’s office, helping him with his computer, which he always seemed to screw up somehow. Brian and Rowdy had walked in, Rowdy’s mouth going a mile a minute about something and Brian just nodding his head, his lips curved in a half grin.
The bottom had dropped out of my stomach, kinda like it’d done just now, and I’d realized what lust at first sight meant. I was seventeen, and while I wasn’t exactly boy-crazy, I liked guys. Mainly older guys who played hockey and would never give me a second look because they were scared off by my older brothers or my dad, or all three. I’d managed to date a few adventurous local boys, but I knew I was going to college in a year, so I hadn’t been looking for a steady boyfriend.
But I took one look at Brian and thought, “Gimme.” The fact that he’d never done anything other than smile at me and make sure there was always five feet between us still pissed me off.
He’d been older. And quiet, which wasn’t normal for the players who made this league their home. He and Rowdy had been complete opposites, which was probably why they’d been such good friends, along with Rebel. At first. When Brian had left for Anderstown after several years with the Devils, Rowdy had been visibly depressed, something that rarely happened.
But Rebel had been glad to see him go. And I’d never found out why.
Now, Brian and Rowdy exchanged a look, communicating without words. After a few seconds, Rowdy’s brows rose, and Brian sighed.
I knew that sigh. I gave it a lot. Rowdy had won this round of whatever the hell was going on.
When Brian turned to look at me, I honestly thought my knees would give out. That secret crush I’d been nursing for years rushed back with a vengeance, making my blood heat and various parts of my body tingle. He’d always been kind to me, the younger sister of his best friend. And I knew how cliché it sounded, that I’d held on to this crush for a damn long time. But when he looked at me with those beautiful eyes that hid secrets, all I wanted to do was fix whatever he needed fixing.
And I could. I could fix whatever problem he had. He just needed to let me. Everyone let me.
After another couple of seconds, he finally cracked. His gaze dropped to the table. “My sister’s enrolled in a…program for the next few months, and I have custody of my niece until she’s finished. I couldn’t think of anywhere safer for Maddy than here. I want Maddy to be around people I trust. A place where I know she’ll be safe after school when I’ve got a game or practice. I need to?—”
“Sure. I can make this work. No problem.”
The words were out of my mouth before I realized I was going to say them, but that was okay because I meant every one of them. My brain had already started to work over solutions. Because that’s what I did. I fixed things. And if I couldn’t fix it… Well, I just didn’t have all the facts, and when I did, I would fix it.
From the look on Brian’s face, he didn’t like needing help. I got it. Men hated to ask for help. Especially professional athletes who thought they could handle everything. But I knew, because I’d been an off-ice member of this team for six years, that most of these guys wouldn’t be able to fill out the paperwork needed to join the Devils without me.
Now, I wasn’t saying these men were stupid. I’m just saying some of them didn’t have the smarts god gave a squirrel. Nice guys, but geez, some of them would never be able to comprehend the inner workings of a contract, and in our league, most of the guys did not have an agent looking out for them. They had me.
I did not count Brian among those guys. The man had a brain, and a sharp one. He’d been a math major, if I remembered correctly. He’d talked about teaching at some point. High school, I think. But he’d loved hockey more.
Until he’d punched out his former captain and left the league last year. And it’d been my fault. Because I’d been stupid enough to date the asshole.
“I don’t want any special treatment.”
Of course he didn’t. That wasn’t the kind of guy he was.
I smiled and shrugged, trying to look like everything was fine. “Brian, you’re not the first guy we’ve brought on midseason.” I didn’t add that he wasn’t even the first guy Dad had hired simply because he needed a job or a fresh start. There was always wiggle room in our league. Rules were rules, sure, but sometimes the guidelines were more like…just not there.
Lifting a hand, he shoved it through his hair, his gaze shifting away from me before staring at the ceiling for a quick second.
Then he looked at Rowdy, who grinned at him, then at our dad, who nodded, looking stoic, like Dad always looked, except when he looked at my mom. Finally, Brian looked at me and sighed. And I wanted to bat my lashes at him and swoon. Which wasn’t happening.
“Ok. Just show me where to sign.”