Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
CHLOE
I have been to so many Foxes games in my life, yet this one has me anxious. I arrived fifteen minutes ago, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to go inside. I feel like I need reinforcements.
I smile as I see them walking up. Mason is carrying Ari, who is wearing the jersey Brantley bought her. Liv is at his side, holding his hand. She drops it and hugs me as soon as she is close.
“What are you doing out here?” she asks.
“I didn’t want to go in by myself,” I whisper to her.
“Girl, you are main character energy. Why are you demoting yourself to a side character? Come on. Let’s go.” She wraps her arm in mine.
She’s right. I mean, I once walked into Mason’s house without waiting for an answer because I have zero fucks to give, but it’s different tonight.
Things are different.
After my stint in the hospital for my finger, I said a little bit too much to Brantley. I remember every detail. Especially the way he felt hard and hot against me.
The next morning, I thought something might happen, only he didn’t say anything. So neither did I.
Now I feel like I’m out of place. I don’t know what to do or say around him.
“Auntie Chloe, look what I’m wearing?” Ari breaks me from my thoughts.
I smile. “I know. I told you I’d get you here so you could wear it.”
Ari giggles, wrapping her arms around her father.
The security guard waves us in as soon as he sees us.
“Looking good, Bruce,” I tell him.
“Always a flirt, Miss Chloe,” he calls back.
I wink at the older gentleman as we head up to the suites.
This isn’t my first time in the suites, but it’s the first time since I realized that my feelings for Brantley have changed. They were already getting muddled, but then he took care of me after I cut myself and said all of those things about me, and well, I don’t think I can say I hate him anymore.
No, I think I like him.
Who would have thought that I would like Mr. Playboy?
Pushing those thoughts aside, I focus on controlling my breathing as we reach the door to the owner’s suite.
Mason walks ahead of us, holding the door open for us.
As soon as we step in, I see the atmosphere is different than it normally is.
This isn’t just friends watching a game. There are a lot of suits in here.
Brantley excuses himself from speaking with one of the men as he heads over to us.
“Hey, come in. Good to see you.” He hugs Liv, then me, before taking Ari and spinning her around.
Ari giggles. “Uncle Brantley, you are going to make me miss warm-ups.”
“My apologies, Princess. Go get you a good seat.” He sets her on her feet, watching as she runs to the front row of seats in the booth.
Brantley greets Mason with a bro hug. “I have to mingle, but enjoy the game. Ask for anything you need.”
I let out the breath I was holding when he walks away.
“What was that about?” Liv whispers to me.
“Nothing. Who are all of these suits?” I ask her.
Mason cuts in. “Brantley has been sinking his own money into the team. He’s trying to get sponsors so the team has longevity.”
“Oh. I see,” I murmur.
“He didn’t mention it?” Liv asks.
I shake my head. “I’m getting a drink.”
She nods, walking behind Mason toward where Ari is.
I’m grateful for a moment alone. I need to get my head together.
“Can I get a martini?” I ask the bartender.
“Yes, ma’am.” The bartender flashes me his flirty smile, but I ignore it.
“Make that two. That sounds good,” a woman says from over my shoulder.
I turn and smile. “Good choice.”
She holds out her hand. “Hannah Graceland. My husband is here to schmooze with the owner.”
I hold my hand out. “Chloe Spears. I’m here with the owner.”
Her eyes widen. “You’re Brantley’s girlfriend? Wow. He is really batting out of his league, huh?”
I frown. “I guess.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry, that came out all wrong. I meant you are above his league. You are gorgeous, babe,” the woman gushes.
I laugh, feeling better. “Thank you. Look at you. You make that jersey look like it should be on a runway.”
She has taken an obviously too large jersey and cinched it at the waist, letting it fall to her knees to make a dress.
“I like to play around with clothes.”
I smile. “You do a good job at it. I’d love to see what else you’ve done.”
“You have to sit with me,” she tells me as the bartender brings us out our drinks.
We thank him, then I follow her down to the seat she has claimed as her own.
“I thought I was going to be so bored. I’m so glad I met you,” she tells me.
“Girl, have you never been to a hockey game? There is no such thing as boring.”
She looks at me skeptically. “Really? I’ve never been. Most sports bore me.”
“Warm-ups start in two minutes. You tell me if you are still bored after that.”
She laughs. “You watch a lot of hockey?”
“Yep. Love it. Always have.”
“You’ll have to make me fall in love with it then,” she teases.
“Oh, challenge accepted. By the end, you’ll be the biggest Foxes fan.”
As the warm-ups start, I wave toward the ice. “Reason number one why you should love hockey.”
“Ooh. Oh my.” Her hand hits her chest as she watches the players do their stretches.
“It’s important they stay limber, so the stretches help them do that. It is also entertainment for some of the fans.” I wink at her.
She laughs. “Okay. I’m intrigued.”
I point at the screen. “Reason number two. The history.”
The clips play through former players before it stops on the current ones.
“That one there? Clayton James. He was the number one draft pick. He is one of the best forwards to ever play. He stayed in college all four years rather than draft early. He has this laser focus that shows in the way he plays.”
“Oh wow. That seems impressive,” she mutters.
“Oh, it is. Then you have Beckett Hayes, our enforcer. He played with Clayton all four years in college. He plays well too. When they get on the ice together, you can tell they have played together for years. Ooh, there’s Kenneth Jenkins.
He’s one of our best defensemen. He is a real asset to the team.
He’s been playing better the last couple of games too.
I think it’s because they let Holken go.
He’s a goalie. He was great at stopping goals, but he wasn’t much of a team player.
We now have our backup, Dolton Dean, and we just called up Samuel Aster from the minors. This is his first game with the team.”
“You know quite a bit. I know you are biased, but what do you see for them in the future?”
I look over at Brantley before looking back to her.
“Brantley isn’t an owner who only wants to make money off of the team.
He puts his own money in as much as he relies on sponsors.
If you heard him speak about the game, you’d know he is passionate about it.
They have had a bad year this year. He’s making the changes needed to rebuild, though.
Every team has its low points. It’s part of the game.
No one would want to watch if one team dominated year after year.
It’s natural. I think for the Foxes, they are on their upswing.
They fell a bit, but they are putting the pieces back together so that they are stronger than ever.
We haven’t seen the best they have yet. We will in the next couple of years. ”
“Hmm. I like you, Chloe,” she tells me.
“I like you too.”
“Good. Now what are they doing down there?”
So I spend the rest of the game explaining the rules to my newfound friend as we laugh, drink, and eat.
brANTLEY
We won.
It feels good to have another win under our belt. I had started to worry I was failing the team. Especially since after we let Holken go, we didn’t improve right away. I thought I made the wrong decision.
The guys proved that it was the right one tonight.
For the first time this season, the guys felt like a team. They anticipated each other’s moves. They worked as one. It felt good to watch.
“Brantley, what a game,” Richard Graceland, the guy I needed to impress, says as he slaps me on the shoulder.
“That it was. The team is looking up. I told you I made changes.”
He laughs. “That you did. I’m not sure that would have been enough, though. One good game doesn’t mean the rest of the season will be good.”
He’s right, but I’m willing to fight for this team.
Before I get the chance to, he continues.
“You impressed me tonight, but the real star of the show was your girlfriend. She really made an impression on my wife. Seems she understands your vision as well as you do. My wife said that she would be upset with me if I didn’t support a team that has such an amazing fan base along with a support system starting with the owner all the way down to the team.
I have also been told I need to bring her back to many more games in the future.
Only your games, though. I don’t know how she did it, but she made my wife like a sport. That’s a feat all on its own.”
I’m still stuck on him saying I had a girlfriend. I look around and find his wife laughing with Chloe.
Chloe.
I have no idea how she did it, but I think she saved this deal for me.
“Yeah, she’s one hell of a woman. You get her talking hockey, and well, she’s a force to be reckoned with.”
“That she is. I heard her explaining a little bit to my Hannah, and whew. The girl knows more about the sport than I do.”
“That’s my Chloe for you.” I smile over in her direction.
“Anyway, I’ll call you tomorrow and we can discuss this sponsorship deal in more detail. I think we can get a contract in place by the end of the week.”
He holds out his hand. I shake it.
“Thank you. I look forward to it.”
“No problem. A little advice? Don’t let that one go. She’s a rare one.”
I look over as the women walk up to us. “I won’t.”
As soon as Chloe is within reach, I pull her under my arm. She looks up at me, startled, but doesn’t pull away. We say our goodbyes to the Gracelands as they leave the suite.
“So I hear you’re my girlfriend,” I tease her.
“She assumed I was because I said I was here with you. I meant that you invited me.”
“Hey, I’m not mad. I like the idea of everyone in here thinking the hottest chick in the room is mine. You made me the envy of the room,” I whisper into her ear.
“That is so not true. Hannah is way prettier than me.” She huffs.
“Yeah, maybe, if brunettes are your thing. I’m more into fiery redheads who you can’t trust with a knife.”
She pulls away from me, glaring up at me. “I will find those knives.”
“I tossed them. We don’t need them anyway. I can get you some child scissors if you want, though.”
“Child scissors?” Liv asks as she walks up to us with Mason holding a sleeping Ari.
“She cut herself with a knife,” I tell her.
“Oh, you know you need to be careful,” Liv tells her.
“Shut up. He took the knives away. I can’t even cook.” Chloe shoots me another evil look.
Liv laughs. “It’s probably for the best. You don’t even like to cook. Hey, Brantley. Watch out for the razor blades too. You should hear about the one and only time she tried to shave her cooch. Do you still have that scar?”
“Fuck you very much, Olivia Marie Williamson. I will murder you in your sleep. What happened to hos before bros?”
“Now I want to see this scar,” I tell her, laughing as she hits me.
“Never. I hate you all. You guys can leave now.” She folds her arms over her chest.
“You still love me. We will go, though. We should get Ari home.” Liv hugs Chloe, whispering in her ear.
Chloe rolls her eyes but hugs her back.
I nod to Mason, who doesn’t say a word for fear of waking his daughter. I don’t blame him. She’s not nice when she’s cranky.
After they leave, I turn to Chloe. “You want to ride home with me?”
She sighs. “I took a cab. I can take one home.”
“No way. You don’t need to when I’m here. We are going to the same place. I need to pop into the locker room first. Walk with me?”
She nods, walking beside me. I grab her hand and put it on my arm as I escort her.
“Can we take a break from the bickering for a moment?” I ask her.
“Why?”
“I want to thank you.” I hold her hand against my arm a moment before dropping it.
“For what?”
“Whatever you said to Hannah Graceland. You made an impression. I almost lost that deal tonight, but you made it happen. I owe you one.”
She shakes her head. “You let me live in your house for free. You took care of me after I was an idiot and cut myself. You don’t owe me anything.”
I shrug. “Maybe not, but it meant a lot. Thank you.”
She lets her head fall onto my arm. “I didn’t really do anything. I told her the truth. This team is going to thrive because you are doing what you need to in order to make it happen. They have a future because of you. That’s all I told her.”
“It was enough.”
It was more than enough. Chloe might not be able to see herself the way I do, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.
She’s a phenomenal woman.
Now I need to get her to believe it.