“I’m sure he does love you, Zee. Maybe he was grieving her leaving in his own way. Maybe…I don’t know. Maybe he had his reasons.”
“There’s no reason to abandon your kids.”
Looking over to Stevie, her blue-green eyes hold mine, unwavering, confident in this conversation.
“You just called me ‘Zee.’ You rarely call me anything other than my last name.”
“Yeah, well, there are certain times when calling you ‘Zanders’ seems a little weird.”
My eyes shine with amusement. “Like when you called me ‘Zee’ as you came all over me.”
Stevie’s mouth falls open in mock shock, smacking me on the shoulder. “Jesus. Here we are having a moment, and you just want to talk about sex.”
“We’re having a moment, huh?”
“Well, we sure as hell aren’t anymore. Moment has passed.”
Chuckling under my breath, I cross my arms over my knees, resting my cheek on them and mirroring her. Our hands dangle next to each other but don’t touch.
“Your mom is missing out.”
Stevie’s words make my chest swell, and my eyes sting a bit.
“She left me for money, and now I make more money than the man she left us for. Ironic, huh?”
“That’s not what I’m referring to. I’m not talking about how much money you make or who people think you are. I’m talking about who you really are. She’s missing out on that.”
“And you think you know who I really am?”
“I think I might be starting to figure it out.”
Her hand is right there, mere centimeters from my own, but I’m not really a hand-holding guy. In fact, I’ve never sentimentally done that. So instead, I hook the tip of my middle finger around hers, and touching her even that much feels nice.
“Hey, Stevie?”
“Hmm.” Her head leans on her arms, facing me.
“I like talking to you.”
23
ZANDERS
“Another game, Zanders. Another game, you left the arena alone. What the hell is going on?”
With my phone held tightly to my cheek, I plug the opposite ear, attempting to block out some of the noise from the busy tarmac here in Phoenix. But regardless of the airplane engines buzzing or my teammates shuffling past me to get on our plane, I can still hear Rich loud and clear. His raised and frustrated voice helps with that.
“Rich, I’ve told you plenty of times to stop setting up girls to wait for me outside of the locker room. The media gets the narrative. They don’t need more pictures with more chicks to help sell my image.”
“Really? Because you haven’t been pictured with anyone since mid-November, and I need to know what’s going on. You refuse to leave the arena with anyone. You haven’t been caught out on the town. So, what is it? You need to fill me in.”
For fuck’s sake. I want him off my back. This season is the first time I’ve realized how over the whole “unlovable bad-boy” image I have. And I haven’t been pictured with anyone since mid-November because that’s when Stevie commented on it while we were trick or treating for Ella. I haven’t slept with anyone since her, but I didn’t like her thinking I had. So, I decided to make it loud and clear that it’s been her and only her.
“Nothing is going on, Rich. I’m just tired of it all.”
Maddison pats me on the shoulder as he shuffles around me, heading to the airplane stairs. “You good?” he silently mouths, turning around to face me as he continues to the plane.
I nod in agreement, but there’s a whole lot of frustration when I roll my eyes. Maddison knows what’s up. He’s been trying to convince me to fire Rich for weeks now. But firing your agent during a resigning year, no matter how frustrating he is, is career suicide.
Turning my back to the plane, I continue to pace the tarmac as my team boards the aircraft.
“Tired of what, Zanders? Tired of making millions of dollars a year? Tired of having people fawn all over you? Tired of women throwing themselves at you?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
“What is going on with you? You’re doing this now? You’re five months away from a possible resigning with the only team you want to play for in the NHL. You want to throw that away? Be my guest. Chicago pays you the money they pay you because of the image you and Maddison bring to the table, outside of just hockey. But I’ll find you another team who will probably pay you a whole lot less if that’s what you want to do.”