Page 25 of Six Wishes

“Where does your sister live?” Chloe is looking ahead like she’s trying to make out people on the other side, but it is way too far to see much.

“See that white house straight across?” Zach shows her where to look. “She is in the house to the right of it.”

“No way,” Chloe turns with an excited look to face Zach. I make sure to place my arm over her shoulder and across her body, stopping right underneath her breasts. Just a friendly reminder that no casual flirting is allowed under my watch. “Miranda is your sister?”

“Yeah, you know her?” Zach is getting excited now too. He and his sister were separated by their mother as children and only recently connected as adults. They seem to be very close, and I know that Zach is always making a point in visiting his sister and her family on a regular basis.

“She is best friends with Brooke, Ridge’s wife! And Emmy was in Alison’s class this past year. I worked as a classroom assistant. She is the sweetest little girl!” Chloe is getting more animated the more she talks, and I have to physically restrain her from jumping closer to Zach’s spot on the couch. She’ll be sitting in his lap before long, I think with a grudge.

“Yeah, I love that kid,” Zach gives her a wide smile, and they start chatting away about the whole crew they seem to have in common.

I lift my bare feet to rest them on the coffee table that’s in front of the couch, and I feel a sharp twinge in my right knee. I did too much today, what with the heavy workout I put in first thing in the morning, then jumping around on the beach.

It’s been long enough since I had my surgery that something like this should not happen at this point in the game. Thinking about what all this means for my career as a professional hockey player is taking my mind to dark places, and I am definitely not a happy camper.

I am also reminded that I need to get my shit together and make sure that I will be set financially for the rest of my days.

As I listen to Zach talking to Chloe about his sister, I am grateful for him always advising me on how to invest my earnings. I sure learned a lot from him, and I trust the investment trust he directed me to implicitly. But I do need to have a serious talk with them. I need reassurance that I will be okay, and that whatever plans for the future I have will be accomplished.

“We should all have dinner together one day,” Chloe now tells me, even more excited than when the conversation started. And I guess she is taking her new role as my real life girlfriend very seriously since she’s making dinner plans with other people. Proud moment right here, I got a good one.

“That’d be great. Make sure you ask Ridge and Brooke to joins us,” Zach cracks up. That reminds me. I owe Alison a good GIF or a genius meme. I’ll have to do some digging.

“Just so you know,” Chloe snorts, “Ridge is very jealous by nature, especially when it comes to Brooke. I don’t see this ending well for you.”

“Brooke knows I don’t mean anything by it. She’ll have to set him straight.” That makes me think again of my situation with Alison and Wyatt.

Wyatt and I became good buddies in my first year in college. I had thrown my name in the NFL hat the previous year, but when the draft came around, I got no bites, not from a major league at least. I already had a hockey scholarship with the University of Illinois and decided to just go on with that and see what happened. Next draft landed me playing for the New York Sliders, and to say I was stoked did not begin to cover it.

Wyatt and I kept in touch, and shortly after he graduated from law school, my contract was up for renegotiation. I trusted Wyatt to take care of it, and he was doing a great job. We were both about to cash in big, me with the contract, and him with the commission from it, plus all the legal fees.

Problem was, I was dating a hot chick at the time, the only one I declared as my official girlfriend before doing so with Chloe today. Brandi was her name. Brandi with an i, not a y. And I thought that was sexy as fuck.

Brandi-with-an-i had a loser of a brother who had big dreams of becoming a sports agent. She talked me into giving him a chance. All I can say is that the blowjob that came with it had to have been out of this world because next thing I knew, Wyatt was out and this dude was in. He screwed it up, and I ended up getting less on my contract than what Wyatt had already negotiated.

Shortly after, Brandi was history since it had become clear that she was with me only for the money and status as a hockey girlfriend, really pushing for the upgrade to wife.

Wyatt Knight never wanted to have anything to do with me after that. I tried to call and apologize, I even showed up at his house once. Nothing. That’s why, when I ran into his girl in the parking lot at Mud Duck’s, I saw it as divine intervention and decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I became friends with Alison to get my friendship with Wyatt back, and in the meantime, I know she’s caught on to it, but she loves to tease Wyatt with it, and I just play along.

“Can you do me a favor?” Zach’s voice brings me back to the present where it seems that he and Chloe are still plotting on how to bring this large group dinner to fruition.

“It depends,” Chloe teases. “I can’t just commit to doing favors without knowing in advance what is being asked of me.” That’s my girl, I press her tighter against my body and kiss the back of her head.

“Fair enough,” Zach appreciates her negotiating skills. “I want you to ask Hunter to join us.”

“Oh, I can do that.” I feel like this is a trap of some sort, but Chloe’s cheery voice indicates that she’s not catching on to it.

“But I don’t want her to know that I’ll be there.”

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