Page 135 of Stick Side
A little bit of Ben’s amber ale sloshed out the top of his beer stein when someone—probably Knight—clunked their glass against his with a little too much vigor.
Not wanting to risk being carded and rejected, Knight had ordered himself a ginger beer, chugged it, and then replaced it with pale ale from one of the pitchers ordered for the table. So far as Ben could tell, Knight was on his third or fourth pint, but whether that was because he didn’t want the servers to notice his drink had too much head on it to be ginger beer or that he was just in the mood to get his drink on, Ben wasn’t sure.
“Logan,” Knight continued, several decibels louder than required. “You were seriously vibin’ out there during the third period.” He took a sizable gulp of his beer. “The way you pickedYarek’s pocket and then deked that pylon to ripple the mesh . . .” Knight praised in virtual wonderment. “You were razor sharp!”
Richie laughed with only the most subtle hint of mockery as he lifted his own beer to his lips. “What did you do, kid?” he chided. “Memorize a list of hockey slang?”
Knight made a face and flipped him off.
“Right back atcha,” Richie responded, returning the gesture in the way of brothers. Or teammates, in their case.
“Hey, Melody,” Richie said, turning his attention to the stunning woman currently in Ben’s arms. “I noticed the other week that a theater event has been added to this year’s list of team activities. You wouldn’t have had anything to do with that, would you?”
Ben wasn’t sure if Richie was pleased about the addition to their itinerary or not, but his tone was respectful, which is what Ben cared about.
Melody twisted around in his arms to better face his teammate. Ben shifted his body to accommodate.
“I really couldn’t say,” she said lightly.
Ben reached forward and passed her glass of wine to her when he saw her eyeing it.
She took it, her fingers brushing against his in an innocent way that shouldn’t have been stirring but somehow was. Her eyes touched his when she smiled her thanks before she turned her attention back toward Richie.
“But it’s entirely possible,” Melody said as she took a delicate sip. “My dad knows that my mom and I both enjoy a good musical theater production, so he may have been responsible for suggesting it as one of the team’s holiday activities, suspecting that other wives and girlfriends might enjoy the same.”
“Speaking of which,” Ben said as he looked down at her. “Will you be my date, girlfriend of mine?” He had almost referred to her as his one-day-fiancée or one-day-wife but figured that wasthe type of comment best made in private. His teammates would learn how serious he was about her whenever he and Melody made things official. Until then, Ben didn’t mind keeping the depth of their relationship private between himself and Melody.
Melody turned back toward him and smiled brightly. “I would love to be your date,” she enthused. “Boyfriend of mine,” she added with affectionate teasing.
Melody was so sweet and beautiful that he couldn’t resist dropping a kiss on the tip of her nose. She scrunched up her face at the ticklish sensation but responded with a loving smile he felt grateful to be the recipient of.
“You guys are so lucky!” Phillips’ sister-in-law, Annie, observed. “Tickets have been sold out for months. And, even if a block opened up, it would likely cost me a week’s salary just to get a single ticket in the nosebleed section.”
“I have an extra ticket,” Richie stated out of the blue. “If you’d like to go?”
Ben’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. Of all his teammates who might have made that offer, he would have expected Richie to be the last.
“I-I . . . ahhh . . .” Richie stuttered as he rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. “I don’t actually have anyone to bring.”
Ben refrained from commenting, but he was beginning to understand Richie’s motivation. He didn’t like to judge anyone else’s choices, but Ben couldn’t deny that Richie’s taste in women didn’t lean toward the type of person anyone would call elegant. While Richie could do as he wished on his own time—within reason—you could bet corporate would throw a fit if he showed up to a formal event with a woman who appeared better suited to a dance club than a theater hall.
Annie, by contrast, was the quintessential girl-next-door. Sweet, smart, and respectable.
Her eyes were big and bright as she looked at Richie. It was a cute look on her.
“Seriously?” Annie asked. “I’d love to. Thanks!”
Ben was pretty sure he saw Annie bounce around a bit in her chair. Her excitement was plain to see.
“It’s a date then,” Richie said.
A look of regret crossed Richie’s face before a note of panic crept in. “I didn’t mean adatedate,” he backtracked, stumbling over his words. “It’s just . . . you know. You said you want to go. And I have an extra ticket. So . . . I, uh, thought . . . if you want it, it’s yours. We could go together.”
Richie shook his head and speared his fingers through his hair. It was obvious he hadn’t meant to refer to their going out together as a date.
“And what is it you do workwise?” Richie asked Annie, no doubt to pull the table’s attention away from himself, though Ben suspected Riche’s curiosity had been genuinely aroused by her comment about her salary not being on par with the cost of tickets.
“Oh,” Annie blinked, “I’m a kindergarten teacher.”
