Page 113 of Wrong Pucking Player

“No!” Leo sounds baffled by my declaration. “I’m seventeen, dude.”

I look back at him before giving him a full up-and-down stare.

“You look thirty.”

“Fuck you,” Leo grunts. “Anyway, don’t think Cathy is a bitch or anything. She just has to act a certain way to please the world around her.”

“Acting like a bitch for what purpose?” I groan. “Winchester was complaining about her all day yesterday and even today because she was calling him out for his injured leg.”

“Winchester injured his leg?”

“Not devastating, bench-worthy injury. Probably isn’t stretching it properly, so it was acting up. He wanted to face Ace in a race to show off the other day because Mikayla called him out on it. Just embarrassed himself by being beaten by Ace.”

“Ace beat Jayce?” Leo whistles. “I’ve been saying Ace needs to become a forward instead of a defenseman. The man is fast, if not faster than O’Riley, and we all know O’Riley is fucking fast.”

“That’s true.”

“You taking bets on who’s gonna make it to the finals? Everyone is saying Vipers. They really have the public’s vote right now, so early in the game. TikTok has been booming with videos and photo shots of O’Riley specifically. I heard Dakota asking Cathy to begin taking some photos of the team until their hired intern comes to Canada. They’re scouting someone from Moscow, but her visa is being delayed or something.”

“All the way from Moscow? Damn.”

“Right! Oliver said he wants to go there after this season is done, like a mini vacation. He knows some good hockey reps there who want to further invest in Strattonville Stadium and even our gym. Also, I think Nico and Marilyn are going to go there around the same time.”

“That’s his best friend and his little sister, right?”

I’ve met them a few times.

“Really nice girl. Pretty as fuck. Her brother is a menace, though.”

“The man would probably kill you if you looked at his sister the wrong way.”

“Yup! I know he doesn’t look very friendly, but if he likes you, you’ll have no problem.”

“What if he doesn’t like me?” I grumble.

Leo just laughs.

“Leave the country.”

Why is he saying that literally?

“I wonder if Mack is home. I don’t want to put these in the storage, but then again, with how ‘haunted’ this suite is acting up, maybe that’s the better option,” Leo suggests.

“It’s not haunted,” I groan. I hate superstitious stuff. “It has a shit ton of problems, thanks to ignorant contractors who promised excellence and failed.”

“I bet you Oliver is going to get his money back,” Leo acknowledges. “He’s already pissed with all the problems. Even more at the realization Mack’s suite has all these issues. He doesn’t show it, but he cares about her. He does it in his own way, obviously, but it’s frustrating him that there are so many problems.”

“Is the insurance going to cover the costs to fix everything?”

“Oh, yeah. They have no choice. If they fuck up and anything happens to the suite, they have to reimburse him all his money and then some. The value is only going to go up from here with the popularity of everything, so I doubt they want to mess that up and endanger everyone living in here.”

“Damn. Must be nice to have power like that,” I confess.

“It’s not power, Wyatt,” Leo acknowledges as his greenish eyes meet mine. “It’s money. Money talks, bullshit listens. The only thing you can’t buy with money is a woman’s heart. Unless you’re giving her Canadian citizenship or some crazy Hermès shit.”

“What if the girl you like isn’t swooned over by money, but money would make her life a lot better?” I wonder out loud.

“Money can make anyone’s life better. Look at Mack. With her crazy aunt taking all her money and shit, wouldn’t her life have been better off if her aunt wasn’t in the picture? In Mack’s case, having more money would only benefit another, which means she’d rather find peace in having enough for food and a roof over her head.”

---