Rich Man

Keep it up, I encouraged myself into patience with the man currently dragging me through the streets of Boston. There were spurts during which we would move swiftly through small crowds in front of crowded buildings, during which – as much as I dreaded the thought – I clutched his arm as if to let him know I wasn’t planning on running away from him.

I knew exactly what I was doing by awkwardly agreeing to this so-called “starting over”. It was apparent how convinced he was that maybe I was a fool under my arrogance. He even showed signs of letting his guard down as if he wanted to level our playing field. I mentally scoffed and simply gazed around me as though the city was something entirely new and undiscovered.

When it all came down to it, it mattered not what my personal opinion of him was. He knew information that I needed and I would do just about anything in order to obtain it. And by the way he was watching me, pushing me and testing me, I knew that getting what I wanted would be relatively simple. It was all about breaking him into having my trust. It was all about lying to him the right way. After all, this wasn’t my first time dealing with someone attracted to me.

What, you think I didn’t see it? Suddenly he wants to “start over” and make everything right. Yeah, that was after he discovered that his methods of getting under my skin and in my head weren’t going to work.

I play dumb a lot. And yes, sometimes my “playing dumb” basically translates to using average vocabulary and acting rather, for lack of a better word, normal, but you should understand by now the level at which I play and how high my lowest standard is set. It may assist you to know that there is a simple calling card to my acting and that turns up only when I react on “impulse”.

We seemed to fall into an atmosphere loud and happy. It was the classic bar scene and everywhere we turned was a person holding alcohol with a big grin on his or her face, chatting with someone or taking in the boisterous background music. Naturally, having never really been a drinker, my actions only made so much sense. I had brushed past Patrice as soon as he eyed the main bar and ordered myself water. From this, he gathered the obvious.

“Not a drinker?”

“Not in the mood for it,” I replied with a half smile. Meanwhile, he ordered a White Russian and sat beside me. Of any drink I would have expected him to order, that was certainly not it. For one, the thing wasn’t even strong and it came in a relatively small glass for the atmosphere we were in. I wasn’t saying this place was like “drink all you can chug” or anything, but it just didn’t seem formal enough, if that made any sense at all. “Didn’t take you for a WR kind of guy.”

“I’m not, he explained. I’m more of a plain beer guy, except I’m not in the mood for it.”

Did my spine just tingle? … Keep your head on straight. “Witty.”

“Yeah, I think we know that.” He eyes me for a brief moment and took a short swig of his drink. “How big of a hockey fan are you? I mean, you’re related to Lex so you’ve got to be a pretty big one, I’d imagine,” he began in what I thought was attempt to make conversation. Instead, the brunette shot me this really odd look as if to say that he already knew my answer.

“I know about the game, but I’ve never really been a big fan.”

“I figured. You had no idea who any of us were for a few days.”

“Why?”

“Just… Thinking about stuff.”

My brow furrowed. “Well, duh, a newborn can see that. Care to elabora-“ I then paused. The thought bubbled up to the top of my brain then and there, mechanically funneling information to my attention. “We’re not here to start over. You just wanted to get me alone.” Somehow it didn’t surprise me one bit that his eyes didn’t widen, that he didn’t appear shocked. It was all just a cover to talk to me alone, to get me away from the group. “Why? You could have just talked to me back there-“

“No, Ray, I couldn’t. That’s the thing with them-they pick up on everything. I’d just end up getting interrogated later about whatever we spoke about.”

“Well then you can lie. We both know you’re smart enough to do that.”

“It’s not that easy. I’ve screwed up before and I don’t need to lie to their faces. I mean, after Looch and you had your little talk a few nights ago, Blake freaked and made him spill everything. I mean, Milan didn’t give him all the details, but I think you get the point when I say that nothing stays hidden with them. At least this way you can just tell them that we got some drinks and talked about life or something without completely lying.”

“What is there so important to talk about?” I solemnly questioned.

“What are you here for?”

“I told you already-“

“You know us way more than a person who isn’t a fan should, you’re always testing us psychologically, and until now, Lex has never said a word about you, but you guys are like best friends. It just doesn’t look right.”

I half smiled, both out of being slightly impressed and out of the oncoming wave of paranoia flowing through my veins. No, he didn’t know the big picture, but he had suspicion. Those who are skeptical are always dangerous, even if they are off by a few beats. My inner actress came to light through my genuine laugh. “What-you think I’m a spy or something? Relax, Bergeron. Look, I’ll be honest okay? It’s not exactly because of a crazy ex-boyfriend, but it is personal. I just… Well, I had issues back home that I don’t really like getting into. Yeah, I got hurt by a guy. It happens. I just needed to get away, y’know? And as for testing you guys… Until now, all I’ve ever done is get into peoples’ heads. It’s hard for me not to seem like I’m testing you. The knowing all about you guys comes from all the stories Lex has told me about you and the fact that I kind of make a living off of knowing people. I can’t really explain how I do it, it’s like… I look at someone and off the bat I can tell you some really random truths about them that you wouldn’t normally pick up unless you knew them. It’s weird.”

He had been studying me so closely that I thought for a moment he had found a crack in the foundation of my truthful lies. I had so intricately laced the fine line between true and false together that it would have been virtually impossible to tell the two apart. At least, that was how I saw it. Having a silver tongue was probably the best gift I could have possibly been gifted with.

“To tell you the truth, I was mostly afraid of you being one of those girls who takes advantage of Milan. We already covered this, yeah, but I wanted to find out a bit more for myself.”

The weight of his words took a moment to get to me, but when they did, I answered as steadily as possible. “I may be unusual, act unorthodoxly, and butt heads with a smile, but I would never do that to him. Definitely not him.” Wait, why did I just stress that? “He is a big boy, y’know, he can take care of himself. You’re too paranoid. Unless… You’re not just talking to me because you’re paranoid?”

For a fraction of a second, there was genuine fear in his eyes. However, he hid it in a way that was rather unusual. Instead of straightening up and staring back at me blankly, he smiled. “What can I say? You’re the kind of puzzle I like solving.”

Oh my god, really? Insert the eye roll here. “You… Are a cheesy bastard, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sometimes I am. Is that a problem?”

“Yeah. Cheesy shit annoys me, to be honest.”

“Then I’ll keep in mind to never buy you flowers or boxes of chocolate.”

“Why would you have to?”

“Oh, just in case Lex forces me to out of good will. You know, since being genuinely kind to you might kill me and everything.”

“Yes, yes, I am, after all the bane of your existence.”

“No, more like the everyday reminder that maybe there is someone out there with a rightfully bigger ego than mine.”

I raised a brow in sly realization. “Did you just backhandedly compliment me, Mr. Bergeron?”

And with that, he eyed me blankly as though to completely shut off whatever flirtatious air he once held and nonchalantly replied, “Depends how you read into it.”

-

I rolled over in the warm sheets of my bed, hugging the pillow to my left just a little bit closer to my body in reaction to the blizzard enrapturing me in my subconscious. My little dream ended shortly as I watched myself get engulfed by snow. “Well isn’t that an awesome omen,” I grumbled, sitting up and staring at the digital clock next to the bed. 5:04 AM.

“Oh, lovely.” The heat of my room induced a thin sweat all over my body that, in the least, was more uncomfortable than I care to tell. At first I stood and paced myself as lightly-footed as possible, but that hadn’t helped the oncoming wave of cabin fever in the least. Not even the opening of my window and the highest setting of the overhead fan could quail my restlessness. Well I doubt anyone’s awake. These guys don’t seem the type to wake up and go for a fuckin’ ridiculous run at the crack of dawn. Hm… I wonder if all of the boys are still out in the living room. When I got back in last night, they were all passed out on the couch…

Out of curiosity, I pulled on a pair of black basketball shorts, bra then an orange tank top and ventured into the nearly frigid hall of Lex’s home. I was immediately greeted by a plethora of snores almost tantamount to some kind of raging rhino stampede on the horizon. It would have been hilarious if it weren’t for the fact that I couldn’t really hear my own thoughts over their noise. And just think… They’re going to be PMSing worse than a bitch the second they wake up. Post Molson Syndrome, meet your perfectors.

As expected, the vast majority of the team along with a few random other faces were in a heap all around the room. About ten of them were occupying the eight-person couch while another seven or eight occupied the floor around it. I spotted Blake in the mass asleep at the end of the couch, head awkwardly propped on the arm rest. His neck is going to be a bitch, fer sure.

It was both out of good will and maybe just a little more of my planned good gestures that I gathered seventeen bottled waters and set them up on the kitchen counter. My next journey was made up of practically tearing his bathroom and kitchen apart in search of aspirin of some kind. When I finally found the bottle, there were only five little pills left. Meh. I could always use a good ru-

“Shit, you are up way early,” whispered an almost harsh voice behind me.

I whirled around and nearly came in direct contact with one Matt Hunwick. However, he appeared nothing like he usually did what with his hair completely flat, eyes drained of energy and lack of that stupidly excited grin on his face. “Oh, morning Matt.”

“What are you...”

I moved out of the way slightly so he could see the small aspirin container beside the bottled waters on the counter.

“You are an angel, you know that?”

A soft smile genuinely pushed itself onto my features as he revealed to me one of the single sweetest little grins I had ever lain eyes on. With that reaction, I passed him the little container and bottle. “We’re nearly out of aspirin so I was thinking that I’ll go and get some at the drug store really fast, come back and make breakfast before everybody leaves for practice. You guys start at eight right?”

He nodded, that appreciative, minuscule smile just gleaming back at me. It was the most mesmerizing thing to me. Well, maybe that was because I was still drowsy, but seriously, this boy was the epitome of tantalizingly cute. That was—when he didn’t try to be.

“You know where the nearest CVS is?” he asked, holding his head and downing the water.

“Yup. Only like two minutes away. Figure I’ll get eggs and stuff too while I’m out. Won’t take long.”

“Well in that case,” interjected a voice far more familiar, “I’ll take you. Unlike these kids, I’m not going to be in a world of boozy hurt. Nice job, by the way,” Milan taunted, strolling into the kitchen and softly patting Matt’s back.

Matt simply eyed him then brought his eyes back to mine. My focus was solely on him and his eyes, anyway. “Then it’s settled. You guys go and I’ll hold the guys at bay when they’re up and at ‘em in like an hour or so. Hurry okay?”

The mad dash to the drug store was only made possible because of Milan’s ridiculous driving skills. I mean, I’ve endured people who drive like bats out of hell, but he pushed that phrase over the edge to an extreme. What was normally a five minute drive lasted two and then from there to the nearest grocery only took ten minutes.

“Milan, you and I kick ass,” I confirmed, holding two bags, each with two dozen eggs occupying each. God knew I’d need them. Meanwhile Lucic actually forced me to let him carry two gallons of milk, a thing of orange juice, the bread, sausage, and bacon. Would it be a bad thing to say that I was very thankful he didn’t change out of his skin tight black t-shirt? I think I’ll just end that thought there.

It is way too early in the morning to be having gutter-brain thoughts, I finally mentally erupted as I broke my almost stare at the boy in the seat beside me. He was slightly reclined in the passenger seat, head reclined against the head rest with his eyes contently closed. His lips were slightly parted in what was a natural barely visible smile that was… tempting, I suppose is the best word for it. Obviously I was the last person on earth to have temptation let alone need to fight it, but this borderlined the most not-okay craving I had ever had. Oh my fu-No! Stop thinking like that. He’s like… Prepubescent. Quit being such a pedo!

“You do know you can get out of the car now, right?” Milan’s voice rang in my ear as he suddenly appeared on my side of the car with the door wide open. There was a devious glint in his eyes as he reached over my lap and “accidentally” brushed his ridiculous forearm against my thigh in the process of unbuckling my seatbelt. “Wow, your cheeks are red,” he blatantly observed, still with his hand resting on the seat belt’s buckler. His deep eyes locked on mind with that determined look to them and there was far too much of a knowing air to them for my comfort as well.

“Thanks for pointing that out, kid, I had no idea,” I snapped back, swallowing hard. Get. Your shit. Together. I instinctively dodged his eyes and headed directly for the trunk and the groceries within. He, however, slipped right in front of me and opened the damn thing, retrieving all he could in one trip. He then proceeded to grin dauntingly and practically inject sexual thoughts into my mind through our eyes. As you can guess, the encounter was rather unnerving for me. Especially considering that his half hazard attempt at seducing me way too early in the morning was actually working.

Shake it off, girl. It’s all because you’re tired and a bit incoherent from the unusually early wake-up. Yes, he is sexy, but you know you have goals. Stick to them… And then have your fun later.