Wine After Whiskey

“How did you like that plane ride, Bree bee?” James asked as he pulled a very sleepy Aubree from the backseat of the cab outside of the Wynn and set her up on his hip to carry her into the hotel. Bree rubbed her little eyes and nodded her head slowly. Since they had arrived in Vegas and left the airport, Aubree had taken up the time to take a quick nap.

“Are we at the hotel yet?” She asked, trying to pull herself up on her fathers shoulder and explore all of the lights, sounds and experiences of Sin City that a four year old could handle. James pulled her up onto his shoulders and held tightly onto her hands as Tessa lightly held onto her back—terrified he might drop her.

“Yes, baby.” She answered as she followed James past the lobby and towards the check-in area. “Are you sure we can just leave our luggage there, James?” She asked cautiously. From where she was from, you just didn’t leave your luggage at the front area for concierge to take up. It was a foreign concept for the girl who grew up going to campgrounds instead of hotels.

“Yes, dear.” He confirmed pulling Aubree off of his shoulders and handing her to her mother. She pushed away from Tessa at first, wanting nothing more but to be able to walk around herself and explore the new territory, but sleepiness set in. “Let me check us in and then we can go up to our room.” Tessa and Aubree walked over to the giant aquarium while James went and checked in, looking at the colorful fish that were only seen in tanks and off the coast of Australia.

“Look mommy its like in Nemo!” Bree shouted, much to the dismay of many guests around them. Tessa patted her daughter on the head and watched as she pointed to the Orange and White Clownfish. Before they knew it, James walked over with their room keys in hand.

“Ready to go and see the room?” He asked, handing Tessa a room key and keeping one for himself. Aubree became excited and nodded her head while clapping her hands quickly.

The room was beautiful to say the least. James had gone out of his way to book them a small one-bedroom suite for the two days instead of taking up on the one room shared room that would have been given just for team players.

“I could get used to it here,” Tessa mentioned as they lay on the bed, both taking a little breather while Aubree took her afternoon nap. Between preparing for the trip, the plane ride, and getting to the hotel, the entire group was pooped.

“Don’t get any ideas,” James warned her with a joking tone. She grinned. “There isn’t a professional hockey team here.” Now she rolled her eyes and rolled over onto her stomach, resting her chin on her hands.

“I’m sure we could figure something out. You could be the next like hockey player turned male dancer.” James frowned at her joking suggestion. “No? Yeah, you’re right…. You’re too fat for it anyways.” She grinned and poked his abdomen—rock hard abs, and then sighed contently.

“Do you want to start something?” He asked, moving in to tickle her ribs. She squealed as he captured his mission, and then proceeded to thrash around the king sized bed.

“Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!” She called, trying not to yell loud enough to wake up Aubree who was sleeping in her playpen outside of the room.

“Did I just hear you say mercy?” He asked as she was pinned down to the bed, completely at his tickle mercy. She nodded and gulped. “Mercy?” He asked again, dragging his hands up her ribs and pulling her shirt up with him. “Mercy?” Now he was just killing her as he kissed her jawline and she squirmed underneath him.

“I said mercy, James.” She throatily breathed out as his hands and lips roamed her body. He grinned and began to work on the button of her jeans and just as soon enough a small voice behind them broke what was only inevitable.

“Momma?” Aubree asked, her juice bottle stuffed between her lips and bedhead going in a thousand different directions. Tessa about pushed James off of her and onto the bed to try and distract the little girl from whatever she had seen.

“Shit.” James cursed underneath his breath as his counterpart scooted away from him, pulled down her shirt and buttoned up her jeans again. She gave James a wary eye.

“You want to go to the pool lady bug? I think daddy needs to go take a shower, he smells stinky.” Aubree became very excited, jumping up and down in agreement and not noticing anything else that was going on in the room.

~~~~~

“Are they here?” Matt asked in a hushed tone after he and Tyler had been greeted at James’ hotel room. Before even deciding to go to Vegas, James had made the decision that he would no longer keep them in the dark and hide them away. His teammates were the first stepping-stone. James nodded and looked over at TK who was looked like he was going to jump the XBOX system in the center of the room (a courtesy of the hotel) like a Christmas ham.

“Get away from that, will ya Who?” James laughed, using the nickname that a couple of the guys from the lock room used at the Sault Saint Marie native. TK looked up from the controller he was playing with. “We can’t take you anywhere.” He mumbled to him under his breath with a nervous grin. James wasn’t as nervous for them to meet Matt, since he knew who exactly they were, but he was terrified to let one of his best friends and road trip roommates know of their existence.

“Who you got hidin’ back there, Jimmy?” TK asked with a hungry smile. The Ole Boy had been single for months and was only just looking for something to ride his dick. Part-time deal. James closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

“Please turn off your filter for two minutes?” He asked as TK held his hands up. Not a second later, Aubree bounded out of the room with her mother’s lipstick in hand (and half plastered across her face) as Tessa stormed after her.

“Aubree Marie, if you do not give me my make up back, I will give you a time out.” Her voice boomed loudly and authoritatively unlike her normal meek tenor. Aubree grinned and waved the lipsticks around in the air, standing behind her father for protection.

“Bree, go give those back.” He warned her as her mother realized there were other people in the room beside them. Bree ducked her head and slowly walked over to her mom, handing her the lipstick tube.

“Um, hi. Sorry about that.” Tessa apologized to the two men who were unfamiliar to her. James sort of laughed awkwardly and wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Guys, this is Tessa and Aubree. Tess, Bree bee this is Matt and Tyler. They’re my teammates.” Matt and Tessa exchanged pleasantries, but Tyler looked more confused than a Cow eating beef.

“Your girlfriend and?” He asked, hoping that James would patch up the miscue. James rolled his eyes and Tessa nervously giggled. So one of his teammates did know, she thought to herself.

“My daughter.” He filled in the last pieces and Tyler’s eyes grew wide. Daughter?

“Well it’s nice to meet you two,” He greeted and Tessa returned his shook hand.

Could there be anything more awkward than this?