Page 61 of Puck King
I didn’t, and took a seat across from her. She pursed her lips and removed her hand visor. “Why aren’t you out celebrating with your team?” She seemed overly interested in the finish on her nail polish.
“I celebrate after the series, not the game. You know that.”
Everleigh dropped her feet to the cement floor and her eyes darted around her office. A dark blue suit jacket that was definitely too big for my sister was crumpled in one of the spare chairs. “Is there someone here?” I stood and picked up the suit jacket.
“No,” she shouted and snatched the jacket from my hand. “I think that this is one of dad’s.” She hung it on the coat hook in the corner. I was dying to open the door to the en suite bathroom to see who my sister was hiding, because that jacket was definitely not our father’s.
I shrugged. “I’m just going to use your bathroom, then.” I jiggled the handle, but the door was locked. Everleigh groaned and threw her hands up dramatically.
“What do you want, Colton?”
“To use the bathroom, Everleigh.” Antagonizing your sibling is part of your job isn’t it? I gave the handle one more jiggle.
“There’s something wrong with the sink. I asked maintenance to lock the door…”
Before I had a chance to point out how weak her lie was, she crossed her arms and pointed to the chair across from her desk. “Sit. Tell me what you really came here for, because it definitely wasn’t to use my bathroom.” She flopped into her chair and picked up her phone, its screen lighting up her face. “If you really have to piss, you can use the bar sink.” She kept scrolling through her phone, but winced and grabbed at her shoulder as she pointed to the fully stocked bar.
I sat in the chair, thinking about Everleigh’s bluff about peeing in her sink. If I actually did it, she would lose her mind. Everleigh set her phone down on her desk and squared herself to look at me. “You haven’t heard?”
If I had hair, it would’ve gone up on the back of my neck. Having a shaved head didn’t take away that sensation. “Heard what?”
“Your fake girlfriend has been relieved of her services.”
I shook my head. “This isn’t news, Everleigh. Remember? I agreed to focus on hockey and cool things off with Alison until the season is over.”
Everleigh stood and poured herself a drink from her bar slash pee station. “Want one?”
“No.”
She poured me two fingers of scotch anyway. “Cheers.” She clinked her clear liquid – vodka was her booze of choice, to the glass she’d just thrust into my hand, and chugged hers back. I took a reluctant sip, the single malt warming my throat. Everleigh poured herself another, but instead of returning to her big boss GM chair, she sat beside me. “Alison was fired from the physio job today.”
“What?” I slammed the glass on the desk. “Why?”
Everleigh leaned into the chair and swirled the vodka in the crystal glass. “She’s not who you think she is, baby brother.”
Something was very, very wrong. “I think I know her a little better than you.”
“Think again.” Everleigh sipped her drink, leaving red lipstick on the glass.
“Come on, Everleigh. Why did you have to fire her? We put things on hold. We did everything that you asked.”
Everleigh’s hands were curled around the glass and she stared into the clear liquid before downing it in one gulp. She rested her hand on my arm. “You know that I would do anything to protect this family.”
“What have you done?” I shook her hand from my forearm. There had to be a misunderstanding – a big one. Alison wasn’t a danger to the King family. She was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and if anything, marrying Alison Moffat would be good for the family.
Brushing invisible crumbs off the pants of her suit, Everleigh couldn’t look me in the eye. She sighed. “I’d hoped that I wouldn’t have to tell you this. I thought that I had vetted her well, and that she was the perfect candidate – a professional woman with an education; someone pretty, but not too pretty; someone who you wouldn’t…” Her voice trailed off.
“Fall for?” I finished her sentence.
“Yeah.” She picked up the empty glass and traced the pattern in the crystal with her nail. “I didn’t think we had to worry about you falling for her, so I didn’t even look into whether or not the woman was a gold digger.”
“A gold digger? Alison? You’re crazy.” I stood up to leave, but stopped with my hand on the door handle, remembering why I’d come to my sister’s office in the first place. “You’re wrong about Alison. I know who she is, and she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I know that you got a kick out of picking someone older and more mature than me, but the joke’s on you, Everleigh. Alison is the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met, and nothing you or our father can do will stop me from being with her.Now. Not at the end of the season. Enough with all of this bullshit.” I hadn’t realized how worked up I’d gotten.
“No need to shout.” Again, Everleigh’s eyes darted to the locked bathroom door.
“And you’re one to talk. Who have you got hidden in there? It looks like both of us aren’t playing by the rules. What would dad do if he found out one of the Thunder players was in here bending his daughter over her fancy oak desk?”
Everleigh’s eyes flashed and then narrowed. It was a low blow. It was usually my sister throwing the punches, but I was sick and tired of being ordered around by my own family and its stupid rules that didn’t make any sense.
