Page 119 of For the Boys
Lexie reached her hand out to twirl the end of a lock of Berkley’s hair around her finger, a gesture Berkley had always found comforting. “You’re going to have to talk to Brent about this eventually,” Lexie told her. “It’s one thing to get mad at him when he spends ridiculous amounts of money on you. It’s an entirely different thing to tell him why it bothers you. Keeping it bottled up only hurts you both in the long run.”
“I know,” Berkley said. “I was hoping he was going to stop treating me like his ex that was literally only with him for his money.”
“But we all know you’re not. It’s time you make sure he knows it too.”
“I will. After this weekend.”
Lexie rolled her eyes. “Fine. Now get up and get changed. I’m starving.”
Even in the daylight, Vegas was a lot. A lot of lights, a lot of people, a lot of sounds.
The weather here in February was what they typically only got to experience in May and June back home—clear blue skies and warm, balmy temperatures.
Saturday morning, they ate breakfast in the room before getting ready to explore the city. They ate lunch at a funky diner that served amazing Italian food, and they stopped in every boutique they found, getting a jump on their summer shopping. They even stopped at a sporting goods store, where they each purchased a commemorative All-Star Game hat.
Berkley hadn’t been sure what to expect when they got to the arena. When they walked in later that afternoon for the skills competition, the concourse was packed with men, women, and children of all shapes and sizes. Each team and player was well represented. By the time they made it to their seats, Berkley was feeling uneasy. Maybe she was imagining it, but there seemed to be an awful lot of people, especially women, wearing Brent Jean jerseys to match the ones she and her friends wore.
They finally found their seats. Off to their left and a few rows closer to the glass was a group of college-aged girls all wearing tight white tank tops with Brent’s face ironed onto them. Each tank top was cut to reveal a healthy amount of boobs, and one girl was even holding a large sign that said “Brent Jean, #22 on the ice, #1 in my heart!” Another one said “Hey Jean, meet me in the penalty box!” Berkley looked down at her jersey and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Lexie asked her.
“Those girls,” Berkley said, pointing. “I didn’t realize Brent had such an impressive fan club.”
“Oh, don’t worry about them,” Lexie said and put her arm around her shoulder. She pressed the home button on Berkley’s phone to light the screen up. Staring back at her was a picture of her and Brent. It was from New Year’s, taken at the stroke of midnight when Brent had pulled her onto his lap. They were grinning stupidly at each other, foreheads pressed together, lips inches apart. “They’re not the ones with him, are they?”
Berkley smiled. Lexie did have a point. Still, Berkley couldn’t shake the feeling that Brent having a girlfriend wouldn’t stop any of those girls from throwing themselves at him if given the chance. She had seen his Instagram message requests. Berkley knew she and Brent were in a very serious, very committed relationship. But knowing that didn’t make it any easier to witness the obsession female fans were showing for her boyfriend. She was painfully aware of how easy it would be for one of them to get close to Brent on the road somewhere and how easy it would be for him to do something he couldn’t take back.
Truth be told, their relationship ending in anything less than forever would destroy her.
With that thought, the skills competition commenced, and Berkley forced the negative thoughts from her mind. Brent participated in three events: Fastest Skater, Most Accurate Shooter, and Hardest Shot.
He didn’t finish very well in the hardest shot but did take first place in the fastest skater competition and third in accuracy.
Berkley loved seeing him out there, enjoying himself, laughing with his colleagues. He wasn’t stressed out about where his next goal was going to come from or whether or not the Warriors were going to win. He was just having fun, putting on a show for the fans.
It made her fall for him a little bit more.
The league had set up a sort of gala in a big banquet hall at the hotel, and all the players and their guests were invited, so that night, the girls dressed up in evening gowns and put their hair in fancy updos. Berkley’s dress was black and backless, threaded with sparkles that glittered under the hotel lights.
She and her friends had just stepped into the elevator when Brent called.
“Hi, babe,” she answered.
“Hi, where are you?”
“Coming down to the lobby. Where are you?”
“Almost there myself. I’ll meet you down here!” He hung up.
Brent’s was the first face she saw when she walked into the lobby, and it lit up at the sight of her. He swept her up in a hug and kissed her, his mouth lingering against hers as if he hadn’t seen her in weeks. He set her back on her feet and gave her a small pat on the ass, whispering in her ear, “You look amazing.”
“Thanks, babe,” she said, stepping back to check him out. Being able to experience Brent in a suit, up close and personal, to run her hands up his chest and feel the heat of his body through his dress shirt, was a novelty that would never wear off.
Some of the other hockey players passing by whistled and catcalled at them, chirping Brent. He flipped them off and led their group into the banquet hall.
Berkley realized that while she felt extremely comfortable spending time with the Warriors, she wasn’t nearly as cool and collected when rubbing elbows with the league’s best. It was unsettling to find herself surrounded by players she had been watching for years, guys who, before Brent, she could have only dreamed of meeting.
Shortly after arriving, she found herself speaking with a rookie phenom about professional football of all things, and when the goalie for the reigning Stanley Cup champions asked Berkley what she did for a living and she told him she was about to finish law school, they had a half-hour conversation about things he should watch out for in his upcoming contract negotiations.
