Page 79 of On the Line
Trophy wife?God, this had been such an epically bad idea. She mentally reminded herself to make Mitch pay for forcing her into this later.
Maybe she’d withhold sex for a few days.
Then again, that would be torture for her just as much as it would be for him.
“I think she looks great,” he said, leaning over to peck her cheek. She smiled up at him, grateful for his presence.
An uncomfortable silence descended as they dug into their food, interrupted by her parents attempting to make small talk with Mitch that consisted of subtle jabs at Lexie, as if they were trying to get him on their side, to see what they see in her.
“So Mitch,” her father said, “how’s your hockey season going? I’ll admit I’m more of a football guy myself, but if you and Alexandra stay together, we’ll have to change that.”
Mitch smiled. “It’s good. I think we’ve got a real shot at the Cup this year.”
Only Lexie could see the strain in that smile, and understand what it meant—he was worried he might not even be here for the playoffs.
With the NHL trade deadline looming, there had been rumors circulating for the last month or so that the Warriors were shopping Mitch around. According toinside sources, they were interested in trading their star veteran defenseman for speed and scoring ability.
Two things they already had plenty of in Brent, Cole, Rat, and Gray, to name only a few of the Warriors’ talented forwards.
Parker had left the team at the end of the previous season when his contract expired, moving on to some team out east that Lexie never cared to remember.
Good riddance to that guy.
Since then, Mitch had been paired up with the Warriors’ captain, Jordan Dawson, on the blue line. And as luck would have it, the two played even better together than Mitch and Parker had.
Lexie didn’t understand the rumors, and she hoped they were just that. She knew very little about the game of hockey other than broad terms and how the Warriors were playing, but she had spent enough time around Brent and Berkley and Mitch, to know that trading a franchise player like him when everything was going so well for the team made no sense.
It was constantly on Lexie’s mind, the thought that Mitch could be traded and move away. What would happen to their relationship then? Would they survive long distance?
Would he even beinterestedin long distance?
She had meant what she said earlier—she was choosing to spend her life with him. All of it. Forever. The thought that it could all be taken away from her so soon was terrifying, to say the least.
“That’s great to hear,” her mother said. “I don’t know anything about sports other than what Robert tries to explain to me, but we’ve been to a few hockey games over the years with potential investees. Never a Warriors game, but we’ve seen the Quakers, Regents, and Voyageurs when we lived on the East Coast, the Knights, Bullets, and Wolves.”
“Wow, impressive,” Mitch said.
Lexie held back another eye roll. Her parents were laying it on pretty thick, trying to get in Mitch’s good graces because he was rich, famous, and incredibly good-looking.
The fact that they were reacting to him this way was a ringing endorsement.
The thought should make her happy, that her parents deemed him worthy, but instead, it made her skin crawl. To them, he was just another person to be used to get what they wanted. And what they wanted was more money.
It was always about the money, and Mitch was made of it.
“So how exactly are you managing your money, Mitch?” Her dad asked.
See? She wasn’t making this shit up.
“What do you mean?” Mitch asked.
“I mean, I did some research on you before we came here and your last contract was for a pretty hefty sum. And you’re young. What exactly are you doing to protect yourself in the long run?”
Lexie opened her mouth to object to this line of questioning, but Mitch squeezed her hand under the table, silencing her. “I’ve invested some of it,” he said. “Real estate, mostly. I own a building in Greektown. The entire top floor is a converted industrial loft space that I rent out for special occasions, and it’s also become sort of a notorious hangout spot for me and my teammates.”
“What else?” Her mother asked, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her head in her open palm, the picture of curiosity.
“I recently invested in my friend’s athletic wear company. He started it last year, and it’s been doing really well, but I asked if I could provide some capital to help grow the company even further, and he agreed.”
