Page 22 of On the Line
But even if she didn’t show up, it was New Year’s Eve, and Mitch was young, undeniably good-looking, and in the prime of his life. If Lexie didn’t want what he was offering, he knew several women who would.
With Brent out for an undetermined amount of time, thanks to the concussion he’d sustained a few weeks before, quite a bit of the Warriors’ offensive production had gone with him. That night, the team had to find new ways to score, and when the final buzzer sounded in a 5-1 victory for the home team, Mitch, as an alternate captain, couldn’t help grinning at his teammates.
Not only because they had won, though that was a huge mood booster, but because they had been firing on all cylinders, garnering goals from all four lines. They played a well-rounded, clean game, and now Mitch wanted to celebrate.
When he reached his stall, he didn’t even sit before reaching for his phone, checking to see if Lexie had texted him.
She hadn’t, but one of the will-call workers had let him know that his tickets hadn’t been used.
Lexie hadn’t shown up.
Mitch gripped his phone in frustration, barely withstanding the urge to chuck it at the wall.
Then he took a deep, centering breath, realizing there was no reason to get worked up. From the beginning, she had made it clear that it was just sex between them, that she didn’t want and couldn’t give him any more than that. So why was he suddenly pissed off that she wasn’t accepting his advances?
“Cole!” Mitch yelled, whirling around and pinning his friend with a look across the room.
“Yes?” Cole asked.
“What’re you doing tonight?”
Normally, Brent would be Mitch’s wingman, but Brent was gone, up in Traverse City surprising Berkley so they could spend New Year’s Eve together.
Cole was the perfect substitute.
“I had plans to go to the bar,” Cole said. “See what kind of trouble I could get into.”
Mitch widely grinned. “I’m in.”
By the time Mitch and Cole walked into the club, it was nearing eleven o’clock, and the dance floor was a wall of bodies. The lights pulsed in time to the bass-heavy music, and men and women in all shapes and sizes were on the prowl, searching for someone to share in a midnight kiss.
“This place is a madhouse!” Cole yelled over the sound of Doja Cat blaring from the speakers.
Mitch glanced appreciatively at a curvy brunette girl in front of him who smirked and winked before following her friends into the crowd of people. “Just the way I like it!” Mitch yelled back.
They worked their way through the crowd and stepped up to the counter, the bartender instantly recognizing them and abandoning the girls he was flirting with to take their orders. Cole ordered a beer, and Mitch settled on two fingers of Johnnie Walker Blue Label on the rocks.
If he was going to forget that Lexie had blown him off tonight, he would need something stronger than his usual Miller Lite.
When the bartender slid his drink in front of him, he downed it in one gulp and signaled for a refill.
“Alright,” Cole said, stilling Mitch’s hand as he reached for his second drink. “What’s your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem,” Mitch said, shrugging off Cole’s touch and throwing his scotch.
“You only drink like this when something is going on with you,” Cole said. “Tell me what’s up.”
“Female problems,” Mitch told him.
“Ahh, that girl you’re spun out over but won’t talk to any of us about. Makes sense. What happened?”
“I left her tickets for our game tonight and she blew me off.”
“Well, fuck her,” Cole said. Mitch had half a mind to punch him for insulting Lexie that way, but seeing as how Cole didn’t know who he was talking about, he let it slide. “It’s New Year’s Eve, we’re young, good looking, and rich professional athletes. You can’t be moping about some chick all night. So here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to pick a girl and you’re going to blow off some steam.”
Mitch only wanted Lexie, but he didn’t see any way out of this without spilling the beans, so he said, “Deal.”
The men stood in companionable silence for a few minutes while Cole glanced around the bar, surveying the women in attendance. Then he chuckled and said, “What about her?”
