Page 71 of Riding Pine
“Okay then,” I mutter and turn to see the man I spoke to at the Chinese restaurant a few weeks ago. He’s dressed differently, but I can’t forget those glacier-coloured eyes. “Oh my god. It’s…it’s you!”
He extends a hand to me, and I take it. “Austin Maloney. Nice to meet you properly, Ben. Not just me. I have partners in this team.” He pulls a chair up to the table. “Everyone, this is Ben. The mascot for the Aspens I told you about.” He points to each person at the table. “This is my husband Logan, my brother Jacob and another of the owners, Matts.” I wave at them all, still stunned that I spilled my guts to the owner of the team without even knowing it.
The cowboy from the bar slides up a chair next to me and spins it around, sitting backwards. “I’m owner number three.” He offers a hand. “I’m Blaze, and I know shit about hockey, but I like to invest in things. Diversity and all that, you know? So don’t mind me and talk to these guys.”
“Ben, I have to say I love your performances. If you ever give classes on that kind of stuff, I run the LGBTQ+ youth shelter in town, and I’d love to arrange a workshop or something.” Jacob, an adorable man with short brown hair and a kind smile, says withso much enthusiasm, I have to wonder if maybe that’s been on his mind for a long time.
“I would totally be into that. I actually own a yoga studio here and teach classes, so it wouldn’t be a stretch.”
“Oh, yoga? Really?” The attractive man next to Austin lights up. “Baby, we should go.”
Austin smiles at the man and shakes his head. “We can talk about that after, Logan. First, we need to talk to Ben about the issues he’s having with the team.”
Logan and Jacob excuse themselves and join the other man at the bar while I remain with Austin, Matts, and Blaze.
“I need to ask…how come you keep your ownership such a secret?”
“It’s not really a secret,” Matts begins. “It’s more like we prefer to stay low profile and choose competent people to run the team for us. Like this place.” He waves an arm around him. “I’m part-owner here, but I leave most of the daily decision stuff to my partners. I do all the landscaping and planting and outside things they hate.”
“Oh. You own multiple businesses, then. That’s cool. I guess beer and hockey go together. That’s a smart move.”
Austin laughs before turning those amazing green-blue eyes on me. “You don’t follow sports much, do you?”
Laughing, I shake my head. “Nope. I wasn’t even a hockey fan until this year. Lukas has been teaching me, though, and I enjoy watching him play.”
“Matts and I used to play professional hockey together,” Austin says, and he pauses, like he thinks that might help me know who he is. I only smile and nod. “Have you been to the Fall Fling in town before?” I shake my head, and Austin continues. “It doesn’t matterright now. The point is, we’ve both been out of hockey actively for several years, and I wanted to bring hockey here since the town has grown.”
Blaze clears his throat. “I’m a more silent partner. Mostly.” He laughs to himself, and I don’t know why, but I like him immediately. “I secured the land and financed the buildin’ of the arena. The first group intendin’ to take over the team were not people I wanted to deal with…. then these two came along with a proposal. They let me sit in on things to include me, but I’m just a guy with a lot of money who likes to help friends.”
“Oh, um, thank you? I think?”
Blaze winks and unwraps a toothpick from his pocket.
“Just tell us what’s going on, Ben. From the top,” Austin says.
So, I do. Beginning with how Christine scouted me and approached me with an offer to be the mascot. I included the details of the contract and brought a copy that Blaze immediately took to skim through. Then I ended the story with meeting Lukas, and neither of us knowing what the other did.
“Well, I have to say I’ve never been fond of the whole no-relationships-in-the-workplace thing,” Matts says, and Blaze snorts in agreement.
“Tell me about it. We’d both be single.” He laughs before passing my contract to the other two.
“This contract has a few red flags, Ben. The numbers she’s quoted you and the bonus structure don’t add up. I know this because I’m the one who set the budgets, from coaches and players’ salaries to how much the concession workers get paid.”
“Oh my god. Am I going to owe money back?” My stomach flips at the thought, but a warm hand lies on myarm.
“Not at all. We’ll discuss all that between the three of us after, but the thing that stands out most to me is this whole thing about not tellin’ people who you are.”
Austin chimes in. “It’s standard not to tell people when you’re a mascot, Blaze. Prevents them from profiting off it personally if they’re successful.”
“That’s all well and good, but why say he can’t disclose to someone he’s in a relationship with? Isn’t that what an NDA is for? You can’t exercise that much control over one person’s life like that. Hell, world leaders can have affairs, but the mascot has to live like a monk or lie? I don’t like it.”
Blaze sits back and crosses his arms while Matts and Austin exchange a look.
“Has Lukas talked to his coach or anyone about this?” Matts asks, and I shake my head.
“I don’t think so. I was hoping to have it solved before he got back. Is there a policy where you can’t date team members or something? One of the other players told him to tell the coach, and I don’t think he did.”
Another look between Matts and Austin, and I bite my lip. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Did I just fuck Lukas’s career by doing this?
