“Okay. Let me know how it turns out.” She smiled and waddled away, her mind likely already focused on full-body massages and chocolate-dipped strawberries, which was fine by Nolan. A distracted Penny at this stage in her pregnancy was a good thing.
“You dodged a bullet there,” Vince said, chuckling.
“Don’t I know it. I love her but…”
“Say no more. So, do you want my company or would you rather go solo?” he asked.
“Actually, I think I’ll handle this on my own. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be at the club tonight? Something about a new sub to introduce to the dungeon?”
Vince grinned broadly. “Yeah, I can hardly wait.”
Yeah, he’d rather spend time in pursuing something pleasurable as well but he knew he couldn’t rest until he put to bed this ridiculous claim. He forced a grin for his brother’s sake and perhaps for his own. “It’s nothing. And when I find out who thought pulling this ruse was a good idea, I’m going to give them a taste of Buchanan justice.”
Vince nodded in support. “Go get ‘em, bro.”
Feeling far more confident than he did a moment ago, Nolan strode from the room to make the arrangements. Perhaps with some luck, he’d be back within a day or two and he could catch a little entertainment with his brother.
Bolstered by that cheery thought, a true smile more fitting for his easy-going nature found his lips and he started to whistle, his mind already forming all the appropriately cruel ways to ruin this misguided fool who’d dared to threaten a Buchanan.
“Ow! You’re killing me!”
Shannon Garrity ignored the outraged bellow of the hulking beast of a man, affectionately known on the ice as “Killer” and continued to carefully rotate the man’s leg to see how badly damaged it was. Judging by the reaction of her player, it was pretty bad. She sighed and gave Killer a look that conveyed the unfortunate news she was about to share and the man started to plead ‘I can still play!’ but she shook her head sadly. “Sorry, but that leg’s going to have to heal if you want to have any chance of playing next year. You’re benched effective as of today. I’m sorry, Carl.” She placed a hand on his shoulder with compassion. “Next stop for you is the doctor for an MRI — not the bar, okay?”
Carl, six-foot four-inches of solid muscle but not a lot of brain, nodded like a child who’d been caught before he’d even put his plan into motion and hopped from her table to grab his crutches. She watched as Carl made his way out of the small room she used for examining team injuries and CeCe, her intern, walked in holding Aubrey, Shannon’s nearly three-year-old daughter. “There she is,” Shannon cooed, accepting the toddler from CeCe’s arms. “Thanks for going to pick her up. I got swamped and wasn’t able to break away to get her,” she said.
“No problem,” CeCe said, smiling. “She’s such a cutie.”
“Yes, she is,” Shannon agreed, rubbing her nose with her daughter’s and causing her to giggle. Her laughter lit up the days that were a challenge, such as today. She hated this time of year — draft cuts. She tried not to get too attached but some of the guys she worked with were like oversized kids and she adored them all. Many had dreams of moving onto the NHL but some just weren’t cut out for the next level. She always winced when she saw the empty lockers after the cut players received their notice.
“Is there anything else you need?” CeCe asked and Shannon shook her head. “Okay, if you don’t mind, I’m going to cut out a little early. I have some studying to do.”
“No problem.” Shannon smiled and collected her stuff to leave. “I’m actually done for the day. I’ll see you bright early tomorrow, right? We have assessments to do on the players.”
“Yep.”
CeCe, a young college grad with her eye on landing a position similar to Shannon’s, was the typical college coed – if one went by stereotypes. The girl had curves and wasn’t afraid to use them if the hungry gazes from the players were any indication. Shannon had tried to talk CeCe about the importance of separating business from pleasure but the bottom line was, Shannon was a temporary fixture in her life until she moved on to bigger pastures.
With Aubrey on her hip, she navigated past the locker rooms and popped out the backside of the rink to walk toward her car. A strange prickling sense caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand up and she glanced around, to survey her surroundings. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she kept walking, although she picked up her step a little bit. After fastening Aubrey in her car seat, she hopped into her little sedan and headed home.
You're being a silly goose. And paranoid. The more miles she put between herself and that feeling, she realized she'd been silly. No more late-night movies about crime dramas, she reasoned to herself.
Turning up the radio, she perked up when she and Audrey's favorite song came on. Shannon sang while Aubrey kicked her feet and giggled and by the time Shannon pulled into her small apartment complex, she’d completely forgotten about the weird sensation she'd had back at work.
Tomorrow was Friday. Aside from a full day at work, her plans were pretty static. Later that night, after tucking Aubrey into bed, she poured herself a glass of wine and slowly savored the first sip. She loved her life but there were times when she wished things had happened a little differently. She certainly hadn't expected to become a mother so young and so early in her career. But even as she lamented her quiet nights from time to time, she knew she wouldn't trade Aubrey for anything in the world. The child was her everything.
She carried her wine glass to the living room and sank into the sofa. Her friend Georgia had suggested that she put up an online dating profile so she could get some, "adult time" but even as Shannon desperately wanted a little companionship now and then, she couldn't fathom introducing someone into Aubrey's life that was simply transient. So, for now, Shannon's needs were met by her trusty and ever faithful vibrator.
Shannon took another healthy sip and leaned back against the sofa cushion, feeling that familiar yearning as she closed her eyes, picturing a scene from the past that always managed to warm her engine nicely.
It'd been a purposefully chance encounter — she'd been looking for someone to scratch an itch as a reward for all her hard work and studying to graduate at the top of her class in order to land a coveted position with the Juggernaut and she'd known the minute he'd walked into the club that she was going to have him.