Sydney may not be interested in Ryan, but it would only take one night out with his friends before she would find herself on the arm of a Detroit Pirate. Every woman did. It didn't matter if they said they weren't interested in hockey players. It didn't matter if they said they didn't care about the money. It didn't matter if they were already dating someone else, even if that someone else was a member of the team's staff. Andy had learned that the hard way. Twice. The team's trainer was just a stepping stone to a date with a man who actually laced up the skates for the team.
There was something about Sydney that was different. He was sure about that. Most of them wouldn't be as strong as was right now under the circumstances. Her smile tonight still had a bit of sadness lingering on it, but it was a smile. It lit up the entire room as far as Andy was concerned. If only he could see it when she was genuinely happy.
Of course, if he ever saw her smile like that, it would be the most dangerous smile he had ever seen from a woman. Better to just get the next few weeks of Ryan's recovery over with and try to move on. Easier said than done, but if he didn't, a woman like Sydney could break his heart. He really didn't want to go through that again.
Chapter 7
The cold was a problem in every northern Midwest town currently held in the clutches of an arctic blast from Canada. But weather like this was always worse in Detroit with the wind whipping off the river and through the downtown streets. Sydney cursed as another gust came rushing up from the waterfront, forcing her to pull her coat tighter. It didn't help much.
"Why is it so damn cold?"
Ryan groaned in pain as he walked next to her. "This sucks, and I'm a Canadian saying this sucks."
Sydney pulled her scarf up over her face. "Remind me again why we decided to go out tonight," she said.
"Because my mom guilted us into leaving our apartments," he replied.
"And yet she's currently sitting in your warm place with wine while we're out here."
Ryan sighed. "I hate that I'm about to say this, but we both know she was right."
She chuckled. "We're never telling her that."
"Oh, no way!"
Sydney's shoulders stiffened as another shot of wind forced its way past them. But she knew she had to be out there. It had been more than a week since she came home to an empty apartment without a job, and she hadn't left since. It had become so bad that she had actually ordered more yoga pants online since she could only see a future in which she was lounging around her apartment instead of going out to interact with other human beings.
But Amelia had insisted they go out. Ryan needed someone to make sure he didn't drink since he was still on drugs after his surgery, and Sydney needed to get out of the house.
"When was the last time you dressed up and left this building?" Amelia had asked her yesterday.
Reality stung. She definitely had locked herself away, sustained only on Amelia's cooking and local take out. At one point, she wondered what it would take to persuade Lafayette Coney Island to deliver.
So when Ryan's teammates invited him out, he invited Sydney to go with him. She wanted to say no or come up with some excuse to not leave, but she and Ryan both knew she had nowhere to be. Luckily, the bar was only a few blocks away, but they were still cold blocks.
"I wish I could walk faster." Ryan said. "Stupid surgery making me slow."
"I wish I hadn't decided to wear these boots."
"I'll give you credit though," he said. "You make them look good."
Sydney just nodded in wordless thanks. She could admit that she tried to look good tonight. She pulled out her tight dark blue jeans that she paired with her black leather boots. The black sweater she grabbed from her closet was warm and soft while hugging her in all the right places. On the outside, she felt confident knowing that she looked good. But inside, she felt like crap. No soft sweater was going to fix her emotional state right now, but she needed a drink so it was off to the bar. She figured it was also a good idea to have the gimpy Pirates rookie as her sidekick so they could watch out for each other.
The pair walked into the bar, a swanky one that was nicer than the dive bars that used to be around there years ago. It was apparently the new place to be seen in the area, attracting even the local sports stars in the city. It also had a coat check, which Sydney was particularly thankful for. It always bugged her when she had to figure out what to do with her coat in a crowded bar in the middle of winter. The place wasn't too crowded tonight. It was a Thursday after all, and most people had already headed home to the suburbs, making the bar busy but not too loud and too crowded by the time they got there. Ryan headed to a reserved spot in the back of the bar where some of the Pirates' players and staff had set up for the evening.
Sydney wouldn't admit it, but her first instinct may have been to look for Andy among the crowd in the back. He was sitting in a corner, a bit off by himself, looking glum. It was the first time she had seen him like that. Andy always seemed to be kind and warm whether it was complimenting Amelia's food or trying to comfort a woman who cried over a dead goldfish. He didn't do a great job with that last one, but Sydney still appreciated the effort. He seemed different tonight though.
"Hey, I know you! I saw you on TV!"
Sydney turned to see some drunk guy staggering over to her.
"You probably did," she replied sarcastically.
He pointed at her with the beer in his hand, spilling some over the arm of her sweater. "Hey, Bob! It's that girl that stole that money!" he yelled to someone in the crowd.
"It's the girl who stole it," she corrected. "Get your grammar right, I'm not a 'that.'" She started to turn away from him before stopping to look back. "And I didn't steal anyone's money." Another move forward and another move back. "And you're a complete moron who has no manners."
"And you're a bitch," he spat.
Sydney gave him a bitter smile. She should've never left the house. Instead she turned her back on the moron, pushing her way towards Andy in the corner. She didn't care if he looked like he didn't want company. She didn't care that she wasn't using her smooth sexy walk she had tried to perfect over the years. She didn't even care that she was abandoning Ryan. Hell, he was already talking to his teammates he hadn't seen since his surgery. He needed them. She understood that. But she also realized she needed none of the crap that was going to be dumped on her by the drunk guys at this bar.
Instead, she dropped into the open spot next to Andy.
"I need a drink," she announced.
Andy quickly turned, startled by the new guest sitting next to him. But once he recognized it was Sydney, he gave her a tight nervous smile and looked down at his drink.
"We have a waitress if you want something fancy, or there's some extra glasses by the pitcher of beer there," he told her.
"Waitress will take too long."
Sydney reached for the glasses and poured herself a beer, making sure she got as little foam as possible. Then she drank — and drank. She was never one to chug beer but after that encounter with Bob's drunk friend, she needed something to just dull the pain a bit.
"Bad night?" Andy asked quietly before taking a sip from his own glass.
"Yeah. You?"
"You could say that," he said bitterly. Then he raised his glass to her and gave her an awkward smile. "To the losers hiding in the corner."
"To the corner," she replied, clinking her glass against his.
Despite the noise from the bar around them, Sydney and Andy sat there silently, drinking their beer while watching the crowd mill around. Sydney noticed a few people look at her, give her a scowl, and then quickly look away. She knew exactly what they were thinking.
"So I guess you're hiding from the guys who recognized you from the news?"
Sydney turned to see Andy looking intently at her. "Yeah."
"I saw that guy talking to you earlier," he said. "I'm assuming that's why you hightailed it over here."
"It helped that there was an open spot ne
ar you," she said. "Plus, I've never seen you be an ass to anyone before so I figured this was safe territory." She gave him an exaggerated smile to emphasize her point before taking another swig of beer. "So what brings you to this corner instead of hanging out with the boys?"
Andy nodded glumly towards the group in front of them. "Her."
Sydney turned to see some of the Pirates talking to several woman on the other side of the small space.
"There's a lot of hers. Any her in particular?"
He squinted towards the group. "The blonde in the cropped red sweater and tight black pants wearing the silver Tiffany's bracelet that I bought her for our six-month anniversary."
"Well, that's pretty specific," she replied.
Sure enough, there was a woman matching that exact description sitting 20 feet away from them, leaning against a man Sydney recognized as the Pirates' backup goalie Dylan Smith with his arm casually draped over the woman's shoulders.
"So ex-girlfriend, I assume."
"You would assume correctly."
"Didn't end well?"
Andy stared down into the glass in his hands. "I guess you could say being a member of the Pirates' staff has had a bit of a negative effect on my love life."
"How so?"
He shrugged. "I'm a member of the staff."
"So?" she asked. "You have access to free hockey tickets! That sounds like the kind of man a woman in this town would be interested in."
Andy scoffed, his eyes still firmly on his beer. "They're not interested in the staff. Dating a member of the staff is just a stepping stone to dating a player." He finally looked at her, giving her a bitter smile. "You look a little stunned by this revelation."
She hadn't realized she was staring in shock at this new information.
"How many times has this happened to you?"
"Twice. Luckily, my other ex dumped me for a player who was traded away from the team two years ago. So at least I have that going for me," he said. "Refill?"
She looked to find her glass was still halfway full. "I'm OK."
Andy grabbed the pitcher of beer on the table and topped off his glass. Sydney watched him, thinking about how hard it must be for Andy to be the go-to guy whenever a player on the team was hurt, but then became the has-been when it came to women. One of the "benefits" of being a single woman in finance was that Sydney never had a problem finding guys who liked her for her. They liked her confidence, they liked her intelligence, and they liked the way her legs looked in a pair of expensive high-heeled shoes. But she understood where Andy was coming from. All those guys she dated enjoyed being with her until the novelty of dating a smart, good-looking woman wore off. Then they wanted a woman who could take care of them and make them feel better about themselves by putting down her accomplishments. That wasn't Sydney.
Of course, Sydney always trusted them to be faithful. She prided herself on finding men who didn't cheat on her. It wasn't until they got to the break-up part that she would pack it up and move on. But for Andy? It seemed like trusting the women he was dating was a constant struggle, especially when they would cheat on him with guys he worked with. At least her own trust issues at work were a recent thing.
"You're giving me the sad eyes, you know," Andy said from beside her.
Actually, she hadn't realized she was doing it either.
"Sorry," she replied. "You would think I wouldn't do that after being out in public with people knowing who I am now."
"How often have you been out in public since then? Not that I'm judging you or anything," he added quickly. "It's just that anytime I've been over to see Ryan, you're home."
"Very astute observation, Mr. Mitchell," she said, raising her glass in mock congratulations. "But that first day, Lucy and I left my office and went to a bar so I could drink. A lot. Then the 12 o'clock news came on, and there was my face as I walked away from my job with a box in my hand." She took a drink to push down the emotion that was starting creep up in her throat. "I just remember people in the bar starting to do double takes and purposely turning around to look at me. It was like I was an animal at the Detroit Zoo or something."
"Sorry you had to go through that," he said. "I guess at least you can take solace in the fact that people noticed you. Most of the women I'm with at things like this tend to wander away and never come back."
Sydney laughed and Andy glared at her response. "Sorry! Sorry," she said. "It's not you. It's just…" She smiled and looked at him. "I live next door to Ryan. I know Ryan. You know Ryan. I have no idea what would make a woman interested in Ryan."
"Then why are you friends with him?" Andy asked.
"Because someone needs to protect that boy when his mother isn't in town." She shrugged. "I don't mind being his friend, but I don't want to date a guy I have to baby-sit."
"I get it," Andy replied. "I have to take care of all of these guys."
"Exactly, but at least you get paid to do that," Sydney scoffed. "And then who takes care of you?"
It was supposed to just be an innocent remark about his job. But the way his eyes immediately snapped up and stared across the room at his ex-girlfriend, laughing in the arms of another man, that's when Sydney realized she had touched a nerve.
"Sorry, I—"
He just waved his hand in the air. "Don't be sorry," he replied. "You didn't mean anything by it. That's just me being in a funk."
"I'm glad."
He gave her a surprised look. "You're glad?"
Sometimes you sound like a real idiot, Barton. She took a deep breath to make sure the next words out of her mouth were the right ones this time.
"I just mean that I came here because Amelia guilted Ryan into bringing me, and I did need to get out of my apartment."
"You really did," Andy said with a smirk.
"I just don't want to be all sunshine and rainbows yet, you know? So I'm glad I have someone to commiserate with."
Andy nodded his head in understanding. "I'm definitely not sunshine and rainbows."
"So can we just be the boring corner for a little bit?" she asked.
Andy raised his pint glass in her direction. "To the boring corner."
Chapter 8
Sydney took a deep breath and pushed on the revolving door to get to the lobby of her office building. Well, her old office building. She hadn't been there since the S.E.C. guys raided the place, but nothing had really changed. It frankly felt like she had just been gone on a little vacation or something. The same boring plants were in the corner, the same ugly furniture was set up in a circle, and the same security guys were behind the desk.
And yet, everything was completely different. For one thing, she actually had to check in with the security desk. The guards that she used to say "Hi!" to every morning recognized her, but she wasn't really sure about their response.
"Ms. Barton," one of them said as the rest avoided eye contact.
Just be nice, she reminded herself. He doesn't know you're not a crook. "Hey, Darryl. How are you?"
"Fine," he said in a clipped tone. "You know you no longer have an office here."
"I know," she said nicely. "I'm actually here to see my lawyer, Lucy Evans. She's the one who's sorting all this out for me."
Darryl picked up the phone and punched a few buttons to let Lucy's office know she had arrived. Then he gave Sydney another scowl.
"Ms. Evans will be down shortly."
"Thanks," she said politely.
The potted plant in the corner looked like an inviting companion. She seemed to find corners pretty comfortable lately, particularly the one she found herself in last night next to Andy. She couldn't decide if she remembered his warm body against her because she liked him or because she was buzzed. Probably a little of both. Frankly, she needed a little of both last night. After what had happened, it was nice to have a guy to talk to her without judging her, and it was nice to drink. That was especially helpful.
"Sydney?" She looked up to see Lucy staring back at her. "C'mon."<
br />
Lucy started walking faster than usual through the lobby, and Sydney quickly figured out it was because people were recognizing her. Once again, Lucy proved to be a good friend. Walking that fast her heels to quickly jump in an elevator couldn't be comfortable and she was doing it for Sydney.
"You don't look so hot," Lucy said as the doors closed.
"Thanks?"
"I mean, you look like you're hungover or something."
Sydney smiled bitterly. "A little hungover. More tired than anything."
Lucy gave her a surprised look. "What exactly did you do last night?"
"Drinking with Ryan and his friends," she explained. "Amelia forced us to leave the building."
"And you didn't invite me?"
Sydney scoffed. "It was Ryan and his hockey friends."
The doors to the elevator opened on to the quiet floor that was Lucy's office. Sydney pushed off the wall of the elevator and headed towards the door to the legal office, thankful that there was no one on the floor. At least it meant that the two of them could walk slower in their shoes. But just as Sydney adjusted to the quiet, Lucy started prodding her for information again.
"So was Andy there?"
"Where?"
Lucy rolled her eyes. "The bar. Last night."
Sydney turned and stared at her friend. "Yes, and it's not like that matters anyway."
"Why? He's cute."
"Doesn't matter how cute he is. Men can't be trusted."
She pushed opened the door to the office a little more forcefully than she probably needed to, but she didn't care. The law offices on the third floor looked eerily similar to her old space on the ninth floor: beige walls, a reception area, a hallway with a few office doors along it. They also had two conference rooms with glass walls. She walked past the first one and almost stopped in her tracks. John was there with Lucy's boss looking over piles of papers stacked on the table in front of them.
"Keep moving," Lucy muttered, taking her friend's elbow and gently steering her to the next room.
The door locked behind them and Sydney realized she had been holding her breath the whole time. She let it all out though as she fell into a surprisingly comfortable conference room chair. Her head fell backwards and she stared up at the ceiling, trying to center her mind from going crazy.
Buried Treasure (The Detroit Pirates Book 2) Page 6
