Neutral Zone

by Amber Lynn

  Nina had always been special, but there was something about their agreement that made him want to preen for her and prove that he earned the right for the fun that was about a week away. With preseason starting up, they were going to have to work around his schedule a little bit to fulfill the weekend of mad monkey sex, but he was confident they’d both appreciate how things ended up. Things worked out well that there were no road games to start off preseason.

  There were some worried faces as they all filed into the locker room. Brady’s wasn’t one of them. He thought about where he’d take Nina for dinner after the game. She’d loudly claimed she wasn’t about to eat a bucket of arena nachos or a greasy burger, so he was going to have to treat her to something nice, since he’d ‘personally extended the invitation’ to be there.

  Brady loved just hitting a drive-thru on the way home and grabbing a couple burgers and a vat of fries, but Nina probably wouldn’t go for that. With the game over at ten and it taking almost another hour before he fulfilled his post-game duties and had a shower, there weren’t a lot of options that met Nina’s standards. It was definitely going to be an adventure.

  Off in his thoughts, Brady made it to his bench and sat down, stretching his arms out, one by one, across his body. His left shoulder was a little tense, so he wanted to try to get the kinks out before he needed it to ram into the opposing team.

  “So, as some of you know, the team was recently sold.”

  Coach Bennet’s words brought Brady’s focus away from the floor in front of him up to where the man stood in his gray suit ten feet in front of Brady. He quickly looked over to Curtis next to him to gauge whether it was news to him. Brady was undeniably sometimes the last person to know something, but Curtis’ shrug told him maybe it just wasn’t a widely publicized transaction.

  That was hard to believe, given how much money had to have been shelled out in the deal. Brady wasn’t really fond of the previous owner, but he had been nice enough not to mess around with the hockey operations themselves. He showed up to celebrate with the team when things went well, but otherwise he sat in his lofty box and just watched the game.

  A new person coming in could change that. There were plenty of league rules that limited what an owner could do, but it was always a little nerve-racking to have to figure out how a new person interpreted those rules. Brady had only ever been with the one team professionally, and up until then, the owner hadn’t changed, so he was basing his trepidation on what he’d heard from others.

  “I know some of you may have just pissed your pants a little hearing that, but I’ve been told there are no plans to change things up around here.”

  Brady looked around to see if anyone actually showed signs of pissing their pants from the news. Short of a couple wide-eyed rookies, he didn’t get the sense the coach interpreted the crowd correctly. Those rookies’ heads had been in the clouds since they showed up and saw the big ice, so it was pretty normal for them to display their surprise.

  “Any clue why Hanson sold? The team’s been in his family for almost a hundred years. I’m not hip in the financials of everything, but the seats are full every night, so it seems a little crazy that he’d sell.”

  Curtis’ question had crossed Brady’s mind, but he’d moved on from the new owner talk and was waiting to hear if he was playing. The details of the sale couldn’t be that interesting. Kurt Hanson was a billionaire, who had probably just added an extra billion. There wasn’t really anything interesting about the fact.

  “I believe the phrase is he had an offer he couldn’t refuse. I’m sure you’ve heard that one before, haven’t you, Curtis Power?”

  A chill worked up Brady’s spine when Nina’s voice filled the room. There hadn’t been any chatter as everyone waited for a response to Curtis’ question, but it sure as hell was dead quiet when all eyes zoomed in on the woman sashaying in through the doors.

  Fuck me.

  Brady didn’t need to scramble to try to figure out why his roommate was all of a sudden in the locker room. The crazy bitch had bought the team. He’d had the feeling she was up to something when she dodged every conversation that had anything to do with hockey.

  He’d thought she’d gotten bored of him talking about the only thing that competed for his attention. She preferred all conversations to be about her, which was okay up to a point. Brady did have a life outside of the playing house scenario they had going on and every once in a while he liked to share things about his day with her.

  Not even in his craziest dreams did he think she’d go and do something like buy the team. He should have considered that. Curtis had warned him time and time again that she was unstable and did everything she could to get under a person’s skin.

  Brady had to decide whether she’d finally succeeded, but it was going to take him more than a second to really process the information. He had to figure out what her end goal was.

  Did she do it just to fuck with him? Highly likely.

  The big question was what she could do with her newfound power. If he pissed her off at home, was she going to figure out a way to get him fired? He had a contract that was good for a few more years, so that seemed unlikely, but it was Nina. If that woman set her mind to something, she usually got her way.

  Looking over to Curtis, Brady checked to see his reaction. He hadn’t seemed to know about the sale, so Brady didn’t think for a second his friend had known Nina was involved and failed to tell him. The usual hatred that appeared whenever Nina was around shone in Curtis’ eyes. Brady felt the look on his face probably wasn’t much different.

  “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Nina Hughes, owner of Hughes Industries, and now, owner of this team. I won’t keep you, since I know you all need to get dressed for the game, but I plan on having a little party for the team, so I’m sure I’ll be seeing all of you soon.”

  Brady couldn’t look at her. Seeing her usually smug look on her face would’ve sent his fist through the nearest wall. He felt used, even though he couldn’t put his finger on the why or how of it.

  Hopefully, the party she anticipated was after their contract was through, and she was out of his house. When they went over the contract, Brady hadn’t considered that he’d want out of it before the conclusion. The only way out for either of them was sleeping around, and the downside of that wasn’t something Brady was game for.

  He needed some time to think about what the news meant, and whether he needed to find someone to seduce Nina into breaking her side of the deal. Judging by the various eyes intently trying to undress her, he didn’t have to look very far for someone to feed to the wolf. He’d just need to make sure it wasn’t someone she could chew up and spit out.

  Brady ground his teeth together as he waited for the she-devil to leave the room. It was easy to tell when she’d been true to her word about letting them get dressed. The second the door closed behind her, everyone had something to say about the “hot” new owner.

  “I take it you didn’t know either?” Curtis sounded as bitter as Brady felt.

  It was easy to know why Curtis was pissed. Everything Nina did pissed him off, but knowing that his archenemy owned the team couldn’t be easy to stomach.

  “Should I give her the benefit of the doubt and believe that things were in play before she moved in with me?”

  Even if that was true, it didn’t make things better. At some point, she should’ve brought up the fact she had plans as far as the team was concerned. They’d spent plenty of time together that just a quick heads up shouldn’t have been too much. Brady still would’ve been pissed about it, but at least it wouldn’t have been dropped on him in the locker room.

  “Wait, what?” Tommy said from Brady’s right. “You’re not seriously saying that very, very fine piece of ass lives with you.”

  Brady ignored the comment, not wanting to deal with how pissed he got hearing Tommy talk about Nina’s ass, and looked towards Curtis expectantly. He shrugged while shaking his head.

>   “I would never give her the benefit of the doubt, but since I sort of remember Hannah saying something in passing about Nina talking about buying the team last season, it was probably in motion before you two got serious.”

  The comment deserved the scowl it got. Curtis didn’t let it stop him from grabbing his pads and starting to gear up.

  “We are not serious. This little stunt proves that without a doubt.”

  Brady decided to follow his friend’s lead and get ready for the game. He needed to get on the ice to give his head a chance to clear a little. He hoped at least one guy from the other team had a big mouth. Brady didn’t drop his gloves often, but he was up for a tumble.

  “Come on, dude. You have to answer Tommy’s question,” Kevin said. “I remember that chick from Curtis’ wedding, but she very clearly hated you.”

  “Thanks for noticing, but it’s none of your business, so butt out.” Brady didn’t bother turning to face Kevin as he spoke.

  Being connected with a beautiful woman shouldn’t have been a bad thing. Generally, Brady didn’t mind at all if the other guys were a little jealous about it. The fact that Nina had kept something that huge from him, which very well could affect him in some way, was too tough to shake.

  “McDonald, you’re living with the new owner?”

  The gruff voice asking the question wasn’t one Brady could wave off. He hadn’t yelled his plight, but the room had quieted down to hear the back and forth with Curtis.

  “It’s a temporary situation that’s probably over.”

  “I think you should follow me outside so we can discuss exactly what that means.”

  Coach nodded his head to the side towards the door out to the hallway they’d been getting ready for the game in. Before he started walking in that direction, he signaled something to the assistant coach with a head shake. Brady didn’t know what to make of it, nor did he have a choice when it came to following.

  Fuck.

  He stood up and tossed his jersey down, giving Curtis a glare. It wasn’t his friend’s fault that Nina was how she was, but Curtis had brought her into their lives because he loved her best friend. That meant he was at least five percent to blame.

  Out in the hall, Brady took a deep breath and waited for the bad news. He should’ve kept quiet and told Curtis they’d talk about it later.

  “I can tell by the pissed look you know what I’m going to say.”

  They were barely out of the door before Coach turned and dove in. He wasn’t one to waste time, so Brady wasn’t caught off guard.

  “Nothing going on between us has anything to do with the team. She’s Curtis’ wife’s best friend, so you might as well bring him out here and give him whatever speech you have planned.”

  “Are you sleeping with her?”

  It was a simple question, without a simple answer. Well, technically the direct question was easy to answer, but the contract made things more complicated.

  “Nope. In fact right now, that is the exact opposite of what I want to do with her.”

  Strangling Nina was the greatest desire Brady had at that moment. He could picture it in his mind. His hands around her neck. Her slapping and punching him to try to get him to let go. The color fading just a little from her face as oxygen fought to get where it needed to be.

  Truthfully, it wasn’t the first time he had the fantasy. He knew he’d never go through with it, but it was nice to dream a little.

  “But she’s living with you.”

  “Temporarily. And even if there was something between us, are there any rules that say there can’t be?”

  Brady didn’t imagine the situation came up often. There couldn’t be more than one or two female owners in the whole league, not that a male owner couldn’t have a relationship with a player. It just wasn’t the first thing that popped in Brady’s head.

  “As far as I know, there isn’t, but until we find that out for sure, you can’t play. I’ll run it through the proper channels tomorrow. For tonight, though, you won’t be needing those pads.”

  Coach didn’t have anything else to say, made clear by the fact he walked away. Brady knew arguing wouldn’t do anything, so he growled and turned around to punch the closest wall. Not the smartest move, but the pain that radiated up his arm felt good.

  Turning around, he saw Nina standing across the hall, staring at him. Her mouth opened to say something, but Brady shook his head.

  “I’ve got to go get changed. Apparently, I don’t get to play tonight because my roommate decided to buy the team. Thanks for that.”

  Like the coach, he was done talking and got out of the hall before anything else could be said. It didn’t matter what she had to say. He had the whole game to figure out if there was a way to kick her out of the house without breaking the contract.

  Chapter 13

  “I’m ninety percent sure he’s going to smother me in my sleep.”

  The percentage was actually higher than that, but Nina was trying to erase the look of murder in Brady’s eyes. She knew he wasn’t going to be thrilled about her buying the team, but she didn’t think his initial reaction would go straight to killing her.

  He wouldn’t even look at her, except for the time he hadn’t expected her to be standing there. She wanted to tell him that she’d made sure the deal didn’t clash with their agreement, but he wouldn’t let her. Since he didn’t want to listen to her, and she overheard the coach say he wasn’t playing, she’d texted him to let him know where to find her, so they could talk about it.

  Obviously, she wasn’t holding her breath waiting for him to show up.

  “I hate to say it, but you deserve it, Nins. How could you not tell him the deal was in the works?”

  The guys who were playing, including Curtis, were out on the ice for warm-ups, so Hannah’s attention was divided. If Curtis was on the ice, her eyes were glued to him and every move he made. It was just warm-ups, so it wasn’t like a guy was going to check him or incite a fight, so Nina thought it was only polite for her friend to give her just a little more attention.

  “I didn’t think it was important that I told him. I haven’t told him any of the other business decisions I’ve made in the last year.”

  “You do see how this is different than your other business deals, right?”

  Hannah took her eyes off the ice to look over at her friend. Her eyes looked sad, almost like the pity Nina had only seen in movies. Nina wasn’t looking for comfort. She wanted to hear she didn’t deserve Brady’s anger.

  “How?”

  Nina narrowed her eyes, both in response to the pity and Hannah’s insistence there was a difference. Brady wasn’t one of her lawyers or advisers, so he didn’t have anything to do with her business decisions.

  “How do you not understand that what you did has an impact on him?”

  Answering a question with another question was one of Nina’s biggest pet peeves. It drove her crazy when people did that, which caused her to narrow her eyes even more. If it wasn’t her best friend doing it, she would have stomped off and left the person thinking about how stupid it was. Of course, when she did it, she expected an answer.

  “I made sure it didn’t impact him at all. I don’t make decisions about players, not even signing off on decisions.”

  “That may be, but he’s not going to see it that way. I’m sure my husband doesn’t either. You are their boss’ boss’ boss, which sure looks like on the surface that you pull all the strings.”

  There were actually a couple more layers in there. It wasn’t like Nina was the first owner they’d had. All they had to do was look at what the previous owner did to know their murderous looks weren’t needed.

  Nina slumped in her cushioned leather chair as she sighed. She hadn’t done anything wrong, no matter what anyone else thought. That didn’t explain why she felt a knot in her stomach that wasn’t going away.

  She’d thought walking into the locker room with a big smile on her face would erase any trepidation
on Brady’s part about the news. She knew she wouldn’t be able to make it clear to him that nothing would change with an audience, which was why she waited around to catch him before the game.

  Seeing him punch the wall and then look at her like he wanted to skin her alive, told her he didn’t understand. Since they were living together, he couldn’t hide from her forever. She was ready to spell it all out for him, and when her heard what she had to say, he’d understand.

  “Your husband has hated me for over a decade. It doesn’t hurt my feelings one bit if that continues.”

  “But it does hurt your feelings that Brady may hate you?”

  Nina groaned and closed her eyes. Hannah could be so impossible sometimes.

  “You know as well as I do that you are the only person I can’t stand hating me.”

  The lump in her stomach seemed to be getting bigger, so Nina stood up and walked over to where an array of food and drinks had been set up. There were cans of beer on ice that she thought about downing and getting a buzz on, but she needed to have a clear head. Plus, cans of beer weren’t really her thing. She preferred craft or imported beers, not domestic cans.

  As far as food went, there was popcorn, pizza, chicken tenders and fries. Nina had requested the food to make sure Hannah didn’t starve during the three hours they had to sit around and watch the game. It was just the two of them in the suite, but Brady would hopefully show up and Hannah could probably handle the food by herself anyway.

  “I’m also the only person who knows that you’re upset. Brady isn’t just another piece of toilet paper, is he?”

  Nina grabbed a slice of pizza and put it on a plate, ignoring the question. It was a cheese pizza with onions added to make sure Hannah’s onion requirement was met. Nina should’ve probably looked into getting some onion rings, but the garlic parmesan fries had sounded better to her.