Delay of Game

by Amber Lynn

  A woman with hair the color of honey sat down on the stool next to Jason’s regular one. Someone else was already in his place, not that he hadn’t switched it up the last few times he’d come in. It didn’t matter where he sat, Hope would always consider the last stool on this right side of the bar his.

  She stared at the newcomer as she made her way over to ask what she wanted. There was something about her that made Hope think they’d met before. Her blue eyes were what seemed the most familiar. Even in the dimly lit bar, they shone with some level of importance. Hope was fairly certain the woman had spent hours in the mirror perfecting the look.

  “Are you capable of making a decent Manhattan?”

  The woman didn’t bother waiting for Hope to greet her. As soon as she was within four feet of her, she was proving how important she was. Hope met people like her at least three times a week, so it wasn’t anything new. They usually asked for something to drink to help whatever high-class persona they were pursuing and waited for a guy with no sense to come along and offer to pay for their drinks.

  Hope always felt sorry for the poor schmucks. She’d never seen one of them get a phone number or a promise for a date. Sometimes they barely got a thanks for a drink. The woman Hope found herself in conversation with seemed like one of those types.

  “I haven’t had any complaints.”

  It wasn’t a drink often requested, but Hope had made a few. Not surprisingly, the ones she remembered all went to women with a similar air to them.

  “Fine.”

  The women pursed her lips as she thought about her plans to make Hope’s life difficult. It wasn’t in Hope’s nature to be as judgmental as she was, but there was something about the woman in her stringy black dress that barely covered her possibly manufactured boobs that set Hope’s bullshit meter off.

  “Don’t waste your time trying to give me that cheap whiskey. I can taste it and won’t pay for the crap. Go sparingly on the bitters and pour a little cherry juice in there, would you?”

  Hope was surprised there was somewhat of a question at the end of all her commands. The woman acted like she was the first person who had specific tastes. The request wasn’t anywhere near the worst one Hope had received. There were times people said they wanted one thing, but by the time they listed all their changes, they were getting something totally different.

  Waiting until her back was turned to roll her eyes, Hope went to work making the drink. She took a little longer than usual, making sure the woman could see her pulling out the “good” whiskey. Hope didn’t reach for the most expensive bottle, hoping to give whatever sap decided to start paying for the drinks a little break.

  As Hope handed the woman her drink, the woman’s full ruby lips turned into an insincere smile. Something about it filled Hope with a sense of dread.

  “Thanks. I have a feeling I’m going to be drinking a few of these while I wait for my husband to show up.”

  Hope raised her eyebrow when she mentioned husband. The hand wrapped around the glass she’d been given didn’t have a ring on it and the way she scanned the bar for guys wasn’t something a wife did. At least not one who was in love with her husband.

  “Well, let me know when you need a refill.”

  Hope didn’t want to touch the husband comment. The woman was clearly playing some kind of game.

  “Say,” the woman said as Hope turned to go find anyone else who needed her help. “Does a big guy with kind of shaggy hair, gorgeous brown eyes and an appetite for the worst beer you probably have show up for a drink ever?”

  Hope scoffed, silently to herself, as she realized who the woman was. There was a chance she was talking about someone else, but that chance seemed a little slim. It also explained why she looked so familiar, but Hope hadn’t ever met the woman in person, only seen her pictures on the internet.

  When Hope hesitated to respond, the woman continued. “I don’t usually go out drinking with my husband, since I have a baby at home to take care of, but I’ve heard rumors he might hang out here and I wanted to see if it’s just to unwind after a game or if he’s cheating on me. He’s a hockey player, you see, and he’s what they call a goal scorer, so he’s got a big fan base.”

  It was hard not to turn around and punch the woman. Hope hadn’t turned so her full back was to the bar, allowing her to see Kate out of the corner of her eye. Kate clearly had no clue when it came to reality, judging by her delusions about the man she claimed to be married to.

  “I think I know who you’re talking about,” Hope said, trying to figure out where to take the conversation. “He comes in some nights. Doesn’t say much, other than asking for his beers.”

  Hope didn’t want to give that information away, but it would’ve come back to bite her if she said otherwise and Kate started asking around. Jason tried to be invisible, but it was hard not to notice him, so the regulars would probably spill their guts.

  She needed to figure out a way to text Jason and warn him in case he decided to stop by. He’d said he was staying away, but she didn’t want him to change his mind only to walk into whatever trap his ex-wife was setting.

  “He does?” Kate perked up when her suspicions were confirmed.

  “Yup.”

  Thankfully, someone required Hope’s attention so she could get away from the conversation. Letting Kate know that Jason was known to show up wasn’t going to get her out of the bar. That meant Hope was going to be stuck walking whatever line she could to keep from maiming one of the patrons.

  “Carl, I gotta grab something from the back real quick,” Hope whispered to her fellow bartender after she’d taken care of getting some beer refills out of the way.

  It wasn’t unusual for one of them to need to go get something, so it made a good cover story for what had gone from a quick text warning to a phone call Hope needed to make. She was far from happy about the situation and part of her wanted Jason to say something to reassure her.

  “I’ll keep an eye on things.”

  Hope knew Carl would, but she didn’t want to disappear without giving him a heads up. He was a nice guy. He had a baby face, which wasn’t something Hope found attractive, but other women seemed to hit on him plenty. He’d once asked her out about a month after she’d started working at the bar. He didn’t seem too disappointed when Hope had shot him down. She caught him looking at her sometimes, but he was too nice to try to push for anything.

  Hope watched Kate out of the corner of her eye on her way back to find privacy. The woman had already polished off half of her Manhattan. Apparently, Hope had made it to her liking. She’d left out a little poison, so the drink could use improvement.

  Once she could tune out the music coming from the live band, Hope pulled her phone out of her pocket and hit the buttons to call Jason. She took a deep breath, trying to shake some of the nervousness she felt. Not knowing whether Jason would be happy that what he considered was his ex-wife had shown up and was claiming to be his current wife kept her on edge. He claimed he’d signed the papers, and Hope had no reason not to believe him, but Kate showing up made things awkward.

  “Hey, beautiful, what’s up?” He sounded happy she’d called, which was a good first sign.

  “We may have a little problem,” Hope started, wanting to see how he took the idea of conflict to follow.

  The backroom she was in was full of boxes with various alcohol bottles in them. The desire to crack open a box and take a swig was a little overwhelming, but she waited to hear a response before making any moves towards the booze. There were no chairs in the room, so Hope settled for walking up and down an empty path through the boxes.

  “What? Your boss won’t give you tomorrow off? There’s at least fifteen games left before playoffs, so we can make it another time.”

  Hope laughed, a bit sad sounding. She wished it was as simple as what he guessed.

  “No, that’s all set, but something else may change your mind about me coming. Your ‘wife’ showed up tonight looking f
or you.”

  The dead silence that followed Hope’s words weren’t all that reassuring. In the seconds she waited for a response, she went the gamut of emotions one could feel when they were waiting for their boyfriend to respond about another woman. She’d started out scared, so as the seconds ticked by she escalated all the way up to pissed, both that he wasn’t hurrying to say something and at the gall Kate had to show up looking for him.

  “Is she really calling herself my wife?”

  Jason sounded frustrated, which was better than in awe. Seeing Kate up close and personal, she had the looks any guy would fall for, but knowing about her personality Hope couldn’t understand how anyone would spend ten seconds with her.

  “According to her, she’s married to a goal-scoring hockey player with horrible taste in beer. Other than the fact that you’re a defensemen and score maybe ten goals a year, her description sounded about right.”

  Hope couldn’t believe Kate knew nothing about Jason’s stats. Sure, there were defensemen out there that scored maybe a couple dozen goals a year, but for the most part they racked up assists.

  Jason groaned, which turned into more of a growl. It wasn’t one of the sexy ones he rumbled out when Hope did something to turn him on. It was a growl that said he wanted to kill, and that brought a smile to Hope’s lips.

  “She knows I play hockey, but that’s about all she knows about the sport. I really want to ignore her, but I’m guessing that’s not going to make your evening too pleasant if she’s sitting around waiting for me to show up by chance.”

  “It wouldn’t be by chance. I figured she’d start asking around if I didn’t tell her you came in sometimes, so she’s got her Manhattan and is waiting to catch a glimpse of you. Sorry.”

  Hope shrugged even though no one could see it. She’d already made peace with herself for the reasoning behind her actions.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about. I totally understand. It just made me happy to think I’d never have to see her again. I signed the papers and my lawyer told me we were all set. It apparently can take months to get the official paperwork back, but I did my part.”

  “Well, since she’s calling you her husband, I’m not too sure she’s worried about whether you signed the papers or not. She claimed she was checking up on you because you like to go out drinking after games, and since she’s got a baby at home, she wants to see whether you’re stepping out on her.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. That baby she’s got at home isn’t mine and I didn’t even talk to another woman until I signed the papers. The woman is insane.”

  He wasn’t going to get any arguments from Hope on the last matter. It didn’t change the fact that the woman was sitting in the bar claiming to be looking for her husband.

  “I know. I’m not sure what you should do here, but I thought I should pass the information along. If you want to ignore her, I can remind her there isn’t a game tonight, so you probably won’t show up. Of course that would lead me down a road of why she didn’t know where her husband was in the first place, but I’m planning on grabbing a bottle of Scotch and chugging it before I go back out there, so I probably won’t care what sob story she comes up with.”

  Jason snickered. She wasn’t a big drinker; a fact she’d already told him. The idea of her accomplishing her statement was slim since she got buzzed off a can of beer. A whole bottle of Scotch would leave her paralyzed in a puddle on the floor.

  “Skip the drink and go back to work. I’ll be there in about five minutes, which means I should probably get dressed. I had hoped to not bother putting clothes on until tomorrow.”

  “You’re still naked?”

  Hope was mildly scandalized by the admission. She pulled the phone away from her ear so she could see that it was almost eleven. His nudity had been going on for almost ten hours.

  “Yeah, well, I keep thinking about you and find clothing may be a little uncomfortable. Hearing about the trouble you’ve run into is taking the edge off, but I’m still going to be seeing you, so we’ll have to see how it goes.”

  “You have to be the strangest man I’ve ever met.”

  Hope wasn’t sure what else to tell him. It was flattering to think about his reasoning, and erotic just picturing him in all his glory, but it was still kind of weird.

  “I’ll admit to that, since I’m sure that’s what draws you to me. Like I said, I’ll be over in a few minutes. Love you.”

  He hung up before Hope could register his last words. When she did, she stared down at her phone at the screen saying the call had ended.

  The words had to be his way of soothing her. There were other ways he could’ve done it instead of confusing her. She didn’t mind hearing him say he loved her one bit, but that was beside the point.

  He was on his way to talk to his wife. It was a little questionable whether the ex could officially be put in front of it based on what he’d said. That being said, it was strange for him to tell her for the first time that he loved her when he was getting ready to talk to someone he’d loved most of his life.

  Figuring out what to make of it wasn’t going to pour anyone’s drinks, so Hope shook her head and made her way back to her position. She thought about bringing a box of something out with her, but they really weren’t low on anything the last time she’d looked.

  “Hey, can I get a refill?”

  Hope had barely cleared the door when she heard Kate’s voice. It was obvious the woman was waiting for her to return. There was someone else there just as capable of making her drink.

  “Coming right up,” Hope said on her way to get a new glass ready.

  Jason had said he’d only be five minutes, but if he needed to get dressed and walk over, it was more than likely going to be closer to ten. Hope took her time again making the drink, hoping it would eat away most of her wait. Since Kate had waited to request the refill, Hope was pretty sure more questions were coming, and she really didn’t feel like answering them.

  She was just putting the glass down when she felt the electricity that seemed to spark when Jason was around. She’d never really noticed it until it was in her best interest to pay attention, but there was definitely something that changed in the room when he was around.

  “Hey, beautiful,” he said, coming into view.

  Hope saw Kate perk up the second she saw him, but it wasn’t the ex-wife he leaned over the bar to kiss. And it sure wasn’t a peck to say it was nice to see you. Jason wrapped a hand around her neck to pull her forward and pushed his tongue into Hope’s mouth, giving her a kiss that wasn’t suitable for children. It didn’t last long, but it about knocked her socks off.

  When he pulled away and Hope saw Kate looking at them in astonishment, Hope shrugged. She didn’t have much else to say to the woman, so she kept it simple.

  “Your ex-husband, my current boyfriend.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me. Please tell me I didn’t just see that.”

  There was a time when Jason loved hearing Kate’s voice, but that ended the second he found out she wasn’t faithful to their vows. All he heard was an annoyance who seemed to be lost.

  “Can I get you your usual?”

  Hope wasn’t happy. She’d done a pretty good job of hiding it from her voice while they were on the phone. Seeing him anywhere near Kate couldn’t be easy. It wasn’t something Jason thought she’d ever have to experience, which was why he kept as much distance as he could between himself and Kate as he sat in the empty stool next to her.

  “Do you think I’ll be able to finish it before we get kicked out?”

  Jason hadn’t missed the glare from the other bartender after he’d tried to massage Hope’s tonsils. The guy already looked ready to ask Jason to head to the door.

  “I think we should go somewhere else to talk,” Kate interjected.

  There were at least a handful of reasons why that was a bad idea. Mainly, he didn’t want Hope thinking there was a chance anythi
ng fishy was going on between them. As it was, Jason had planned on staying within her sight for the rest of the night just to try to reassure her.

  He’d let the L word slip out when he hung up the phone. He meant it, but the timing was horrible and it had probably come across as some cheap ploy to placate her. Her eyes weren’t telling him a lot about what was going on in her head, only that she wasn’t sure what in the world was going on.

  “You see this area of the bar,” Hope said as she waved her hands around, ignoring the fact that Kate had opened her mouth. “I run this part of the bar, and you, boyfriend, don’t have to worry about getting kicked out. She, on the other hand, better tread carefully.”

  Hope nodded her head before she left to get his beer. He wasn’t particularly thirsty, especially not for beer, but it was something to keep Hope occupied while he figured out what was going on with the crazy person sitting next to him.

  “What are you doing here, Kate?”

  Jason didn’t take his eyes off Hope as he spoke. He’d seen all he wanted to see of Kate for the split second he looked in her direction to verify it was indeed his ex-wife.

  “You’re seriously hitting that? A bartender at this filthy dump? I guess your standards have lowered a lot in the last year.”

  His girlfriend was within hearing distance of the rant. A fact that made it hard not to spin in his stool and deck the woman next to him. Kate could say anything she wanted about him, but putting Hope down wouldn’t be tolerated.

  “As far as I’m concerned, Hope is a giant step up from the trash I used to be married to. I don’t know why you’re here, but I signed the papers already, so you can go home to your fiancé and stay out of my life.”

  Hope brought his beer over and set it in front of him. She looked torn over whether she should hover, and potentially defend herself from what was sure to be more insults, but her decision was made for her when someone called for her attention on the other side of the bar.

  “I’m aware you signed the papers. If you would’ve only waited a few days, I could’ve told you it wasn’t necessary. I tried to call, but you changed your number.”