SOMETHING SO SERIES

by Madison, Natasha

  “Hey,” he says, giving me a once-over and then bending to get the coffee and picking it up for me. “I dropped this off earlier, but you didn’t answer.”

  “Max, listen.” I don’t get to say anything else because Matthew and Phil walk down the hall. “Hey.”

  “You look nice,” Phil says. “I have a friend who just became single.” He doesn’t say anything else before Matthew pushes him.

  “You don’t get to set my sister up. She’s a child.”

  “She’s twenty-three,” Max says.

  “No one asked you,” Matthew says between his teeth while Phil laughs and then Max laughs also. “You want me to set your sister up with his friend?” he asks Max.

  “Yes, please do. At least she has a chance at being happy,” Max says, walking into the elevator first when it stops on our floor.

  “Well, no one is dating my sister,” he shouts in the small space as Luka, Ryder, and Paul get into the elevator.

  “I’d date her,” Paul says, winking at me, and all I do is roll my eyes.

  “Thanks, Paul, but I’ll be happy to say I’m not dating anyone.”

  Ryder is the one to talk. “You should go on Tinder.”

  “Fuck,” Matthew says, throwing his head back, and growling out while the guys laugh at him.

  I walk out of the elevator with Max at my back. His hand goes to the base of my back and ushers me out. The touch is almost electric, but by the time I turn my head to the side to see, he’s already in front of me.

  I wait in line as the guys drop their bags under the bus. By the time I get on the bus, the two coaches are sitting in the front seat going over something on their iPads, and across from them is Max. The seat beside him is empty, so I sit down. He’s listening to something on his phone, so I peek over and shake my head, seeing he’s watching Game of Thrones. I don’t bother taking my stuff out since it’s a short ride to the arena. I’m the first one out of the bus and I grab my bag, waiting to see where to go.

  Once inside I walk down the hall looking for a bathroom, when I see two guys I don’t know walking down the hall. They both smile at me. I’m about to walk away when I hear one of them.

  “Now that’s a fine piece of ass.”

  I roll my eyes and am continuing to walk away when I hear.

  “I’ll break your fucking teeth.”

  So I turn around to see it’s Max who is still dressed in his suit with his phone in his hand.

  “What’s it to you, Horton?” the smaller of the two says.

  “It’s nothing to me,” he says and then turns to yell. “Matthew, is it a problem that Duke and Harlot think your sister is a fine piece of ass?”

  I turn around mortified as Matthew steps out of the room. “Like she would touch you guys, you fucking wish.”

  One of them turns around and looks at me. “Oh, she would totally touch me, and I’d love every fucking second of it.”

  Max starts to advance with Matthew and Phil jumps in front of them. “Okay, this has been fun, but move along.”

  They both laugh and walk around Matthew and Max, who turn and watch them walk away.

  “You shouldn’t be walking around the hallways if no one knows who you are,” Max says, walking away, shaking his head.

  “He’s right,” Matthew says, also walking away.

  I storm to the room and some of the guys are already undressing and don’t even bother covering up.

  “I was going to the bathroom. How is this my fault? You guys made a big deal for nothing.” I leave the room and finally go to the bathroom. I spend the rest of the game in the office they provide me with, watching the game on the screen.

  Max is targeted right away by the tall one from before, who I see is Duke. He laughs in his face when the guy tries to push him. It must burn even more when we take the victory 3-2.

  By the time the plane touches down everyone is quiet and heading to their car. I pull out my phone when Matthew says, “How’re you getting home?”

  “I’m calling an Uber,” I say, opening my app.

  “You’re not taking a fucking Uber at two-thirty in the morning, Allison.” He curses at me and turns. “Get in, I’ll drive you home.”

  “I’ll take her.” I hear Max from behind me. “It’s on my way.”

  “Fine,” Matthew says and starts to get in his car. “I’m calling Cooper and he is going to buy you a car,” he threatens and then slaps his head. “You don’t even have a valid license.”

  “I get it back in seven months,” I counter. I seem to have a heavy foot, a very heavy foot, according to all the speeding tickets and loss of my licesnse. I walk over to Max’s truck and he laughs at me. I put my bag in the backseat, getting in, and buckling up. “It’s getting cold now,” I say to him, blowing hot air on my hands.

  “I’m just happy for the rest of the month we only go away once,” Max says, making his way over to my house.

  “Yeah, but we head out every second week in November,” I tell him, trying to remember the schedule. “Can I ask you something? What do you guys say to each other on the ice? I kept trying to read the lips, but I couldn’t make it out. I mean, with Matthew I know it’s fuck and fuck and dick and sometimes blow me.”

  Max laughs out loud. “That is pretty much what we all say. Once in a while, it’ll be like I fucked your sister last night. Mothers are off the table.”

  “Really, so it’s a rule that you guys don’t go after each other’s mother, but sisters are fair game?” I ask.

  “Pretty much,” he says and I look out of the window. When we turn on my street, he pulls over at the curb and gets out to come around while I take my bags out. “You need help with that?” He holds the door and I walk away.

  “No, I should be good. Thanks for the lift, Max.”

  I hear one car door close and then I wait for the other while I get my key out, but I don’t hear anything. I turn around to see him standing there on the sidewalk watching me. “What’s the matter?” I ask, confused, as I locate my key.

  “Just making sure you get inside.” He crosses his arms.

  “Oh my gosh, I’m fine, go.”

  “Get inside, Allison,” he says to me and I know not to argue with him, so I open the door and go in, turning around to wave at him as he walks around the truck, getting in, and taking off.

  I fall into bed, curling up into a ball as I fall into a fitful sleep. The next day I check the schedule and I see it’s a skate day for the players. I’m about to call Denise to discuss my plan that I ran by Doug. My phone rings with a weird number.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey, Allison, it’s Charles Power from Limitless Photos.”

  “Hey, Charles,” I say, pouring myself some orange juice.

  “We have a situation. We got all the photos and videos from the photo shoot at the beginning of September, but we can’t seem to locate anything for Max. No video and no extra pictures.”

  “What do you mean nothing? He was there,” I say, remembering full well he was there.

  “Yeah, I don’t know if we are missing a roll of film. This has never happened to me before.”

  “We need those pictures for the website as well as the video. Let me call him and fix a time that is best for you guys.”

  “Perfect, thank you,” he says and disconnects.

  I pull up my texts on my phone, clicking phone next to his name.

  He answers right away. “Yeah.”

  “Hey, it’s Aly,” I start.

  “I know who it is, Allison, I have caller ID.”

  “Okay, so Charles just called me and he lost your roll of film that they took at photo day. So now we need to reschedule a day to do it again.”

  “Well, you have my schedule. I didn’t add anything else in,” he says and I pull up his schedule and see that he is open except for game days.

  “How is this Sunday? I know there is a game on Saturday night, but if we do it in the afternoon…”

  “I don’t book anything on Sundays,�
�� he says and I hear water running in the background. “Let’s do Monday.”

  “Yes, that looks good. Okay, I’ll fix it with him and then email you the details,” I say, then disconnect, call back Charles, and set it up for Monday morning at ten a.m. After I confirm with both of them I’m about to go and get myself something to eat when my phone rings. This time it’s Max.

  “Yes,” I say, opening the fridge and noticing I need to go to the store since I’ll be home most of the month.

  “I’m leaving in fifteen to go to the rink.”

  “Okay.” Not sure why he’s telling me this.

  “You need a lift?” he asks, his voice going almost soft.

  “I wasn’t going in today,” I tell him as I check my watch. “It’s almost noon.”

  “Yeah, I know. I was going to go in and just work out a bit,” he tells me. “Okay, talk later.” He doesn’t give me a chance to say anything else when he hangs up.

  “What the heck was that all about?” I shake my head, confused on what the fuck just happened.

  Twelve

  Max

  What the fuck did I just call her for and offer her a ride? I’m obviously losing my mind. Maybe I have a brain tumor, so I call Denise, who doesn’t answer, so I leave her a voice mail.

  “Hey, when you get a brain tumor do you do stupid things and things you would never do? Call me back,” I say and disconnect.

  I pick my stuff up and head out to the rink. There’s nothing like a skating session and workout session. For the next three hours, I skate hard with Alex, Andre, Brendan, and David. We go through plays that Coach makes us do and at the end of it, I’m dripping with sweat as I sit down and drink Gatorade. By the time I walk back into my apartment it’s almost seven. I go to the kitchen, taking out stuff to make my supper as Stanley comes out of hiding. I’m cutting up the vegetables when my phone rings and I see it’s Allison. I stop midair, not knowing if I should answer or not. It seems my brain doesn’t think as fast as my fingers because I press talk and then put her on speaker.

  “Yeah,” I say, continuing to prepare my veggies.

  “I’ve just spent the last three hours trying to watch Game of Thrones and I still don’t get the fuss.”

  I laugh. “Why are you watching it then?” I ask her as I wash off my hands and grab a pan to fry them in.

  “I saw you watching it on the bus and every Monday morning my Facebook feed is filled with talks of how this is the best show ever and yet I’m thinking did he just fuck his sister?”

  “So, you see it on my phone and want to watch it. Good thing I wasn’t watching gay porn.” I laugh, turning the stove on.

  “Very funny. But honestly, why is this so popular?”

  “Because it’s fucking good,” I tell her, tossing the veggies in the pan. “I don’t think I can really explain it. The storylines all intertwine, and which other show is badass enough to kill off the popular people?” I say as the veggies start sizzling.

  “I just don’t get it, really. Okay, fine, I’ll try another couple of episodes and let you know.”

  I laugh at her. “Okay. Have a nice night.”

  “Well, I guess that depends on the rest of the episodes. I’ll let you know.” She hangs up, and two seconds later calls back again. “I’m going in tomorrow morning.”

  I look at the phone. “Okay.”

  “Are you?” she asks me and I stand here and wonder why. “I just thought if you are and I’m on the way, you would pick me up, but no biggie,” she says, speed talking. “I’ll just Uber it. Later.” She hangs up without giving me a chance, so I call her back and it goes to voice mail.

  “I’ll pick you up at nine,” I say on her voice mail.

  She only answers an hour later with a text while I’m signing shirts for Denise.

  If it isn’t going out of your way that would be great.

  See you then.

  I answer, signing the last shirt. I close up, going to my room, and watching television, or the television watches me because when my alarm rings the next day the television is still on and the remote is on the floor. I grab a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, throwing a sweater on as I walk out the door, adjusting my cap. Once in the car I take off my sweatshirt, seeing it’s too warm outside. I make a run to get coffee. When I make it to Allison’s I park in front again and text her I’m here. I wait five minutes and nothing happens, so I get out and go to the door, ringing the bell. Once, twice. I’m about to ring it a third time when I see her running to the door and opening it.

  “I’m so sorry. I overslept. My fucking phone died in the middle of the night even when it was on the charger.” She turns around and runs up the stairs, and I watch her ass shake.

  I have no idea what she is wearing, but my cock has taken full notice. It’s like a one-piece booty short outfit, with long sleeves.

  “Give me ten minutes I’ll be ready!” she yells from somewhere upstairs, then comes out, leaning down. “You can wait in the kitchen if you want or the living room.”

  I don’t answer her and I don’t move from the spot at the door. I look down at my cock and scold him. “She’s in the no fly zone, buddy.” He twitches on his own, basically saying “fair game.”

  She comes downstairs five minutes later, wearing tight jeans and a T-shirt.

  “Did you brush your teeth?” I ask her as she puts on her shoes. She looks over and shows me her clean smile.

  “It’s the only thing I did. That and deodorant.” She ties up her hair in a messy bun. She runs to get her bag and comes back in with her jacket over her arm. “Done.”

  I shake my head and laugh at her as we walk down to the truck. As soon as she gets in, she sees the coffee.

  “Oh my God,” she moans. “Lifesaver.”

  And with the moan, my cock is stirring again. I close my eyes and picture a bat with nails aiming for my junk. We walk in together and each go our own way and for the next six hours I’m busy with practice and working out. I’m walking out of the shower when I grab my phone as I sit down on my bench. I have a couple of texts, one from Denise, another from Steve, and another one from Allison.

  I read Denise’s first.

  Who told you that you have a brain tumor??

  I laugh and then read Steve’s.

  Finally got the tickets to the game Saturday. See you there.

  I answer him back right away.

  Great, see you then. I press send when another text comes from Shannon. Shannon is, well, there is no easy way to say this. She is my fuck buddy. We get together once in a while, but it’s been over six months since she texted me. Last time she was dating someone. I open her text.

  Hey, it’s been a while. Want to get together? I’m free.

  She adds that she’s free because she knows I don’t fuck with someone who is taken.

  How’s Saturday? I answer. This is good. This is what I need to let loose.

  My next is from Allison and the hair on my neck goes up and my stomach fills with acid. Why the fuck do I feel guilty?

  I’ll be in my office till about six, so if you’re still here let me know. I forgot my jacket in your car.

  I look at the phone and see it’s five-thirty, so I answer her.

  Be there in twenty.

  And I make it there in fifteen as she sits behind her desk, typing away on her computer. “Hey,” I say, sitting in the chair in front of her desk, placing my phone and keys on the desk since my shorts have no pockets.

  “Hey there. Good day?” she asks, looking up.

  “Yes, great, you?”

  “I had the best day ever. I actually confirmed our Christmas party and charity event.”

  I tilt my head back. “Great. I’m so excited,” I say and then realize I forgot my wallet. “I forgot my wallet.” I get up and walk back to the locker room. It’s right there on the top shelf in my locker, so I grab it and say bye to the guys again.

  I walk in as Allison is closing down her computer. My phone buzzes right near her and I look do
wn at the same time she does and Shannon’s name flashes.

  I can’t wait to see you Saturday. I need to let off some steam. Followed with the kiss emoji.

  I grab the phone right away, but it’s too late because she pretty much read it all. “Um, did you need a ride?” I watch her stumble with her computer and her charger.

  “No, I have plans. I just need my jacket.” She doesn’t look up at me and my stomach hurts.

  “I’ll go get it and bring it to you,” I say, walking out and going to the car to get her jacket. Holding it in my hand and walking back, my phone buzzes again. This time it’s Allison.

  Had to rush out. Just leave the jacket in my office.

  I tilt my head back and close my eyes. Walking back into the arena and straight to her office, I see that the light is still on, but she’s gone. I put the jacket on the chair that I was just sitting in. Placing it down gently, I see two frames on her desk. I pick up one and it’s a picture of her with her family. I’m looking at her smile when Matthew comes in.

  “Where the fuck is Aly? She just cancelled dinner on us.”

  I shrug my shoulders, putting down the frame. “No clue. She forgot her jacket, so I brought it back,” I say, not adding in that it was from this morning as I walk past him and out. I take my phone and see that Shannon’s text is still there along with Allison’s.

  I text Allison first.

  Your brother is looking for you.

  I press send, waiting. And then I text Shannon.

  Sorry, something came up. Maybe another time.

  Then I toss my phone on the seat and make my way home. Allison never texts me back and the next day she is nowhere to be found. The light in her office stays off the whole day. I know that she has to turn up sometime. The next day is game day, so I know I’m going to see her, but little do I know that it’s for a two-second period, and as soon as the game is over, she’s gone. I pass by her house on the way home. It’s out of my way, but my car just goes there. The house is pitch-black.

  I go to the rink early on Saturday, knowing for sure she is going to be there and I’m about to enter her office when I hear her.