Shrieks go up all around the room as Zeus Berger strides out of the bathroom hallway, pulls out a chair, sits, and then promptly crashes to the ground as it collapses beneath him.
Ares sighs and shakes his head. “Lazy ass.”
“Damn, it feels good to be back here,” Zeus says from the floor.
He’s so tall he could still eat off the table with his ass down there.
Actually, he’s so tall, he’s almost as tall sitting as his wife is standing. But don’t think Joey Diamonte-Berger is anything other than a badass. Even if she looks mildly green around the edges.
The wives and girlfriends converge on Joey, hugging and asking how she’s feeling.
“Pregnant,” I whisper to Muffy.
She sighs and looks at Maren. “You win. Can I pay you in Rufus love?”
“No, but I’d totally take you talking Brianna into making me one of those Thrusty hats.”
“You bet Joey’d get pregnant?” I ask as I follow her gaze to where one of the women I vaguely recognize from Muffy’s support group meeting is hugging a guy who’s walked into the bar.
“Within six months of Zeus retiring,” Maren confirms.
“Bet Muffy could get pregnant faster,” Hilda announces. “Plus, she’s got great birthing hips.”
Staci and Brit both choke on their beers.
Muffy sighs. “I can also squat two hundred pounds, which will come in very handy when I toss you out a window,” she mutters.
“Two hundred? That’s badass.” I bump her fist.
“I was playing in your weight room the other day.”
“Can I watch next time?”
She slides me a smile that makes my cock twitch. “Would that turn you on?”
“It’s already turning me on.”
Her smile grows as she coyly pushes her hair back over her shoulder, and I suddenly don’t care that we lost, or that that Indie asshole took a cheap shot at me, or even that Hilda’s being Hilda.
“Who is that fine piece of meat?” she asks.
Muffy winces, glances back at where her mother’s staring as Maren answers, “Oh, that must be Brianna’s boyfriend,” and suddenly, my girlfriend goes pale as a ghost.
“Muffy?”
“Rufus!” she exclaims. “I forgot to feed Rufus. That means he’ll probably try to eat your shoelaces. I need to go. Feed him. I need to feed him. You stay. Have fun. Visit with Zeus and your family. Say hi to everyone for me.”
“You—” I start, but I silence myself when she crawls under the table, duck-walks to the back hallway, and disappears toward the bathroom.
I look at Maren. “What the hell?”
She looks as confused as I am. “I have no idea.”
Screw this.
I head toward the hallway to the bathrooms. “Muffy.”
She pauses with one foot in the kitchen entrance beyond the ladies’ room. “I have a rule to not be around clients and the matches I set them up with. It gets weird, like maybe they’re putting on a show for me and they aren’t actually as happy as they tell me they are? I don’t know. I just…I can’t be around clients and their matches. It’s a thing.”
“So you’re sneaking out through the kitchen?”
“Hi, I’m Muffy. Have we met?”
Okay, that was funny. “Hold on. I’ll come with you.”
“No, really. You haven’t gotten to see your family at all. Stay. Have fun. I’ll be at home. Naked. In bed. Whenever. Do not walk anywhere by yourself tonight, understand?” She blows me a kiss and disappears into the kitchen, both like she’s done this a thousand times before, and also like she has no idea that the words naked and in bed in reference to herself have left me with another boner that won’t go away until she’s helped me do something about it.
“That was weird,” Maren says behind me. “Even for Muffy.”
I shove my hands in my pockets to try to lessen the pressure on my woody and also to hopefully make it less visible as I turn to glance at her. “Something weird happen during the game?”
She grins. “She cheered for you every time you so much as set foot on the ice. That was weird.”
“You’re not putting that in your blog, are you?” We all pretend she’s not getting the dirt for her Thrusters-obsessed sports blog, but we all also know nearly anything is fair game when Maren’s around. She’s usually respectful about stuff that’s too personal, but we still know to watch ourselves.
“Um, duh. Yeah. I’m absolutely putting that in my blog. You’re about to be outed as having a girlfriend, Jaeger. If you don’t like it, you better tell Muffy you’re just messing around with her. You know how much I like it when guys take advantage of my friends.”
Considering how much joy she took in Murphy’s game being in the crapper last year when he fucked up with Kami, I don’t have to ask what she’d do to me.
I’m not the golden child here in Copper Valley that the town’s homegrown star goaltender is.
You’d think a blog wouldn’t have a lot of pull with the coaches, but it doesn’t have to.
All it has to do is get in my head.
Two months ago I would’ve said it was an empty threat.
But my palms are getting itchy and there’s an unfamiliar discomfort settling into my chest. “I’m not taking advantage of Muffy.”
“She’s not as tough as she pretends to be.”
“I know.”
“Kami and Felicity and Alina and I are all way more protective of her than she realizes.”
“Good.”
“Don’t underestimate what her client base will do for her, even when she’s hiding from seeing them with their matches. Which, yes, is weird.”
I shouldn’t be smiling. I know when I’m being threatened. But I also know Maren’s one hundred percent right.
Muffy’s way more loved than she knows.
“Don’t underestimate what I’ll do for her,” I tell Maren.
Then I head down the hall to the kitchen, texting West on the way. Muffy’s tired. Long day. See you at brunch.
He replies with an eye roll emoji followed by a fist bump emoji.
West-speak for I know you’re going to get laid, and I don’t blame you.
Hockey, the bunny bar, and Chester Green’s are my three favorite things in Copper Valley.
At least, they used to be.
Miss a night hanging with my teammates and hockey fans?
The old Tyler wouldn’t have considered it.
This new Tyler?
He has something more important to do.
41
Muffy
That was close.
If Brianna had introduced me to Steve, and he remembered me, I would’ve been caught.
He knows about Muff Matchers. Kind of. When I told him I thought he should meet a friend, I also told him I worked part-time for a small private matchmaking company that doesn’t do much advertising and that my role was supposed to only be administrative work. It’s highly likely that my clients will call Muff Matchers out by name at some point if their relationships keep developing, and I’m hoping that by then, no one will care how I found the guys or how I presented myself.