A couple of times during their conversation, he spotted Vivian Price watching him with a frown on her face. He assumed she was worried he was going to head out with the two women and do something that ended up in the press, so he did his best to ignore her. That worked until he offered to go and get the ladies refills on their cosmos. Then Vivian broke away from the group she was with and approached him at the bar.
“Enjoying yourself, Mr. Murphy?” she asked over the music.
“I am, thanks.” He caught the eye of the bartender, who gave him a nod to let him know he’d been seen. “Can I get you a drink while I’m here, Ms. Price?”
She appeared momentarily nonplussed by the question before blinking and shaking her head. “No, thank you. I was just wondering when you were expecting Ms. Wagner.”
“What?”
Bringing a hand to the gold necklace circling her throat, she said, “I’ve been looking for Ms. Wagner. When we talked about the party after our meeting, I offered to introduce her to the other wives and girlfriends.”
Callan’s mouth fell open. “You what?”
Vivian’s hand twisted her necklace in a show of agitation. “I just thought—”
“No, no, no,” he said, waving a hand to cut her off. “Back it up. You told Roxy about this party?”
“I…well, yes.”
“And she said she was coming with me?”
That made Vivian frown as though reflecting on their conversation. “Now that you mention it, no. She looked surprised and confused when I brought it up. I thought she just lost track of the date. But if she didn’t know…” She brought her hand to her forehead. “I guess that was why she seemed uncomfortable.”
Fuck.
He immediately knew that was why Roxy had been acting so strange on their phone call. She must have been worried he was going to invite her to the party.
The bartender approached, so Callan ordered the two cosmos. He strongly considered ordering himself a double of Jack but figured pounding back a shot in front of the team’s PR director wasn’t exactly in line with his new career goals.
“I don’t understand,” Vivian said carefully when the bartender started preparing the drinks. “Roxy’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
As he debated how to explain the situation, Vivian’s gaze moved to Angelica and Brittani. “I see.”
He followed the direction of her stare. Irritation lanced through him. “Do you? Or are you just making a big fucking assumption?”
She pressed her lips together as the bartender placed the drinks on the bar. Callan dropped a tip in the jar and picked up the glasses.
“Here’s a newsflash for you, Ms. Price,” he said. “I love Roxy and I’m now hers—and hers alone—as long as she’ll have me. Believe it or not, my attending this party without her is how I’m showing her that. You have no idea what your interference might have done.” He started to walk away, then paused to add, “Funny, but I figured someone in PR would be sure to get her facts straight before jumping to the wrong conclusion.”
She didn’t reply as he headed back to Christian and the ladies standing around him. Angelica and Brittani thanked him for the drinks as he did his best to put himself back into wingman mode. His encounter with Vivian had rattled him, though.
Why hadn’t Roxy mentioned the party if she knew about it? Had she been worried he would invite her and she wasn’t ready for that, as he’d assumed? Or was he making a mistake just like Vivian by making that assumption?
What if she’d been waiting for him to invite her and he hadn’t?
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He wanted to shout in frustration. Because Roxy had back-to-back open houses and a meeting with Will’s father, Frank, the next day, he wouldn’t have the chance to discuss it with her until after his game the day after that. He considered excusing himself from the party and calling her, but with the team’s owners even then making their way through the crowd in his direction, it wasn’t the time to do that. He wouldn’t be home until way after she went to bed, and she would be at work by the time he got up.
With no other choice, he pushed his personal issues to the side and focused on being social. He drew upon his wingman skills and eventually got Christian some privacy with Melanie by maneuvering Angelica and Brittani over to a group where a couple of his teammates were more than happy to meet them. By the time he left them to get himself another drink, everyone seemed thrilled with the matchups.
At least he was skilled at helping other people with their relationships, he silently grumbled as he once again approached the bar.
“Looks like you lost your tag team for later, Murph,” Elias declared in a loud voice that carried over the party’s music as he also sidled up to the bar.
Callan had seen Elias around but had managed to avoid his obnoxious teammate thus far. Elias was apparently there without his wife. He had spent quite a bit of time chatting with Knox as they stood by the bar downing shots. Both of them had been giving Callan the stare-down for half the evening, likely discussing the many ways they expected him to screw up and earn his waivers before the season officially started.
It didn’t bother Callan. He knew Elias felt threatened. Knox had eased up on his self-destructive strategy of pairing Callan with poor performers, acknowledging Callan’s point about it not reflecting well on his coaching ability. Callan had taken advantage of every drill and match-up Knox threw his way during training camp, getting in some quality ice time with Ian Trembley and Aron Fischer. He knew he was the stronger pairing with the two forwards on the second line due to his high level of motivation and prime physical condition, and the rest of the coaching staff was taking notice.
Having that confidence made it easier to ignore Elias and Knox. They eventually left the bar area. The last Callan had seen, Elias was chatting up the owner’s eighteen-year-old daughter, Wendy.
Or he was until Bass walked up to him and tapped the bottom of his beer bottle to the top of Elias’, making beer spew from Elias’ bottle in a frothy mess and sending Wendy scrambling. Although Bass was known for being a prankster, Callan suspected his teammate had done it to steer Wendy clear of Elias’ questionable attention. The subtle middle finger flick Bass sent Elias’ way confirmed that suspicion.
Knox had gone from huddling with Elias at the bar to mingling with the other coaches, but he now once again stood at the other end of the bar watching Callan and Elias. It made Callan think the two of them were trying to get him to make some kind of slip-up right there at the party.
“Looks like it,” he replied to Elias’ inappropriate tag-team comment. He wasn’t about to engage with his intoxicated teammate.
“Guess you’ll have to hunt down another one, huh? That’s okay. Lots of ass around here to choose from.” Elias’ hungry gaze moved to a trio of women standing nearby. “I’ll bet the one in the red dress would let you take her any way you want.”
“Christ, Bouch. You should really show more respect for women. You’re married.”
“So? The wife’s not here and I’m just looking.”
His gaze this time moved to Wendy. Callan was spared from responding when Ian and Aron stepped up to the bar on his other side.