Jameson (Face-Off Series Book 4) Read online

  “You can always have it here,” I say, joking.

  Coach glances around the event center, her eyes traveling over the ice before making her way up to the ceiling. “That’s not a bad idea. Do you guys rent this place out for weddings?”

  I chuckle. “No, unfortunately, we don’t, but I’m sure an exception could be made for you and Alex.”

  “Really?” Her eyes widen in shock. “Do you think your dad could convince the owner to let us have our wedding here? That would be amazing.”

  I was joking when I offered the Wells Fargo Center as a location for her wedding, but now that I can see how much it would mean to Coach, I have to ask if it’s even possible. “Let me check our event calendar when I go upstairs, and if there’s nothing on the schedule for that day, I will go beg and plead for you.”

  Over the years, Coach and I have become close. We have so much in common and can just shoot the shit that it makes it easy for us to talk for hours. But I don’t know much about her, apart from her love of sports. I always wanted to get together, but with our busy schedules, it’s hard to line up a time to meet. Neither of us has a regular routine for girls our age.

  “That would be great. Thanks, Regan. Alex would love it if we got married on his father’s birthday and in a hockey rink, of all places. How cool would that be?”

  “Oh, you want to get married on the ice? In the middle of July?”

  She shrugs. “Not like it matters how hot or cold it is outside.”

  “That’s true. You’ll go from sweating your ass off to freezing in no time.”

  “I like the cold,” she says, her eyes focused on Alex as he skates past us. “And I already know Alex loves it. How cool would that be to have the tables for the reception in the middle of the rink?”

  I give her a sideways look, unsure of how to respond. “Wouldn’t people fall on their asses? Then we’d be liable if something happened to them.”

  “Right. That’s no fun.” She seems disappointed that I burst her bubble about the reception idea. “Maybe I should check out more conventional places where no one will get hurt. That would be my luck that someone would fall and crack their head open on my wedding day.”

  “We can look into it if you want. I’m sure there are other things we could arrange if the dates work out, and everyone is okay with the venue.”

  She grins. “Thanks, Regan. I’d love that if we can make it work.”

  By the time the third period starts, Coach and I end up giving the girls around us the rundown after each stoppage of play. How they can be married to professional athletes and not even attempt to learn the sport is beyond me. Candice seems like she tries to understand, but most of the time she mixes up the penalties and doesn’t know when or why the lines always change.

  One minute, she’s talking about how amazing her husband looks on the ice, and the next, she’s inviting Coach and me to Sunday brunch with the girls as if we’re one of them. We politely decline, of course. I always say no, as does Coach. We have nothing in common. I have no idea how Coach and I would even carry a conversation with them over brunch.

  The game is tied with thirty seconds left on the clock until the Penguins take a shot on goal that hits the crossbar and lands next to Tyler Kane’s skate. As the captain of the team and the fastest player on the team, Kane rushes down the ice, his speed and agility working in his favor. He moves the puck a few times before he regains it and passes it to Parker, allowing him to take the shot that sails between the goalie’s legs.

  He scores and the entire arena erupts into chaos, everyone around us clapping and cheering. The team huddles together into a hockey hug to celebrate their victory. The Flyers were amazing tonight. Their mojo is back, and our boys are stronger and faster than ever. The team has a nice rhythm going. We are making the playoffs. That much I can guarantee.

  Coach hugs me, jumping up and down along with me. Our excitement dies down once the crowd mellows out and the seats begin to empty. I look over at the Flyers bench and spot Alex staring at Coach. He presses his glove to the glass, and she returns his smile.

  “You guys are too cute,” I say to Coach, sounding unlike myself. I never say things like that. But I mean what I say. “I’ll see what I can do about the wedding. That would be kind of cool to have one here.”

  “My man-of-honor would love it just as much as Alex and me. We pretty much grew up in this type of environment. I promised Jamie I wouldn’t kill him with girl stuff. Having our wedding here would be perfect.”

  I raise an eyebrow at her. “Man-of-honor? What the hell is a man-of-honor?”

  “Oh, right.” She laughs almost to herself. “I guess you haven’t met Jamie yet.”

  “No, I haven’t. Only the little boy you bring to the games with you sometimes.”

  “Rico,” she says, offering his name. “Jamie has been traveling a lot for work, so he doesn’t have as much time to come to the games with me anymore.”

  “Rico is a cute kid. I’m sure he keeps you busy. But did you call your friend your man-of-honor? I have never heard that term before.”

  “Yeah, well, my best friend is a man. I’m the farthest from conventional as you can get. It’s what they call a man who is filling the role of the maid-of-honor in a wedding.”

  “That’s interesting. Does he have to wear a bridesmaid dress and do all the same things?”

  She laughs so hard so doubles over. “No, you sound like Jamie. He asked me the same thing. You should have seen the look on his face when I’d asked him to be my man-of-honor. Of course, Alex had to be an ass and give Jamie a hard time. That didn’t make it any easier to explain it to him.”

  “I guess there’s a first time for everything,” I say, unsure of how to follow-up with a reasonable response.

  I know very little about weddings and anything in the same hemisphere. I’m the last person anyone would ask for advice when it comes to these types of things.

  After the team heads to the locker room and the seats around us completely clear out, Coach and I finally make our way up the steps, climbing them side-by-side. We reach the top in record time and walk through the halls in almost silence. The only sounds come from the remaining people attempting to exit the building in a rush. After the game ends, the fans can’t get out of here fast enough.

  By the time we reach the side entrance where Coach had parked her car, I hold the door open, allowing her to join me outside. Leaning my back against the door, I do my best to shake the chill from the cold metal against my skin. Coach zippers up her jacket before hooking her arm around me, leaning in to plant a kiss on my cheek.

  “Let me know if you can fit us into the schedule. I won’t say anything to Alex until you know for sure, but that would be an event no one would forget.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. I’ll do my best and get back to you.”

  She releases me from her grip and takes a step back, her teeth chattering as she speaks. “Nice seeing you, Regan.” Stuffing her hands into her pockets, she finishes, “Give me a call sometime this week. Maybe we can grab lunch.”

  I wave as she walks away. “Sounds good. I’ll call you.”

  Once I’m back inside the warm building, I rub my hands together. My skin burns from the cold. I should be used to the weather at this point. Most of my life, I had split my time between Ontario—where my family is from—and Philadelphia—where my father had played hockey. And now he’s even more of a permanent fixture as their general manager.

  I promised Coach something I have no idea if I can even deliver. A wedding on the ice at the Wells Fargo Center would be the wedding of the year. No, it would be the wedding of the century. As I walk toward my office, I keep my fingers crossed that I can deliver. I hate disappointing friends, especially since I have so few of them.

  Chapter 3

  Jameson

  The hum of screaming fans fills the Wells Fargo Center as their cheers bring the event center to life. I get a certain high from being in this environment. But I also
feel for Charlie. It reminds me of when she played college basketball for Villanova. Everything I had done or sacrificed to get her there was to ensure Charlie made it pro. Until her dream was no longer a reality.

  With our lives so intertwined, Charlie’s loss and the pain of her injury were also mine. The day I lifted her off the court and carried her in my arms was one of the most painful experiences for both of us. Luckily, Charlie had met Mickey Donoghue, the famous sports agent, while she was still in college. He took her under his wing and gave her the career she has today. She healed on the outside, but I know the trauma of her injury will never go away, like a phantom pain that claws inside her chest.

  I feel it, too. As I watch Charlie gaze out onto the basketball court, she sucks in a deep breath, her eyes focused on the players. I’m the only one who knows her well enough to understand the glaze in her eyes and the way she clears her throat to keep herself from breaking down. Basketball will always be her first love. Even Alex hasn’t picked up on her mannerisms. He doesn’t know Charlie the way I do.

  “What do you think of the seats?” Charlie asks. “I picked them just for you. Alex wanted a box, but I talked him out of it.”

  I nod, unable to take my eyes off the game. “Good call. I can see the sweat dripping off the players from this seat.”

  The Chicago Bulls are making the Sixers look like a high school basketball team, and I don’t want to miss a second of it. Charlie hooked us up with courtside seats for the Sixers-Bulls game. It doesn’t get much better than this. And having Rico come along with us only makes it that much sweeter.

  I lean over and say, “Are you trying to butter me up after a long day of doing women crap?”

  We spent the entire day shopping for Charlie’s wedding gown and doing girly things that I don’t even understand. Being the man-of-honor in Charlie’s wedding is still such a foreign concept to me. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. Instead, I wait for the girls to tell me what’s next on the list. There is no honor in my job.

  “Maybe.” Charlie winks at me. “But I also wanted you to check out the venue for the wedding. I still can’t believe the owner is letting us get married here. It’s like a dream come true for us.”

  “Yeah, that was pretty cool of them to let you guys have it here. Now, you have to invite enough people to fill this place.”

  She laughs. “Yeah, right. Even with everyone in the bridal party combined, we still don’t know enough people to fill half the seats. I hope it doesn’t look empty and ridiculous in our pictures.”

  “You worry too much. I’m sure it will be okay. Just think about how cool it is that you’re getting married here. How many people can say that?”

  She shrugs, her eyes focused on the court. “None that I know of.”

  “Jamie,” Rico yells, tugging on my Michael Jordan jersey and diverting my attention. Yup, we wore our Jordan gear to a Sixers game. I guess we should be lucky we made it to our seats without being harassed. Philadelphia sports fans are a little…passionate, to say the least.

  “Hey, buddy, stop messing with MJ,” I joke, rubbing my knuckles into his hair. “This is a collector’s item.”

  Vintage Jordan is not easy to replace. Charlie already yelled at me for wearing it tonight. In retrospect, it was a bonehead move, but I got overly excited when I was sorting through my jersey collection.

  As far as children are concerned, Rico is the closest to a son Charlie or I will have anytime soon. Even with Alex and Charlie getting married, none of us is ready for a family yet. With how much Charlie travels for work and Alex for hockey, who would even watch the kid? Me? I’m good with Rico. He’s old enough to take care of himself, but I can give him back to his mother after we’re done hanging out.

  “I’m hungry. Can we get a soda and nachos?” Rico peeks up at me from beneath a chunk of dark brown hair that hangs over his forehead, flashing those puppy dog eyes that make it impossible to say no. He’s getting older, closer to high school. But to us, he’s still the little kid Charlie and I began coaching a few years ago.

  “You just ate a hot dog, kiddo.”

  “That was a snack. I want nachos. You promised I could get whatever I want since it’s Coach’s special day.”

  I sigh, staring up at the game clock hanging from the ceiling at center court.

  There are a few minutes left at the end of the fourth quarter. Even though there’s no way the Bulls could blow this lead, I don’t want to miss the final buzzer. Charlie brought everyone here tonight to celebrate her engagement to Alex, which also added a few of his teammates and their girlfriends to the usual cast.

  Kennedy is pregnant and looks about ready to pop any day now. Then, there’s Sydney, who says cock more than normal. I’ve never met a woman as vulgar as Sydney. As a romance author, I guess that’s expected when she writes smutty stories all day. She’s the far extreme of Coach and the kind of girls I’m used to. At least she’s good for inappropriate humor.

  Both Kennedy and Sydney provide their own form of entertainment when we’re out shopping for Charlie’s wedding gown. When I’m ready to gouge my eyes out, Sydney usually cracks a joke about monster cocks. It’s weird, like her, but it works. I still cannot believe I am the man-of-honor, performing maid-of-honor duties.

  Because it’s so uncommon to see a man in a bridal shop, I have a lot of women hitting on me until Charlie pretends I’m the groom and scares them away.

  At the rate she’s going, I will never find a date to the wedding. Every girl I introduce to Charlie has found an excuse to retreat after Charlie gives her the motherly interrogation.

  No one is good enough for my Jamie, she tells me all the time. That’s also what I had told Charlie anytime I met a guy she was interested in dating.

  I suppose I acted the same way when Alex first showed up in our lives. But I had every reason to be a jerk to Alex. He was notorious for one-night stands and scandals. He had a reputation. Unlike the girls I have brought over to the apartment to meet Charlie.

  Like Alex, Tyler Kane and Carter Donovan mostly give me a hard time for being the man-of-honor. They laugh every chance they get. Sydney keeps telling me that I have to help her make penis cakes for the bachelorette party. That only gets more of a rise out of the guys who take so much joy in pissing me off. I can’t help it my best friend is a girl. Charlie is the only family I have left. She’s like a sister to me.

  Now, we’re all one big happy family. True to Charlie style, she wanted to commemorate her engagement at a Bulls game. She’s not your average girl. But that’s one of the things I love about her. Plus, she spared me the task of planning an engagement party. Win-win for everyone.

  “Jamie,” Rico whines, pulling on my arm to get my attention. “Please. I’m a growing boy. I need to eat.”

  He’s too damn cute to resist. “Okay. Let’s go.” I turn to Charlie and tell her we’ll be back, hoping we can hurry up before the game ends.

  Following Rico up the steps, we jog up to the top level, and sprint toward the concession stands. With the Sixers getting their asses handed to them, the halls are starting to crowd. People shuffle about, knocking into us as we pass. Once we reach the counter, I shake my head, disappointed. With the game almost over, the stands are packed up and ready to close for the night.

  “I don’t think they have any more nachos, kiddo. Would you settle for soda and another hot dog?”

  Rico folds his arm over his chest and pouts. “But I want nachos.”

  “They’re all out.” I clamp my hand down on his shoulder and move him in front of me so he can get a better look at what they have left. “You can have a hot dog, pretzel, or ice cream. Which one do you want?”

  “I think I can help you out,” a woman says from behind me.

  At first, I don’t realize she’s talking to me. Not until she strokes my arm with her fingers, commanding my attention. Her touch sends a chill through me. She smells sweet, like honey, and good enough to eat.

  I spin around, holding onto
Rico. The girl smiles so wide that it reaches up to her bright, blue eyes. Tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, she moves closer to me. She has a girl next-door look about her, but she’s also sporty, like Charlie, and is in full basketball gear, looking as though she just stepped off the court.

  A girl that reminds me of Charlie is never a bad thing. She’s the coolest girl I have ever known. Despite being subpar at most sports, I’ve always loved them and continue to coach youth basketball with Charlie.

  Beautiful beyond words, I have trouble coming up with anything decent to say as I take her in, thinking of all the dirty things I’d like to do with her mouth. As her lips part, her breath hitches. She’s about to say something when Rico breaks the silence.

  “Nachos!” Rico demands.

  I laugh, as does the girl in front of me. Her laughter is soft and feminine and like music to my ears.

  “I can help you out with your nacho problem.” She holds out her hand for me to shake. And I do, mostly because I want an excuse to touch her. “I’m Regan, and you are…” She waits for me to stop acting like a moron and get my shit together.

  “Jameson O’Connor. Jamie. My friends call me Jamie.” Wow! Real smooth, dude.

  “I like Jameson better,” she says, grinning. “The name suits you.”

  “Thanks, I guess.” I stuff my hands into my jean pockets. “Regan isn’t a name you hear often either.”

  “That’s my dad for you.” She chuckles to herself as if there’s a private joke behind her name. “How about you two handsome guys follow me, and I’ll get you those nachos.”

  “Yay! Thank you!” Rico latches onto her by wrapping his arms around her stomach.

  “Cute kid you have here,” she says, staring at me while patting Rico on the back.

  “I don’t know about all that,” I deadpan. “Rico is a pain. You can keep him if you’d like.”

  “Hey!” Rico finally unhooks himself from Regan to give me the stink eye. “Take it back.”

  With my hand on Rico’s shoulder, I walk down the long hallway next to Regan. “I’m kidding. I’d never give my buddy away.”