Power Play (13 page)

146

“What’s the hurry?” Alex asked. “You have your entire life.”

“Thanks, finally someone who makes sense!” Troy opened a menu. “Since Glenn’s buying, what’s everyone ordering? I’m sure our guest of honor is starving.”

“Kid makes twelve million a year and I’m still paying for his meals,” Glenn muttered. “Some things never change.”

***

147

Chapter 29

Alex signed a $900,000, one-year contract and received instructions for reporting to development camp. In the interim, she granted interviews under watchful eyes of Troy, Bright, Halloran, and the Rebels’ PR team.

$900,000.
A gross amount, but Alex would still clear more in one game than during her entire brief acting career after paying required taxes and fees.

My God, I’m overwhelmed with a contract worth fewer than one million dollars. How on earth does Troy handle earning $12 million a year?

He sensed her uneasiness and hired a trusted financial advisor used by several teammates. Troy was not only familiar with transitions from humble roots to having a considerably expendable income, but also with several sports legends reduced to bankruptcy from poor judgments and bad investments. He couldn’t think of Alex experiencing the latter fate.

148

She almost tripped in the front door one morning after a coffee run. “Troy, are you still home? You won’t believe what happened at Starbucks!”

“What on God’s green earth are you doing out at seven-thirty in the morning?” he asked.

“Enjoying life and getting coffee.”

“Al, that stuff will rot your guts and brain.”

“I’m not dealing with another caffeine headache. Gee, you’re a cranky child this morning. To think I had a good story to share.”

He managed a smile.
Give the girl a break. Everything was new to you back in 2005.
“All right, what happened at Starbucks, where you shouldn’t have gone in the first place?”

“Remember that interview I did last week?”

“I hope so since we went together.”

149

Alex set her cup on a nearby table, removed the newspaper tucked under her arm, and waved a part. “It’s on the sports section’s front page!”

“What? Let me see!”

“Uh uh, not until you say please.”

“Please?”

She handed him the section. “That’s better.”

Troy broke into a wide smile. “What a great headline!
Meet Alexandra Galloway: First Lady of the AHC.”

“I don’t like it. They make me sound more like some cheesy beauty queen than member of a professional sports team.”

“Enjoy the ride. You’re already a sensation without yet setting foot in camp or playing an exhibition game. I should get this framed.”

“Hey, give back my only copy, greedy ass!”

“Let me finish. I want to have the article framed for
you.”

150

She took several swigs of coffee. “That’s kind of you.”

He grimaced. “I can’t believe you like drinking that five-dollar poison.”

“Six-fifty, but I wouldn’t need to go out for my daily fix if some dork invested in a coffee pot. Anyway, I making headlines was not the only thing that happened today.”

Troy looked alarmed. “Did someone harass or follow you? Al, I warned you about going out alone now that you’re–”

“Relax; no one molested me. A few nice people in Starbucks wanted autographs and selfies with me. I look like microwaved shit, but wanted to make the fans happy.”

“Sounds like you handled everything well, but I’d feel better if you didn’t go places by yourself anymore.”

“What am I supposed to do, live like a hermit? You’re the only person I know and you’re spending most of July and August in Nova Scotia.”

“You’ll meet the other guys at camp,” Troy reassured her, “and I’ll check in on you much as I can.”

151

“I’ll miss your fat ass.”

“I’ll be away a little over two months, Al. Trust me; you’ll do great.”

“Will I share a dressing room with the guys? How will that work?”

“I’m sure other arrangements are in progress.”

“Special accommodations for me aren’t necessary. I doubt you and the others possess anything I haven’t already seen.”

“Some people may not share your sentiment. There’s a seventeen-year-old kid on the team and last thing staff wants to deal with is any potential out of control adolescent hormones because a female is present. Having grown men behave like horny frat boys is bad enough; we don’t need Johann joining the mix.”

“Oh. Not that I have anything special to excite anyone, but yeah, I get the point.”

152

Al, you’re an unspoiled beauty. Don’t be hard on yourself,
Troy wanted to say. “You’d be surprised how many types of women appeal to different guys.”

Alex gave him a knowing smile. “I have an idea what kind turns
your
head.”

He felt uneasy. “Let’s not make this conversation about me. I’ll be in the workout room.”

“You were already on the treadmill when I left for Starbucks.”

“I haven’t done my weight routine. You’re welcome to join me once you’ve finished that six dollar and fifty cent poison.”

Alex turned up her nose at the now-cold beverage. “Maybe I’ll use some of my new six-figure salary to buy a decent coffee pot.”

***

153

Chapter 30

Rebels Training Camp, Day One:

“Unbelievable,” Second Alternate Captain Lenny Walton grumbled first day of training camp. “Last season management drafted a kid barely old enough to drive; now we have to play alongside a
girl?
What are Halloran and Bright smoking these days?”

“I heard ‘First Lady of the AHC’ is getting nine hundred grand for
one
season,” defenseman Marty O’Freel replied. “This team has officially gone down the shitter.”

“How much you all want to bet Talmadge was behind everything? He and Halloran have been buddy-buddy for years.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it in the least, Lenny.”

“I agree with both of you,” longtime AHC veteran Jax Ivanka said. “Women only belong in two places, and a hockey rink’s not one of them.”

154

Lenny nodded. “I’m with you, Old Man. Perhaps we should blame both feminism bullshit and Talmadge.”

Left winger Vince Beaumont shook his head. “I never thought I’d see a day when chicks played in the American Hockey Conference.”

“Nothing’s sacred anymore for us men,” Jax said.

“Aren’t you blokes being a bit harsh?” Davy St. Cloud asked. “We haven’t yet met the lass and you’re already taking the piss out of her.”

“Galloway has to be something special if the top brass drafted her,” defenseman Reggie Hebert added. “You guys put down Baby Finn last year and look what an asset he’s become to our team…well, aside from his cancer scare and getting swept up in the AHC’s meningitis epidemic.”

“Jokela’s a dude,” Lenny responded. “As Ivanka likes to say, chicks are good for two things: cooking and fucking.”

Jax nodded. “Keep women in their own fucking leagues and off
our
damn ice.”

“When’s the bitch due to arrive?” Vince asked. “We need to think of some good ‘welcoming’ tactics.”

155

“What bitch, Talmadge or the girl?” Lenny joked.

Vince, Marty, and Jax laughed in unison.

“Other times I’d say
El Capitan,
but we have a new victim,” Vince answered between guffaws.

“Talmadge is in Canada anyway.”

The locker room door opened and First Alternate Captain Boris Furishnykov entered. “What so funny?” he asked in broken English. “I hear you laugh outside.”

“Hey what’s up, Russian Giant?” Vince greeted him. “We were just discussing some of the team’s fresh meat coming today.”

“Fresh meat?”

“Particularly the lady draft pick, mate,” Davy said. “These blokes have done nothing but talk shit about her.”

Boris nodded and smiled. “Oh yes; Troy tell me she good.”

156

“Aha!” Lenny exclaimed. “I
knew
he had something to do with her being drafted!”

“Why you all act like world ending? We should give her chance. Troy like. Jonathan like. Roy like. She can’t be bad if they like.”

“Christ, Furishnykov, don’t tell me Talmadge brainwashed you into thinking women in the AHC is a good idea.”

“I think for myself and we should see how she do on ice, yes?”

“Absolutely, mate,” Davy agreed.

“No!”
Lenny, Jax, Marty, and Vince roared at once.

“You guys are assholes,” Reggie said. “I agree with Boris we should give the lady a chance. What can happen other than her being cut or sent to the Rebels’ minor league affiliate in Scranton once preseason ends?”

“Unfortunately if Talmadge does have any say, she’s guaranteed a permanent spot with us,” Marty replied.

157

“A tenner says all you wankers will eat your words by regular season’s end,” Davy said.

“Make it twenty she won’t make it to end of camp, St. Cloud,” Jax challenged him.

“You’re on, Old Man!”

Lenny heard voices outside the locker room and opened the door a crack. “Hey, guys; looks like our newest target has arrived. Time for the fun to begin.”

***

Alex walked into the Rebels’ new training center feeling both eager and apprehensive. Despite Troy preparing her for this day, she still had difficulty quelling the butterflies in her stomach.

Oh God, what have I gotten myself into? I should have stayed in New York after all…

A friendly and heavily French accented voice greeted her. “Hi! May we help you with something, miss?”