I WAS IN A FOUL MOOD. We had lost last night’s away game, and Brody and I had almost come to blows in the locker room. It had been three days since Krista dropped the bomb that she was going to start dating other men. We had been so close in my hotel room to taking this relationship to a better place, but she changed her mind and now wanted to date other men.
On the plane, Mica came and sat down beside me. He motioned to the stewardess to bring us some cups with ice. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a mini vodka, and poured it over ice before handing it to me.
“We’re heading home. Drink up.”
“It’s not even 10 a.m.”
“It must be happy hour somewhere.”
I touched my plastic cup to his and then shot back the liquid. It tasted like gasoline. “Holy crap. Why aren’t we using mix?”
He winced. “I hate airplane bathrooms. The mix wastes space in my bladder.”
“That burned.”
“Yup. The second one should go down smoother.” He handed me a second mini bottle.
“How many did the hostess give you?”
“Well, I brought her a box of her favorite chocolates from Detroit, so you can drink as much as you want.”
I cracked the bottle and dumped it over my ice. “You’re a good man.”
“Talk to me.”
I stared at my drink and then tossed it back. “Krista’s going to start dating other men.”
“She cut bait.”
I held out my hand for my third bottle. “If that’s what you want to call it.”
He looked at me. “What would you call it?”
“She’s running scared.”
He thought about that for a while. “Are you going to chase her?”
I sipped my third shot directly from the bottle. “I think tonight, when I get home, I’ll be looking for a face-to-face conversation.”
He leaned closer. “That’s a great idea, but it won’t be tonight.”
I looked over at him. “What do you know?”
“I happen to know that tonight Krista is going to the Halloween gala with some divorce lawyer.”
I stared stupidly at the seat in front of me. She was dating our divorce lawyer. “Brian?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know what his name is, but I do know they have matching costumes.”
I sat up. “I need to go to that gala.”
“Okay, Cinderella, but you don’t have a ticket, and they sold out months ago.”
I sat back in my chair in defeat, but then I saw his smile.
“What?” I hit his shoulder. “Tell me.”
“I knew you’d ask for this impossible feat, so I asked my wife to wave her magic wand.”
“You got me a ticket?”
“Two tickets—I’m coming as your wingman.”
I studied him. “You’re pretty cool.”
“One thing.” He poured me another drink. “What if she just doesn’t want to date you?”
I had thought about that a lot over the past few days. “Then I’d like her to say that to my face.”
MICA: I am the best wingman ever. I got your costume for tonight.
I looked at my phone, feeling a sense of alarm.
Me: We’re dressing up? I think I should help with that.
Mica: I will pick your ass up at 7.
I STOOD in the parking lot, staring down at the paper bags in Mica’s trunk.
“Wow, that’s a lot of bags. What are we going as?”
“We’re going as federal agents.” He held up a baseball hat and a cowboy hat. “Do you want to be a western cop or a Law & Order cop?”
I looked down at his feet. “Since you’re wearing your cowboy boots, I’ll be Law & Order.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. Here’s your holster and your gun—it actually shoots confetti.”
I held the gun in my hand. “These look pretty realistic.”
“Here’s your fake bulletproof vest.”
I pulled on the vest and checked myself out. “You’re really into this cop thing, hey?”
“It’s not me that’s into Law & Order.”
It took me a moment to realize that he was alluding to Charlie. I started laughing. “Are you for real?”
He gave me a self-satisfied grin. “Don’t knock a little dress-up until you try it.”
“And you’re going to try it?”
“Damn straight.” He put the plastic badge on a chain around my neck. “You look good, rookie. You can almost pull off this look with those pipes.”
We started walking towards the convention center. Everywhere I looked, people seemed to be dressed in tutus, sparkles, and wings.
I pulled my sunglasses down my nose. “Are they all dressed as fairies?”
Mica paused. “Oh. I think I missed something here.”
He pointed at the sign. Night of the Fairies: Halloween Gala.
I put my arm over Mica’s shoulder. “If it makes you feel better, you were never going to get me into tights and wings.”
Mica looked around. “Let’s get a drink. This party will be better with booze.”
WE WERE two cops in a sea of seven hundred fairies. Everywhere I looked there were masks, wings, and wigs. But then I saw that auburn red hair across the room. I moved closer, taking her in. Krista was wearing some silver dress that was more fluff than anything. She had matching silver feather wings, a wand, and silver paint on her arms and legs. My cock got hard the second I thought about that paint smearing over my mouth, my fingers… my dick.
I started to make a beeline for her, but Mica grabbed my arm. “Whoa. You can’t go charging over there.”
“I want to talk to her.”
He patted my back. “We walk by, but we pretend we don’t see them.”
I started to argue, but he looked me in the eye. “Trust me.”
I felt like a complete idiot, but we headed towards them and I forced myself to focus on something else.
“Hey, Krista.” I heard Mica speak. “Fancy seeing you here.”
I turned around, and with what felt like the fakest expression of surprise, I turned towards my wife and my divorce lawyer. “Hey, Krista.” I paused and added as an afterthought, “Brian.”
Krista and I made eye contact.
“I like your costume,” I said to her. Beneath all the fluff and fabric and paint, she was rocking a seriously hot look.
She studied the badge around my neck. “Is this a Men in Black theme?”
Mica gave her his best Clint Eastwood stare. “That’s a good one. We’re federal agents. Be good, or I’ll get my rookie here to arrest you.”
Brian laughed. “You two are hilarious.” He wasn’t an idiot. He tugged Krista’s hand. “Would you do me the honor of dancing with me?”
She avoided looking at me. “Thank you. That’d be lovely.”
I turned my back on them, unable to watch them move on the dance floor. Mica slapped my shoulder hard as he watched. “From what I can tell, they haven’t slept together yet.”
“What?” The idea that Krista might get naked with Brian nearly scrambled my brain.
He looked at me. “That’s the good news. There’s still time for you to unfuck this.”
“Any suggestions?”
He thought about it. “You need to make her jealous.”
“Are we in grade five?”
He started looking around the room. “You need to dance with someone, and I need to see her reaction. If you do that, I will be able to tell you what your chances are.”
“Fine. Who should I ask to dance?”
He started to look around the room. “I’ll know her when I see her.”
A peppy voice spoke from behind me. “Levi! I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
I turned around to see Dee standing in front of me. She was wearing a purple bodysuit and wings. “Hey, Dee.”
Mica leaned in and spoke in my ear. “Found her. You know what you need to do.”
“Wanna dance?” I said to her.
She offered me her arm. “I’d love to.”
When we got to the dance floor, I swung her into my arms and looked over at Mica, who motioned for me to dance closer to Krista. “How’s your night going?”
We chatted a bit about hockey while I worked to move us closer to where Krista was dancing. Krista was staring up at Brian, who’d said something that made her laugh.
Dee interrupted my thoughts. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” I said distractedly. What exactly was Krista wearing under her silver dress?
“This is kind of awkward, but Brody sent me a text and asked me to come over to hang out with him.”
“Sounds fun.”
“I guess. He’s house sitting for Gordon tonight.”
“Gordon who?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Your coach?”
That made me pause.
“Brody’s house sitting for him?” I knew Brody was tight with Gordon, but it stunned me that he would be invited to spend time alone at his house. I needed more information. “I didn’t know you and Brody were together.”
“We’re not,” she said with a confused look. “I’ve barely talked to him. And tonight he sent me this random text. That’s what I wanted to ask you. I’m not sure if this is a private invitation.”
I normally didn’t read other guys’ texts, but with Brody, I didn’t give a shit, and I wanted confirmation about his house-sitting gig. “I could read his bro code and tell you.”
She stopped dancing. “Would you? Maybe it’s an invite for a party and we could both go?”
Brody: Hey gurl. House sitting tonight for Coach. You should see the pad he’s rockin’. Wanna come over? There is a pool, wet bar and a hot tub. 345 Hunter Avenue.
I handed Dee her phone back. “He’s definitely inviting you for a special party of two.”
Dee looked a bit crestfallen. “Oh, you think?”
I looked over at Mica, who was making a cutting motion across his neck. “I think Mica needs me.”
She stared up at me. “If you had sent me that text, I might consider going.”
I gave her a regretful look. “I don’t think mixing professional and personal is a good idea.”
“I know,” she said sadly. “I understand.”
As I walked her off the dance floor, I realized with a sinking heart that this was exactly what Krista always said to me.
MICA and I stood at the bar. He ordered me a drink and spoke his truth without any padding. “I think it’s game over.”
“What?” I stared at him. “Are you serious?”
“You want me to be blunt?”
“That wasn’t you being blunt?”
“Krista’s not into you. At least not tonight. She only had eyes for her lawyer.”
I suspected that, but it hurt to hear the words out loud. “What do I do?”
“His name is Jack Daniels, and he should get you through the worst of it.”
“That’s all you have for me?”
“I advise you to watch her dance and flirt with that lawyer dude until you can’t take it anymore, and then you throw in the towel. Anytime you think about trying to win her back, remember how bad you feel tonight.”
I shook my head. “That’s rough, man.”
He shrugged. “It’s the truth.”
I thought about how gorgeous she’d looked as she stared up at Brian. I couldn’t stand to think this was over. The whole thing depressed me. “She doesn’t do anything by half measures, does she?”
He leaned forward. “No, she doesn’t. You want me to hang around for a while?”
“Don’t you want to get home and test out those leather chaps I saw in the trunk of your car?”
“Charlie is hosting book club tonight. Which means right now, there are a lot of women drinking a lot of our wine. I will head home later to arrest her.”
I laughed.
He nodded at someone. “Hang tight. I’ll be back shortly.”
Beside me, some guy lifted his head, taking his attention off his phone. “Nice costume. You know of any good parties happening tonight?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Damn. Me and a few of my buddies are looking for a place to party.”
I knew I was being an asshole, but I couldn’t resist the thought of Brody opening the door to this guy and his friends. “I know of one party. It’s some famous hockey player.”
“Oh yeah?” He looked at me with interest. “You know where this is taking place?”
“Sure. 345 Hunter Avenue.”
He got busy on his phone. “Thanks, man.”
I saw Krista walk across the hallway alone. I moved with speed to catch up with her.
“I want to talk to you.”
She looked everywhere but at me. “Not here.”
I grabbed her hand and tugged her around the corner into a dark alcove. “How about here?”
“I’m on a date,” she said, but she didn’t pull her hand out of mine.
“I want to talk.”
“Not now.”
“Well, before you go home and cross some line with Brian, I want to talk about it.”
She looked up at me with those big baby blues. “I said not here.”
She turned to go, but I knew this might be my last chance to speak on this subject. “Do you ever wonder if fate threw us together for a reason?”
She stilled, but she didn’t look back at me.
I stepped a bit closer. “I’ll respect your decision, but I need to know if you felt the same things I feel.”
She spun around to look at me. “What do you feel?”
I decided to be honest. “Out-of-my-mind temptation.”
She crossed her arms and gave me nothing back.
“And the idea of you smearing that body paint over our divorce lawyer makes me feel really bad.”
“I’m not smearing my paint on anyone tonight, but you need to get used to the idea. It’s going to happen at some point.”
“I want it to be me. I want back in the running.”
She took one step closer. “You don’t lack confidence, do you?”
“You’re scared,” I said. My eyes dropped to her mouth.
“I’m not scared.”
I held her gaze. “It’s okay to be afraid of this, but don’t do something you’ll regret.”
She took two steps backward before she turned and disappeared back around the corner.
I WENT TO FIND MICA. “Okay, now we can go.”
He nodded and we started to make our way out.
I saw Dee standing in the lobby. I felt bad about my not-so-subtle rejection, so I walked over.
“Hope you have a good night.”
She gave me a bubbly smile. “You too.”
“You should go hang out with Brody. I think he likes you.”
“You were wrong.” She gave me a shrug. “That text wasn’t just for me. Apparently, everyone is talking about this big party at that address.”
“What do you mean, everyone is talking about it?” I was one-hundred-percent certain that Brody had sent that text only to Dee.
“Everyone is texting everyone about his party. I guess it’s completely out of control.”
I thought about the guy I had talked to at the bar. Holy fuck.
“Wow.” I gave her a fake smile. “Guess I read that wrong. See you at work.”
I spun around and started walking away. What had I done to Brody? I’d completely fucked him over. If anyone figured out this was me, I wouldn’t survive the aftermath. Mica caught up with me.
“Rookie, what’s going on?”
I kept walking. “I can’t tell you because I don’t want to incriminate myself or you any further.”
“Whoa.” He grabbed my arm and forced me to stop walking. “Speak.”
I rubbed my mouth. “Dude, this one has to go in the vault. Are you sure you want to know?”
“In the vault. What put that look on your face?”
“Dee showed me a text earlier. It was Brody inviting her over.”
He shrugged. “So?”
“He’s house sitting at Gordon’s house.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Gordon, our coach?”
“Check your phone.”
He looked at it. “Lots of texts about some party.”
“At 345 Hunter Avenue.”
“Yeah.” He frowned at his phone and then slowly looked up at me as he realized the connection. “No.”
“I may or may not have given that address to some guy at the bar, as a joke. Told him there was some party there.”
“Oh fuck. That’s not good, rookie.” He looked around. “Which guy?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if I would recognize him if I saw him. He was just some random dude looking for a party.”
Mica scrolled through his phone. “I must have thirty-five texts about this party.”
“Do you think after Dee shut him down, he invited other people over?”
Mica shook his head. “Doubt it. It’d be career suicide to have a party at Gordon’s place.”
I did—and didn’t—want to see what was happening at Gordon’s place. “Do you think we should go over and see what’s up?”
He gave a short nod. “Book club is still going strong. Let’s go check this out.”
“HOLY SHIT,” Mica breathed. “Is this really happening?”
We stood on the other side of the street. There had to be at least a hundred people milling around on the front lawn. The front doors were open. Music pulsated a deep, throbbing bass that seemed intent on shaking up this subdued neighborhood.
A half-naked bald guy came screaming out of the house. He was crying and swinging a bat around. “Get out of here. Get out!”
Mica squinted. “Is that Brody?”
I focused on the guy. “I think so. What happened to his hair?”
Mica looked perturbed. “What’s he doing with that bat?”
We stood and watched as Brody wildly swung the bat through the air while people backed away from him. He was yelling, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
Had I done this to Brody? The guilt weighed me down. “Maybe we should help him before he hurts someone and fucks this up further.”
Mica let out a long breath. “Yeah, I hear you.”
Brody didn’t see me at first. He only saw Mica. He ran to him and grabbed him by his tasseled sheriff’s vest. “Mica. Thank god you’re here. This is Coach’s house, and he’s going to kill me. These people kept showing up, and I don’t know how to make them leave. The cops said they would come, but no one has shown up.”
Mica grabbed Brody by the shoulders. “Brody, it’s going to be okay, but maybe give me the bat.”
Brody clung to it tearfully. He was out of his mind drunk. “Why won’t they leave?”
“I’m going to help you, okay? But you need to hand that over.”
Brody reluctantly handed him the bat, but he glanced up and saw me at the last moment.
“What are you doing here?”
He pulled the bat out of Mica’s grasp. And then he swung it at me.
I ducked. “Whoa, dude. Careful where you swing that thing.”
Brody wasn’t exactly in the reasoning mood. He didn’t know yet that I was entirely responsible for this mess, but I was usually the object of his hate, and right now he was feeling a lot of it.
The bat whizzed past my face as I ducked back.
I went for the offense. Before he could swing again, I tackled him and grabbed two handfuls of the bat. We rolled on the ground as we fought to take control of it. For a drunk guy, he was surprisingly strong.
Mica was yelling at us. “Break it up, you assholes. Stop it.”
I rolled over Brody until I had him pinned. I landed him one in the jaw before I felt someone pull me off. I turned around to swing at whoever had grabbed me.
“Don’t resist,” yelled Mica. “That’s a real cop.”
