OneManAdvantage (2 page)

Behind the reception desk, she dropped her purse into a
bottom drawer and sank onto her chair to boot up her computer. She was usually
one of the first ones at the office every morning, but voices drifted from
offices down the hall. Someone was already there and she could just guess what
they were talking about. Sure enough, moments later her boss, Breck Travers,
Director of Communications for the team, walked into the reception area,
followed by Scott Kitchell, the team’s coach, General Manager Matt Hay and Joe
Thorley, one of the owners of the team.

“Ah, Nicole, you’re here,” Breck said.

“Good morning.” She set her hands on her lap and waited for
the shit to hit the fan.

“We were just on a conference call with Jeff in New York,”
Breck said. “I tried to get hold of you late last night, but you weren’t
answering.”

She pressed her lips together.

“Guess I don’t blame you,” Breck said, his dark eyes somber.
“You okay, Nic?”

His concern made her throat constrict. She nodded. “I’m
okay.”

“This is shitty,” Joe said.

“I gather you know what’s going on,” Scott added.

She nodded. “Kind of hard not to,” she muttered, twisting
her fingers together.

“So,” Joe said. “The league is suspending Cody.”

She blinked. Her gaze went from Joe to Scott to Breck. He
nodded. “Yup.”

“Really? Suspending him?”

“Jeff’s pissed right off,” Scott said. He rubbed his face.

Her father must have called him. She closed her eyes, a wave
of hot embarrassment sweeping over her.

“If he didn’t suspend him, we would have,” Joe added. “What
Cody said was completely inappropriate. Totally disrespectful. That’s just not
acceptable. We won’t tolerate that.”

“Like we don’t have enough problems,” Scott said, now
rubbing between his eyebrows.

The team had been playing like crap since the season started
a little over a month ago.

“I know,” Matt said. “Christ. I couldn’t decide if I wanted
to manage a hockey team or join the circus. Now I’m doing both.”

His humor cut through the tension as everyone laughed.

“We’re just working out the communications strategy,” Breck
said. “We’ll meet with the media this morning. Cody will apologize.”

“He will?”

“He will,” he said grimly.

“Great,” she said. “Then hopefully the media will leave me
alone.”

“Are they hounding you?”

“They were outside my condo this morning and they’re hanging
around outside here too.”

“Yeah, I saw them this morning.” Breck nodded. “We’ll deal
with them.” He paused. “Nicole, we think you should take some time off.”

“What?” She gazed back at him. “Take time off?”

“Yeah.” He grimaced. “You know. Just to let this die down.”

“Are you firing me?” she asked slowly.

“No! Of course not. We just thought, for your own sake…”

“Things are really busy right now.”

“Yeah. Things are always busy, though.”

Damn. They wanted her out of the way and she couldn’t blame
them. She was letting down everyone. Her heart clenched. “So you’re paying for
my trip to Hawaii?” They all burst out laughing and she gave a crooked smile.
“I guess that’s a no.”

“You know,” Matt said. “If we could finish that trade deal
and announce it, that would take a lot of the attention off this.”

Trade? They were making a trade? “Are you trading Cody?” she
asked eagerly.

They all frowned. “Uh. No,” Scott said. He rolled his eyes
and she knew he wanted to say more. “We need more offensive power. This is all
hush hush,” he added and she nodded. She knew better than to repeat anything
she heard, whether to players, the media or her friends. Sometimes that was
hard, since her best friend happened to be married to one of the players.

“Go home,” Joe said. “Take a week. This’ll all have died
down by next week.”

It was tempting. The thought of facing the players made her
insides burn. Not only Cody, but Tyler, whom she’d gone out with once and
probably was never going to again. And the rest of the players. She’d only
dated one other player on the team—the other guys she’d had relationships with
played for other teams—but she counted some of those guys as friends. Facing
any of them was going to be embarrassing after what Cody’d said. And with a
sinking feeling, she realized it was going to be embarrassing facing anyone
who’d seen that little comment by Cody, and that was going to be a lot of
people. Sure, she could take off and go into hiding. But she was going to have
to face people some time.

“I think they’re suspending him for his own protection,”
Scott said wryly. “His own teammates are pissed at him. Your brother plays here
this week. Some of the other guys you’ve…” His voice trailed off.

Nicole kept her chin lifted and met his eyes. She knew he’d
been about to mention the other guys she’d dated who might come to her defense
and try to retaliate against Cody on the ice the next time they played the
Caribou. The organization had to be annoyed at being put in this position and
it was all because of her and her dating history. “I’m sorry,” she said, her
heart heavy.

“Don’t apologize,” Breck said. “Cody’s the one who crossed
the line.”

Their support of her meant a lot to her, but even so, she
knew she’d brought this on herself. This was hurting not only her, but also the
team and the whole league. And probably her father, who apparently cared more
about image than he did about her.
Merde.

* * * * *

“I feel like the team slut.”

That evening, she and Taylor lounged in the great room of
Taylor and Fedor’s gorgeous Calhoun Parkway home.

“You’re not a slut,” Taylor said. “More wine?”

“Yes, please.”

Taylor plucked her glass from her hand and glided over to
the bar where a wine bottle sat in a bucket. The pot lights above the bar
illuminated her long blonde hair into gleaming waves of gold down her back.
“Are you going to take them up on their offer of some time off?”

“I don’t think I have a choice.” She accepted the very
large, very full glass of Sauvignon Blanc from her friend with a grimace. “I
hate running away, but I think they want to get rid of me.”

“Oh surely not.” Taylor picked up her own glass as she sat
gracefully on the red leather couch and tucked her long legs under her.

“Can you blame them?” Nicole rubbed one eyebrow. “I’m
causing them a whole lot of grief.”

“You didn’t do it! It was that asshole Cody! Stop blaming
yourself.”

Nicole looked down at her wine, a feeling of pressure behind
her cheekbones. She sucked briefly on her bottom lip. “I think…” She stopped,
her throat closing up, and sipped her wine.

“What, Nic?”

“I think I have to quit my job.”

“Whaaat!” Taylor swung her legs to the floor and sat up
straight. “Don’t be ridiculous!”

Nicole met her eyes. “I’m serious. This is just an
embarrassment to the team. They want me to go away for a week, but they’re
probably too nice to say they want me gone for good.”

Taylor snorted. “Or too afraid of a suit for wrongful
dismissal. That’s crazy, Nic. They love you.”

Nicole shrugged.

“And you love your job!”

She did. So, so much. She hadn’t been allowed to go as far
in hockey as her brother had. No surprise there, since her brother pooped gold
and peed champagne in their parents’ eyes. But she’d loved the sport with all
her heart. She’d refused to try to follow in her mother’s footsteps and go into
modeling, like Dad had wanted, instead going to college and getting a degree in
Communications. She’d had her eye on jobs in the NHL and had landed this job
right out of college. It had meant moving to Minneapolis from Montreal, where
she’d gone to university, but as long as she was involved with hockey somehow,
it was all good.

“I have some experience now,” she said, her voice a little
choked. “I’m sure I could get a job somewhere else.”

Sure she could. Somewhere else in Minneapolis, big companies
like maybe Xcel Energy or Target. Or she could leave Minneapolis and try for a
job with a different NHL team. She didn’t know of any openings, but she could
put out some feelers. But maybe no one else would hire her after this. She
sighed.

“What about Tyler?” Taylor tipped her head to one side. “I
didn’t know you went out with him.”

Nicole grimaced. That was what had started this whole shit
storm. “I like him. But not enough that I’m going to see him again and put him
through hell.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. “I never should
have gone out with him, dammit. I had no idea Cody was going to be such a jerk
about it.”

“Again, this is not your fault, hon.”

“Yes, it is.”

“It is not.”

“I feel horrible. This has gone viral on all the internet
sites, it’s all over TV. I feel like I’ve let everyone down.” Nicole sipped her
wine. “The one thing I’m not going to do is go out with any more hockey
players. Ever.”

“Oh, Nic. Take the week off,” Taylor said. “Let things die
down. Then you can think about this with a clearer head.”

Nicole let out a breath. “Okay. I’m going to take that
vacation.” She smiled at her friend. “Have I told you I love you lately?”

“I know you do.”

“And I swear to the blessed Virgin Mary, I’ll never get
involved with another hockey player.”

Chapter Two

Logan Heller was making a ham sandwich when the call from
his agent came on his BlackBerry. He licked mustard off his thumb as he
answered. “Hey, Alvin,” he said. “’Sup, dude?”

Alvin didn’t snort like he usually did at his greeting.
“Logan. Where are you?”

“At home. Grabbing lunch.”

“You need to sit down.”

“Why?” He popped a piece of ham into his mouth.

“There’s a good chance you’re going to be traded today.”

Logan choked on the ham. He bent over the counter, coughing.
He gasped for air, and when he could speak, he said, “Say what? It sounded like
you said I’m being traded.”

“That is what I said. Apparently there’s a deal with the
Caribou.”

“What? Minneapolis?”

Jesus Christ. He hadn’t heard a whisper about this. What was
going on?

“I’m gonna find out more,” Alvin said. “I’ll call you back
ASAP. Just wanted to give you the heads-up.”

Heads up? Logan stared at his BlackBerry as he dropped it to
the counter. Traded? What the fuck?

It couldn’t be true. He couldn’t even process it, but it
wasn’t long before his phone was blowing up. He stared at the screen, lit up
with Twitter mentions, Facebook messages and texts. Jesus Christ. He’d barely
started trying to scroll through them when his phone rang again.

“Yeah,” Alvin said, his voice heavy. “It’s a done deal.”

“No fucking way!”

“Yeah. Sorry, man. You’ve been traded to the Caribou for Sly
Sorren and Mike Enrick and a second-round draft pick.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“I’m not kidding.”

Logan rested his elbows on the granite counter of the
kitchen in his beach house. He closed his eyes, his gut knotting. “I don’t get
it,” he said slowly. “There’ve been no rumors. This is right out of the fucking
blue.”

“I know. But the team has salary-cap issues and Minneapolis
desperately needs some offensive power. And some leadership. They need you.”

“Shit! This is all about money.”

“Can’t deny that,” Alvin said wearily. “It is a business
after all. But seriously, the Caribou made a well-thought-out choice, you will
be a benefit to them.”

“I don’t want to move to Minneapolis! I like it here in
California!”

“Minneapolis isn’t so bad.”

“I know exactly what it’s like! I grew up six hundred
kilometers from there. Their winters are the same as ours were.”

“Your brother’s back in Winnipeg. Didn’t hear him
complaining about the weather.”

“That’s different. The Jets being back in Winnipeg was huge.
Of course he was happy to go back there. But hell, Alvin. It’s not just that
it’s Minneapolis. Moving is a huge pain in the ass. I have a life here.”

“It’s part of the gig,” Alvin said. “That’s why you get paid
the big bucks.”

Logan snorted. But okay, yeah, he did get paid big bucks and
he was determined to never take that for granted and act like some prima donna
asshole who expected everything he wanted handed to him on a silver platter.

“They want you there next week.”

“Christ.” He looked around his beautiful house, then out
through the sliding glass doors onto the deck and the blue haze of the Pacific
Ocean. Kiss that baby goodbye. He shook his head. “This sucks big time.”

“I know. Listen, though, Logan. You can’t have that kind of
attitude in front of the media. The Caribou need help on offense, we all know
that. They need leadership. They need you. You’re going to be happy to go there
and give the team all you can, yadda, yadda, yadda.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Logan sighed. “This doesn’t have
anything to do with that asshole Burrell, does it?”

“I don’t think so. They didn’t trade him.”

“Shit. That means I have to play with him. Jesus.” The
Caribou and Burrell’s big mouth had been all over the news for the last two
days after he’d opened his trap and pissed off the entire hockey world by
insulting the daughter of hockey legend Jacques Lambert.

“Go ahead, vent to me,” Alvin said. “Get it all out of your
system.”

“I don’t need to vent.” Punch someone maybe, but not vent.
“I guess I better call my parents before they hear it on the news.”

“There’s a press conference scheduled for this afternoon at
three. Emery’s going to call you right away.”

Emery Goldberg, the GM of the Condors.

Logan ended the call and stared at his BlackBerry for a
moment. He’d lived in California for nearly eight years, played for the
California Condors his entire pro career. Of course, it was stupid to think
he’d play for the same team forever, even though he’d be perfectly happy doing
that. But he’d had no inkling that this was in the works. Not a fucking clue.

When his phone rang a moment later, it was no surprise to
see Emery’s name. He sucked in air and answered the phone.

“Well, this is a really hard call to make,” Emery said, his
voice sounding tight. “I guess you’ve heard from Alvin.”

“Yeah.” Logan stared at the pattern of the granite, the
swirls of black and flecks of gold.

“So yeah. Today we made a deal with the Minneapolis Caribou
to trade you.”

“This is quite a surprise.”

“Yep.” Emery’s voice shook just a little. “Like I said, this
is really tough, Logan. I think the world of you, you know that. This was a
really hard decision.”

Logan rubbed his chest. They’d thought enough of him to sign
him to a fucking ten-year deal only a year ago. The contract had included a
no-movement clause, but it didn’t kick in until next year.

“We had to do the best thing for the team, though. We had
some salary cap issues.”

What the fuck?

Logan rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s been no talk
about a trade,” he said, trying to keep his voice low and steady.

“It happened pretty fast.”

Logan nodded. “Yeah, I guess it did.”

He strove to control his galloping emotions. He’d always
gotten along well with Emery. Which made this even harder. “Well,” he said, his
voice a little thick. “I’ve enjoyed playing for the team. Thank you for giving
me the opportunity to be a Condor and live in Santa Monica.” His throat
tightened up even more.

He shoved away the ham and the bread, his appetite gone, and
stumbled over to the laptop on the desk. The Caribou had announced it. He was
reading their comments when another call came through. He didn’t know the
number, but he answered it.

“Logan Heller,” he said.

“Logan. This is Matt Hay in Minneapolis.”

His new boss. He nodded. “Hi.”

“Emery let us know he’d talked to you. I just wanted to call
and welcome you to the team.”

“Thanks. I gotta say, I’m a little in shock here.”

“No doubt. This all happened really fast.”

“So I heard.” He bit his lip at the bitterness that edged
his voice. He had to be cool.

“We’ll talk more, of course, but I just wanted to let you
know how thrilled we were to make this deal. To get a player of your caliber.
We need you here, Logan.”

“Um. Yeah. Thanks. I’m…ah…looking forward to it.”
Inspiration struck. “A new challenge. I like a challenge.”

That wasn’t a lie, exactly.

They chatted for a few more minutes, then Logan thumbed
through his contacts to find his dad’s cell phone number and called him. If it
was already all over the internet, his dad would be getting wind of this soon.

“Hey, Dad,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Where
are you? At the store?” His father owned a couple of big sporting goods stores
in Winnipeg.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

Logan leaned his head back. “Just got word that I’m being
traded.”

“Traded? Really?”

Logan filled him in on the details.

“You don’t sound very happy.”

Logan sighed. “Not really. But I have to put on my game face
for this press conference this afternoon. Will you tell Mom and Tag?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell Tag to call you later. He’ll want to talk
to you.”

“Yeah. Okay. I’ll call Jase now.”

“You’ll be close to home,” Dad said, his voice lightening.
“And to Jase. Wow, with Matt at UND, our four boys will all be within what…a
thousand miles?”

Logan couldn’t help the reluctant smile at his father’s
happiness. “Yeah.”

“Maybe we’ll all get together more often. Your mom will be
ecstatic.”

“Hey, our schedules will still be as crazy,” Logan reminded
him. “Don’t get her all excited for nothing.”

“We can drive to Minneapolis to watch you play,” Dad said.
“She’ll be happy about that.”

Logan’s chest warmed inside. “True. Okay, tell Mom I love
her and I’ll talk to her soon.”

His next call was to his brother Jase. When Jase answered, a
blasting whine of what sounded like a power saw almost took his eardrum out and
he held the phone away. “What the fuck, man?” he shouted into the phone. “What
are you doing?”

“Kitchen renovations,” Jase answered. “Hold on, I’m going
into the other room.”

“You’re doing renovations?” Logan asked.

“Supervising.” Logan sensed Jase’s grin.

“Ah. That’s better. At Remi’s place?”

“My place,” Jase corrected. “Where I am still living, sadly,
all alone.” Logan smiled at the touch of bitterness in his brother’s voice.

“I don’t get why she’s not living there,” Logan said. “It
was her house. Why’d she move out when you bought it?”

“She wants to live on her own for a while,” Jase said. “Hey,
I know it sounds crazy. Much as I don’t like it, I do get it. She spent so many
years looking after her brother and sister, she wants to be independent. And
she wants them to learn to stand on their own feet too. That part I totally
agree with. Those kids had her wound around their little fingers. It’s kind of
funny now, seeing them scrambling and begging Remi to bail them out and she’s
not here.” He laughed. “Her little sister wanted to move back into the house,
which is now mine. I told her she could come live with me, but she’d have to
pay me rent. She had a little meltdown with Remi about it.” Then he sighed. “It
was hard for Remi to not jump in. But she did it.”

“She’ll move in there with you one day, though, right?”

“Remi? Or her sister?”

Logan choked on a laugh despite his ill humor. “Remi,
asshole.”

“Yeah. She will.”

“How’s Brianne?” Logan almost hated to ask the question. His
brother’s ex-girlfriend had gotten knocked up right around the time they’d
broken up and Jase was apparently the father. This was a sensitive issue for
Jase and his current girlfriend.

“Good. I haven’t seen her much. Only about four more weeks
’til the baby’s due.”

Jesus. Logan felt like a shit for complaining about being
traded when Jase had so much bigger issues to deal with. A baby. With a woman
he didn’t love and didn’t want anything to do with. He was going to be a
father. Holy crap.

“Well, it won’t be long until you can get that paternity
test done.”

Jase cursed. “You guys bugged me about that all summer.”

Yeah, Logan and the rest of the family had been on him about
that when they’d all been home. Strangely, Jase had been kind of resistant to
the idea, saying he didn’t want to be an asshole; he just wanted to live up to
his obligations and take responsibility.

“You know I don’t want to do that.”

“You
have
to do it,” Logan said. “You know you do. I
get that you want to man up and take responsibility and all that crap.
Admirable. Seriously. Especially for you.” Jase had spent most of his life
avoiding responsibility. Nah, that wasn’t true. When it came to hockey, he was
serious and mature. But he did like to have fun.

“Fuck you too,” Jase said mildly.

“Come on, this wouldn’t be the first time a girl trapped a
rich guy by getting pregnant.”

“I’m not being trapped,” Jase said. “Remi and I are together
and nothing’s going to change that. Even if Brianne had some twisted idea that
I was going to marry her because of this, I’ve made sure she knows that’s not
going to happen.”

“She’s still going to get money out of you, though.”

“Yeah. I’ll do what I have to do for the baby.”

“And you’re sure it’s yours.”

“Yeah.”

“You can’t be a hundred percent sure,” Logan reminded him.
“Unless you get that test done.”

“Yeah.” Jase sighed. “I know.”

Weirdly, Logan was kind of jealous of Jase. Not the mess
with the ex-girlfriend and the baby, but…well, he was going to be a dad and he
had Remi.

This past summer, Logan had spent time at home, at the lake
with his family and their friends the MacIntoshes. Scott MacIntosh, who was his
older brother Tag’s age, was married and had two little kids. Now Jase had Remi
and a baby on the way, and when Tag had started dating Kyla MacIntosh, who’d
grown up into quite a sexy babe, Logan had felt kind of…left out. Lots of his buddies
were married now too. Somehow, puck bunnies who hung around the arena didn’t
excite him anymore. He sighed.

“Good. Well, I have some news,” he said.

He proceeded to update Jase, who was as flabbergasted as
he’d been. “Christ!” he said. “Not even a rumor! What the hell, man?”

“I know.”

“It is closer,” Jase said. “And you’ll be in our division,
which means we’ll play each other more often too.” He gave an evil laugh and
Logan remembered the last time they’d played against each other and the hit
Jase had leveled him with at center ice.

Logan shook his head, smiling, as they ended the call. His
smile faded though as he looked around the house on the beach that had been
home for the last few years. Dammit. Starting all over in a new city wasn’t
exactly what he’d had planned for this year.

His game had been going well so far this season. He already
had ten goals and eight assists. The fans liked him there in Santa Monica. He
never would have imagined this was coming.

He started scrolling through Twitter. One corner of his
mouth lifted in a wry smile at some of the invectives against the management of
the Condors. “Goldberg’s lost his mind!” one person declared. “He just royally
screwed the Condors!” another Tweeted. People were pissed off that he’d been traded.
Well, good. He wasn’t alone then. Except he couldn’t go on Twitter and tell the
world how he felt.