Page 57 of He Has Game (Boston Brawlers Hockey)
Chapter 15
Vivvie
Grace and I get into the Uber out front of my building. She’s coming with me for moral support and because she’s a sucker for veterans.
“You know these guys aren’t dating material, right?” I say half teasing. The men in the shelter are mostly older. We pile into the back seat of the car and take off for the short ride.
She shrugs. “Can’t I be coming along to do a good deed?”
“I know you are. I was teasing. I’m kind of nervous.”
“Me too. You think Sherry will show up?”
“Mary insists both her and her husband will show up. She’s made it impossible for them to say no, told them if Finn isn’t on his best behavior, the team will trade him. She spelled out the missteps. If he has one drink, makes one inappropriate comment or if he doesn’t show his fiancée every possible affection and attention, he’s gone. And she agreed they can bring a camera man to film it for their foundation website. I can’t believe the foundation supports the shelter. What a coincidence.”
“Not a coincidence,” Grace says. “The Boylston foundation supports every charitable organization in Boston. That must be why they have the team by the balls. You can’t turn around without running afoul of them. If the Boylston Foundation doesn’t want to play ball with you then you can’t go near a local charity. That’s a sneaky sick kind of power if you ask me.”
“How do you know so much about them. I couldn’t find all that and I did some massive research.”
She lifts her shoulders. “You know my mom’s a charity maven. She’s been around a lot of years and been involved in a lot of charities in the Boston area. She despises the Boylston Foundation because she’s run afoul of them. And she’s been blocked by them.”
“Thanks, Grace. If I had any hesitation about Caroline’s plan before, you’ve made it disappear. The Boylston’s deserve what we’re hopefully going to give them.” I have a moment of guilt. After I told Finn I knew nothing of his mother’s plan, she calls me and tells me the whole thing. Lays it all out like some criminal mastermind. Except it’s not a crime. I remind myself she’s doing nothing dishonest. Not really. As she put it when she sensed my hesitation, she’s only giving Sherry the chance to show her true colors. To her husband.
“Have you met the guy?”
“No, but Caroline showed me the photo. He’s beautiful. And young. I thought maybe he’s too young—like younger than me. But she insists Sherry will find him irresistible.” I gulp, because Caroline admitted she knows Sherry’s type and I had to shut down the memory of what Finn told me about his mother. I can’t think about that now. It was a long time ago. Almost ten years. Caroline was younger then. Way younger than Sherry is now. But Caroline promised me that the guy is over eighteen, if barely. An involuntary shiver takes me.
I’m glad Finn’s mother is so ruthless because she’s going to get justice for Finn and I’ve been trying, but not succeeding too well with the fiancée charade. Even though Finn says she’s his enemy, surely he’ll have to acknowledge that she’s on his side after she gets him off the hook with the Boylston’s.
Besides, I can see how he takes after her, how the ruthless streak shows in his competitiveness and the way he plays hockey. And maybe the way he plays with women too.
But I can’t let myself go there, promising myself that I won’t think about tomorrow is the only way I can enjoy the present, the only way I can help Finn achieve his dream. It’s my job, but it’s so much more. It makes me feel like the heroine in my own romance. Even if it does end up a tragedy. At least unlike Juliet, I won’t end up dead.
When we arrive at the shelter, Finn isn’t there yet, but Mary brought team jersesys and hats and scarves and all kinds of goodies for us to hand out while we wait for Finn to show up. Once he arrives, he’s inundated with requests for autographs and spends most of the time signing sticks and team photos for the patrons as he talks to them.
I hand out the bags of toiletries that me and grace and Caroline put together at the suggestion of the shelter’s manager. Caroline’s fiancée, Neil sits and talks with a small group, listening closely and understanding them and I see Finn listening and joining their conversation.
When Sherry and her elderly husband arrive with their entourage my heart kicks up to that pace that makes me touch my hand to my chest and Finn sees the gesture, but I give him a reassuring smile because I see the flicker in his eyes. Caroline slips her phone from her pocket and sends a text. I know what this means. The show is about to start.
The beautiful young man-boy walks into the shelter wearing fatigues. His lush hair is wild and his face, though young, shows the stubble of a few days growth. He spots Sherry and stares at her, not a leer, but an openly admiring look and I can’t tell if it’s real or an act, but I see when Sherry senses his stare and looks at him, see the startle of admiration on her face, the subtle suffusion of passion and desire taking her. Our actor walks toward her, ignoring the greetings of the volunteers and the older vets. She separates herself from her clueless husband and I want to scream because we need him to notice.
But as Sherry meets him and they exchange their greeting and she makes a show of giving him a Brawlers scarf, I see Caroline nudge Edwin Boylston and look in the direction of his wife and the beautiful young man. He’s too fit to be a homeless or poor vet, but that’s not his role.
Caroline leads Edwin over to join Sherry who introduces her husband to the young man, a recently recovered veteran from an injury in Iraq. I know he refuses to talk about his battle experience or his injury from what we concocted with Caroline for his script, knowing from experience that the less you make up is better.
It’s not lost on me that I’m as guilty of charading as this man is. Guiltier since I’m pretending for family and people I know, not strangers. Grace doesn’t need to prod me to join the group because I want to witness the seduction of Sherry Boylston as she falls prey to her own vices right under the nose of her husband.
“But don’t worry,” the young man says, his dimple showing, the suggestive spark in his eyes aimed directly and exclusively at Shery, pinning her into rapt attention. “I haven’t injured any crucial parts.” He winks an I blush at the bold rawness of his sensual energy aimed at her. He’s good. Really good.Finn is better.
Grace pinches my arm as we’re introduced and the young man explains that he’s come to volunteer.
“Let’s give this scarf to someone who needs it more than I do,” he says to Sherry. She laughs that overexcited titter that signals her interest. It should give me satisfaction that the plan is working, but it makes me sick.
Not running, thought I want to, I rush back to Finn and his two team mates, Aiden and O’Rourke—his habit of referring to Ryan by his last name has become contagious. Everyone calls him O’Rourke and he has the attention of many of the veterans who are fans of the Brawlers star player.
“Who’s the beefcake?” Finn asks me, his tone more irritated than amused. I keep the smile to myself.
“A volunteer. You jealous?” He reaches around and pinches my ass. I laugh and turn my head into his chest to hide my ridiculous blush. Shame at teasing about something that I’ve helped set up to victimize Sherry Boylston sets in. No matter that she deserves it, no matter that the only way she can be victimized by our plot is if she succumbs to her own vice. Her seemingly essential need for the attention of young men.
