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Great. Good. Freaking grand.
I grab the door and open it. “I was hoping for a serial killer,” I inform her. I need somewhere to direct my rage.
“Looks more like you need someone to put you out of your misery.”
Glad to know I’m that transparent.
That’s when I realize that Tasha is standing right next to her, looking tanned and adorable. “Tasha,” I scream in excitement, foregoing my pity party for absolute joy. There’s hugging, there’s jumping up and down, there’s so much excited screaming that a neighbor opens the door down the hall to glare at us.
“Inside.” I usher them in. They’ve got grocery bags and I wonder what these two have planned.
“Why were you hoping for a serial killer?” Shelby wonders. “So you could punch someone in the face repeatedly and not feel bad about it?”
“You know me too well.” I nod.
“We came prepared,” Tasha informs me, lifting up a bag.
“And you’re here. In actual New York,” I cry delightedly. “When did you get here?”
“This afternoon. Shelby called me yesterday and told me Mason was being a giant ass-face dickwad shitheel, and I honestly was tired of constant sunshine, so I figured I’d fly to New York for the holiday season and freeze my ass off here.” Tasha and Shelby start unpacking their grocery bags, setting out food on the coffee table that faces the TV. “Ooh, are we watching the game?”
Shelby frowns in thought. “Apparently, we are watching the game and wallowing. I don’t know if this is allowed. Shouldn’t we be watching chick flicks and screaming, ‘Love is a lie’?”
“We can throw popcorn at the screen and mock Mason,” Tasha points out. “I will go make the popcorn.”
Minutes later, we are settled in with wine coolers, popcorn, bowls of ice cream, boxes of cookies, a small pre-packaged charcuterie board, and chocolate fudge. It sounds weird, but somehow it all works together.
The perfect non pity party.
The team is playing pretty badly tonight. Their energy is obviously off, Mason and Dylan are both frankly sucking harder than a Hoover vacuum cleaner, and it’s really embarrassing to watch.
“See, you’ve ruined him,” Shelby says cheerfully. I down my entire wine cooler in one long gulp after that comment.
I ruined him. That’s good, right? Why am I not happier about this?
“Our firm does still represent them.” I grimace at the screen. My God, Mason is doing horribly tonight. It’s like a different man wearing the Raker jersey. I glance at Shelby. “Do you know anything about what Lexi is up to these days? Because she was very obviously trying to set Mason up to get him in trouble.”
“Booo,” Tasha screams at the screen. “I didn’t come here to watch the Bummer Olympics, loser.”
Shelby and I both applaud. We have a group rule that we all have to applaud clever puns.
“I wonder if there’s a profit motive in there somewhere. I hear that Lexi is hard up for cash. She was used to living pretty high on the hog, and she used to ‘borrow’ money from Mason a lot. He paid for absolutely everything when they dated,” Shelby says. “I wasn’t aware of that until recently. She kind of spun things a certain way back when they were dating. What makes you think she was trying to set Mason up?”
“So many reasons.” I shake my head as I think back on them. “All the weird times she’d show up when Dylan was there. She was allowed back in the wives area during one of their games a while back, and she was all over Dylan trying to make Mason jealous. When that didn’t work, she ran into Mason in front of his apartment, and paparazzi just happened to show up at that exact moment. She got into the charity event when we had incredibly strict security. She’s all over Mason again and again, but only when there’s a crowd around ...”
Shelby’s nodding, but also watching the game. Mason lets a shot sail right by his head.
“Oh my God. Ice, ice, maybe ...” Shelby chants. Tasha and I applaud for her.
Dylan trips and falls on the ice. We boo. “Ice to meet you,” I yell. “You total puck-up.” They applaud.
I can’t even be entirely mad at Dylan, though. Lexi used him and manipulated him. Yeah, he was a total dick to date Mason’s ex-girlfriend, and to give Mason attitude when he thought Lexi was getting back together with Mason, but I don’t think that Dylan was in on the whole thing. He was just thinking with his hockey stick.
“I think they are actually going to lose tonight.” I stare at the screen and shake my head. “This is truly sad to watch.”
“If Lexi was setting Mason up, what else do you think is going on behind the scenes?” Shelby asks. “Did he ever explain why he wanted Amanda to take over for you?”
I take a savage bite of cookie and scowl. “That’s the weird thing. He doesn’t really want her representing him. He won’t even talk to her. According to Cecelia, he insists that everything goes through intermediaries, and even then, he shoots down all of her ideas. Amanda’s miserable.”
