Page 49 of The Player's Club
Brady shrugged. “Just that she’s the first girl I’ve seen at our games. You never bring women around.”
Brady wasn’t aware of my predilections, and I wasn’t about to confess all to him either. He wouldn’t understand. Besides, Brady had a big mouth. He’d tell everyone on the team before you could say boo.
“How’s her friend?” Brady then asked. “Hannah?”
He tried to sound innocent, which just made me chuckle. “Seriously, dude? That’s what you wanted to know about?” I shook my head. “You’re fucking annoying.”
“When it comes to beautiful women? Yeah, I am.” Brady narrowed his eyes. “And you’re dating her best friend. So Elodie must’ve said something.”
“Why would she? I’ve only met Hannah that one time.”
Brady grunted. “I tried to get her number that night, but she wouldn’t do it. Said she didn’t trust athletes not to break her heart.” He grinned. “Imagine that?”
I laughed. “A swing and a miss for Brady Carmichael? Now, that’s shocking as hell. Has any woman turned you down before?”
“No.” Brady was glowering now. “It’s not a fucking joke, man. It’s driving me nuts. I can’t stop thinking about her.”
“She’s probably just playing hard to get. Women like to do that sometimes.”
“Maybe.” Brady increased the treadmill speed, probably so he didn’t have to keep talking about how Hannah had somehow evaded his legendary charms.
As long as I’d known Brady, he’d always been a playboy. Whereas I’d preferred to keep my arrangements private, Brady tended to flaunt them. I’d lost count of how many times he’d come to a party with a new beautiful woman on his arm. And more than one lady had tried to storm into the locker room over the years to yell at him for not calling her back after he’d slept with her.
“I’ve never seen you like this about a woman,” I remarked after we’d gone to the locker room to clean up.
“I can’t get her out of my damn head.” Brady toweled his wet hair dry. “It’s fucking annoying. Is it just because she told me no?”
“Maybe. Or maybe you might actually like her.”
“Huh. Maybe. But seeing as though I don’t know her all that well, I have a feeling it might be the former.”
“I mean, have you ever thought about settling down someday?” I asked.
To my surprise, Brady didn’t crack a joke. Instead, he seemed to think it over for a moment. “Yeah, eventually. But I’ve just never found the right woman.” He stared off, seeming deep in thought.
“Something you not telling me?”
“There was someone once who I could’ve seen myself marrying someday. But she was sort of off-limits.” He stopped short of divulging anything further.
“And?”
“And...I’d rather not get into it right now.” He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anyway. It’s in the past.”
Hmm.
“Well, if you’re looking to meet someone of value, you might start dating women who know that the Earth is round, for starters.”
Brady guffawed. “Yelena was a special one, that was for sure. But damn, she was smoking hot, wasn’t she? Legs for days, amazing tits—”
“But dumb as a fence post,” I replied wryly.
“Fine, fine. Yeah, she wasn’t too smart. And she wasn’t exactly interested in settling down either.” Brady stretched out his legs, looking thoughtful still. “I guess it’d be nice to find a woman who wants to be with me, not with a hockey player. Like if she had no idea who I was. Maybe I need to go looking for a woman in Siberia. Somebody who doesn’t have the Internet.”
That made me think of the club. It wasn’t Siberia, but because no one wanted their identities outed, it was a place where I could pretend I was just like everyone else and that nothing about my hockey player status was special.
“You could date someone who doesn’t have the Internet, or you could just date someone who isn’t shallow,” I pointed out.
Brady’s gaze focused on me now. “And what about you? You aren’t exactly getting married anytime soon either.”