Bender (Vegas Venom Book 4)

The first thing I say to Anders after morning skate the next day is, “Che due palle!?”

Anders glances toward me as he opens his locker. “What?”

“There is something wrong with you.” I glare at him. “And you, and you, and you.” I point to Latham, Noah, and Cash in succession. “You are making me look like a donkey’s winking butthole in front of my woman. Why did you not tell me what Netflix and chill is?”

Latham stops sorting through his gym bag to shake his head. “What happened last night? She wasn’t pissed, right?”

“No.” I shake a warning finger at him. “But first you take me to very bad pizza, and now you are pulling my string!”

“Pulling your what?” Cash asks.

“My string. Like the little cowboy and his boot snake! You are putting stupid thoughts in my head!” I wave my hands for emphasis. “Normally, I have more patience with you tettas, but when it comes to my principessa…”

Noah scratches his jaw. “Is he talking about Toy Story?”

Cash shrugs and turns back to his locker. “Who can say?”

“But it did go alright, didn’t it?” Anders presses.

“Well, si, but—”

I am cut off by a sharp rap on the outside of the door. Julie Bradford’s voice echoes from the far side. “Incoming female. Cover it if you don’t want it seen!”

We all scurry around to cover ourselves. When we are decent, Latham opens the door, and Julie strides in. She walks right up to me.

“Marco,” she asks, “where were you last night?”

“Um.” All of my friends are staring at me, and I am not sure what to say. Instead, I decide to redirect the question. “Why are you asking me this?”

“Because your fans want to know, and your blog hasn’t been updated with any ‘sightings’ recently.” Julie says this as though I am supposed to understand what she means, but unfortunately, I do not have a clue.

“Your blog?” Latham seems confused, too. “You have a blog, dude? Seems like that might be a little out of your wheelhouse.”

“Not his blog,” Julie explains. “The Marco Rossi fan blog. One of the VIP fans takes care of the uploading and maintenance. You’re one of our most popular players, and you’ve been trending since that video someone posted from the pizza place. There are memes and everything.”

“The bad pizza place,” I mutter. “Non-cheese is considered news here?”

“More interaction with your page means more interaction with the team’s fan page, which means more eyes on the ad for Gustoso… you get the idea.” Julie spins her hand in a circle to indicate the cycle. “The ad’s going extremely well by the way, and it’s driving major foot traffic to the restaurant. Dante insists on giving the fans what they want. And when he’s happy, I’m happy. Hell, we’re all happy.”

Anders coughs meaningfully. “Yeah, I know all about that.”

Latham pats his shoulder. “Down, boy.”

“And the fans are wanting to know what I did last night?” I ask.

Julie nods. “Not just last night. All the time. If the blog waits too long between posts, fans get angry. And if you can give me photos to upload, so much the better.”

“I will text someone and see if I can have photos,” I tell her. “Is that alright?”

“Perfect.” Julie gives me a thumb’s up. “I’ll wait in the hall.”

I nod and immediately pull out my phone to start texting Madison.

The door has barely closed behind Julie when Latham spins toward us. “What the hell?” he hisses. “Since when is Marco the most popular? No offense, my guy, but…” He flexes, then kisses his bicep. “Who clocks the most on-ice minutes? Who won the fucking Fan’s Choice award this season?”

Anders clicks his tongue. “I’m the team captain, and he’s the new guy. Everyone knows that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

I hit send, then look up at them. “There is this bush again. One minute we beat it. The next minute, there are birds. What is this bush?”

Noah smirks. “After last night, you should know.”

“No.” I shake my head. “Last night, there was no bush.”

Cash rubs his temples as if he’s nursing a migraine. “Too much information.”

My phone chimes a few times, and I see that Madison has not only replied, telling me it is okay to post the pics, but she has also sent some of the ones we took together. I unlock the screen and grin at them as a rash of sexy memories flood my brain. Madison is so cute. She is, I think, the cutest woman I have ever met. My thoughts of her and our time together are so soft they’re almost not even there.

Noah peers over my shoulder. “Are those bear ears? Are you a giant teddy bear?”

Anders leans over from the other side to swipe my screen, revealing our face swap picture, then us as cartoons. “Marco, a picture is worth a thousand words, and even these need to be translated. I have so many questions.”

“Actually, though, I dig the beehive hairdo,” Latham chimes in.

Feel free to share any of these on your blog! Madison texts, so I finish up in the locker room and head out to the hallway where Julie is waiting.

“Please, please do us a favor and post those,” Noah begs as he walks by. “I can’t wait to see how the fans react to that hot mess. And… the puck bunnies don’t like seeing their crush with another woman. Makes them think they no longer have a chance. It should stir up quite the controversy.”

Julie arches an eyebrow as I hold out my phone, but the minute she sees the pictures, her smile lights up. “Oh my gosh, these are so cute! Can you forward those to me in an email or something? Your fan page is going to absolutely eat those up.”

“Is that good?” I ask.

“Absolutely.” Julie chuckles to herself as she swipes through to our beard-baby photo. “These are cute. Fun. Wholesome. It’s perfect.”

I am a little surprised that the fans will be excited to see me on a date, but I do not complain. I want to show Madison off because I already think of her as mine.

Before I forward the photographs, I type out another text to Madison. Should I say that I was with my friend? Or the woman I am wooing?

My phone immediately vibrates with her answer. Marco Rossi, are you asking me if you can officially court me?

Me: Si.

I pause a few seconds then text again.

Me: And I am wanting to know if I can tell people about us.

Three dots appear at the bottom of my screen, and I hold my breath until her reply pops up.

Madison: Definitely.

Madison: And you’re welcome to tell anyone you like.

As I think about how my principessa makes me feel so much like a whole man, I do not think that I will ever stop smiling.