Talk Hockey to Me (Bears Hockey #3) - Kelly Jamieson Page 0,2

everything.

It takes about ten minutes to get to the precinct.

I walk in and look around. Lovely. I always enjoy new experiences.

They tell me Kevin’s still being booked but should be done soon and then will appear in front of the judge in night court.

I can’t fucking believe this.

I sit in an uncomfortable chair and check out the room with uneasy glances. This is quite a collection of characters…a dude in a hoodie with his head covered slumped forward as if he’s sleeping; a woman in a tight sequined dress and dangerous looking platform shoes; a short man in a suit and a bow tie talking in low tones on his phone in the corner. I sigh.

I pull my phone out, to do what I don’t know. Google is always my friend. Apparently, booking Kevin involves taking pictures of him, fingerprinting him, and doing paperwork.

After an excruciatingly boring hour which I mostly spend scrolling through Twitter and Instagram searching for any mention of Kevin’s arrest, I agree to be responsible for Kevin’s one-thousand-dollar bail and he’s free to go.

He looks a little rough but appears to have sobered up. I’m assuming he was drunk.

We get out of the police station and walk half a block away in the dark. “What happened?” I ask tersely.

“We were out celebrating.”

The New York Bears made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last night. Kevin plays defense on the team. Celebrating is understandable. I nod. “And…?”

He drops his head forward. “I grabbed the waitress’s ass.”

“Jesus Christ.” I pull in a long breath through my nose.

“I know, I know. We were flirting…or, I was.” He grimaces. “I got carried away. Little too much Jack Daniels.”

“Is that all you had?” I hold his gaze fiercely.

“Yeah.” He holds his hands up. “That’s it. They kicked me out of the restaurant, but…then I went back. I swear it was just to apologize, but the girl freaked out and called the cops.”

I want to cry. I rub the spot between my eyebrows. “Who knows about this?”

“Just the guys who were there. And the police.”

I shake my head. “Okay, I’ll figure out what to say. You say no comment, if anyone contacts you. I didn’t see anything on social media yet.”

“I was with Wendy and Cookie and Jammer. They know not to say anything.”

“I hope to hell they do. Okay, let’s get you home.”

“I’ll call an Uber.”

“Good.”

I wait until he’s in the car and on his way, then call my own car, since we live in opposite directions. Around three-thirty in the morning, I fall back into bed.

Of course, I can’t sleep now.

As a relatively new sports agent, I don’t have many clients.

Yet.

I will. I’m determined. I know this is what I was meant to do. Only, I never knew I’d be bailing clients out of jail, officiating at a wedding, or talking a big hockey player through a meltdown after finding out his girlfriend was cheating on him.

I shouldn’t worry so much about my guys. But caring about them is part of what makes me a good agent, I believe. That, and I’m an excellent negotiator. Also, I love the sport of hockey.

I’ve been a sports agent for just over a year, including my time at Pinnacle Sports Management and now on my own after that ended up in a fustercluck. As a little girl, I loved hockey and always wanted to be at the arena with my dad when I wasn’t playing. I was also fascinated by the business and legal aspects of the league. I spent hours reading the Collective Bargaining Agreement and talking to my dad about it, which made me a huge nerd. I didn’t care. Growing up, my dad was the assistant GM of the Chicago Aces, and I got to know a lot of people in the business, obviously the management of the Chicago team, but also players, agents, managers of other teams, and even the commissioner of the NHL. These connections have come in handy.

My love of hockey and my law degree brought me here, although this wasn’t originally what I planned to do with my life. But I love it. I love taking care of my clients, taking care of things so they don’t stress about them and can do what they’re paid to do—play hockey. And with a couple of female clients, I hope I’m increasing visibility for women in the hockey world, as agents and players.

It’s nights like this, though, that make me wonder if my old