[forty-three]

Lillianah’s POV

I knew the best thing I could do was dismiss the whole ring issue, and that’s what I did. Life was so much better when you aren’t stressing out over something like a ring. Well, a diamond ring. I pulled on my black shorts, then my white barely there halter top, before pulling on my white fur boots. I looked in the mirror and pulled my hair out of it’s pony tail, tossing it around to make sure it looked somewhat decent. Once I thought I looked “hot” enough for work, I took the boots off, pulled on flats and my black pea coat. I walked out in to the living room and leaned over the back of the couch to give Max a kiss before I left the apartment. I arrived at the club, happy to find out that I would only be working til 11, they had a local radio DJ coming in to take over the last three hours. Max was leaving for a small road trip the next day, so I wanted to spend time with him before he left, and finding out that I would be off early gave me an instant adrenaline high. I was off my period and I wanted one last romp in bed before he was gone for five days. The club was packed to the rim, which I found odd for a Wednesday, but I was always happy when the place was packed.

I was on a Kanye West kick when I noticed a few familiar faces walk through the front doors. I immediately mixed in to my personal theme song for them, the Robyn song I play every time they walk in, but became a little disappointed when I didn’t see the ring leader, the one with the smile that takes up his whole face. “Hey Lil!!” Tyler shouted to me and I waved to them as they made their way to the VIP. I looked down at my phone to see it was 10:30, I only had another thirty minutes before I could get home to my man. “Where’s Max?” I turned around to come face to face with Tyler and Evgeni. “He’s at home!” I shouted back to them as I quickly turned on a playlist and followed them in to the VIP, grabbing a shot of Vodka from Evgeni. “It’s good,” Evgeni smiled to me as he handed me another shot. That’s how the next five minutes went, shot after shot. “Dance with me for a minute!” Tyler shouted to me over the music and I grabbed his hand and turned my back to him. “Where’s your girlfriend?” His laughter caught me off guard, so I turned around in his arms to face him. “Lil, I don’t have a girlfriend, I don’t want a girlfriend.” I stopped moving and felt my eyes bulge out of my head. I grabbed another shot, gave Tyler a kiss on the cheek and headed back to my booth. I finished off my shot as I closed up my things and moved aside for the radio DJ to set up. I stepped out of the booth and felt myself stumble. I was drunk, or at least getting there. As much as I couldn’t wait to get home to Max, this new bit of information had me wanting just a little bit more liquor to clear out my brain that was currently wrapped around a diamond ring. I joined the boys in the lounge once again and Evgeni had a line of shots in front of him. He studied them, probably having four or five himself already, but he looked like he was in deep though. “Lil, have,” he held one up in the air and I took it from him, throwing it back. “You off?” I nodded my head as I took a seat next to him. “You go home to Max?” “In a few minutes, I want to unwind first.”

Once the clock hit 11:30, I pulled my boots off and pulled my coat on. “Bye boys, see ya around!” I shouted before I walked out of the lounge, for the first time discovering that I was in fact drunk. I enjoyed my time walking home, taking in the sights of Pittsburgh before the town shuts down at 2 AM.

Max’s POV

I stretched out on the couch, wondering if I packed everything I needed for the road trip we were heading out on. Three games over five days, Tampa, Carolina and then Florida. I was looking forward to the warm weather of the south, but this would be the first time in awhile that Lillianah and I would be apart. Man I’m sounding like a pussy. I flipped through the channels for a third time when I heard a knock on the door. I jumped up, figuring it was probably just the boys looking to head out. I pulled the door open and almost shut it. Almost. “What the fuck you assholes, you’re not suppose to be here for another week!” I stepped aside and allowed my brothers to walk in. “Sorry, I thought dip shit over here called you to tell you we were coming, and then once we were ten minutes out of town he told me he didn’t call you. So-“ “Wait, you guys drove down here? From Montreal?” They both nodded at me like there was no other form of transportation known to man kind. “You guys are ridiculous. Anyways, this couldn’t be the worst timing on your part, I leave for five days tomorrow, and-“ “Yeah we know,” Will interrupted. “So you think you’re just going to hang out with my girlfriend, who you don’t know, while I’m gone? Oh shit, I haven’t told her you guys were planning on coming yet.” I glanced over at the clock to see it was just after 11:00, she was probably in her zone, maybe I should just go to the club to catch her? “I need a shower.” I looked up at Frank and pointed down the hall to the bathroom. “She’s gonna flip out,” I mumbled as Will and I sat down on the couches. “She won’t even know we’re here when she gets home. You said she usually gets off at 2? We’ll be passed out in the next hour. We’ll sleep on the couches.” I sent a glare his way. “If you guys make a mess or break anything, I’ll bust your asses.” “Don’t worry little brother, we’re both trained remember? We have wives.”

“So we got pulled over outside of Buffalo for speeding and Frank goes off in French about how stupid American’s are and how they’re not smart enough to have the metric system like the rest of the world. So the cop kind of stops and watches him on his rampage then the cop says ‘va te faire foutre’.” I doubled over in laughter as Frank shook his head. “The cop told you to fuck off? Did you get a ticket?” I could see Frank’s ears get red. “Yeah he wrote me a ticket!” Will and I were laughing so hard that I didn’t even realize Lillianah had walked in until I heard a thud by the front door. I jumped up and ran toward her. She smelt like Vodka. “You’re off early.” She leaned up and gave me a kiss on the side of my mouth. “Yeah, they had a guest DJ come in. Your teammates were there, Evgeni was feeding me Vodka. Oh and Tyler doesn’t have a girlfriend.” It was at this point I was praying that she was so drunk, she would forget everything by morning time. “Um, my brothers are here.” A smile crawled over her face as she pushed me aside and moved to the living room. “Hi, I’m gonna go change, and I’ll be right back,” she smiled to them and I followed her in to the bedroom earning nods of approval from my brothers. “How many shots did you have?” I asked her as she sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her shorts off. “Six or seven. Maybe more.” She shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal. I grabbed her lounge pants and red tank top off the top of the dresser and tossed them toward her. I noticed the bra on the ground and tossed it to her as well. I didn’t want her walking around with no bra in front of my brothers. Sure they’re both married, but they are also male. “You can head back out there, I just want to wash my makeup off and I’ll come out,” she smiled to me before walking up to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. I took her lips in mine, really wishing my brothers weren’t down the hall.

“Maxime, she is a knockout.” I smiled proudly at Frank. “That is why you will never, ever go to where she works.” “Why not?” Thinking of all the outfits I have seen her in and have taken off of her, I felt a little twinge in my pants. “She doesn’t wear a whole lot.” They looked at each other and I knew I said too much. I couldn’t trust these guys alone. Lillianah walked out of the bedroom, bumping in to the wall and crawled over the back of the couch and sat down between my legs, with her back up against my chest, and her legs stretched out over the couch. “Will, Francis this is my girlfriend Lillianah. Lil this is Will and Frank,” I introduced them and they both reached over and shook her hand. “It’s good to meet you guys, Max talks about you all the time.” “Oh really?” Frank asked with a raised eyebrow. “Well not really, but isn’t that what people are suppose to say when they meet the relatives? Well I mean he has told me some interesting stories and how you guys are married with kids, but that’s been about it.” They both laughed and I wrapped my arms around her waist, kissing her shoulder. “Dude, she just passed out.” I looked around and could see that her eyes did close and her breathing had evened out. I lifted her up in my arms and carried her to the bedroom. I took her bra off for her, and covered her up before rejoining my brothers. “Where did you find her?” I smiled as I pulled some spare blankets and pillows out of the hall closet. “She’s a DJ at a nightclub, I had my eye on her for about 6 months before I grew the balls to talk to her.” They looked at me like I had a strange growth growing off of my forehead. “It took you six months to talk to her? My little brother Maxime had trouble talking to a girl?” Will asked. “Well I’m dating her, we’re living together, I bought her an engagement ring, so she’s obviously not like other girls. She’s the real deal. Alright, I’m heading to bed, I’ll see you guys in the morning.” I turned on my heel and headed down the hallway. “Yeah, get up early, we need to talk about this whole engagement ring business,” Frank shouted after me.

Lillianah’s POV

“Well I’m dating her, we’re living together, I bought her an engagement ring, so she’s obviously not like other girls. She’s the real deal. Alright, I’m heading to bed-.” I quickly snapped my eyes shut and pulled the covers up closer to me. I was still semi-unconscious when I heard him talking to his brothers in the living room, but I was awake enough to hear ‘engagement ring’. It didn’t take much time for me to fall back asleep, thanks to Evgeni and his Vodka. Which at this moment, I was very, very thankful for.

The smell of bacon filling my nose caused me to jump up and run for the toilet. I drank far too much last night. After I brushed my teeth and washed my face I sat down on the edge of the bathtub and everything from the previous night came rushing back to me. First Tyler not having a girlfriend, drinking with Evgeni, coming home to find Max’s brothers, then . . . the engagement ring. For me. I got up from the tub and looked at myself in the mirror before heading out to the kitchen where the three brothers were chatting and eating. “Hi,” I smiled as I pulled down a mug and poured myself some coffee. “So I’m sorry I was a little wasted last night when we met. I never imagined meeting the rest of Max’s family that way,” I smiled to Will and Frank as I leaned back against the island, facing them. “No worries, you didn’t do or say anything embarrassing, so no harm no foul,” the older looking one who I remember as Frank said. For the first time with sober eyes I looked at all three, as Max sat down next to Will at the breakfast bar. They all looked identical, the only exception was that Frank wasn’t wearing glasses. My eyes settled on Max and I studied his face. His black eyes were nearly gone, and he was clean shaven except for a faint mustache. His glasses were perched on the end of his nose and he crunched on his bacon with a smile on his face. ‘I love you’ I mouthed to him, which he mouthed back and I turned around to get more coffee. “So how long are you guys in town for?” I asked Will and Frank as I reclaimed my position up against the island. “Ten days.” I laughed as Max choked on his bacon. “Ten days? Originally you guys were only going to be here for four days. Now it’s ten?” he asked after drinking half of his water. “We needed a vacation, don’t worry, we won’t bug you the whole time. We might head back up to Buffalo so Frank could yell at that cop some more.” All three started laughing as I could only smile. “I’ll take care of them, I’m sure they’re not as wild as you are Max,” I smiled and he just shook his head at me.

“Any liquor they take, I want them to replace okay?” I nodded my head as I tightened my grip around his neck. I kissed him on the lips and ran my fingers over his head. “I’m going to miss you,” I mumbled against his lips. “I’m going to miss you too mon cheri. When I get back, we’re going to look at that house, okay?” I nodded my head before I attached my lips to his again. He pushed me up against the door and pulled me in closer to him. I pulled away from him but his lips continued to travel down my jaw to my neck. “You better get going, you don’t want to miss your flight.” He nodded his head and kissed me on the lips one last time before he reached next to me and opened the door. We headed out to the living room and he said his goodbyes to his brothers before he walked out the door. There was nothing I wanted more than to head back to bed considering it was only 7:30, but I didn’t want to be rude. “Would it be okay with you if we fell back asleep? We were on the road for twelve hours yesterday, we’re still tired,” Frank said to me from the couch. I smiled to him and nodded my head, “that is perfectly okay with me, I think I’m going to go back to bed too, try and sleep off this hang over.” I retreated back to the bedroom and crawled in to the bed. I pulled Max’s pillow close to me and it smelt like him. I smiled into the soft cotton and my mind immediately went to the ‘engagement’ ring. When did he buy it? Why did he buy it? On Valentine’s day was that his weak way of asking me to marry him? Right before sex asking if I wanted to go to Vegas and get hitched? This is all too much for me. This relationship is moving way too fast for me. How did I get sucked in so hard? I opened my eyes and saw the picture of Max and I on the nightstand. That . . . that was why I got sucked in so hard. He’s my new drug. My healthy drug. I can’t get enough of him. I can just only hope that if and when he pulls that ring out on me, I don’t run away.