Free Melting The Ice by Amy Leigh Napier

volatile, sexy woman, he mused, and he knew she couldn’t say no to him forever.  She liked looking at his body too much and besides, her arguments were ridiculous and weak.
     
    He pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the speed dial for his best friend.
     
    “What’s up, Key?”  Max’s lightly accented voice came across the line.  Cian smiled when he heard his nickname.  Max had dubbed him with the nickname when they had first started playing Junior League hockey together and it had stuck.  He’d even been talked into having a skeleton key tattooed on his bicep with his number, 25, worked into the design.  “How is West Virginia treating you, brother?”
     
    “Not too well right now.  I just pissed off my hostess.”  Cian said happily.
     
    “Jay’s mother?”  Max asked, surprised that Cian would sound so happy about upsetting their friend’s mother.  “What did you do?”
     
    He proceeded to tell Max the entire sordid, unbelievable story because hey, he had to share this shit with somebody.  Max wouldn’t tell anyone and God knew he would get a kick out of it.
     
    “You picked Jay’s mom up in a bar?”  Max hooted with laughter.  “You must have been lit up.”
     
    “I was pretty lit but I’d have done it sober.  She’s fucking hot, man.”  Cian said, appreciation ripe in his voice, picturing just how hot she was in his mind.
     
    Max’s laughter continued.  “That is what those dumbasses you call brothers have always said.  Maybe their vision is improving.”
     
    They talked for a few more minutes, Max filling Cian in on the media storm that Lani continued to stir.  They lived in the same building so when the reporters staked out Cian’s place, they staked out Max, as well.  If the reporters thought stalking Max would rattle him, they were in for a major letdown; Max loved playing the gregarious superstar and being in the limelight didn’t bother him in the least.  “In another week or two some NBA or NFL player will pull a gun on somebody and the gossip rags will have something else to focus on.” Max said, eternally optimistic.  “Then I believe I will join you in West Virginia for a visit…and to see if Jay’s mom is as smoking hot as you say.  You could be as blind as your brothers or just desperate, for all I know.”
     
    “Ha ha ha, Funny Man.”  Cian laughed.  “There’s a habitable hotel in town but I’ll check with Ava to see if she minds you staying here.  Wait until you see this place, man.  Jay’s mom is loaded.”  They chatted for a few more minutes with Max promising to email him his flight info.  Cian felt much better after talking to Max; his pal had that effect on people.  It was really hard to be in a bad mood around him because he was usually laughing.  He honestly couldn't think of anyone he'd ever known as carefree as Max.  Nothing fazed him as evidenced by the Miami fiasco.  Max hadn't batted an eye at having to bail Cian out of jail on felony drug possession, just to name one of the charges he’d been hit with, and had cheerfully run the media gauntlet with him.  Max grinned at the reporters and told them they were going to be sorry they printed these negative stories about Cian when they had to retract everything they had written.  He’d also shamelessly flirted with one of the female reporters on the way to the car and had ended up taking her out to dinner that evening without giving any kind of interview.  Only Max would come out of that experience with a date, Cian thought with a laugh.   Fall into a pile of shit and come out smelling like a rose; that was Maxime Brooks in a nutshell.  Hell, it was probably a whole lot easier to take it all in stride when it wasn't your ass looking at prison time. 
     
    Realistically, he’d known the chances of him going to prison were slim to none but having the whole fucked up mess publicly aired for the entertainment of thousands had been a pride swallowing