Page 32 of Score Her Heart

Chapter Ten

RILEY

When Fiona called me about wanting to come stay with me, I should have been ecstatic. Instead, I was pissy and snippy with her, even though it wasn’t her I was mad at. Another meeting about how shit the team’s penalty kill was and how I needed to stop it with the dumb penalties put me in a sour mood. I spent a lot of time in the media room with my defensive partner Jonesy going over the tape. Our special teams needed a lot of work, especially if we were going to dig ourselves out of this hole and get a spot in the playoffs. I liked to be optimistic, but I was looking at the stats, and I had my doubts.

When I had calmed down later and called Fi, and she told me what was going on, I immediately jumped into action. Luckily for her, I was a planner, and I kept moving boxes in my hall closet. I never knew with my career if I was going to be shipped off to another city, so I liked to be prepared. Especially since my contract was up come July, and I would become a free agent. The trade deadline was over, so I didn’t have a fear of getting traded, but if the Bulldogs didn’t want to re-sign me this summer, I had another problem. It was another reason why I was so worried about the team’s standing this year. I had to stay in Philly, not for me, but for my wife. This was her home too, and I couldn’t wrench her away from it. Not when I still needed to convince her that this thing between us was real.

I called Benny back. “Listen, buddy,” I began. “I need your help.”

“Okay, I’m turning around now. What’s up?” he asked without hesitation.

That was the great thing about Michael Bennett. He was a good guy, and if you called him asking for help, he would be there in a heartbeat. Probably the same went for a lot of my teammates; if I didn’t call Benny, my next call would have been Noah Kennedy. I swear, those two were in a battle to win the Lady Byng.

“I hate to ask this, but Fi’s gotta move out of her apartment like today,” I explained in a rush.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” I asked in disbelief.

He laughed on the other line. “I’ll be there in a few.”

I owed him a drink or several. Plus, he was the biggest guy on the team, so even though I was pretty fit and muscular, I needed his muscles to help even more. At six-foot-four and two-hundred pounds of muscle, the guy was a beast.

I flipped off the lights in my condo and went downstairs to meet Benny. He rolled down the window of his SUV. “You sent me the address, right?” he asked.

I hitched a thumb back to my own SUV. “You want to follow me? I have no idea how much stuff she has. Actually, girl has a shit ton of books.”

He nodded. “No worries.”

“Thanks for doing this, man. You’re a real life-saver.”

He smiled. “You owe me a beer.”

I shook my head with a laugh in agreement. I got into my own SUV and drove to Fi’s place in Fishtown. With the traffic, and there was always traffic in Philly, it took us a bit to get there, but I was sure she didn’t mind the extra time. Benny and I both had to drive around the block a couple times to find parking, but I waited outside her building for him so we could walk up together. I hit the buzzer for her apartment, and she let us inside.

The apartment was a one-bedroom with a small living room/kitchen area. She was shoving clothes into suitcases when I followed her back into her bedroom. She shoved her hands into her hair in frustration and audibly groaned. “I don’t know if we can get this all done today,” she confessed with a pained look on her face.

“C’mere,” I told her and pulled her into a hug. She sighed into my chest, and I stroked her hair. “It’s gonna be fine; we’ll do what we can. Plus, I have help.”

She glanced over at Benny in the living room, already putting together the packing boxes. He waved a hand at her. “Hi. Michael Bennett,” he called over.

She pulled away from me and crossed into the living room. She held her hand out to him. “I know. It’s Benny, right? Fiona Gallagher.”

Benny raised an eyebrow but shook her hand. His six-foot-four frame towered over everyone, so it was amusing to see my five-foot-nine wife look small next to him. Fi was not a tiny woman, but Benny made everyone else look petite.

“I hear you’re Mrs. Riley now,” Benny teased.

She made an annoyed face, and I covered my face in embarrassment. She shook off the look. “I guess I am, but I’m not changing my name.”

I smiled at that. That, at least, was not a surprise. “Okay, what all in here needs to get packed away?” I asked, changing the subject.

“The books.” She pointed at a standing bookshelf in the corner.

“All of them?” Benny asked.

She grinned. “All of them.”

I took a box and started packing books into it. “Okay, let’s get to work.”