Chapter 40

I had slept surprising well for the first night in a new place. I felt great when I got dressed and looked out the windows at the dark campus and city while drinking a diet coke. The thermometer on the outside of the patio window read fifteen below, so I dressed in an extra sweater and took the SUV to the arena. There was frost on everything and I had to be real careful over a patch of black ice on an overpass before I finally got to the arena, still fairly early. After getting dressed in the cold dressing room, I did a lot of the skating drills for both defence and forward before I shot at Patrick from both out at the point and further in. The team joined me on the ice eventually and I shot the shit with John, Pete and Victor until the coaches came out and Fred gathered us together for the usual Monday morning speech.

"We squeaked out a split with Bowling Green on the weekend, instead of taking two games that we should have won easily," he started out. "So we've dropped down to eighth in the rankings, which is unacceptable. This weekend we play Michigan State in a home and home series, but this time their home game is at the Joe Louis arena on Friday night. We need to take both of these games this weekend especially since we've proven we can beat these guys back to back already."

The guys grinned at playing at Joe Louis again. Fred continued after a short pause.

"So, we know they're going to play physical, so we need to play a fast, puck possession game while avoiding playing their game," he said. "Let's get busy."

We switched back to what had worked against State in the past games, a quick passing attack and carry the puck into their zone whenever we could, instead of dumping it and giving up possession. On defence, we practiced avoiding getting hit by our forwards as they dumped it in on us. We had a short special teams practice and then the usual scrimmage before we were let go.

I walked up to the algebra classroom and handed in the assignment before finding a seat. The professor started up soon after and only did one chapter this time as it was on a difficult topic. He went through a few more examples than usual and then assigned questions from the back of the chapter for the weekly assignment.

I moved on to calculus and put my assignment on the pile on the desktop and found a seat. Professor Hiller came in and revealed a nice dress and heels when she took her coat off. Her hair was down around her shoulders today and I she looked very beautiful. She got through two easy chapters of calculus before the bell rang. She quickly assigned questions from each chapter before we could run off. I deliberately hung back again to be the last one out.

"Mr. Stewart, I've been seeing you all over the place this past weekend; in magazines, commercials, and I even watched you play hockey two nights on the telly," she said.

"How did you like the games?" I asked.

"A bit brutal for my taste, but I've seen worse in the crowds at an English football match," she said. "Your poor face, I saw them stitch you up on the bench, it must have hurt."

"Didn't you see me crying like a baby?" I asked.

She laughed and started packing up her stuff.

"So, you're a model of Calvin Klein underwear as well," she stated. "I must admit, you seem to be suited for it with your physique. The girls have been discussing you quite flatteringly from what I've heard."

"I did it as a favour to my ex-girlfriend but the company seems to like the response so they've signed me on for six more shoots," I told her. "I'm pretty embarrassed about being seen by everyone in my underwear, but they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

"Well, you have nothing to be embarrassed about, you looked great," she said. "I'll need to get you to sign some pictures for me or no one will believe me that I know you."

"Sure, bring them in and I'll be happy to," I told her. "While we're passing out compliments, I just wanted to say that you look very beautiful today, I like your dress and your hair down."

"Why thank you Michael, that's very kind of you to notice," she replied with a blush.

I helped her with her coat and handed her suitcase to her.

"You have a good day Professor Hiller and I'll see you next class," I told her.

"So you've given up on getting me to lunch?" she asked with a grin.

"Right now I am, I'm a bit of a public figure right now and I don't want you to get in trouble," I said. "Maybe we can have dinner sometime soon at my condo, it's a secure building so no one will be able to get in to photograph us."

"You're right, being seen with you would ruin my career here," she said. "I think I'll admire you from afar, at least while you're a student of mine."

"Unfortunately, I have to agree Miss Hiller," I responded. "I definitely want you around for a long time so let's just be friends for now."

"You are very good for my self confidence Mr. Stewart," she said with a smile. "I enjoy our little sessions after class."

"As do I," I replied. "It's nice to flirt with such a gorgeous intelligent woman."

"Why thank you Mr. Stewart, I look forward to the day that we can do more than talk to each other," she said. "Now, let's get out of here before we do something that we will regret later."

"Have a good day Miss Hiller," I said with a grin.

"You too Mr. Stewart," she replied with an answering smile.

We split up and went our separate ways. I grabbed some food at the nearby cafeteria and sat at an empty table. I ate the pork chops and French fries while getting out my calculus textbook and starting the assignment. When I got that done it was about time to go to philosophy so I packed up and walked over to the classroom. I found an aisle seat and relaxed as everyone trickled in.

A few girls seemed to recognize me, or at least suspect that I was the new CK guy, but they didn't approach me. They whispered to their friends if they were in a group and I became the focus of a few ladies as they talked amongst themselves.

The professor walked in which forced everyone to get ready for the lecture. We passed our assignments to the end of the rows and he came along and collected the piles from the aisles. We then went through another Greek philosopher, covering a chapter in the textbook. He assigned more questions and then reminded us that the first term paper should be started and he was available for help during his office hours. He let us out and I quickly scooted out the back door and checked my messages as I left the building.

Katie Dunn had left me a message on my cell, letting me know that the two of them were at the airport in New York and would see me at seven. She left me a cell number to get a hold of her if I needed to. I called her and left a message that I had moved and gave her the new address and simple directions on how to get there from the airport.

I walked to the arena and did my whole routine in the weight room since I knew my time was getting filled up. After a quick shower, I got suited up and watched the skaters for a bit and said hi to the ones that came by. Casey and Mitsy came up to me at the end of the line.

"Hi Mike, I wasn't sure if you were going to be here anymore," Casey said.

"And why is that?" I asked with a smile.

"Well, we thought you might get angry or jealous of us going to the doughnut shop last night," she replied.

"I'm a bit jealous but if we're not going to go out, you might as well meet new guys, both of you," I said. "It's going to be happening to me too, so it wouldn't be fair for me to get angry. Just be careful and keep Asuka around until you can trust them."

"I found out that Kentaro's family and ours do some business together so Asuka is doing some research on him and Todd," Mitsy told me. If nothing bad turns up, we might continue the coffee shop visits after our self defence classes and see how it goes. They are pretty cute and interesting."

"I'm happy for you two, and I hope this means you back off a bit on your meddling in my affairs," I responded.

"Ok, but we're going to make sure your girlfriends are treating you well," she replied.

"Fine, because I'll be doing the same with both of your boyfriends," I told them.

"It's a deal," Casey said.

"I'll see you tomorrow, same bat time, and same bat place", I told them as they started to go.

"See you Michael," Mitsy responded.

"Later Mike," Casey said.

I watched them until they rounded the corner. It looked like my figure skaters were moving on before I even got a chance to know them. Hopefully Asuka would still want to train with me. I was disappointed but it was probably for the best – for them at least.

Practice was intense and I took out my disappointment on the forwards by finishing checks and peppering the goalies with hard shots. Rich Franklin, the third line left winger, took exception to me rubbing him out on the boards.

"Fuck you queer boy," he shouted as he got up and slashed my stick out of my hand.

"Jesus Franklin, I hardly touched you," I said, going to pick up my stick. "Next time you come into the zone with your head down I'll put you through the boards so you know you got off lucky this time."

"Just stay away from me ass lover," he yelled as he skated away.

A few minutes later in the scrimmage he thought he would prove me wrong as he took the puck wide on me. I lowered the boom on him and separated him from the puck, as well as his stick and gloves when I slammed him into the boards. I calmly corralled the loose puck and passed it out of the zone to Adam Steel, who went up ice to deke out Mark and put it in the net behind him. Fred blew the whistle and skated over to Rich, who was just getting up to his feet.

"That's what's going to happen to any of you that think you can get cute with the guys from State," he said loudly. "If that happens in a game Franklin, I'll bench you until you're an old man."

"Yes Coach," Franklin mumbled.

"And Franklin, you did see the Waters twins in the pictures I hope. I would drop the whole gay thing with Stewart if I were you, I'm damn sure he's straight. If not, a lot of women are going to go to bed crying tonight."

The guys laughed at that and I skated away.

After practice was over I drove home to the condo and made sure everything was tidied up for the visit. I had a quick snack in case they had eaten; if not we could go out to eat or order something in. I put on some good casual clothes so we could go just about anywhere.

Just before seven the buzzer on the intercom rang and let them in the lobby and told them I would be down in a minute. I grabbed my keys and took the elevator down to the main floor. They were sitting in the small waiting area and both showed me lots of their long legs as they got up.

"Mr. Stewart, it's nice to see you, I'm Katie Dunn and this gorgeous young lady is Barb Roseburg," she said, offering her hand.

"Hello Miss Dunn and Miss Roseburg, it's nice to meet you both," I said. "Your pictures didn't do either of you justice, you're both very beautiful."

"Why thank you Mr. Stewart," Miss Dunn said. "I insist that you call us Katie and Barb since we're all going to be working very close to one another."

"Then please call me Mike," I responded. "Come on up to the condo and we can decide if we want to order in or go out for dinner."

I grabbed the two suitcases and led them to the elevator. I put them down for a second and used the key to get the elevator door open. I followed them into the elevator and hit the up button and watched the doors close. In the confined space I could smell someone's perfume and it was a very mild fruity smell. I looked over at them and Katie smiled back while Barb was looking down at the floor.

When the doors opened, I let them out first and then guided them to the condo door and opened it while they waited. After taking their coats and hanging them in the foyer closet, I led them to the living room and admired them as sat down on the sofa. The two were both in clingy dresses that came down just past mid thigh and showed off their slim figures. They were made up with their hair done up and their makeup looked like they went to a salon to get it done.

"Wow, you two look gorgeous in those dresses," I said. "I'm surprised you're both not models."

"Thank you Mike, that's kind of you to say," Katie replied with a smile. "We took extra care to look good for you tonight."

"It shows, believe me," I said with an answering smile. "So, you haven't eaten yet?"

"No, we thought we would see if you would like to go out with us," Katie replied.

"We could, or we could order in and handle our business here, in private," I suggested. "Several very good restaurants close by deliver; we could get Italian, Seafood, Steak or Chinese in less than an hour if you like."

"I'm pretty easy to satisfy," Katie said. "Any of those is fine with me. Barb?"

Barb looked up and replied quietly, "I'm ok with anything as well."

"Well, I'll order some Chinese, a dinner for three should have enough variety for all of us," I decided. "Do either of you have any allergies or dislikes?"

Neither one did, so I quickly ordered from a nearby restaurant and came back with some bottled water for all of us. They thanked me as I sat down across from them.

"Ok Mike, I'm going to be in charge of your modelling activities this year," Katie started. "I'm here to make sure you're happy, content and have everything you need. I'm also supposed to make up a tentative schedule of the six shoots, times, locations, models, photographers, directors; the works. I handle the shoot bookings, the travel itinerary, the hotel accommodations; everything to get them ready for you. All you have to do is show up with a good work ethic for two to three days and then you get to relax and enjoy the rest of the time, however long you want."

"That sounds good so far, it's a lot for you to do by yourself though," I commented.

"I have help back at the office so don't worry about that," she said with a smile.

"Good enough," I replied with an answering smile.

"We know your time is very tight, with school, hockey, homework and any social activities you might have; so we probably have to fit these shoots in your school and hockey breaks," she continued. "March break, summer holidays, Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays will all be good times, especially if you bring any family with you to the location."

"I don't have much in regards to family, just an Aunt and Uncle with two young cousins in Toronto," I told her. "So I can see them if we do a shoot up there, maybe for one in the summer."

"Excellent, we were hoping to use Toronto as one of them," she said.

"I'm off the first week of March for Spring break and my last game is Saturday, February twenty eighth I think," I told her. "I could do one that week but have to be back here by the next Sunday. Let me get my schedules and a calendar so we can do this right."

I got up and retrieved my school and hockey schedules as well as a full size calendar and made my way back to the living room.

"I could schedule a shoot in the Caribbean to start shooting on the Monday and a flight back on the following Saturday afternoon," Katie said, writing down some dates in a small book she pulled from her purse.

"That looks good for me," I replied.

"We'll talk later about setting up any extracurricular activities that you and your guests might like to do and all you have to do is show up," she added. "I'm talking at all of the shoots, not just the first one."

"That's very generous of you Katie," I said.

"It's part of the service Mike, Mr. Carroll wants us to take very good care of you," she said with a smile. "Ok, we have one time slot done and two destinations settled. Let's do some tentative scheduling for the rest of the five shoots. You get done this semester at the end of April and hockey is done then as well, according to the schedules you sent me. You said in your email you were going to keep on with school in the summer, so you'll just have the first week of May off, the first week of July off, and a few days around Labour Day off."

"That sounds right," I said.

"So, we could schedule two one-week shoots in May and July, wherever you want to go, and a shorter one around Labour day, real close, say in Windsor or in Toronto," she proposed.

"Ok, the one in May can be down somewhere warm, but the one in July could be in a cooler place, maybe Vancouver or Banff in Canada," I suggested.

"How about a nice resort in Hawaii for May and maybe split the next one in Vancouver and nearby Whistler Mountain," she asked. "They say that Whistler is fantastic in the summer as well."

"Sounds good," I agreed.

"Alright," she said as she wrote some things down. "So would Toronto or Windsor be ok for Labour day?"

"Let's do Toronto for that one," I told her.

"Ok, we have the Caribbean, Hawaii, Vancouver and Whistler, and Toronto," she listed. "We'll probably need to use your Thanksgiving holiday's four days and then a week or two of your Christmas holidays to finish the last two," she pointed out.

"Ok, somewhere warm for both, a quick one for the Thanksgiving and a week for the Christmas one," I agreed. "We'll need to schedule around the Great Lakes hockey tournament just after Christmas."

"Ok, as soon as you get next year's hockey schedule, we'll pencil in the exact dates for the last couple," she stated.

"I'll check with the coach tomorrow to see when it comes out," I told her.

"So, how does Cancun or Acapulco in Mexico sound for the Thanksgiving one; and a longer trip to the Mediterranean for the last one?" Katie asked. "It could be in Greece, Italy, French or Spanish Rivera or a combination of several countries I suppose."

"Sounds good to me if we can get enough time to go that far away," I said.

"We'll see what we can do, maybe you have to leave the day before and get in late before school starts up again, but hopefully we can set something up," she replied.

"Ok, so we have tentative times and locations for the six shoots," I said. "We're making good progress."

"Yes we are, you're being very cooperative Mike; I really appreciate it," Katie responded with a smile.

"Since I'm committed to doing these, I might as well work with you to get them done," I replied with a shrug.

The panel at the front door buzzed and I grabbed my keys and went to answer it. The delivery guy was at the lobby door and I let him in and said I would be down in a minute.

"I'll be right back ladies," I said.

I went down and paid the delivery guy and then came back up. When I entered the condo, the ladies had frowns on their faces and looked like they had just stopped arguing when I came in. I avoided them and put the bags on the dining room table before going into the kitchen to get plates and utensils. I set the table and grabbed some glasses for some pop or water as the ladies started arguing quietly in the living room. After opening the various containers and putting serving spoons in them, I walked over to the two of them and they stopped their discussion and looked at me.

"The food is ready if you would like to join me," I told them. "You can fill me on what the problem is afterwards, ok?"

"Ok Mike, that sounds like the best plan," Katie said quickly as Barb started to say something.

I turned and led them back to the table and they sat on either side while I took the end by the window. I offered Katie some General Tao's chicken and then Barb some Lo Mein before dishing some Beef Chop Suey onto my plate. After we had our plates full, I offered them some diet coke, milk or water and they both went with water. We started eating, still in silence, as we were obviously all pretty hungry.

I looked at the two ladies as they ate and saw that they both avoided eye contact with each other and with me. I took the opportunity to look at them more closely. Katie was a beautiful blonde with blue eyes and pale skin. She reminded me a bit of Meg Ryan, cute beautiful rather than high end model beautiful.

Barb, on the other hand, looked so much like an elfish princess; the long, wavy red hair, the tiny button nose and the small mouth looked almost fairy. Add to the picture all the freckles that covered her face, neck, arms and chest and you had the quintessential beautiful Irish elf girl. She was tall and thin, with wonderfully firm upstanding breasts, just the right size for her petite frame. I sorely wished I had met her under better circumstances as she was simply gorgeous. She caught me staring at her and immediately got angry.

"What?" she asked in a huff as her green eyes glared. "Haven't you seen someone eat before?"

"Sorry, I'm being rude; I tend to stare at beautiful women to long," I apologized. "I always get myself in trouble doing it, but in my defence, you're both are utterly gorgeous. I know you probably hate having to deal with your beauty when you want to be an engineer, but I'm shocked you're not a fashion model."

"They don't like all the freckles and I wanted to do more than pose for stupid pictures in ridiculous outfits," she responded irritably.

"Again, I'm sorry for staring," I said, before putting a forkful of food into my mouth.

She stabbed a chicken ball hard as if she wanted it to be me and plopped it in her mouth, chewing it angrily.

I finished my mouthful and then put my fork down on my plate.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you don't want be here Barb," I noted. "Why did you even make the trip if you were going to act like this and force me to send you back?"

"I don't have much of a choice, now do I?" she said bitterly. "After you got my sister fired and the two of us evicted from our condo, they cancelled my scholarship and blacklisted her at all of the legal firms in the state. It was either these jobs or out on the street for both of us."

"Jesus, all I told him that she was a witch, I never meant for any of that to happen," I told her in shock. "I'll give Mr. Carroll a call and get this all straightened out as soon as we're finished dinner. Or you can just quit and I'm sure I could help you get a new job somewhere else."

"That won't help Mike, we had to sign contracts that have an even harsher penalty if we quit," Barb said bitterly. "My sister is at the beck and call of Mr. Carroll and I'm at yours. I'm sure you'll take advantage of it as he no doubt is."

"Listen, I'm not a bad guy and I had nothing to do with this, other than complain once about your sister," I told her. "I'm not about to make you do anything you don't want to so you can put your mind at ease on that. Katie, what do you know about this?"

"Ha! She's not in much better shape, she has to make sure that you're totally satisfied or she's out the door as well," Barb said with a mirthless laugh. "Why do you think we're both dressed like this?"

"Jesus, I really don't need this crap right now," I said angrily. "Katie, you can just take her back with her and I'll tell Carroll the whole deal is off. He can have his money back, including the extra for the first shoot and I'll just walk away."

"Mike, please don't act rashly," Katie said quickly. "Barb and her sister are being treated unfairly, I know that; but I'm not in a position to do anything about it. What Barb isn't taking into account is the fact that if she goes back, she'll have to work for someone else that won't treat her as well as I'm sure you will. That will be the case whether you quit modelling or not. I'm sure that she would rather be here with you than being Mr. White's personal assistant. Or she can quit and pay the penalty clause on the contract. If you quit, I'll be out on the street as well. Why don't we all calm down a bit and dial in the rest of the stuff and then come back to this at the end?"

"Alright," I said with a sigh. "It might be all for naught, but at least you can say that you had everything else done except that."

We both looked at Barb and she spat out, "Fine!"

"Ok, let me go through some of the things that I'm supposed to let you know that we provide as part of our service to you," Katie said, putting a leather clipboard on the table beside her. "I've been told to let you know that if there is anything that you need or want, you just have to ask and it's my job to get it for you. You need concert tickets, show tickets, any sporting events you want to go to; just let us know and we'll get them for you, anywhere in the country, anytime. Also, if you need an escort to an event, we can get a model to be there with you, if you give me enough time."

"That's a nice bonus" I responded. "I'm not sure I'll need any of that but it's nice to know it's there. We'll have to see if the NCAA will allow it though; probably not."

"We'll check before we officially offer you anything," Katie assured me. "Now this next one is important; if you run into any trouble, with the law, the press, a girl, a girl's parents, boyfriend or husband, something with the school, anything; you need to let me know so I can help you and start damage control," she said seriously. "You don't have an agent or a publicist, so I'm going to do that for you. Mr. Carroll says you're a good guy, so I don't expect to have to do much, but you have to let me know if anything happens. I can handle things before it gets out too far, but it's a lot harder if I hear it in the press before you tell me."

"Ok, there shouldn't be anything, but the way the girls are acting around here, I wouldn't be surprised if someone tries to pull something," I agreed.

"The next issue is picking the models. I know you don't know many, and the ones you do know are probably the last ones you want, so I brought a few pictures of some we have under contract to start," Katie continued. "We have some that we think will look good with you and you can see what you think of our choices. We have others we can get and I'll be sending you their profiles this week as well, and you can look through them."

"It's going to be hard for me to choose someone by their picture, and I have no idea who would look good with me," I said. "I have certain taste in women so I would probably just pick the models that look good to me. That wouldn't mean that they would be the best choice for you."

"Let's do this, you pick a few and we will as well," she said. "Then, when they are in the neighbourhood and you have a couple of hours, we'll get you two together and see how you look together and how you click. We can take a few digital pictures of you and then you and the model can go out for dinner and get to know one another. Over the next few months we will get a few that we all agree on and we'll fit them into the shoots. Sound good?"

"That will do, fair to both parties I think," I agreed.

"The one on top of the pile is our model in Canada, Ellen Bradshaw. I've already spoken to her and she is real excited to get to work with you and she said she could come down as soon as you were ready to meet with her. She can be down here in about four to five hours and you can have Barb take some pictures and go out and have some fun."

"Ok, I'll let you know what day is good, probably a Monday or Wednesday evening or Sunday all day till seven is good," I said. "Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings I have additional martial arts training from seven till nine. I don't have much free time anymore."

"No problem Mike, we work around your schedule the best we can," she replied as she made note of my additional hours and then closed up the model file and handed it to me.

"Now, the rest of it is photographers and film directors, which at first you won't have much of a preference I think," Katie said.

"The guy that we worked with on the first shoot and commercial directed both and was patient and really made it bearable," I said. "I would be ok with him again, his name was Sergio. I wouldn't work well with a prima donna type of guy or one that was prancing around like a girl."

"Ok, I'll look up Sergio and see if he wants to be on the next shoot," she said as she tried not laugh.

"You laugh, but I was at a photo shoot for the twins and the director was flouncing around dressed in a yellow shirt, pink pants and a red beret," I told them. "I know there are lots of gay guys in fashion and I'm not a homophobe or anything; but I'm going to be in my underwear and I don't need a touchy, feely type of director, unless she's a beautiful woman."

"I get the point Mike, and Mr. Carroll already made sure to tell me that you were supposed to be shown in the most manly, rugged manner possible," Katie said with a grin.

"Good, I'm already taking heat for this from the team and from my opponents, if anything makes me look wimpy or gay I'll never hear the end of it and then this already not so pretty face will get uglier as I get into more fights," I told her.

"I'm making a note of it as we speak Mike," she said with a laugh. "Don't worry Mike, none of the women that are looking at the pictures think you're the least bit gay and that's the important thing. The guys are looking at the girls with you anyway."