Chapter 8

The week following the show in New York was hectic to say the least. School assignments, a test, project meetings and working on the project itself kept me busy without counting the normal hockey practices. Add in training at the dojo with Sensei twice and I was too busy to worry much about Calvin Klein.

The ladies told me not to talk to either Mr. Klein or Mr. Carroll and leave it their hands, so that's what I did. I dutifully forwarded increasing irate voice mails and emails from both men to Elizabeth and promptly forgot about them. I also informed them of Hadley Moore, Mr. Carroll's new PA, and his comments on her and his wife while we were alone in his office. They found that information very interesting and I wondered what they had in mind. I did make sure to thank Donna via a phone call for her timely intervention when I was about to tell them off.

Willow and Asuka insisted on spending as much time with Elizabeth and me before they had to continue with the tour on Thursday morning. Elizabeth came from Lansing every night to spend time with them, especially when Asuka and I went to the dojo. When the band and Asuka left, Elizabeth spent the night with me Thursday night before the team travelled to Sault Ste. Marie in Northern Michigan Friday morning for two games at Lake Superior State University.

We left by bus early in the morning, just after six am. The trip took almost six hours with a couple of stops along the way to let us stretch and eat. Once we finally got to Sault Ste. Marie, we checked into the Holiday Inn just behind the Taffy Abel Ice Arena. After a quick bite to eat, we walked over to the arena and got on the ice for a quick practice. While the Lakers weren't one of the top teams, the coaches made sure we took them seriously by working us hard for the forty-five minute practice.

After we showered, we went back to the hotel to relax and then have a small meal before coming back for the seven o'clock game. I took a nap while others studied or played on their computers. Dinner was buffet style so we only ate enough to give us energy for the game.

"So Mike, are you getting back with the Waters twins?" Joey asked.

"No," I replied.

"That's not what entertainment shows say," he said with a grin.

"Don't believe anything on those shows Joey," I told him. "I won't be modeling with them, let alone getting back together with them."

"But they're so hot," he said.

"Looks aren't everything," I retorted. "After what they did to me, I didn't even want to be in the same room with them."

"What about you and that singer, Willow?" he asked. "They showed you two dancing and kissing."

"We're good friends," I admitted. "She's one of my oldest friends from Dryden."

"She's beautiful too and her band is pretty good," Joey stated.

"That she is and yes, her band is very good," I agreed.

After dinner, we walked to the arena and slowly got dressed. The coaches did their normal pregame speeches and soon enough, it was time to play.

The Lake Superior State Lakers were a decent team but not a great team, so it came to no surprise how early and often we scored. By the time the first period was over, it was three to nothing and I had an assist on Joey's goal from the point.

The second period we played a puck possession game, keeping the puck for sometimes a minute at a time. We scored another goal and were comfortably ahead four to nothing by the end of the period.

In the third, we traded goals and easily won the game five to one. After the captains attended the quick press conference, we all walked back to the hotel and availed ourselves of the late night buffet. I checked in with Elizabeth and then texted Willow and Asuka before heading to bed.

Saturday we had an optional skate in the morning, which I attended, before we were given the day to do what we wanted. I caught up on some homework and then sent out emails and texts to some of my friends around the world. All of them expressed their outrage at what CK and the twins pulled and I thanked them for their well wishes and support. Kim, the girl from Japan, and I went back and forth for half an hour on the AI project, ending up with me giving her some additional tasks to program.

Saturday night's game was close until the third period, with the game even at three each going into the final period. Joey and I got onto the ice with the second line about two minutes in and lined up for a faceoff in their zone. Shawn won the faceoff back to me and I moved a few feet to the middle of the ice while waiting for a screen to be set up in front of the goal. When Rich parked himself in front of the goalie, I took a low slapshot for the far corner. As we had practiced every day, Rich tipped the puck between his legs and redirected it right underneath the goalie's pads through his legs as the goalie stretched out to stop the initial shot to the corner.

The fourth line made it five to three about half way through the period and I got another assist on an open net goal just before the game ended in a six to three win for us. After shaking hands, we got cleaned up and had a late snack before heading to bed.

Sunday morning we left early and got back to Ann Arbor just after one o'clock. I walked through the campus back to my condo building and grabbed my mail in the lobby before taking the elevator up to the top floor. Once inside my condo, I turned off the alarms and got changed. After starting a load of laundry, I made a late lunch before calling Elizabeth.

"Hey Michael, you're back?" she asked.

"Yep, just finishing up a late lunch and got my laundry going," I replied. "What are you up to?"

"Homework as usual," was her response. "I'm trying to get ahead but there is never enough time in the day it seems."

"I know what you mean," I agreed. "I'll be working all afternoon to stay ahead of it. So, any news I should know about?"

"We did get a hold of Katie finally," Elizabeth told me. "She's agreed to leave CK and work directly for the band. She'll also take care of you and some of the other models once we set her up with her own agency."

"That's great news," I reacted. "I was worried about her. Is she staying in New York?"

"No, we sent her to Winnipeg to be with the band for now," she answered. "Trisha and Barb took Tracey and Stacey to LA to stay in the guest house of Trisha's parents for a couple of weeks. They're going to find some modeling gigs out there if they can until things settle down in New York. Stacey will work with Katie helping coordinate for those three."

"That's probably for the best," I said. "What about Molly and her sister?"

"They went back to London for now, and they're staying in your house," Elizabeth informed me. "We decided to get everyone out of their reach and none of them wanted to work for them anyway. Prince Andrew also made sure Aunt Nancy and her family had security assigned to them, so they're protected twenty-four seven."

"Wow, you guys are really taking this serious," I stated. "Do you really think they will try something?"

"Once they realize what is going to happen to them, we think that Mr. Carroll will resort to just about anything to keep his position of power," Elizabeth replied. "Now that all of the obvious targets are out of his reach, we'll have to worry about those of us in Michigan and then the band. Mitsy sent Asuka some backup and increased her family's security, as did mine. You and I will be getting our security this afternoon."

"I don't need security, they're not about to hurt the one they want the most," I protested. "Besides, I can take care of myself. Who are they sending for you?"

"They're sending me a female to bunk on my couch and others to watch from farther away," she replied. "And you'll be getting just some people to watch out for you from a distance. You'll probably never even realize they are there."

"Fine," I responded with a sigh. "It sounds like you ladies are taking things too far though. Since my contract is completed, I'm happy with just dropping modelling and just concentrate on school, hockey and you three."

"That's sweet but things are in motion that can't be undone," she said.

I decided to drop it as I knew I would never win an argument with them.

"Are you coming over this week?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Maybe Wednesday and over the weekend," she replied. "I'm getting swamped at school so I need to put some extra time in."

"Alright, I could use the time to get ahead as well," I agreed. "I guess we'll talk tomorrow then."

"Sounds good, have a good afternoon," she replied before we hung up.

I spent the rest of the day working on school work, both on assignments and projects as well as reading ahead. After cooking supper, I ate in front of the television as I watched a NHL hockey game. I was in bed by ten and fell asleep quickly to end the week.

Monday started out as a regular day until I was confronted with a camera crew as I entered the arena for afternoon practice.

"Mike Stewart, care to comment on today's events in New York?" asked a blonde reporter I vaguely recognized from one of the entertainment shows.

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about," I stated and tried to walk around both her and the cameraman.

"Calvin Klein President John Carroll was arrested this morning and a mystery company has started a hostile takeover of the company," she informed me.

"Really?" I asked, despite my resolve to avoid the interview.

"Are you telling me you knew nothing about the events of this morning?" she inquired.

"No, this is the first I've heard of it," I admitted.

"What do you feel about the news?" she asked.

"Surprised obviously," I responded. "I'll have to find out more before I can comment any further. Excuse me; I have to go to practice."

I sidestepped the woman and the cameraman and quickly made my way down the hall and into the dressing room before they could catch up with me. Once inside, I sat down at my locker and pulled out my phone. I turned the volume back up and found I had a bunch of messages and texts that I had missed during class. Before I listened to them, I went online and searched for the news about Calvin Klein.

There were several news alerts about both items. Mr. Carroll apparently was arrested for assault on his personal assistant after a sting operation allegedly caught him on tape. There was even video of him being led out of CK headquarters in handcuffs.

The hostile takeover was described in detail on several business and stock websites. A numbered company had bought up close to fifty percent of the stock and it was known that Calvin Klein himself only controlled about forty-five percent. Presently, no one knew who controlled the numbered company but I had my suspicions. I hit the button to listen to my messages to see if I was correct.

"Mike, give me a call before you talk to anyone," Elizabeth said on her short message.

"Mike, call one of us as soon as you get this," Willow added.

"Michael, why aren't you picking up the phone?" Asuka asked. "Call us immediately."

The next few were from Aunt Nancy, Molly, Mrs. Ford and Mitsy, all requiring a call back. I called Elizabeth's number first.

"Mike, where have you been?" she asked before I could even speak. "Everyone has been trying to get a hold of you!"

"Been in class with my phone on mute," I replied. "Just got ambushed by a television crew who told me what was going on. Since I didn't know a thing about it, I could honestly say that before I got away from them."

"I guess that's a good thing because you don't lie very well," she responded. "So you know Carroll is in jail and a numbered company is attempting a hostile takeover of Calvin Klein?"

"Yes, that's all I know," I told her. "I have half dozen messages from the others asking me to call them. What's going on?"

"All you need to know is that it is happening," she answered. "Its better you just know what's being reported for now. No need to call anyone back. I'll let them all know I've talked to you. I'll be at the condo with some food after practice."

I told her who called and Elizabeth said she would take care of it before hanging up. I got dressed and went out to practice. The events in New York were on my mind at first but eventually I put them on the back burner and concentrated on the play on the ice. When we were done, I hurriedly showered and drove to the condo. Elizabeth had Chinese food out on the table when I walked in.

"Hey there," I said when she walked out of the kitchen with some a couple plates and utensils.

"Hi Mike," she replied. "Everything should be still hot so sit down and we'll talk while we eat."

I gave her a kiss before sitting down after she did. We passed each other the various containers of food until we both had our plates full. I took a few bites of food, as did she, before I gave her an inquiring look.

"A bunch of people have formed a company that has bought almost all of the available stock in Calvin Klein," she started. "Once you get a certain amount, you have to announce it so they picked today to do that."

"Okay, it seems extreme to buy a company just because of what they did, but your mom certainly seemed upset after the show," I responded. "Why today?"

"I didn't say my parents had anything to do with it," Elizabeth countered. "As to why announce it today, a little birdy might have told them that the District Attorney was going to drop the hammer on Carroll this morning. Apparently a Miss Hadley Moore, Carroll's assistant, went to the authorities about the abuse she was taking from him. She agreed to place miniature cameras in his office and, when he assaulted her this morning, the police arrested him. The numbered company then made its agenda known after that."

"Very convenient timing I would say, as would others," I noted.

Elizabeth smiled before eating a piece of sweet and sour chicken ball.

"Mrs. Carroll and her daughter Indigo have been very helpful as well, passing on information and bugging his home office for us," she continued. "In return, she gets the needed ammunition to file for a quick divorce from the creep. That should be done tomorrow morning and will be leaked to the press to keep up the pressure. It will also tie up his money so it will be harder for him to defend himself against the assault charges and the sexual harassment suit that will come soon after."

"Wow, you ladies play for keeps," I stated. "Remind me of this whenever I start pissing you off."

She gave me an evil grin before leaning over and giving me a hot kiss.

"Just keep us satisfied and you'll never have to worry about it," she said.

"Shall we finish dinner or should I get started right now?" I asked, rubbing her upper thigh through her jeans.

"I like how you think, but let's eat while the food is still hot," she replied, though she made sure my hand didn't leave her leg.

I used my other hand to eat a few forkfuls of food as she also ate quicker.

"So anything else I should know about?" I inquired.

"Hadley is giving her statement today to the District Attorney and then she will disappear until she has to testify," she informed me. "Mrs. Carroll and Indigo will hire extra security and move to a more secure condo. Oh, one more thing; Indigo will be arriving here on Friday to spend the weekend with us. She requested that for what she did for us."

I frowned at that, remembering my promise to her mother.

"If spending time with us means joining us in bed, I'm going to have to say no," I told her. "One: I promised her mother not to have sex with her; two: I have two important games this weekend against Miami of Ohio; and three: I think we have enough women in this relationship."

"One: Her mother knows about the visit and has given Indigo permission," Elizabeth responded as she counted the points on her fingers. "Two: There will be plenty of time during the day on the weekend to spend time with her. Three: She won't be joining our relationship; this would be a onetime deal. This was what she wanted to help us. Without her, we wouldn't have been able to set this up. I would think that you'd be happy spending some time with her; she's gorgeous."

"Since when are my services bartered like a gigolo without even running it by me first?" I asked, getting peeved as I pulled my hand off her leg.

"Since we decided to take care of your problem with Klein and Carroll," she retorted.

"I never asked you to take care of the problem and even if I had, you had no right to use me to get them involved," I stated. "Taking over a company and putting its president in jail over what they did is way overkill. Adding in promising my sexual services to a girl to get her to help is even worse. I sincerely hope you did nothing to the Water twins on top of everything else you did."

I saw a guilty look flash on her face before she got angry.

"And if we did?" she asked in a loud voice.

"What did you do to them?" I inquired, starting to get mad.

"Don't worry, your precious twins weren't hurt," she spat out. "Their contract with Calvin Klein will be cancelled once the new company gets control."

"That's not right, they said they didn't know that I wasn't told," I responded.

"Are you really that naïve to believe them?" she asked in a mocking tone. "They wanted to get back together with you. They're lucky that's all that's going to be done to them. It could have been much worse."

"You people have gone too far," I stated. "I can't believe what you've done over this. It's definitely a side of you and the others I don't like."

"And you'll never survive in life by letting people walk all over you," she retorted. "But don't worry; we will handle it for you."

"I never asked you to handle anything for me and you can forget handling anything for me in the future," I told her.

She threw her fork down on her plate and got up from the table.

"Fine, I'll tell Indigo the trip is off and let Willow and Asuka know how you feel; enjoy your weekend alone," she said as she went to the front closet and got her coat and boots on.

Without another word, she went out the door and slammed it shut behind her.

"Well, that went well," I said to the empty room.

I sighed as I got up and proceeded to clear away the food from the table. After the dishes were done and the food put away, I worked on some homework before studying for upcoming tests later in the week. I went to bed alone, something I thought I would be doing a lot of in the coming days.

Luckily the rest of the week was busy with projects and tests while the coaches worked us hard in preparation for the big games against the always good Miami of Ohio Redhawks. None of the girls contacted me so I knew I was in hot water with all three of them. On the same hand, I wasn't happy with any of them so I didn't call or text them either. By Friday night I was itching to hit someone hard on the ice.

The game didn't go well from the start. Five minutes in they scored on a deflection of a point shot. Ten minutes later, with Joey and I manning the points in their zone, the puck came up the boards on Joey's side. He made the decision to rush in to keep it in their zone rather than backing out. Unfortunately their forward chipped it by him and even worse, Joey didn't make contact with the speedy forward, allowing him to dart around and chase the puck.

I rushed back to our zone but was facing a two on one as I switched to skating backwards. They passed back and forth a couple of times but I went down on one knee to block the next pass over, deflecting it back towards our blueline. Unfortunately, a third Miami forward beat our players into our zone and shot the puck on net. Josh, our goalie, made an incredible stop on the shot but the rebound went right to one of the other forwards and he slammed it into the net before I could get over to block it.

I was mad as I got up and skated over to Josh.

"Not your fault Josh, great save on the first shot," I told him, tapping his pads with my stick.

He just nodded and turned to take a drink. I skated back to the bench, fuming at the lack of support from the others on the ice. At least one of them should have rushed back to tie up that third forward before he shot.

The coaches obviously felt the same way as they were giving the other four players hell once they got to the bench. Joey was hearing it from Coach Turnbull about his decision to go into the zone and missing both the puck and the forward, while the three forwards were getting yelled at by both Coach Samuelson and Huntley.

After Turnbull was done with Joey, he turned to me and said, "Excellent play on the two on one Mike. It wasn't your fault on the goal."

"Thanks," I said before taking a drink.

The period ended with the score at two to nothing and Huntley went off on the team during the intermission. Joey and all three forwards were dressed down and then he went after just about everyone else. The locker room was silent after the coaches were done for the last five minutes before we went back on the ice.

We played better in the second period as everyone was highly motivated after the ass chewing we got. Unfortunately it wasn't translating into many shots on net. I tried my best to up my game, hitting everyone who came near me with the puck and trying to feed the forwards with breakout passes. I was sitting on the bench with about five minutes left in the second period when Coach Turnbull tapped me on the shoulder.

"Get out there and make something happen Mike," he said when I looked back at him.

I nodded as I jumped onto the ice when Ian came back to the bench. I skated back to our zone to take possession of the puck behind our net from John. Already skating hard, I accelerated as I rounded the net and turned up ice. I passed the puck to Adam waiting on the half boards, when one of their forwards came at me. Adam passed it back to me after I avoided the hit and continued up the ice.

I deked their centre and approached their blueline at full speed. Both of their defencemen closed in on me from either side so I faked going between them before sharply cutting to the right. They collided with each other and both went down as I continued in on net. The last forward came in and tried to hook me as I wound up for a shot. With his stick on my back arm, I let go of my stick with that hand for a second, used one arm to pull the puck across the front of the net. Shrugging off his stick, I had a split second to get both hands on the stick and flip a backhand over the goalie's outstretched pad and stick right into the top of the net, knocking off the water bottle.

The crowd roared their approval as the guys on the ice congratulated me. We did the obligatory fist pumping with the guys on the bench before we sat down.

"That's how to do it Mike," Coach Turnbull shouted as he hit my shoulder pads enthusiastically. "Great goal!"

"Thanks," I said with a grin.

The guys on the ice took the play to the Redhawks for the rest of the period but couldn't get the tying goal before the buzzer rang to signal the end of the second period. The mood in the dressing room was much better as was the coach's demeanor.

"That was a much better period," Coach Huntley started. "That's how we should be playing all the time! We need to keep that intensity up for the rest of the next period. We need to prove that we're as good a team as they are; no we need to prove that we're a better team than they are!"

Everyone shouted in agreement.

"This is our house and teams that come in here have to fear us!" he continued. "I want you to up the physical play and keep the puck in their zone so we can tie up this game and then win it. You all know that they are one of the best teams in our conference so we need to win this game and use that momentum to win tomorrow's game!"

We shouted some more before the coaches let us rest until the horn sounded for us to go back to the ice for the third period. Everyone was pumped up and it showed on the ice as everyone tried to hit whoever had the puck whenever they had the chance. Unfortunately, even though we had them on their heels for most of the period, we couldn't put the puck past their exceptional goalie.

With two minutes left, I tried another end to end rush and managed to get by their left defenceman, but the goalie made a fantastic save when I passed the puck over to Ron who redirected it on net. The goalie did the splits and robbed him of a sure goal.

We had to pull our goalie for an extra attacker but one of the defenders got a hold of the puck and lobbed it from their end right into our open net. The game ended in a three to one loss. The crowd was disappointed to say the least but gave us a nice ovation before we left the ice for the locker room.

Saturday night's game was even worse as we lost that one five to one. I tried my best to get the team going, assisting on the first goal of the game with a breakout pass from our zone to Henry who went in all alone and scored on a breakaway. Unfortunately, they tied the game before the end of the first period and scored two goals in each of the next periods while holding us to zeroes on both. We were read the riot act at the end of the game before we left the area.

The rest of November sucked for me, both personally and as part of the hockey team. None of the girls called and I was just as stubborn and didn't talk to them. Mr. Carrol was officially charged and was denied bail. The remaining stock of Calvin Klein, not already in the new company's hands or in Mr. Klein's, was worth a lot of money as both were trying to get the majority needed to gain, or keep, control of the company. My investment person called to see what I wanted to do with mine as she was approached by both sides. I told her to just hold onto it for now as I didn't need to piss off either side any more than I already had.

The only good thing that came from not having three women around was the extra time I had to work on schoolwork. I aced a couple of tests and got assignments done with plenty of time to make sure they were as good as I could make them. I even got to program more on my AI project, even though Kim in Japan didn't answer my emails either. Luckily I had most of her code already so she couldn't hold that from me.

The second weekend in November we had a home and home series with Michigan State, again losing both games, probably much to Elizabeth's delight. I scored a goal in the first game but we were shutout in the second. The third weekend we had a home and home series against Bowling Green which we split, losing the one at home but finally winning a game in Toledo, four to one. I managed assists in both games and a goal in the win.

The last week of November brought on the Annual college hockey showcase in Ann Arbor where we won against Minnesota six to zero on the Friday. I got lucky and scored two goals. The Saturday game we also won against Wisconsin three to two, in which I added an assist to my totals.

On the Sunday, Aunt Nancy called and asked me what was going on with the girls and me. I let her know my side of the issue about what happened with Elizabeth and how we hadn't talked since the beginning of November.

"Michael, it's gone on long enough, you have to stop being stubborn and call them," she chided me.

"I don't think so, Aunt Nancy," I replied. "I don't agree with what they did and really didn't like Elizabeth's attitude when I confronted her on it. I don't like what they wanted me to do with the girl or that they went after the twins. I'm tired of them thinking they can run my life without letting me have any input. I have no problem with being alone, especially with exams and hockey going to take so much time up in the next month or two."

"You could lose all three of them if you keep it up," she warned. "They're all beautiful, smart and delightful women who won't have a problem finding other men to date. And, before you say it, I know you could find any number of beautiful women to replace them if you wanted. But really Michael, the adults did most of the stuff with Calvin Klein and helped with the Carrol thing."

"I'm sure they were highly involved in most of it," I responded. "Sorry Aunt Nancy, but I'm not going to be the first one to budge on this. She walked out of the condo after saying some pretty nasty things and the other two have obviously taken her side. I'll never win another argument or fight with them if I cave now. Frankly, I don't particularly want them back if that's their real attitude towards me."

"You should at least talk to them rather than just ignoring the problem," she stated.

"It's gone on too long as it is, and they obviously think they did nothing wrong," I told her before trying to change the subject. "But, enough about them; how are my cousins? Are they mad at me too?"

Aunt Nancy laughed and replied, "No, they don't know anything about it and would take your side if they did. They still think you are the best guy in the world."

"Well I'm glad I have at least two in my corner," I said.