“Yep. And Romelski’s. We’ve been real happy with her, haven’t we, Rome?”
“Yeah, we love Annie,” Romelski chimed in.
“She good on her knees or something?” Paxton asked.
I bristled, and even Leroy snapped up at the question, overhearing us. “Excuse me?”
“What? You just seem to love her so much. It can’t just be about her being good at her job. I thought maybe there was more to the job than you say.”
Right as I was about to lay into him, Coach walked in. “Mr. Marshall! Glad you could make it!”
“Coach, so nice to meet you! Thanks for having me out today,” the pig said, suddenly the picture of perfect manners.
They exchanged pleasantries, and Coach gave us the rundown of what we’d be doing for practice. Other guys chatted with Paxton while we warmed up. I was still ready to slice the kid’s jugularfor talking about Annie like that. But I knew Annie needed a contract like that in her portfolio. She didn’t have a forward on the Princes, and that would round out her client list nicely.
I needed to not screw this up for her.
We got through the practice, Annie standing on the bench with Coach and the kid. I swore I caught Paxton trying to flirt with Annie at one point, listening a little too intently to her and mimicking her posture.
I hated him.
Because while he was putting on the engaged Mr. Nice Guy front, he was a fucking monster.
But I tried. I pasted on the smile after practice and took him to my table at team lunch. He went to a different line to grab food, and I took a minute to slip a text to Annie.
Nice seeing you on the side at practice today.
You’re gorgeous. XO
Annie
I liked getting to watch you. You goof off a lot in practice lol
But you’re the cutest one (kiss emoji kiss emoji)
Everything going okay?
Yep
Paxton slid into the chair next to me while talking to Romelski, his eyes lingering on my screen before I shut it off.
“She’s a fuckin’ rocket, though, right? Those legs, that little Southern belle thing she’s got going, all that hair? Bet it’d look nice wrapped around—”
He had my attention now. I snapped.
“Who are you talking about?”
Romelski gave me big eyes and a nervous grimace. “Obi,” he said with a quiet gulp.
“If it was about your potential sports agent, you’d better shut your fucking mouth before I shut it for you. I don’t know whatkind of dumpster diving high school you go to or what fuckery flies there, but this is the highest level of professional hockey. You need to act like it. We do not talk about women like that, and we do not talk about the professionals we work with like that. Got it?”
Paxton’s face was red. “Chill out, bro. It was a joke.”
“We don’t joke about the people who work with us. We treat them with respect. And if you can’t do that, I’ll make sure you don’t get a spot on this team.”
The room had gone silent, all eyes on me. A chair scooted and a hand met my arm.
“Hey man, let’s step outside,” Mikey said.
