“Probably should’ve led with that,” June muttered, glancing at me.
For a moment, my heart was filled with light. I had itbadfor this girl.
“The arena is safe,” Jay reiterated. “The higher-ups wanted to keep this from you, but I believe in transparency with my players. Besides, Rhett was the one who found the letter, and I know he can’t keep a fucking secret to save his life.”
“Guilty as charged,” Rhett replied, which drew a few nervous laughs.
There’s one secret he’s been able to keep all this time. He and June had slept together weeks ago and nobody knew. I felt a small pang of jealousy that he’d gotten to hook up with her first, but it disappeared as Coach began speaking again.
“Everyone here is one hundred percent safe. It’s important that you know that fact. High-profile players get death threats all the time. This is almost certainly just a threat, nothing more.”
Coach Jay paused before continuing.
“Having said that… we’re taking this threat seriously, just in case. In the interest of player safety, I’ve made the decision to bench Rhett tomorrow against the Oilers.”
The reaction was like an actual bomb going off. Everyone started shouting at once, and Rhett leaped to his feet and got in Jay’s face, gesturing angrily. June’s eyes were wide and innocent as she took it all in.
I got up on the bench and let out an ear-piercing whistle that immediately silenced the room.
“If Coach Jay thinks this is best, we should trust him.” I didn’t need to raise my voice. I was the captain, and my words carried weight. “If anyone wants to argue about it, they can argue with me, too.”
Coach Jay nodded at me in thanks. “This information doesn’t leave this room. No press, no wives, no girlfriends. Keep it to yourself. The last thing we want is to create a public fiasco or encourage copycats. Understood?”
“Yes, Coach,” everyone said.
“Take your frustrations out on the ice,” he said. “I’ve got some new drills planned for you today, and I want to see every one of you sweat!”
Practice was a grueling one, and my legs felt like wet noodles by the time we hit the showers. After changing, I went into the trainer’s room for my knee stretches. June was busy working on another player, so one of the interns came over to help me.
But then June said, “I’ll work on his knee, Candice. You take over with Porter.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
June grunted when she was next to me. “It still feels weird being called boss. I’m not used to having two interns. You doing all right?”
“I’m good. Honestly, the knee hasn’t bothered me in almost a week.”
June began probing around my knee, then lowered her voice. “I meant about the bomb threat.”
I shrugged. “Not the first time. I get a few death threats per week on social media. More than that if I fuck up on defense and allow a goal. What about you? First bomb threat, eh?”
“We used to get bomb threats all the time in high school,” she said quietly. “Usually some asshole trying to avoid a test they didn’t study for.”
When she leaned forward, I could see down the front of her polo shirt. She was wearing a black bra with lace around the edges.
I pulled my gaze up to her eyes. We were in public, after all. “This is different.”
“Is it?” she asked. “You just said you get death threats all the time.”
“On social media,” I clarified. “This was a letter shoved into Rhett’s locker.”
“Oh. Yeah. I guess I didn’t consider that. Who do you think did it?”
I gazed through the window into the locker room. “I don’t know.”
“One of the players?” she asked. “A backup who wants to take Rhett’s place next game?”
“Nobody on the team would do this,” I said firmly.
