“Don’t you want to know what I’m capable of?” I ask weakly. “I could be terrible at this.”
“I found your social media handles this morning. You’ve posted a lot of your schoolwork there, and I’m impressed,” he says. “Besides, it’s my money, I’ll do what I please with it.”
“This means I have to attend games, right?” I ask, swallowing hard. Exposure therapy be damned, this is being thrown into the deep end of the ocean.
“Of course!” he chuckles. “I want people to want to attend games, and if they can get a sneak peak at our practices, so much the better.”
Fuckity fuck on a fuck stick.
“Ah, can you maybe send me a list of duties I’ll be expected to complete?” I squeak out. “I just want to make sure I have a complete picture of what you’ll want.”
“Very smart. I’ll draw it up now,” Friedrick says cheerfully. “See you later, Curtis.”
Dad says goodbye, waiting until the owner is gone before he helps me sink onto the bench.
“This is insane,” I hiss at him.
“You love this game,” he reminds me. “No one sees things better than someone who grew up around it. The guys will be respectful, but you won’t need to do more than be around them to start with. No interviews or anything. The media person handles that.”
“I freak out when I’m around alphas, Dad. My anxiety goes into overdrive. I was actually going to ask you if you’d help me find a doctor that would prescribe something for it,” I sigh. “I don’t want to agree to this and make you look bad.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but you are the best person for it,” Dad says, sitting next to me. “There will be ground rules, though.”
“Such as?” I ask. Rules are good. I need those.
“You won’t go anywhere without an escort,” he grunts. “I’m going to need to figure out what that’ll look like, especially since you’ll be going on travel games with us.”
“Will I?” I squeak out. “This was what you mentioned in the car, isn’t it?”
“It is,” he admits. “I wanted to see how you did on the ice. This is the perfect job for you.”
Outside of the clawing fear of the fucking alpha hockey players.I know my dad means well. It’s been six years, I need to find a way to keep going.
“What if I see them again?” I ask suddenly, eyes widening.
“I’ll refuse for you to attend those games,” he growls. “When Friedrick hired me, I told him everything. He knows why I walked away from my last team. I’ve seen those players on the ice, and I’ve kept myself away. I can’t go to jail, knowing that you need me.”
“Well, I’ll always need you,” I say honestly, wrinkling my nose. It’s funny how quickly we fell back into our routines after not living in the same house for so many years.
“And I’m always going to meddle,” he shrugs, putting the skates in his bag. “I’ll make sure Friedrick sends over the paperwork so you can decide if this is a good fit or not. I won’t have to worry about you alone while I’m out of town.”
“I can fend for myself,” I remind him, walking alongside him. “Just because you don’t think I eat enough, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to feed myself.”
Dad just snorts in amusement, leaving me to my thoughts. Can I really work with a hockey team?
MILES
“Coach Miles!” Marilyn screeches, making my blood run cold as I head to the locker room.
We have a game, and I don’t really have time for this. We have to nail these bastards by the knots in order for me to know we can handle the New Orleans Dragons. I fucking dislike that coach so much.
There’s nothing I hate more than a man that turns his back on an entire team, and that’s exactly what he did to us. Who the fuck just throws away his team? I heard that it was because his daughter seduced a couple of the players, but I don’t know what’s true when it comes to him.
All I know is that we’ve lost every game against the Dragons since Coach Freedman’s second year coaching them. I really don’t want to lose again.
“I’m busy, Marilyn,” I complain. “What is it?”
“You promised,” she hisses, the sound of her heels loud as she walks beside me. “Levon stood that girl up.”
