Rocking back in the chair, I crack my knuckles. “I’m dating your daughter.”
He blinks slowly, watching me, like he’s not entirely sure he heard me correctly. “I’m sorry?”
“I’m not,” I state, and this time, his blinking quickens, his brows pinching together.
“Finnegan.” He grinds my name between his teeth. “If this is some weird joke you’re pulling, you’d better own up to it now and knock it off.”
“Afraid I can’t do that, sir.” I sit forward. “I’m in love with your daughter, and I’m pretty sure she feels the same way about me.”
The tension in the room is palpable, thick, and boiling angry, stemming from her dad in front of me.
“No, I don’t think so. Serena would never date one of my players.” He says it so confidently.
“No?” I scoff in surprise at his sureness.
His head shakes, lips curling. “Bates, you’re a good kid, but I have a hard time believing you right now. And frankly, an even harder time imagining you being her type. She hates hockey players. Just quit it before I actually get mad.”
I don’t know what weird denial he’s going through, butI’ll help speed it along. Digging my phone out of my pocket, I swipe through my photos, careful to skip over the screenshots of camera footage I’ve taken over the last few days of watching her.
Apparently, I don’t have a single photo that I can show him that wouldn’t end with him calling the police. But I do find a picture of Freddie.
Perfect.
“I’m sure you know Freddie.”
I flip my phone around, and his eyes fall to the screen.
Kicking his chair back, he stands up, a myriad of emotions passing over his face, yet he seems eerily calm. “Bates, I’m going to say this as nicely as possible … you’d better?—”
“Let me interrupt you.” I stand up, towering over his five-ten frame, even on the other side of his desk. “I’mnevergoing to stop seeing her. And I can assure you that pushing me away is only going to hurtyou.
“You can threaten me, trade me, blackmail me, bench me, cut my time—I don’t fucking care what you do. Nothing—and I truly meannothing—will come between her and me, including you. I know you want to win a Cup more than anything. You couldn’t do it in your day, and now you want to do it as a coach. And we want to do it with you.” I take a breath, calming myself. “But if you try to interfere in my relationship, Kol, Cas, and I are gone. Good luck winning the Cup without us.”
He clears his throat. “Are you done?”
Huffing out a shallow breath, I push my shoulders back. “For now.”
“Good.” A smile creeps into the corners of his mouth. “Before you went off like a bomb, I was going to say … that you’d better treat her with the utmost respect, or I’m going to do, well, all the things you listed off.” He allows his smile to break free, and it’s almost creepy, seeing him so happy when he’s usually stone-cold. “She’s been happier lately, smiling more than I’ve seen in years, and I have to assume that you have had some hand in that.”
“I’d like to think so,” I murmur genuinely, my heart warming. The panic in my chest slowly dissipates, my body coming out of fight-or-flight mode. “She was nervous you’d be angry with her for breaking your rule.”
“I made that for her in high school, when I was coaching a college team.” He chuckles. “She’s always latched on to the extremes of life, following the rules to a T, avoiding dangers, walking the line between conformity and contentment. Part of that is probably my fault.”
His eyebrows tremble, his vulnerability taking me by surprise. “I was a bit too protective of her, scared something would happen if I didn’t hold her tightly enough. But that made her too cautious, too careful. Only in the last year or so, I’ve seen her start to emerge from her shell, testing the boundaries of life for herself.”
He shakes his head, and his cheeks warm, like he’s embarrassed he shared so much. He’s the kind of man who keeps everything close to his chest. If talking to me about it helps him, then I’m happy to listen.
“Enough of that.” He stretches his hand out between us. “I just want her to be happy.”
I take his hand, shaking firmly. “Then we’re on the same page.”
“Good.”
I’m waiting for the shoe to drop, for him to saypsychand punch me straight in the face. “So, you’re good with it? Just like that?”
He laughs, sitting back in his chair with a shit-eating grin. “Serena’s independent, and when she goes after something she wants, nothing can stop her. I don’t intend on being a casualty in her pursuit.”
I nod, my smile matching his. I sit back down, settling comfortably into the chair.
