Where the fuck does he come up with this shit?
“Uh . . . yeah,” I answer like an idiot.
“And he has the cutest name for his tree too, don’t you?” Posey asks me.
Why is he doing this to me? Have I done something to hurt him? Have I somehow embarrassed him in a way that I’m unsure about? Is this revenge?
“Sherman, right?” Silas asks, getting in on it. Oh, look who’s dead to me as well. Posey and Silas, both dead to me.
“Aw, Sherman is such a cute name for a plant.” She smiles that smile that haunts me in my dreams, the one that grips my balls so fucking tight that I almost can’t breathe around her.
“His pride and joy,” Posey says. “And given the drought scare he had with Sherman a few weeks ago, I’m sure he would love someone to look after him.”
Blakely locks eyes with me and says, “Well, if you truly want someone to watch over him, I’m your girl. I could use the room because the hotel I’m staying in tonight is way more than I can afford for weeks on end. And I’d pay you for rent.”
“He doesn’t need your money,” Eli chimes in. “He’s loaded. The man has one of the best contracts in the league.”
Not necessary to put out there, but yeah, it’s true.
“Okay, well, I can take care of Sherman for free. That’s if . . . you’ll let me.”
Everyone in the circle turns their attention to me. I swear this feels like I’ve been sucked into an alternate universe where professional hockey players have pet bonsai trees with old man names and toss around spare bedrooms like candy. I woke up this morning thinking I have a game to prepare for, and that’s it. Now I might have a temporary roommate, but not only that. A roommate whose beauty and sweetness make me fucking lose all sense of myself.
Eli nudges me with his elbow, and I clear my throat. “Uh, yeah. That would be cool,” I say even though I can feel my entire body break into a full sweat.
“Amazing.” Blakely brings her hands together, grateful to me for saving her day. “Let me have your phone so I can plug in my number.”
I’m shell-shocked, still unsure how this happened, so Eli grabs my phone from next to me, flashes the face ID at me, and hands it over to her. She types her number in, and when I look up at Posey, he’s giving me a thumbs-up while wiggling his eyebrows.
I hate him so much.
“Here you go.” She hands me my phone back. “I sent myself a text, so I have your number too. Oh wait.” She reaches for my phone and taps away on it before holding it up and taking a picture of herself.
“There, now you also have my picture as the contact.” Yeah, I won’t stare at that all night. “I hate when it shows up as just the initials in the contact.” She hands me back my phone. “I have the hotel for tonight, but I’ll move in tomorrow. Thank you so much, this is a huge lifesaver, not to mention . . . wallet saver.”
“Yeah, sure. Of course,” I say while shifting uncomfortably.
“Okay, well, I came in here for Pacey. Would you be able to meet us in the media room? There’s a family who made a wish to meet you, and I want to brief you.”
Pacey stands. “Sure, no problem.”
I watch them leave together, and when they’re out of sight, I look straight at Posey. “What the fuck was that?”
“Uh, me doing you a favor. A thank-you would be appreciated.”
“That is not doing me a favor.” I lean back on the locker bench. “That is setting me up for failure.”
“How is that setting you up for failure?”
“I don’t know,” I say sarcastically. “How about the fact that I can barely talk to her, let alone look her in the eyes? Or that I don’t want to have her as a roommate because I have no fucking clue how to handle that. Or that I don’t have a fucking bonsai tree or know where to even get one.”
“Yeah, I went a little loose on the bonsai tree,” he says while rubbing his palm against his jaw. “But come on, this is your moment. She’s a free lady and now indebted to you. What more can you ask for?”
“I don’t want her indebted to me,” I say. “Jesus, that’s not how . . . that’s not how I want to handle this.”
“And how do you want to handle this?” Eli asks. “Because as far as I know, you’d never make a move.”
“You don’t know that,” I say defensively even though I think it’s true, given my current state of life as a hermit. Call it gut instincts, but I was ready to ask her out when I first met her.Then the more I got to know her, the more I realized she’s way out of my league. She’s bright, and fun, and free. I’m the complete opposite. I can’t even remember what fun is. I live to play hockey, and when I’m not playing hockey, I escape into books. I keep a solid regimen so I don’t have to think or battle the thoughts in my head. I don’t know how to be any other way.
