Coach gave me a sharp look. “You heard me. As of right now, you’re starting goalie for the Surge.”
My gaze drifted to Trey’s locker. It was empty. Gear, nameplate, everything. I felt my stomach drop. Until now, I hadn’t noticed he wasn’t in here with us.
“Should’ve happened last season, and yeah… that one’s on me.”
Stunned didn’t cover it. Seven years as backup, and even with extra game time last season, I never expected… this.
Grayson clapped a hand on my shoulder, grinning. “There’s nobody better for the job, Callahan.”
“Literally nobody,” Tucker snorted. “You’re the only goalie we’ve got.”
He laughed, and the rest of the guys joined in, the tension finallyeasing a little. One look at Coach, and it seemed as if even he was starting to ease up after that humiliating loss.
He clapped his hands sharply, drawing everyone’s attention again. “Alright. Hunter, get changed. Bob’s expecting you in his office before you head off. Press release goes out first thing in the morning. And yes, you’ll need to polish up that image of yours before the cameras and headlines hit.”
“Bob Trent?” I muttered with a groan I couldn’t stifle. The head of marketing. “Please, Coach. I… I don’t need an image. I’m just a goalie. Besides, Mason’s doing such a good job being our media mascot.”
“Thank God he took over,” Grayson said, elbowing me in the ribs.
The guys laughed quietly, but I wasn’t laughing. I hated this. Spotlight, interviews, endorsements. It was all noise I didn’t want. But Coach wasn’t asking. The look on his face was the only answer I was gonna get. A silent, but unmistakable ‘no’.
I changed, then headed toward Bob’s office, the hallway feeling longer than usual.
“I have to say, Hunter, I didn’t have this on my Bingo card for the season.” His slimy grin did nothing to help with how much I didn’t want to be here.
He rounded his desk, and that’s when I realized we weren’t alone. A woman stood just inside the door. Long dark hair, striking blue eyes that pinched my chest, and a pencil skirt that traced the curve of her hips like it was nobody’s business. Her lips parted slightly, and she almost smiled. I almost smiled back, when–
“Helloooo… Anybody home?”
I blinked stupidly at Bob’s boring face. He was practically right up in mine.
“Did you hear what I said?”
I didn’t. I saw her, and left the planet for a second.
“Sorry, I’m just tired,” I said. “Still thinking about the game.”
His gaze shifted from my blatant lie to the gorgeous woman still standing there, and one of his eyebrows quirked. “Sure. The game. Well, as I was saying… This is Holly Griswold, my new intern.”
A glance in her direction, and I caught the micro-grimace that flashed across her face when he said that. Intern. She didn’t care for the term, clearly. Well, I didn’t care to be here, so we had some misery in common.
“Since my skills are better kept where the team needs it most,” Bob continued, “I’m tasking her with you.”
“What do you mean, ‘tasking her with me’?” Only then did it occur to me that the introduction was more than just etiquette.
“Exactly what I said.” His voice was clipped, no-nonsense. “Holly needs to find her sea legs, and you need a revamp. This is how we kill two birds with one stroke of PR genius.”
She must’ve seen my struggle to figure out what the hell he was saying, because Holly stepped forward, hand outstretched.
“I’ll be managing your media training, public image, endorsements… everything that makes you perfect for the Surge brand.”
I took her hand, using everything in me to ignore how her voice was all low and smooth, like a warm bath. Right now, I didn’t give a shit what she looked or sounded like.
“I’ll try to make it short so you can get back to real work.”
“Oh, I hope not,” she said, tilting her head. And there was that not-quite smile again, cranking up the temperature in the small back office. “I’m the most important person in your life now, Hunter. From now until you’re nothing but well-rehearsed sound bytes and a million-dollar smile.”
A sound came out of me, meant to be a grunt of protest or something along those lines, but veering more toward a weak-ass whimper. Another defeat for the night.
