Six weeks minimum without him is a lot, though. We’re already down 1–0 in the first period of the game. Isaac allowed a goal early in the game, but he’s been a brick wall since then.
My eyes wander to our team’s bench. Noel is standing behind his players, arms crossed, calling out something to one of the players on the ice. He’s wearing a dark suit with a pale-blue tie.
I want to be down there, watching the game on one of the TVs in the visiting-team locker room and waiting for the guys to come in for the break after the first period. But I’m staying away tonight because I know they’re all feeling a lot of pressure after last night’s big loss. Noel’s made it clear he finds me distracting,and even though I’m secretly thrilled by it, I don’t want to intrude tonight.
“You’re doing a great job with the team socials,” Lainey says.
“That’s nice of you to say, thank you.”
“Have you always been a hockey fan?”
I laugh lightly. “The opposite. I’m still learning the rules. Some people had their doubts about whether a plus-size beauty influencer could do this job well, but here I am. My boss, Deb, really listened to me in the job interview. People on social media don’t want to hear about rules. There are places for that on social media, of course. But on the team pages, people want the curtain pulled back. They want to know who their favorite players are. To see how they get ready for games and what they do on their off days.”
“How do you keep up with all those pages? For the team, and your other ones, plus the travel with the team and having some sort of life outside work?”
I shrug. “I love what I do. It doesn’t even feel like work.”
Isaac blocks the puck and everyone in the box cheers. I stand up to cheer, too, and when I look to the side before sitting back down, I see a dark-haired woman with a lovely face, her hair back in a tight bun, glaring at me.
I lean closer to Lainey and whisper, “Who’s the dark-haired woman a few seats down in the blue sweater?”
She glances over casually, then hums disdainfully and leans back in. “Stella Seaborne. Ignore her. She’s a mean girl.”
“I can’t imagine what her problem with me is.”
Lainey lowers her brows, looking uncertain. “Her problem is that she’s insecure and you’re very pretty. That’s it.”
My brows shoot up in alarm. I lower my voice to a whisper. “She talks about me? Seriously?”
When Lainey nods, I can tell she’s questioning whether she should have told me. “She’s Paxton Griffith’s girlfriend,” she whispers in return.
He’s one of the lowest on the roster. A defenseman who doesn’t play as many shifts as the others. I’ve hardly even spoken to him.
I mentally retreat into myself, worried. I know there are mean girls everywhere, but I haven’t encountered anyone affiliated with the team and its players who was anything but nice until now.
Lainey leans over again, still whispering. “Ignore her. Paxton has cheated on her and she doesn’t trust him. She’s jealous that you travel with the team. You didn’t do anything wrong, she’s just a bitch.”
I relax slightly. I’m about to ask her if she knows anything else Stella has said about me when the box quiets. Lucien just dropped his gloves and he’s punching one of the Vancouver players like this is a boxing match instead of a hockey game.
“That’s Kyle Macintire,” Lainey says softly. “Do you know about all that?”
I nod, my gaze shooting to Noel. He’s still standing there, his arms crossed, looking unconcerned. Kyle slips and falls to the ice, Lucien dropping down to straddle him and continue his one-sided fight.
The refs end it, but it takes three of them plus Leo to pull Lucien off Kyle. Something tells me this might be about what’s going on between Audra and Kyle.
Lucien yells back at Kyle as he’s forced toward the penalty box by two refs.
“This isn’t good,” I say softly.
Lainey smiles. “It happens every time we play Vancouver. One hundred percent of the time. Those two hate each other.”
That makes me feel a little bit better, but I’m still concerned. I wish I could talk to Noel alone. Not that it’s my business, but I know he’s worried about his daughter.
The Crush pull out a 2–1 win, Leo scoring the winning goal in the last minute of the game. Noel is smiling as the team heads for their locker room.
I’m sticking to my plan of not going into the locker room tonight, but I wait in the tunnel so I can film the guys walking out in their suits.
I linger after that, leaning my back against the wall as I update the team’s socials and respond to comments. Even though I could go board the bus that’s taking us all to the airport from here, I don’t. The tunnel is emptying and this might be my only chance to catch Noel and have a quick, private conversation with him.
