“Or we could, you know, try to get along?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Eloise, the only reason you’re here is to replace Rosie, and the only reason I’m still here is because they like having me on the team, and I’m one of their best defenders.” I bite back a groan. “You don’t get to tell me how we get to play this. I’m choosing.”
Choosing wrong, of course,I think. “So, what’s the play then? How do we convince Brynn that we went from loathing each other to being able to tolerate each other?”
She stops moving for a minute, and I wonder if I broke her. I’ve been too salty with her; her brain has stopped working.
Or maybe it’s started working considering how asinine that last thought was. “We’re just going to have to pretend that we’re hanging out. Give me your cellphone.”
She pulls it out of my hand as I reach for it. “I’m giving you my number so that we can text to figure out a time and place to get our stories straight.”
The twitch in my eye has gotten stronger. I think she’s trying to give me a stroke.Do I smell toast?“So, youwant me to text you to find a time to get together to get our stories straight about hanging out, but not actually hang out?”
She nods.
Taylor has taken too many pucks to the head. She has to have lost brain cells playing hockey for as long as she has. It’s the only explanation for this conversation.
The other part of me, the one that still harbours affection for this dumbass, is telling me that I’m amorosexual. Forget being a lesbian; I love this idiot.
“Right, okay. Sounds good,” I stammer through. I don’t know if she’s being serious anymore or if she’s going to scream psych at me. No, she doesn’t like me enough to do that.
She has to jump through too many hoops to even enjoy being in my presence, let alone like me.
“Awesome. Text me tonight, and I’ll check my calendar. We’ll have to try and do this before Grouse so that there’s something we can talk about with Brynn.”
“Surely Brynn will see through this,” I mutter, but she’s already speed-walking away. I rub my eyebrows, groaning at the inevitable headache that is currently starting to form. Jeez, I need to find someone to talk to about this, or at least talk her out of this plan.
It won’t be Brynn, though, because I see the two of them near the entrance of the arena walking together. Brynn is laughing at something Taylor says, with her hands exaggerating a motion as they walk out to their car. Winnie brushes past me, looking at me withconfusion before her eyes shift to the door.
“Oh,” she says, smirking.
“She’s an idiot,” I whisper, and Winnie nods.
“Of course, but so are you.”
I sigh, rubbing my eyes. “Yeah, I am.”
Her laugh is magical as she pulls me out of the building with her. “Want a drink and rant?”
“How about at my hotel, then you can help me find a place too?” I say, and she nods.
“I can do that.”
I stop, looking at her suspiciously. Her pink hair is dripping. “You’re not going to pretend that we’re hanging out, are you?”
She snorts. “Of course not.” Her eyes shift to where Taylor and Brynn are. “Did she say something?”
I shake my head. “No, just curious.”
She purses her lips. “Just let me know if she does something that makes you uncomfortable. We want you here. I want you in front of my net.”
“You want to be in front of the net,” I mutter. She laughs again, dragging me out the door into the cooling October air.
“You’re right, but I want you as backup. You’re good, and I’ve known since college. I’ve been trying to get the coaches to get you since forever.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, right. You were probably telling them how shit I was in college.”
She stops me, arm across my chest as she levels me with a serious face. “I’m serious. You’re fucking unstoppable. Don’t get into your head about this, especially not with Taylor doing whatever the hell she’s doing. I love that girl, but she’s been going through some shit, and she’s not fully on the other side yet.”
