Preston continued. “Go home and rest tonight. You’ll be leaving for your first appearances soon.”
The players’ loud groans made me laugh.
“The commissioner already introduced Marissa,” Preston said. “She’ll direct the proceedings for the rest of the day. Good luck, men. I know you’ll do the league proud.”
Marissa was a smokeshow with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a body made for sex. Since my divorce had become final a few weeks earlier, I should have wanted to ask her out, but I didn’t. I hadn’t recovered from Mia yet.
Marissa stood and picked up a sheet of paper. “Here we go.” My heart raced as she read the names. “Conti and Painter, Spivak and Chase, Rossi and Paquette, Johanssen and…”
The pain in my gut made me grab my stomach. I glanced at Nico, whose face had gone pale. For a moment, we stared at each other, and then he shook his head and mumbled, “No way in hell will I do this with you.”
“Asshole,” I hissed. “Don’t worry, because I’d quit playing first.”
Marissa finished and gave us a ten-minute break. Nico and I raced around the table so fast she jumped back.
“This won’t work,” Nico said. “It’s a?—”
“You don’t know our history,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over him. “We’ll kill?—”
“You’ve got to change us, or I won’t?—”
“No way I’m working withhim.” I elbowed his arm for emphasis.
She held up her hands. “Stop it. Stop?—”
Nico and I spoke in unison. “I will not do this with him.”
“It’ll be a cold day in hell,” Nico added.
“Shut it!” Marissa sounded like my mom used to when my brothers and I got into it. “If that’s how you really feel, then thisisa cold day in hell. We put you together because you’re both popular with fans, and you were college teammates. In our narrative, you’re thrilled to work together again. Best friends reunited.”
“It won’t work,” Nico and I said together.
“Everyone knows…” I gave her a pleading look. “We do not like each other.”
“Atall,” Nico said.
She put her hands on her hips and glared at us. “Thiswillwork because you’ll make sure it does. I’d hate to get the commissioner on the phone with your GMs. Don’t test me on this because I’ll do it in a heartbeat.”
“Fuck.” The word shot out of Nico’s mouth like a bullet.
“Goddammit,” I added because I would not let him have the last word.
Her lips curved into a smug grin. “Go splash cold water on your faces. When you come back, sit together because we’ll be doing some role play.”
“Role play?” Nico’s voice cracked. “Withhim?”
His grimace was like something out of a cartoon. If I hadn’t been so mad, I would’ve laughed. Back in college, one of his exes told me he liked role play during sex.
Role play. With Nico Rossi. My skin prickled.
Marissa made a flicking motion with her hand. “Go. You don’t have much time.”
We were silent until we were washing our hands in the restroom. Staring into the mirror, Nico locked eyes with me and shook his head. I stared him down as I reached for a paper towel.
“What are you looking at?” he snapped.
“You. Thinking about how ugly you are.”
