The other two quickly sober and stare at me with concern.
Mia grabs my arm. “Are you pregnant?”
I jerk my head back. “What? No!”
She shrugs. “Lily said you were in trouble.”
Sophie lets out an exaggerated snort. “Were you born in the fifties?Being in troubledoesn’t have to mean that. And why would being pregnant automatically imply she’s in crisis?”
Mia smirks. “I work with children all day long. Trust me, they’re trouble.”
Shaking her head, Sophie points at her. “And you love it because they’re tiny versions of you.”
Donning a winsome smile, Mia glances upward and shrugs. “Yeah, and I really love the mischievous ones.”
I frown at her. “Why? Doesn’t that make your job harder?”
She shakes her head. “More interesting. The pay sucks, so I have to find other perks.”
“If you say so.” Lily swings her attention to me and lasers in like an interrogator. “Now, spill.”
Picturing how intense an encounter with her must’ve been back when she worked as a bodyguard makes me squirm in my seat. Normally, I don’t see her at the arena unless she’s running security for a game, and even then, she’s in full ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ mode.
I’d planned to bring up the whole “I kissed a Wade, and I liked it” topic organically. You know, a kind of drive-by admission you throw out the window and then speed away, hoping no one will actually hear you. But I need help to figure this out, and Lily just gave me the spotlight.
But in order to do that, I have to tell them the rest of the story, about what led to the kiss, because out of context, my decision seems reckless at best and careless at worst. I may have already wrecked my friendship with Wade.
A deep breath for courage. Closed eyes to center myself. A long exhale of determination.
I bring up the incriminating photo on my phone and place it in the middle of the table. “That’s not me.”
Sophie gasps. “Who sent this to you?”
“My ex.”
Mia drags it closer, studying the picture longer than I feel comfortable with. “I don’t think it’s completely AI-generated. Maybe photoshopped?”
Lily grabs my phone and pinches the screen in various places, enlarging parts of the image. I want to crawl under the table, even though I’m certain that body isn’t mine, which makes me wonder about who the woman really is. Was she a willing participant? And if not, does she even know someone photographed her in such a compromising position? Chase would have no problem using this woman to get what he wants, just like he used me.
She hands my phone to me. “Can you email it to me at its original size? I suspect the man’s face was altered, too.”
When I first saw the picture, I was so focused on the woman wearing my face that I didn’t even think to look closely at the player. Since I didn’t recognize his face, I assumed he was a recent addition to the team.
I enlarge the image to see for myself. The profile of the man’s face reveals only so much, which makes identifying him difficult. But when I move the picture down, I notice a piece of a tattoo on his torso below where the woman’s side is pressing into him.
The moment I recognize it, my blood boils. “That’s Chase.”
All three lean in as I put the phone down and point to the partial design almost hidden in shadow. “Chase has a full-chest tattoo. Whoever did this missed that part. And I’m guessing the woman is Amber, the one he cheated on me with.”
Mia’s face twists into a frown. “Eww. So either he’s using her, too, or she’s a willing participant.”
Sophie cringes. “Doubleeww.”
Lily appears thoughtful. “What does he want from you?”
“A profile piece in USA Hockey Magazine. I used to have a contact there. I’d told Chase before I found out he was a jerk?—”
“Scumbag,” Mia interjects.
