“They love you and eat up anything you have to say. If you told them a question was dumb, they’d be apologizing to you.”
“You’ve got this, Willy. Don’t get in your head about it.”
Troy leaves me be and I hit the treadmill for some cardio.
I’m only a few minutes into my warm-up run before I spot a familiar head of blonde hair.
Piper.
She’s cleaning up towels and water bottles from the guys. Grunt work of an intern. I haven’t had the balls to go tell Cassie that Piper is out. Mainly because she’ll castrate me.
I crank the speed up on the treadmill and go faster. I need to push Piper out of my head, along with Cassie and this stupid plan to rehab my image.
It must work because by the time I’m looking up from the treadmill, Piper is gone.
I end the run and grab a towel before heading back to the locker room to suit up for the ice.
When I get to the hallway, the low drone of voices stops me short.
Piper is standing there talking to Duncan and some woman I don’t know. I can’t imagine how painful this must be for her.
All I know is she dated him. Based on everything I’m seeing, this is awkward. And that’s before Piper moves to leave and ends up falling ass over heels and covers herself in sweaty towels.
I make up my mind.
I guess there’s no going back now.
Piper
The day has goneby without much activity.
With Nick back on the ice for practice, we don’t see him as much in the training room as we had been.
He’s working more with the assistant goalie coaches to get back into shape.
Because it’s been a quiet day, I notice when Cash spots me while he’s running, and I hate that I notice.
God, even just the look on his face gets me amped up.
Gets me riled up.
Cash wanted my help, but apparently he seems to think he can figure this thing out all on his own.
But that’s fine. I don’t need him. He doesn’t need me.
I’m better off without him, right?
I can’t imagine what Cash thinks when he looks at me. A spoiled, pretty little princess? A blonde bimbo? Someone who doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together?
I don’t know, but after last night, I don’t know how anyone could ever pretend to be Cash’s girlfriend.
I do my best to ignore him as I grab the empty towel bin and head to the equipment room and fill the bin with sweaty towels.
Grunt work, but it’s what an intern has to do.
As I turn the corner, I bump into the wall and see two people kissing down the hall.
Of course, they’re kissing in the hallway. Why can’t I ever escape people and love?
