Leaning back against the wall, I rest my hands on my stick. “All I want is to find out how Bex is doing.”
“You haven’t talked to her?” Piper screws up her face in confusion. “Why not?”
“I only found out before practice. I couldn’t run up to her office without getting my ass handed to me by Coach Barney.”
“It’ll be okay,” Piper reassures me, squeezing my shoulder.
“Will it? Because from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like it will.”
“Hey, don’t go making any rash decisions. Talk to Bexley and see how she’s feeling.”
“I won’t do anything rash. Listen, I gotta go.”
“I’ll see you after the game tonight, okay?” Piper gives me a smile before heading down the hall, not before stopping and turning back toward me. “And Nick?”
“Yeah?”
“You two make a really cute couple.”
That pulls a smile out of me. At least one person is on our side. Not that the guys don’t seem it, but I know it’s going to put them in an awkward position with Bex.
The locker room is already clearing out as I head inside.
Thank God.
Stripping out of my gear faster than normal, I head straight for the showers. I let the hot water sluice down my body and relieve my tired muscles.
Of all the things that I thought would happen today, this wasn’t one of them.
Not that I had any clue how we would announce our relationship to the world, but it wasn’t going to be like this. It’s not something we planned on. I thought we’d have more time.
I take a deep breath as the water starts to run cold. It’s bringing back all those feelings from childhood of being bullied. Of being the center of attention—the very last thing I wanted. The thought of playing tonight makes me feel sick. I don’t want to face the ire of the fans if this isn’t something they approve of.
Fuck.
Shutting off the water, I grab my towel and head back toward the locker room to change.
Troy, Cash, and Noah are still hanging around. For being a group of hockey players, these guys are some of the chattiest, most gossipy people on the planet. They have to know everything.
I step into a pair of sweats and hang my towel around my neck.
“Alright, let’s have it.”
Wrong thing to say apparently, because they all start talking over themselves before Troy quiets them with a quick slash of his arm.
“This won’t get us anywhere, guys,” Troy says. “What I want to know is why didn’t you tell us?”
Fisting the ends of the towel, I try to figure out the best way to tell them. “It’s not that I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t. I mean, fuck, she’s the GM. It’s not like I planned on this.”
Cash eyes me. “Were you laughing at us the entire time we were trying to set you up?”
That has laughter erupting out of me. “Actually, that might be the reason we got together to start with.”
“We were your matchmakers then?” Noah asks. “How?”
Thinking of that night brings a smile to my face. That first horrible date and then the next, with my date cutting out before we even ordered. Texting Bex and meeting her in the bathroom.
“It turns out that we’re both pretty bad at dating. We offered to help each other. But when the time actually came, it turns out we couldn’t do it.”
