Bex gives me a watery smile. “Then next time don’t get kicked out of the game and win it to prove that you’re better than they are. Don’t stoop to their level.”
“I don’t think I’ll be playing in the next game.”
She rolls her eyes at me before burrowing into my side. I feel the breath she lets out and pull her even closer.
We both need this. Need each other to be close to get through these next few weeks.
“You won’t be.”
“Do you know that for a fact?”
Bex nods against my chest. “I ran into Coach Barney. I delayed your meeting with him until tomorrow, but it’s a done deal.”
“Fuck.”
Bex turns to face me and wipes the tears from her eyes. “I have to support him in this decision, especially when it comes to you.”
“I know, Bex.” I wipe the last few stray tears from her face. “I hate what this is doing to you.”
“Me? Look what it’s doing to you, Nick. You’re not like this. Sometimes I think…”
“Think what?” Dread settles in my gut. I don’t like where she’s going with this.
“That maybe we’d be better off if we weren’t together.”
My heart cracks open in my chest. If it came spilling out onto the floor right now, it wouldn’t surprise me.
“No. Hell no. That is not the answer, Bex.”
“I…I don’t want to. But what if it is easier? No one would be coming after you or the team, and they’d leave me alone. Leave all of us alone.”
“What, so give them what they want?”
“God, I don’t know!” she yells, standing and pacing in front of me. “Why is this so fucking hard? Couldn’t you be, I don’t know, a teacher?”
I smile. “I mean, you know that’s what I want to do when I’m done with hockey. Maybe I could be done now.”
That gets a bitter look from her. “If you think for one minute I’m letting you quit, you’re wrong. I will fight you to the ends of the earth to make sure you stay with this team.”
“Okay.” I throw up my hands and grab her hand to pull her back into my arms. The place she belongs. “As long as you don’t quit us, then I won’t quit hockey.”
“What are we going to do, Nick?”
“I don’t know, Bex. But we’ll figure it out together.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
BEXLEY
Ihate this. From the moment I stepped inside our offices, there’s been nothing but whispers and stolen glances at me.
It’s like all the work I did before doesn’t matter now. They can only see me as someone who is dating one of the players. God, it makes me feel cheap. Like nothing I’ve done has made a single difference to the team.
I should just quit now and get this over with. Let them have someone who they don’t have to question every day, but I don’t want to let them win.
Even now, after coming back to my office from meeting with Cassie—more damage control—the looks haven’t stopped. Nick’s suspension only added more fuel to the fire.
Cassie has been working overtime to try and squash all the rumors flying around. I’ve been trying to ignore them, because after one more comment about me sleeping with any of the players, I was going to explode.
