“Nope,” I groan. “Not dealing with him right now. Fuck that.”
Sid pats my shoulder solemnly. Nobody knows my daddy issues better than Sidney Gagnon.
A door opens further down the hall, and I watch as Zhuri and Elisabet exit the women’s locker room. I have every intention of walking the other way—I don’t have enough of an emotional battery left to deal with Zhuri right now—but Sid nullifies that as soon as he waves at them. “Hey, Bet!”
I see Elisabet smile, and she grabs Zhuri’s hand and drags her over to where we are. Zhuri, for her part, seems just as disinterested in this as I am.
“How’d it go with the guys?” Bet asks as they come to a stop in front of us.
“Miserable,” I breathe. “Most of them are okay, but not everyone.”
“It’s Michael, isn’t it?” Zhuri seethes.
“I’d love to say no, but I don’t think that would do any good.”
Zhuri rolls her eyes. “He’s a fucking dick.”
Sidney pipes in now. “Cam already put him in his place.”
“He did?” She looks genuinely shocked.
“Yes,” I lament. “You only think I’m an asshole. But you’re my co-captain and teammate now. Off the ice, I loathe you, but on the ice, we should be a united front.”
Zhuri grumbles. “I fucking hate that you’re right.”
“I’m always right, Zhuri baby.” I wink at her and take delight in her affronted demeanor.
“I’ll tell you exactly what I told you when we met.” She levels me with a stern look, and it really shouldn’t be as hot as it is. “I’mnotyour baby.”
“And I wouldn’t want you to be,” I smirk. “I just love annoying the shit out of you,Zhuri baby.”
“Alright then,Cammy,”she teases, and my dick likes the playfulness in her tone a little too much. God, I need to get laid soon. “If we’re a united front, we need to talk about how we want to handle the team.”
“We can meet tomorrow.”
“Somewhere public,” Zhuri says, “that way there are witnesses that will keep me from shanking you.”
I just roll my eyes. “Fine. Let’s meet at Bean Voyage tomorrow morning at nine. Sid and Bet should come, too, as a buffer since they seem to get along.”
“Because Sid and I have been friends since we met, like eight years ago,” Elisabet interjects.
“We’ll be there to keep you in line,” Sid adds. “The Comets are going to be down two captains if we don’t.”
“Fine,” I reply. “Tomorrow morning, we’ll talk about our approach to the team. For now, I’m out of here. I’m done with today.”
“Whatever,” Zhuri sighs. “I need to mentally prepare anyway about having to spend every fucking day with you for the foreseeable future.”
I give a sarcastic salute and finally walk off, desperate to just get home and fall into my bed.
Today has taken everything out of me, and I need sleep to take me under before I can even try to process everything that’s happened.
four
Zhuri
Evenmyfavoritecoffeeshop can’t stop me from dreading a morning spent with Cameron Kovacic.
Elisabet and I grab our drinks from the barista—a black coffee for me, an Americano for her—and then I follow her to the back corner, where Sidney and Cameron are waiting for us at a table. Bet takes the chair across from Sid, leaving me to slide into the one across from my least favorite person.
