“Not really. I mean last night there wasn’t a lot of talking,” I admit. It makes his grin grow so big the dimples in his cheeks look like golf divots.
He laughs again. “Avery without a plan. That’s something I never thought I would see.”
“Just do me a favor and don’t tell him for us, okay,” I request seriously because I know that he’s going out with Seb and Jordan and a bunch of our old teammates tonight.
“Don’t worry, precious.” Alex winks at me. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Thanks, asshole.” I chuckle as he walks out of the room.
Chance Echolls appears in the doorway. He glances at me but walks over and taps his brother on the shoulder. Beau’s reaching for his suit jacket. He sees Chance, yanks off his headphones and shoves them in the man purse he carries everywhere. “Hey. I’m ready. Where to?”
Chance shrugs. “Wherever the Winterhawks won’t be. I don’t want to run into that ass Garrison and his girl.”
I concentrate really hard on buttoning my shirt so I don’t react to Chance’s comment. Chance is still bitter he failed miserably at trying to get Jessie to be with him instead of Jordan.
Beau slings his jacket over his shoulder, gives me some sort of weird vicious-looking smirk and storms out with his brother. I’m pulling on my suit jacket as Ty finally hauls his ass out of the shower. He’s always the last one ready. He takes ridiculously long showers.
“About time, princess,” I snark, and he rolls his eyes. He’s heard it all before.
“You going out with your old team?” he wants to know.
I shake my head. “Nah. It won’t look right.”
Ty smiles, but it’s rueful. “Fuck how it looks. They’re your friends.”
He’s right, but Don advised that I avoid it. I was supposed to say hello to them before the game, in the hall, and make sure a photographer was there. I did that. Don said going to a bar with them would look like fraternizing or like I was sleeping with the enemy, so I should avoid it. Plus we had to get up early tomorrow morning and fly into Vancouver for another game the next night.
I tell Ty the other reason why I am going straight back to the hotel. “I kind of want to avoid Seb until I know what Steph wants me to say.”
Ty seems to find that acceptable, unlike the first reason. I don’t really find my first reason acceptable either, but I’ve learned to pick my battles. I’d pissed Don off a lot lately with choosing the Saints, moving into the cottage instead of a fancy condo or house, dumping Lizzie. So I’ll give him this; besides, I kind of want to just go back to my hotel room and call Stephanie.
As soon as I step out of the locker room, I’m assaulted by Sebastian and Jordan. They flank me and both wrap their arms around my shoulders. A few feet away are Alex and Choochinsky, the goalie for the Winterhawks and a good friend.
“Here are your options, Captain,” Jordan says in a deep, menacing voice, which sounds ridiculous on him, especially because he’s wearing a giant lopsided grin. “You either come out with us willingly, or we overpower you and make you come out with us anyway.”
“Very funny.” I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling.
“Jessie is waiting in the car in the player lot, engine running,” Jordan goes on, his blond eyebrows wiggling deviously. “All we gotta do is carry you to it.”
“Shay offered to get the rope she has in her trunk, but I told her I didn’t need it,” Sebastian goes on, referring to his girlfriend. “I can contain you if I have to.”
“You guys are ridiculous. You know I can’t. It wouldn’t look right,” I mutter. I think they can tell this isn’t my opinion by the lackluster tone in my voice. And the guys, because I played with them for years, have developed an instinct for deciphering what is Avery’s opinion and what Avery has been told should be his opinion.
“Don can suck it,” Chooch announces, surprising everyone. He’s not usually so bold or outspoken. In fact, last time we were together he was kind of a kicked puppy because he was ending his engagement to his one and only girlfriend. “Besides, Alex is with us too. Consider it a Winterhawks–Saints mixer or meet and greet.”
I realize, because Jordan and Seb still have their hands on my shoulders and are shoving me toward the player parking, I do not have a choice in the matter. Honestly, it’ll be great to catch up with everyone. But there’s no way I can text or call Steph with her brother hanging off me. Dammit. I hope she doesn’t mind late-night, after-the-bar, slightly drunk texts.
Chapter 19
Stephanie
The first thing I do when I wake up is check my phone. No texts. No missed calls. Then I start to feel upset. Then I hate myself for it. Ugh. I force myself through the ritual of getting ready for work. Maddie is downstairs already, dressed in her cute black-and-white sleeveless dress and apple-red cardigan. She hands me a latte she’s made from the fancy coffee machine Seb gave us as a housewarming gift, and I smile gratefully. But the smile is tight and slightly tense, and Maddie knows it.
“They lost. No one is in the mood to talk,” Maddie says quietly.
I nod. “Did Ty call?”
She falters and takes a small sip of her own latte. “Avery isn’t Ty,” she says as I grab my keys off the hook by the back door.
