“Talking business,” I fill in, looking at Aaron, who leans on the bar, and Eric, who smiles at me.
“Are you ready to head out?” Zane asks me and I nod my head.
“Unless you want to stay,” I quickly add, “to finish business. I don’t want to interrupt.”
“You aren’t interrupting,” Zane assures me. “I’ll see you guys on Monday,” he says and then he slaps Aaron’s shoulder. “Good game tonight.”
“Thanks.” He nods his head at us. Zane slips his hand in mine, and we leave together. There are a couple of the guys who I hear whispering as we walk out.
“Well, that was uneventful,” I state as he brings our hands to his lips and kisses my fingers. “There was not even a drop of blood shed.” I make a joke as Zane laughs at me. “It’s almost as if no one cared.” He stops by the passenger side door, pushing me against it before he kisses me. “This is when you tell me I was right.” I slide my arms up his chest and around his neck.
“Victoria,” he says my name, “you were right.” He kisses me softly. “You are always right.” He pulls open the door. “Now get in before I forget where we are and fuck you against the car.”
“Don’t tease me with a good time, Zane.” I tap my hand on his cheek before getting in. He shakes his head and walks around the front of the SUV, getting in. He leans over, grabbing my hand, and lets it rest on his thigh as we make our way to his house.
I’m on my stomach in the middle of his bed when the phone rings. I groan as I turn my head to the side. “Hello,” he grumbles, “yeah.” I close my eyes, hoping I fall right back to sleep. “What?” His tone changes and the sleep I was hoping to get back to slips out of my grasp. “Where?” I get up on my elbows and look over at him as he sits up. “Fuck,” he swears, looking over at me. “There is no fucking comment, Ken,” he hisses. “Give me twenty minutes and I’ll call you back.” He hangs up. “Where is your phone?”
“I don’t know.” I turn on my side. “Probably in my purse.” I bring the covers to my neck. “Is everything okay?” I ask him as he looks down at his phone.
“The press posted a story about us,” he says and I get up.
“What do you mean the press posted a story about us?” I throw the covers off me, grabbing the white shirt he took off last night when we finally made it into the bedroom. I run up the stairs to the entrance of the garage where my purse fell out of my hands after he fucked me against the door. It’s right next to the pair of jeans that was left there. I pull the phone out of my purse and see the dreaded missed calls; five from my father, fifteen from my mother, and two from Jaxon.
“Oh shit,” I mumble before pulling up the story on my phone. I don’t have to even search far, it’s the first thing on my social media.
Hockey coach Zane Gilmore dating much younger woman, who just happens to be his captain’s sister. Sources close to the pair have been speculating for months that he has been grooming her.
“That’s a little extreme,” I say, walking down the stairs and seeing him standing at the bottom. He’s wearing a pair of boxers, and his face is ashen white. “Are you okay?”
“They said I’ve been grooming you.” His voice is a whisper. “Do you know what that means?”
“I’m twenty-five,” I remind him, “not a child.” I shake my head and his head hangs. “It’s a fake article, obviously filled with shit since I didn’t even know you months ago.”
“They found a picture of us at the community garden,” he says, turning his phone to let me see. It’s a picture from when I went to bring him a water bottle. “We weren’t even together.”
“You look like you’re either in love with me and it hurts, or I kicked your dog.” I try not to make a big deal out of it. But my phone in my hand feels like a bomb ready to explode. “My parents called,” I tell him, and he puts his head back.
“We should have called them. We should have covered all our bases before this happened.” He hits his head with the phone in his hand. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” he repeats again before he takes his phone and whips it across the room. It smashes as soon as it falls to the floor.
“I don’t know why you would do that.” I shake my head. “It’s just adding one more thing to the list of things we have to do now. Get Zane a new phone.” I walk past him to his phone and look at the screen. “Well, it’s not that bad,” I say, seeing two cracks in the screen. “Screen protector saved it.”
“Victoria,” he hisses out my name, “I’m going to need you to start freaking out just a little bit. Or at least show that you are as bothered about this as I am.”
“Why?” I ask, walking into his bedroom. “You seem to be freaking out enough for the both of us.” He stands there. “What I’m going to do is take a shower,” I tell him, “get dressed, and head over to Jaxon’s house.” I walk to him and put my hands on his hips. “Once we are there, we will call my parents and discuss things.”
“I have to call Ken back.” He runs his hand through his hair. “He’s going to want to put out a statement.”
“Okay.” I shrug. “You do what you need to do.” I try not to show him that I’m going to be freaking out just a bit, but it’ll be okay.
“Just like that?” he hisses.
“I didn’t want to say this,” I smile at him, “but I’d be more worried about my father than the press.” I tap my hand on his chest. “You deal with Ken. I’ll deal with my father. See? Divide and conquer.”
He glares at me as I walk away. Ten minutes later, he’s in the bathroom. “How are we feeling?” I look over at him as I turn off the water and step out. “You look like you’re getting your color back.” I grab a towel. “What did you and Ken decide to say?”
He rubs his hand over his face. “It’s a private matter and we don’t discuss our team’s private life off the ice.”
“I approve. Now, you need to get into the shower if you are going to come with me to Jaxon’s house.”
