I grin. “So do you. What are you doing here?”
He looks over his shoulder at my uncle, and when I follow his line of sight, I discover Brayden is watching us very closely, his brows drawn together.
I wave at him. “Hey, Bray.”
He nods. “Figured JJ would be here with you.”
I shrug. “Nah, they didn’t ask him to pose for the cover. Then again…” I grin. “Ya think I can convince him to swap and put on the lipstick?”
Ryan laughs, but Brayden only grunts. For him, that may be the closest thing I’ll get. Or maybe not, since his expression is still dark and his focus is still fixed on Ryan.
A tendril of unease flows through me under Bray’s scrutiny, so I step back to put a little space between myself and my former coach.
“And who are you?” Savannah appears out of thin air, pushing her hand forward toward Ryan.
“Ryan Hobbs. The new assistant goalie coach for the Boston Bolts.”
My jaw drops. “Really?”
He breaks into another bright smile. “Yup. Looks like we’ll be working together again. I’m really excited about that.”
“Oh that is very exciting,” Savannah echoes.
“Ry, come here for a second,” Brooks calls.
“It was nice meeting you,” Ryan says to Savannah. Then he turns to me and winks. “I’ll see you in a few.”
“Well, he wouldn’t make a bad future ex-boyfriend,” my ridiculous friend coos the moment he’s gone.
I glare at her, suddenly sweating under my gear. “Oh my god. He’s my coach.” Which is so fucking weird, by the way.
“And you were JJ’s. And that hasn’t stopped him from looking like he wants to kill the new coach.”
Huh? I turn, scanning the people in the arena. It only takes a moment to spot him walking through the doors, jaw set, eyes narrowed on Ryan. He doesn’t even see me. Fuck.
“I’m not JJ’s coach anymore,” I mutter as he stalks toward the group of men.
Shit, I should probably go over there.
“Does that mean you hold a different title now?”
Savannah’s question forces me to look away from the disaster that’s about to go down. “Huh?”
“If you want to talk about JJ rather than some other man for the series, I’m game.”
“No. I’m not—” I blow out a frustrated breath. Fuck. “I’m not talking about JJ in the magazine.”
Her lips kick up on one side. “Whatever you say. But you do have to go on another date, and if it’s not with JJ?—”
“Could we keep doing this if I didn’t identify the person I dated?” I hedge. “If there was someone I was interested in, that is.”
“Hmm.” She taps a red nail against her chin. “We could make that work. So long as we were getting the full story.”
Relief washes over me. Maybe it’s a possibility.
I peer over at JJ again. Ryan has a hand held out to him, and he’s glaring down at it. Yeah, this is not going to be good. If I date another man, even if only for show, things will only get worse.
Sighing, I turn back to Savannah. I need to put out this fire before it turns into an inferno. “Let me think about it.”
