The team grumbled, loud and long. I didn't care, so long as each man bitched about me and not my assistant who helped out and knew more Chimera stats than anyone I’d ever seen. I swore Hallie ate our numbers for breakfast along with a steady supply of avocados that the team’s previous defender, Solace, made sure she was kept in plentiful supply.
“Our next game is Friday night. It’s a late time slot and there’ll be a decent media presence, or so I’m told.”
Valentine inclined his head. His partner, Cora, took on the team’s PR mission with the sort of passion that matched every part of the Chimeras’ outlook. If she said Friday night was a shitfight in the making, I had no reason to expect she’d be wrong.
Let’s double it down on the damage.
I also had somewhere else to be that night, but my personal preferences would have to wait.
I glanced at Hux, silently asking if he had any input. He stared back at me, his mouth a hard line. Alright, if that was how he wanted to play, we’d have a productive week. Painful, which was my favorite sort.
“Alright. You know what you’re doing for the morning. Get cleaned up.” I dismissed the team, and waited for Hux. Usually we got on well. He was always the first man on the ice, always the last off at the end of the day. He played the game the same way as me. Today was the exception. “What’s your strategy for Friday night?”
Hux’s mouth twitched. “Do you want my input or are you going rogue, like last year?”
I exhaled slowly, willing my control to eke out in minute lots. “Keeping a calendar are we, captain?” My low voice was the only warning I’d give him to stay out of my shit.
“It’s the most important night of the year, right?” He shrugged, keeping the movement smooth and easy, though I read the attention in his usually graceful stance. It was my damn job to know each player intimately after all. “You want my advice?”
My field of vision narrowed. “Keep it about the game, Radfield.”
He nodded and glanced to one side. We stood alone on the ice. “Get her flowers. Something you know she likes for once.”
Don’t punch your fucking captain out.It’s a bad look, and a shitton of paperwork.
“Flowers,” I said flatly. “Funny, I never thought of that in twelve years of marriage. Thanks, Hux. Make it two dozen laps.” I made sure the little door to the ice took my anger as I moved off the ice, my back rigid, heart pounding in my too-tight chest.
I can do fucking flowers.
The hiss of Hux’s skates was the only sound as I left him alone on the ice circling in punishment laps meant for someone else.
****
“Media is set up for Friday night. I’ve pulled as many tame journos as I can, but no promises. And the toy toss.” Cora wrinkled her nose. “God, I hate those, even though everyone in the crowd loves them. The clean up is terrible. All those damp toys and I can’t let any of them go to charity.”
“The ideaisfor charity,” I pointed out irritably. “That’s why we do it.”
“I know, but still. It’s wasteful.” She perched her butt on the corner of my desk and tapped long nails on my worn leather diary. “What about if the team did a fun run next year instead?Get outside the boy aquarium, maybe?” She squinted at me hopefully.
I pushed a fresh coffee from her favorite cafe across the desk toward where she sat on the edge. No one else had the balls, but she broke plenty of rules. Valentine would have something to say about that later, I suspected, but that was between them. I never came between a player and his girl, not unless I thought she was in trouble. My boys had behaved this year, so far.
“Don’t even try to bribe me,” she grumbled, collecting the coffee. She pulled the mug out of my reach as though I might snatch the prize away from her at a moment’s notice.
"Wouldn't think of it,” I murmured. “It sounds good, but maybe next season,” I promised her. “You can explain why their favorite fan activity has been swapped out for sweat and no skates.”
Cora’s nose twitched. “I’ll get them onside.” She slid off my desk and headed for the door.
A heavy shadow underneath suggested Valentine stood on the other side. He had his own tasks to complete, but I understood his need to ensure she was looked after.
“I don’t doubt that.” I spoke to her back.
Footsteps announced my office was my own again. I waited for the door to close, my head already down, working through the next video review session for the upcoming game. I hated that we’d lost two games in a row, and refused to add another to our tally.
“Ward.” Cora’s use of my first name drew me back to the present.
My concentration slipped. Damnit, there was only one other woman who used my first name like that. Everyone else in the building either had more respect or less guts.
“Yes?” I bit off the end of the word and tried to soften my brittle approach with a smile. From her raised eyebrows, that didn’t do much either.
