AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not cut out for this,” I muttered.
I had spent Sunday holed up in my room, studying every viral hockey video, and had compiled a list of ones I thought would be great for my first day.
But now, with a team of unconvinced men staring at me as I ran through the list, I was ready to throw in the towel.
At least I had Mac in my corner, championing my ideas. “Guys—the one where we tape the phone to the puck would look great—”
“You want a phone flying at you after Strelow smacks it?” A defenseman—Roman, I think—shook his head. “I don’t.”
“You get hit with pucks literally all the time,” Mac ground out.
“And we wouldn’t actually have you hit the puck around.” I held up my phone and motioned for Mac to join me. “Grab your stick—”
This elicited cheers and I rolled my eyes as Mac egged them on, holding his hockey stick high above his head as he wrapped his arm around me.
I slipped out of his hold and he tilted his head, but said nothing. We hadn’t talked about how we would handle our relationship at work, and right here in the locker room was hardly the place to have that discussion.
I had double checked with Julie the moment I walked in the door and she assured me it was still above board.
I hadn’t told her I was seeing a player and the team’s nutritionist. That didn’t mean she hadn’t tried everything in her power to get me to spill the beans on why I had asked this question of her. Twice.
Above board didn’t mean I could let him drape his arm around me or that I could go around making out with both of them while I was on the clock.
I knew Bash would be discreet. Doubly so, since he was the only one in the kitchen most of the time—I was already planning my lunch break around a visit with him. But Mac and I would be in front of the rest of the team whenever I was at work. He was impulsive. We should have come up with a plan when we last saw each other. But during our hike, it hadn’t seemed that important to discuss.
Warmth flooded my body as Mac took the phone from my hand, his firm fingers pressing to my wrist as his touch lingered longer than it needed to.
“What Pink’s trying to show us—”
“Pink?” Lightning called.
Mac’s normally easy-going face darkened. “I call her Pink. She’s Ms. Avery to you.”
I coughed out a shocked laugh. “Emily is perfectly fine.” I took my phone back from Mac. “We’ll pass the phone around to each player on the starting lineup and I’ll edit it together to make it look like the viewer is watching the puck fly to each person.”
“That’s not so bad. I guess,” Roman muttered.
I learned quickly that he was the most vocally opposed to the Evergreens joining social media.
His approval rippled through the rest of the guys and next thing I knew, we were on the ice.
I showed the guys how I wanted the phone passed from each of them, helping them judge how long to hold it in place before passing it to the next person.
Mac skated next to me, a grin splitting his face into pure sunshine. “You skate so well.”
“My brother taught me. He played hockey when we were growing up.” The memory twisted my heart, and I skated forward, hoping the task of getting a defenseman I didn’t know the name of to focus would be enough to distract myself from the pain.
Mac stayed right with me. “When do I get to meet this legendary brother? He’s friends with Bardot, a hockey player, and I’ve never seen him.”
“Hey, it looks like Roman needs help. Talk later?”
I kicked off, spraying ice behind me. Mac said something I couldn’t hear, but I had to keep skating forward.
Chapter Nineteen
Sebastian
“Your balls are the best.” Mac groaned as he shoved another protein ball into his insatiable mouth.
