Page 53 of Broken As Puck

I jerked my chin at him. “Sure. You hitting the gym?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too. Let’s go.”

I didn’t look at Kim or the other woman as we left. If I had, I’d have either gotten mad or maybe felt a little bit guilty about mouthing off at them. It was possible she’d meant the comment as she’d said, but I was never going to sit back ever again if I thought there was a chance that someone was talking shit about Chelsey.

Drew and I spotted each other on the weights, encouraging each other to lift heavier and go harder. My muscles burned and quivered with exertion, but no matter how hard I made myself work, it wasn’t enough to quiet my mind.

The thing was, it had been easy to defend Chelsey. I hadn’t had the slightest hesitation before standing up for her and, even if I’d been a little bit aggressive about it, I didn’t regret doing so.

That only made me angrier at myself. If it was so easy, why couldn’t I have just done that years ago instead of fucking up and losing her?

Chapter Eighteen

CHELSEY

My phone rang as I was sitting at my desk in the office, and when I glanced down at it, I saw the name of a journalist from a winter sports magazine I’d reached out to. Heart racing, I answered the phone and raised it to my ear.

“Hi, is this Chelsey Fields?” It was a brisk, female voice.

“It is,” I replied. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m Tia Lopez from Winter Sports Monthly. I know it’s short notice, but we had to cancel an article in our upcoming issue and when we were brainstorming what we could replace it with, I remembered our conversation. Is there any chance we could come in this afternoon to interview the team, coaches, and owner?”

My jaw dropped, and for a moment, I didn’t know how to reply. For one thing, this was an incredible opportunity that I hadn’t expected to arise so quickly. When I’d put out feelers to relevant magazines, I thought it might take a while to hear anything back. Secondly, I imagined I could make sure most of the team and the coaches were here in the afternoon, but getting Joseph Trent on site might prove more challenging.

“Can I get back to you in a few minutes?” I asked, hating that I couldn’t give an immediate yes. “We’d love to have you here, but I need to ensure that everyone is available first.”

“Of course,” Tia replied. “I’ll need an answer within the hour, though, so I can make arrangements.”

“You’ll have it.” We said our goodbyes and ended the call.

I looked around for Stella, but she was nowhere in sight, so I lurched to my feet, already searching for her number on my phone, and limped across the office and into the corridor. I walked the length, checking each room I passed to make sure she wasn’t inside. She must have gone out for a meeting or an early lunch.

Stella’s phone rang, and fortunately, the call connected. “What’s up?”

“You won’t believe this.” I pushed the door and reentered the open-plan office area, making a beeline for my desk. “That journalist I contacted from Winter Sports Monthly just called. They’ve had a last-minute cancellation and want to interview the team, the coaches, and Joseph Trent this afternoon.”

Stella squealed. “Oh my God, that’s amazing! Wait—today?”

“Today,” I confirmed. “I know it’s super short notice, but this is an incredible opportunity. I really want to make it work. Do you think we can get Trent on board?”

She made a thoughtful sound. “He’s very concerned with improving the team’s reputation, so I think if there’s any way we can make it happen, he’ll be there. Just give me a moment and I’ll get in touch with him.”

“Okay, but we’ve only got an hour to get back to them,” I warned her.

“I’m on it.” Less than five minutes later, she called me back. “We’re good to go. Trent will be there, so you just have to make sure they’ve got everything they need and that the coaches and the team know to stay behind. A lot of them won’t have suits or clean gear with them, so you’ll want to check with the magazine to find out what they’d like them dressed in so we can make arrangements.”

“Got it.” I made a note so I wouldn’t forget that. “I’ll go and talk to Coach and the players and then call her to get the details.”

“Excellent. I should be back within an hour.”

She hung up and I hobbled downstairs and over to the edge of the rink. Coach Dunn was near the center of the ice, but Assistant Coach Willets was nearby, so I called out to him.

He made his way over to me, smiling in welcome. “What can I do for you, Chelsey?”

I relayed the news to him and waited as he went over to discuss the matter with Coach Dunn. As I hovered, eager for a response, Coach Dunn gathered the players around and asked how many would be able to remain after training and whether any had suits on hand or someone who would be able to bring them if needed.