Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
The last thing I want to do is go to the bar after the game. “It’s bonding too,” he reasons and I roll my eyes when Eric snickers.
“I don’t know why you are laughing,” I tell him, “you’re coming with.”
“Great,” he replies, “I’ll go and tell my wife.” He turns and walks out of the room with the phone in his hand.
I walk out of the room with Jaxon as Kirby and Knox get there together. “You guys carpooling again?”
“Yeah, the girls are going to be our rides home,” Knox says. “You going to be okay?” he asks Jaxon, and I look over at him, knowing I missed something.
“I don’t like it,” Jaxon declares and then looks at me. “My sister, Tori, she invited this guy to the game on Saturday.” He says her name and just like every fucking time before, my body goes on alert. It’s been almost a week since she called me. A week where every single night, I’ve looked at her number and told myself to call her. A week where I’ve thought about nothing but her when I wasn’t thinking of the game. Where I ate each meal alone, something that has never bothered me before, but now suddenly bothers me, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m thinking about having her sit with me at the end of the day. “Apparently, she met someone at a coffee shop, and he asked her out on a date.” I swallow and all I can hear is the thumping of my heart in my ears. “So she asked me for an extra ticket.”
“If she’s dating this guy,” Kirby says, “the best thing to do was to give her a ticket so you can meet him after.”
“Or you don’t and she goes out with him and you never meet him so you can’t threaten him,” Knox adds. “Either way, you have to get her a ticket.”
I look down, a rage filling my veins, and I don’t know why since this is what I wanted to begin with. “Don’t you guys need to get ready?” I snap, not sure I want to hear the rest of why it’s a good idea for her to date this guy, already fucking hating him, and I don’t even know him.
The whole game I am in a mood. The lines that I’ve changed have half-worked and half-not, and when we come out with a win by the skin of our teeth, I’m ready for the whole fucking night to be over.
I walk into the press room after the game and sit down. “Hey, Coach.” I look over to see the veteran reporter, Timothy, who has been covering the team for the past ten years, I think. “There have been whispers of personality clashes amongst the players,” he says, and I just look at him, making sure I give away nothing. “Is that why you switched up your lines tonight?”
“I like the idea that I have a team and everyone can play with everyone as a team,” I tell him. “Things happen during the year—injuries, power play, penalty kills—it’s a good time to see who works well with whom, so mixing it up is always beneficial.” I don’t even bother commenting on the first part of the question, and he must sense I’m in no mood tonight. “We have a good team. They have to trust each other.” He just nods at me. I take a couple other questions and when I walk out, Eric is there with Jaxon. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Making sure you don’t bail on us,” Eric admits. “It’s easy to slip out.” I roll my eyes, pulling down the knot of my tie, and then tuck it in my pocket as I walk out of the arena and head to my SUV. “Shotgun.” I look over at him. “What? My kids always say that when they want to ride in the front seat.”
I shake my head as I make my way back to the same restaurant they always rent out after the game. I get out and head in. Looking around I tell myself I’m not looking for Victoria, when I see her sitting down with a man beside her, who has to be her date. Eric goes right and I know I should follow him, but instead I follow Jaxon to his table, and I see her look up and smile at Jaxon, then she looks over her shoulder at me. “Hey,” I say, pulling out the chair in front of her and right next to Knox, “nice to see you again.”
eleven
Victoria
“The suite was nice. I think we had a similar one when we went to watch the basketball team,” Elliott says and then stops talking when he looks over and sees Jaxon coming our way.