Page 33 of Pucking Revenge

“I’ll probably head that way in half an hour. Need me to handle something here first?”

Liv looks up from her phone and smiles. “No. I’m going to the game too.”

“You are?”

Liv never comes to the hockey games. She’s normally at home with the kids in the evenings, per Beckett’s orders. Though the orders are really suggestions, and only because he’s so obsessed with making her happy. For years, he expected her to travel with him and the Revs for every road stretch. It wasn’t until they were “fake married” that he realized how much she was missing out on with the kids. Once he was hit with that reality, he encouraged her to promote me. Now I handle the hockey team travel, and my counterpart, Hannah, handles the baseball travel.

“Yup. My kids are sleeping at Dylan’s, so Beckett and I are having a date night at the game.” She steps farther into my office and lowers her voice. “Rumor has it that Ford and Lake are going to be there to watch Daniel play.”

Oh my God. I’m not trying to faint, but Lake is literally my idol. I know we’ve already been over this, but seriously, I love her.

“You do realize I hate you right now,” I whine.

Liv laughs. “Why don’t you hang in the owner’s box with us tonight? You don’t actually have to sit with the boys during the game. There’s no way the press is coming near them while they’re playing.”

She’s right, and I can’t even believe I’m saying this, but… I shrug. “I want to be there for Brooks.”

Liv’s smile is so bright it hurts to look at. “I need the full story one of these days. I always knew he had a crush on you, but you seemed kind of oblivious to it. What changed?”

Her words have me holding my breath. Brooks had a crush on me? That’s news. Brooks and I are close, but outside of the last twenty-four hours, he’s never so much as flirted with me.

“Honestly,” I say, going for nonchalant, “he went all caveman on me and declared me his. I didn’t have much say in the matter.”

Sticking as close to reality as I can feels like the safest bet, and even though we’re pretending, those words are more like the truth than anything else I could admit. Over the last two days, I’ve discovered a whole other side of Brooks, and I don’t hate it one bit.

Liv brings a hand to her heart. “Those Langfield men. Am I right?”

“Yes,” I huff a laugh and check the time on my computer screen. “You are most definitely right.” Standing, I run a hand down the front of my shirt to smooth it out. “On that note, I’m going to freshen up before heading to the arena.” I hold up my phone. “Text me when you’re with Lake.”

“You got it, babe.” She heads for the open door but turns back at the threshold. “And Sara?”

I pull open the top drawer of my desk, ready to grab my toiletry case, and look up at her. “Yeah?”

“Enjoy yourself tonight.”

In the bathroom, I run into Hannah, who I thought had already headed home for the day. When the baseball team isn’t playing and she isn’t traveling, her workdays are shorter, just like mine are when the Bolts aren’t playing. If the Revs were playing tonight, there’s no way Beckett would be going to the hockey game. Also, the offices, which are located directly between the stadium and arena, are always buzzing on game days. Our side of the office, the hockey division, has been a madhouse all day, but the baseball group is basically MIA.

When Hannah whips a jersey out of her oversized purse, her presence makes more sense.

“Ah,” I say. “I see you heard Lake was going to the game.”

She grins and tugs the jersey over her head. “Is it that obvious?”

I set my makeup case on the counter beside her. “And you’re wearing Daniel Hall’s number.”

A pink flush creeps up her neck and into her cheeks, and she ducks her head, fiddling with the hem of her jersey.

“Hannah!”

She looks away from me. “Shh. He’s a good player, that’s all. And it’d be weird to wear one of the Langfield jerseys. Like, how do you pick one? They own the team.”

I shrug. I hadn’t considered wearing a jersey, but suddenly the idea of showing up wearing Brooks’s number sounds like a fantastic idea. It’s what a real girlfriend would do. And as a bonus? It would really piss off Seb.

“Can I sit with you?” she asks, interrupting my train of thought.

I drop my lipstick into my makeup case and prop one hip up against the counter, facing her. “You realize Lake will be in the owner’s box, right? I’m sitting with the team.”

Hannah nods, her lips pressed together. The hope in her eyes is impossible to miss.

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