Page 125 of The Blame Game

The sexual and romantic attraction was totally lacking but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a nice time with a clever, funny woman.

“She is. I just—”

“You just what?” Dom said with a sigh. “This will get the gossips to lay off so I can focus on hockey. My contract’s up at the end of the season, D. I want to contribute to the team however I can, okay?”

“Okay.” Dustin said, but he was frowning. It was the ‘I’m disappointed in you’ face and Dom might be older than Dustin but it still felt like he was letting down his big brother.

“I wish things were easier for me,” he said, looking down at the half-melted ice cubes in his drink. “I really do.”

Dustin opened his mouth to reply, then frowned. “Hey, you might want to check on your date. She doesn’t look very happy right now.”

Dom glanced up, concerned, to see Audra in conversation with Mark Goodwin, the team’s executive director for business operations.

Audra was frowning and he had a grip on her arm, speaking heatedly into her ear and looming over her.

“What the hell?” Dom muttered but he was already striding forward. He pasted on a smile and made his tone jovial. “Audra! There you are. I thought I’d lost you!”

She glanced up, her eyes filled with barely repressed anger for a moment before her expression smoothed into something bland and neutral.

“Sorry, Dom.” She slipped away from Mark. “I just got to talking with Mr. Goodwin here.”

“Oh. How do you—” He cut himself off before he could ask how they knew each other. He could guess. “How are you doing, Mark? I haven’t spoken to you in a while.”

Smiling, he held out a hand and Mark gave him a tense smile as he shook. “Uhh, I’m good. How are you, Olson?”

They made small talk for a few moments before Mark excused himself, still looking uneasy.

Dom opened his mouth to ask what the hell was going on but Audra took his hand, leading him farther down the hall, away from the small handful of people mingling there. He didn’t know what to do when she pulled him into an empty alcove.

“We have a problem.”

Dom blinked. “Uhh. Yeah, so I noticed. What exactly is going on?”

She glanced around and spoke softly. “Mark Goodwin is a former client of mine.”

Dom frowned. “I assume you don’t mean you picked out ties for him.”

She managed a glimmer of a smile. “Well, I did. But I did a whole lot more than that.”

“Shit.”

“And we didn’t part on the best of terms.”

Dom frowned. “Oh?”

“I’ll tell you later. But for now, I’d like to get out of here if we can. I hate to ask you if we can leave early but—”

“No, if you need to go, we should go,” Dom said, concerned. “Let me tell Dustin. He’ll wonder what’s going on.”

“Of course.”

Dom hesitated. “Are you okay with me telling my captain why? All I’d say is that Mark is a former styling client who crossed a line.”

She looked relieved. “Yes. That should cover it.”

Dom was just about to step into the corridor when Audra caught his arm. “Thank you, by the way. You handled that well with Mark.”

“I’m sure you had it under control.”

---