Page 6 of Well Played

And I wasn’t—nor would I ever be—his.

The thought was so ridiculous I couldn’t even try to play with it. Solace had his pick of any woman he wanted. He could flirt, or whatever, all he liked but at the end of the day I was a barelygraduated marketing nobody, an overweight, lonely girl who lived alone and ignored her cat too often.

And my last relationship with a hockey player ended disastrously. Thankfully that was a long time ago, and I never looked back.

Mooning over my cold coffee, I headed for the small staff kitchenette that doubled as the meeting place for pretty much everyone and squeezed into the corner that held the toaster, my crappy instant coffee, and avocado collection. All three were fairly safe as the rest of the staff and hangers on who preferred the snob’s version of coffee. While I could afford to drink it, I couldn't justify the cost of my meagre wage and I knew bread wasn’t an option for the majority of the WAGS.

So, safe on all counts.

Humming away to myself, I buttered my bread, made my coffee with extra milk and sliced my avocado, slathering the whole thing onto my toast when I judged it had literally a few hours left of ultimate ripeness before it turned into that horrific state where dark spots appeared and then there would be no saving it.

A true tragedy.

My rescue strategy seemed a whole lot kinder, and I fully intended to enjoy my feast. I raised my toast to my mouth.

“You know how fattening those things are.”

The toast stopped due to the proximity of the voice. I closed my eyes, still facing the corner and risked moving my toast closer to home.

“I mean, if you eat anything else, we’ll have to put you somewhere in the back where you can’t be seen.”

Silence fell over the kitchen.

I opened my eyes, and swivelled around on my heel to find Janelle smirking at me and my avocado toast. Mindy glared atme over her shoulder. Apparently the promotion to team WAG hadn’t done either of them any favours.

But that wasn’t about to be Today Hallie’s problem. I had no idea where the push came from; maybe Solace's flirting gave me an extra confidence boost. Maybe it was insanity and a career death defying move. Who knew. Forcing a grin across my face I didn't feel, I pushed theentirequarter that should have taken a whole lot longer to eat into my mouth, moaning and chewing loudly.

Really, over the top, food-porn loud.

Enough they could have heard me in the training room. Maybe the offices, too.

Their mouths fell open as I chewed. I reached back blindly for the rest, getting avocado all over my hands, and stuffed that in, too.

“So good,” I moaned, playing it right up and getting really, really messy.

Childish, such a bad idea, and I’d pay for it later not so subtly with these girls.

But by God was it worth it to see the shock on their faces.

More heads popped into the kitchen from the open doors at both ends. Faces I recognised from the team, and some of the sponsors. I gave someone–I didn’t recognise who–a saucy wink as I managed to swallow, and that someone groaned.

I tossed my hair over my shoulders, and finished the whole show off by licking my fingers loudly in the utter silence that otherwise filled the area. With what felt like a hundred eyes locked on me, I turned to wash my hands. Heat crept up my cheeks as I realised what I’d just done, but now was not the time for shame. I refused flat out to wear someone else’s insecurities.

I might not be dating a player, and I might not wear a flashy ring, but that didn’t mean I had to put up with someone else’s judgement about what I wore or how—or what—I ate at work.

Hell, tomorrow I could do the same again with melted chocolate. Normalize this shit.

My head held high, I turned back around ready to face the consequences of my actions and came face to chest with a seething hockey player, his heart beating loud and fast enough I could hear it from the outside.

Likely so could everyone else in the vicinity.

I raised my eyes to meet Solace’s and he wasfurious.

Anger radiated from him as he glared down at me. Fists clenched and unclenched at his sides, his jaw locked as his thick, muscular thighs that were the stuff of legend the country round pressed mine back into the bench.

Three words made it past his bared teeth before he gripped my wrist in an unbreakable hold. “With me.Now.”

I might not have minded the way he gave orders before. I kind of didn't even mind how he stalked me in the parking lot in what became our personal evening ritual. But this, right here? This was too far. Too much like staking a claim.

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