Page 113 of Holiday Hostilities

Soon enough, I realize that no one else is coming from the locker room. All of the Cyclones are out now, save for one.

I turn to Jake. “Where’s Aaron?”

He shrugs. “He went to Coach’s office after the game to talk to him. Not sure why. I figured he’d be out by now.”

“Is that normal—to get called to Coach Torres’ office after a game?”

“Usually ain’t a good thing. And besides, Coach should be on his way to the press conference by now.” Jake scratches his beard. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Maybe he’s taking an extra-long shower.”

This makes Jake chuckle. “He does love to wash that luxurious hair of his.” His gaze suddenly darkens. “Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless Aaron’s going with Coach to do postgame press.” Jake shakes his head. “Can’t imagine why he’d wanna do that, though.”

“Would Coach have requested Aaron speak to the press with him?”

“Doubt it. Especially with that, you know…” He clears his throat gruffly. “Uh, you know, thatphotothat doesn’t bear thinking about. Aaron hates talking to the media about his personal life.”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to care about a photo of Aaron kissing his girlfriend. I’m sure way worse photos of most of you have surfaced.”

“True. You should’ve seen the video of Dallas that got leaked last year…” Jake goes off into a story, but I find myself tuning out, looking back at the locker room doors for Aaron again.

He reallyistaking a while. Everyone else is out here.

Could he actually be going to do postgame press?

Just then, the door to the players’ area opens and Reagan appears, her heels click-clacking on the tiles. Her face is a neutral mask as she looks around until her eyes zero in on me. She makes a beeline for our little group.

For some reason, my stomach sinks.

“Everything okay?” I ask her.

She worries her teeth into her lower lip before she lets out a sigh. “Everything’s fine, but I do want to make you aware of something.”

“Oh?”

Reagan’s clutching her phone in her hand and she holds the screen up towards me. “The photo of you and Aaron that Brandi posted on Christmas Day has become a topic of discussion tonight, and unfortunately, not in a good way.”

“What do you mean?” I tilt my head, then repeat Aaron’s words from the gala, “I’m sure the media don’t care about our boring old monogamy.”

I say this with a jokey smile, but Reagan frowns.

“Yeah,” she says. “But because Brandi’s last story on Thanksgiving got so much traction on social media, people were already questioning Aaron’s leadership. Now, they’re saying that you’re just his latest fling and it’s not a good look because you’re his teammate’s little sister.” She holds up a hand. “Not that I believe that, obviously, but it’s what people are saying. The commentators mentioned it earlier during the game as well,saying that it’s causing a rift between Aaron and Jake that’s affecting Aaron’s play.”

“Not true, in any way,” Jake says immediately, which I appreciate.

Sofia rubs my arm. “‘Course not.”

I suddenly recall Lieberman’s pissed-off expression and the way I could’ve sworn he grumbledMarinowhen talking to Torres.

The team’s GM isn’t happy. The media are questioning Aaron about his dating life again, when Aaron assured Lieberman at the gala that they wouldn’t. Coach is off to talk to the press, and there’s no sign of Aaron coming out of the locker room.

Has that stupid photo of us actually thrown Aaron’s captaincy into question again?

This is so dumb. A total lie that’s not fair to Aaron at all. He’s the most committed, passionate, loving human I know.

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