Page 57 of Faking the Shot

The trainer shifted behind him and pressed on the sore point.

Zac winced. “That’s the spot.”

“We’ll ice and massage it. We can’t afford our star player to get injured, especially this early in the season.”

He finished changing then joined the trainer in the room claimed for medical staff. Different arenas had different setups for treatment rooms, and most visiting teams had to make do with what they could find. Vancouver had an excellent medical staff, though, and he knew he was in good hands, even though a massage might not have felt like it.

“You need to heat pack it and take care not to strain it. No lifting, okay? Not even a bag.”

He shook his head, but even in that action, he felt the pinch of pain again. No. This wasn’t supposed to be that bad.

“Zac? Is it hurting still?”

“I’ll rest it, I’ll be careful.”

“You better be. And I want to see you first thing tomorrow morning.”

“You got it.”

He returned to the room to see most of the others had now left and were heading to the bus. They’d fly tonight to St. Louis, get in late, but at least they could sleep in. Then they’d have a late training session, before a night off, then they’d play the following night.

And with a smidge more downtime, maybe there would be time to connect with Ainsley again.

CHAPTER12

Louie eyed her over his breakfast bowl, as if daring her to blink. And while she’d conducted stare-offs with her cat in the past, she’d always lost. Just as she was going to lose this dare to contact Zac again.

She glanced down at her phone, sitting on the kitchen counter next to her untouched bowl of granola. Today’s shoot would be more intense, and she needed energy for that. But also for this. She shoved a mouthful in, winced at the cardboard taste. She bet Zac knew a tastier option, and she wondered what he ate for breakfast.

“Meow.” Louie drank his milk then leaped to his favorite position on rainy days, atop a bookcase, near the window. Keeping company with her book boyfriends was a good way to spend the day.

She eyed her phone again, as her heart knotted. This probably wasn’t good. Probably wasn’t wise. But neither was it kind to leave a man’s concerned inquiry blinking on her phone. Not that she’d had a problem with that in the past. Not that the men had been too concerned about her, more concerned about why she’d dropped them. As soon as they revealed their true motives she blocked their numbers.

But Zac, well, she couldn’t do that to him. He was too nice to leave hanging. And they were friends. So leaving his messages unanswered looked really selfish. Looked really selfish, because it was. She’d been so busy between shooting and dealing with her lawyer that she didn’t know how to respond.

But even that was a cop-out. She knew what to say. Just the lines of communication between them were starting to feel a little blurred. Regardless, she couldn’t let this be so one-sided. Especially after she’d seen him get hit, and she had worried about him. And prayed he was okay.

She swallowed, and picked up her phone. Reread his message. Listened to his rambling phone call again. Winced at the “this is Zac, your fake boyfriend” comment, like he thought she might have forgotten who he was. He’d left the ball in her court, so it was up to her to return serve.

She pressed his number, closed his eyes. Would he answer? She had no idea what time zone he was in, or if he was training or travelling or napping. Pro athletes napped, didn’t they?

His voicemail message kicked in, and her words fled. Ugh. She was supposed to be good at words. Maybe she was only good when she had a script. “Uh, hi Zac. This is Ainsley. I’m just returning your call. Sorry I missed you. Uh, bye.”

She ended the call, wincing. Why was it so hard to talk on the phone? She was a professional talker for goodness’ sake! And she hadn’t even answered his question. Seriously, she was kind of lame. Rosie would be ashamed of her.

Still, she had work to attend, and thanks to her dithering, she was now running late.

It wasn’tuntil she got in that evening that she had time to check her phone again. Saw the call from her lawyer, who assured her the offer had been accepted. Yes! She called Stirling back.

“It’s good news, Ainsley.”

“It’s fantastic news!” She hoped her mom and Aunty Win would think so too.

“Now we have the subject removal period. Did you or Mack want to inspect the house yourself?”

“No. We trust you.”

“Okay. Then I’ll get the inspector to check it, then if all is good, I’ll put the deposit in. And I’ll have a bunch of documents for you to sign, so prepare for that.”

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