Page 10 of Conner

And before Conner knew what hit him, she was gone. He kept putting his foot in his mouth around her. He was trying to keep his distance so he could focus this season, but he wasn't trying to be a jerk. Trying or not it did seem to keep going that way.

He took another shot once she was off the ice. Once again, he felt his wrist twitch and he hit the post. Damn.

“Hey man, I'm usually the first one out here for morning skate.” Cash said, skating towards him. “What's got you out so early?”

“I was just shooting some videos with Sasha,” he said, distracted.

“Oh yeah? She's got you doing thirst traps too?” he asked with a grin.

“No.” He looked over at Cash who seemed to be amused by the whole thing. Maybe he was okay with that, but Conner wanted to focus and be taken seriously. “She had me do some tips, it's actually a pretty good idea.”

“Nice, she just has me winking at the suit camera, but I'll take it. Keep adding women to my out-of-town roster if she keeps posting things like that,” Cash said as he wagged his eyebrows.

More players were starting to filter onto the ice as Conner started to stretch. He was glad Cash didn't mind that kind of attention, but it was not the kind of attention he wanted. He’d had his fill of attention like that in college. That kind of attention had always made him uncomfortable and had been the cause of some nasty fights back then.

He had one serious girlfriend in college, but it had always been an emotional roller coaster. She would get drunk and pick fights. He was her rock, he was lots of people’s rock to be fair, but being the calm in her storm often meant he was thrown off balance more than he cared to be. When they broke up, he decided not to be seriously involved with anyone until he was done with hockey. But he was pushing thirty now, and maybe it was time to think about settling down.

But first he needed a cup. He closed his eyes and finished stretching before getting up to practice. Hopefully this practice would help him clear his head, but he didn’t have his hopes up. His head had been a mess for weeks.

As the week went on Conner was practicing, his shot was still off. He kept seeing Sasha around the building. He saw her the next day filming with Kyle the stick guy. Everyone knew him, he knew everyone's sticks and how they liked them to be stored and during the game he was always watching getting ready to hand you your stick if you broke one on the ice. He was going down the line showing her how everyone taped their stick differently. He couldn't help but smile to himself as he walked by.

The next week he found her in the weight room taking footage of one of Ethan's training sessions. His trainer was taking the time to explain to her and the camera how goalie workouts differ from the other players, the two of them down in a low squat tossing medicine balls back and forth.

The work she was putting into this impressed him. The behind-the-scenes glimpses into team life were going to be a hit with the fans. She was doing something he hadn't seen other teams’ social media do before. The fans would find this engaging, he knew that.

He found himself just standing watching them.

“Hey man, I was just checking to see how the Mystic Falls team was doing. Did they win?”

It took him a minute to realize someone was talking to him. He looked over at Wes standing next to him.

“What?” he asked, still distracted by Sasha.

“Your dad's hockey team we did a training session with. Did they win?”

“Oh right, sorry. Yeah, they’re headed to sectionals, still the favorite for the state championship,” he said, his eyes still on Sasha.

“Distracted by our pretty social media manager?” Wes grinned at him.

Conner turned to him with a scowl. “What? No. I'm not.”

“I get it man—“ before he could even finish that statement Conner cut him off with a glare.

“Wes, I don't care about our social media manager,” he said to Wes, his tone a little harsh. He wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince Wes or himself.

Wes's eyes got big.

“The feelings mutual, Conner. I'll catch up with you later, Wes.”

An icy chill ran down his back as he turned and saw Sasha. Her brows were pinched, and she let out a rough chuckle.

“Unbelievable,” she muttered under her breath. And just like that she swept out of the weight room leaving him there in his own shame.

He hung his head. “Fuck.”

“Smooth,” Wes said, giving him a pat on the chest.

Conner was left standing there alone wondering how it all went so wrong. He needed to stop this, but he was at a total fucking loss. He always knew the next move, but this woman had him stumped.

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