Page 20 of Cash

The next day Evie woke up with her alarm. She was almost expecting a good morning text from him, but of course she didn't get one. That would have been silly. All the same, she was excited to see him again.

As she was sitting at her table eating her breakfast, she found herself typing his name into her phone. Then pictures of him filled her screen. Pictures of him in the ice looking like a beast, pictures of him in the bars smiling with his teammates, and a couple with him and women hanging all over him. In fact, there was a post of him and Ethan Yellowtail at a bar last night. Following that was a picture with a blond hanging off his arm from last night as well. Was he with this woman and texting Evie at the same time? The same anger she felt when she got caught in the elevator with Bryan’s mom was taking over, but she had misjudged him then…maybe she was misjudging this one too.

But there was no way to misread this woman whose hand rested on his abs low enough to make her see red. She put her phone face down, finished her breakfast quickly, and headed into the rink. She didn’t have time for this right now.

Once she arrived, she didn’t have time for those nerves. As soon as she opened the door the din coming from inside was overwhelming. The lobby was full of kids getting skates on and parents filling out paperwork. She quickly made her way to the office to help the new campers get registered. They had a huge group of kids. Her side was pretty normal, it was slightly bigger than last year, but nothing too crazy. The hockey camp though was another story. When word got out that Wes and Cash were helping this year, it had been filled in a day, and the waitlist was huge. It was good for the center and amazing for the scholarship program.

She was getting ready to get on the ice. Her mornings were going to be with her older girls. These were the girls who were already competing and would be working towards perfecting jumps, spins, and footwork. Her skaters were out warming up and she stopped to look at the hockey camp. She still hadn't seen Cash. When she looked out on the ice in the hockey rink, she still didn't see him. Owen who ran the program was out there, Wes was there, and he had a woman who looked vaguely familiar with him, but no Cash. She walked in and got Wes's attention and he skated over.

"Hey Evie, what's up?"

"Is Cash here?"

"No, he had something come up. But don't worry we got it covered. I brought my girlfriend who played college hockey, but any minute Conner McPhee will be here until Cash can get here."

Her head was spinning. What in the actual fuck? How was he not here?

"What the fuck? These kids aren't here to play hockey with your girlfriend."

Wes was clearly taken back by her demeanor, but she didn't care, she was pissed. She had been right about him in the first place.

"I get that. Conner is on his way. Conner is captain and a top player. We got it covered. Cash should be here later."

"Where is he?"

"I'm not sure. He said he had something come up?"

"Something..." she shook her head. "More like someone..." she muttered under her breath.

"I'm sorry?" Wes said not hearing the last part, which was deliberate.

"I have to go," she turned and made her way over to the ice. The picture of him out at the bar last night was lodged in her head. Him at the bar, him with all those women, she knew who he was. Why did she think he was anything other than that? Taking a deep breath, she shook off the anger and headed to the ice. She had some training to do, and she needed to find a way not to be a complete bitch to them...which wasn't looking good right now.

She took off her skate guards and opened the door.

"We're starting with swizzles," she called out as she skated onto the ice.

11

CASH

Cash woke to his phone ringing early in the morning. He batted at it thinking it was his alarm, but it was a phone number he didn't recognize.

"Hello," he said, his voice still rough with sleep.

"Uncle Cash?" said a timid voice.

"River?" Cash sat up rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah...."

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"Ummmm...I'm okay."

"What's going on? Is your mom there?"

"No... Mom's not here."

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