Page 35 of Hockey Heart

“Okay, so what the fuck is going on here, Solly?”

“It was thatfuckingauction, Hayden… Beth Gibson. That tech tycoon’s ex.”

“Yeah, Rupert Hands’ ex-wife, right? She’s been hanging ‘round the games this year.”

“Right! Yeah, that’s the one. She sponsors the fucking team’s groin guards. Did you know that!?”

I laughed. I mean, hell, it was pretty funny.

“Maria was already hopping mad about me having to go for dinner with her, which isridiculous. Hayden, you’ve seen her. She’s not my type.”

“She’s not anyone’s type,” I agreed.

“Right? But Fletch said to keep her sweet, maybe even see if she wanted to throw around a bit more sponsorship money next year. So I played nice. I mean, I really tried to.”

“Youtriedto?”

I took a long gulp of beer as I watched his face fall.

“We’re in the ride over to the restaurant and she bangs on the limo window, tells the driver to go to this other address.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yeah, and I’m like,hey babe, where we going?She puts her hand on my thigh and saysdon’t you worry about it…”

I got myself a little comfier on the couch, wondering how bad this was going to get for poor Solly.

“…So now Idostart worrying about it, Hay. I mean, she’s all over me. I’m trying to keep it nice and in control, but she’s like a wildcat.”

“Solly, she’s, what? A forty-five-year-old woman in a cardigan. You’re a twenty-six-year-old 200 lb professional hockey player, are you joking?”

Solly blushed, then said weakly, “I was trying to keep her sweet Hayden. Like Fletch said.”

“How sweet, Solly?”

“We get to the place and it’s a hotel. I’m like,there’s no way I’m going in, but she says,I bought you for a hundred thousand dollars, so you better get in there. What was I meant to do?”

“Please tell me you didn’t…”

“No! …Well, not really. I mean, we just sort of fooled around in the room. Or rather, she fooled around while I tried to get out of there.”

“Solly. Seriously.”

“I only gave her enough to make it out of there alive without upsetting anyone. I didn’t think anyone would find out!”

I wanted to open another beer, but I really didn’t want to leave the story.

“So, how does Maria know all this?”

Solly looked at me with the face of someone who had just dropped their phone off the side of a boat while trying to take a picture of a fish.

“She… That woman…”

“Beth.”

“Yeah, Beth. She toldeveryone,Hayden. Made it sound even worse than what really happened. Even my gardener knows about it! Myfuckinghairdresser was even looking at me funny. He definitely knows.”

“Fun-time Solly.” We both looked up to see Cara standing in the hallway, wearing a slinky silk gown on her body and a satisfied smirk on her face.

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