Page 5 of Faking the Face Off

Sawyer snorts, his voice a little too loud on a normal day, but today he’s shouting. “Don’t listen to him, Anna. Decker here is just trying to find a reason to talk to you.”

“Ollie never needs a reason to talk to me,” she says, winking my way as she crosses her arms tightly in front of her chest and puts Sawyer square in her sights. “At least he can string together a full sentence and eat a meal without spraying food at me. Can you say the same?”

“Let me take you to dinner and you’ll find out,” Sawyer banters back, cracking Campbell up. It’s like these two guysspeak their own language, which sometimes I swear they do. At least on the ice during a game it comes in handy.

“Thing One, I need you to stand down.” Anna raises an eyebrow and gives them both a look that could freeze fire. “You Stocktons are a real piece of work. Maybe I should get Ben to put you on a team assignment—I’m thinking of a roadside highway cleanup volunteer effort on behalf of the Renegades. In the middle of summer, when it’s nice and humid, the snakes are out, and there are plenty of mosquitoes.”

Both Sawyer and Campbell immediately raise their hands in mock surrender, grinning.

“Impressive.” Dixon grins, nodding. “Well played, Anna. You’ve got them in line.”

“I’ve got all of you in line,” she retorts, her smile sharp and playful. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got actual work to do. Gotta drop this off in the Ivory Tower.” Anna holds up the folder like it’s some kind of trophy, then waves it in the air before her eyes flick back to me, locking onto mine with a look that makes my stomach do a flip.

“Lucky you,” Campbell grunts. “You get to see the suits today.”

The Ivory Tower is the nickname given to the offices where the team owners and the executives running the Renegades and arena work. Where the “suits” go.

“Speaking of suits,” Anna adds with a teasing glint, “I meant to tell you I liked the new one you wore for the game the other night, Ollie. You looked great.”

She tosses the compliment over her shoulder like it’s no big deal and turns to walk away, her stride confident, leaving me standing there trying to recover from the shock. She noticed my new suit?

I watch her go, momentarily paralyzed, my brain stuck on “she noticed” while I try to pick my jaw up off the floor. I mean,what just happened? I can’t even tell if I should be freaking out or grinning like an idiot.

“Don’t let it go to your head, Decker,” Campbell laughs from behind me. “She told me I looked good in my new shoes, too.”

“Oh, please,” Dixon joins in with a smirk, stepping into the conversation with that same teasing tone. “She probably only noticed your shoes because you trip over them half the time. But hey, maybe that’s a look. Everyone loves a guy who falls on his face in style.”

I chuckle, but my mind’s still on Anna’s words. Shenoticed. She noticed me.

Dixon gives me an exaggerated nod. “I don’t blame her, though. You’ve been looking sharp lately. It’s like you’re presenting or something.”

“Presenting?”

“Like when a mammal is in heat and they…you know…” Dixon turns around and essentially moves his butt in a way that could resemble a twerk. “Present.”

“You’re watching too much David Attenborough.” I shoot him a pointed look. “Shut up, man. Just because we’re roommates now doesn’t mean you get to make jokes about me.”

“Oh, I’m just getting started, Decker.” Dixon grins, clearly enjoying the chaos. “Let me know when you figure out how to keep your cool with Anna. I’ll be over here, watching paint dry.”

Stockton snorts in response and I can’t help but shake my head. “Shut it, Thing One.”

The sound of someone’s phone ringing on the bench stops the conversation in its tracks, with Dixon grabbing it and reading the screen. He takes a moment to digest what he sees before raising a fist in the air and pumping it a few times.

“Yes! I just got a deal with River City Sports to be their ambassador,” he says. “Cha-ching!”

“They’ll want you to keep those pearly whites looking good and straight,” Henry says with a laugh. “Don’t go standing in the way of a puck.”

“Don’t pass it to me then,” Dixon growls, shutting him down with a lone scowl.

Contracts for ambassadorships, doing commercials, brand deals, being “camera ready”…Just not my thing, yet it seems to come second nature to everyone on the team but me. Is it so bad that at the end of the day, I like to go home and chill out, have a glass of pinot noir, and listen to some jazz? That when we’re not playing I do volunteer work and have a stack of books to get through because my TBR pile is never-ending?

Is it so weird that I daydream about becoming a father and that I actively think about how life will be when I finally find the person I’m supposed to settle down with and get married?

No, I think the part that’s weird is that I think I already know who she is.

Now I just need to get her to see that it’s me. I’m the one who’s meant for her and I’m right here.

CHAPTER 3

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