Page 30 of The Secret Play

No. There was no way in hell I was going to let any one of my players within five feet of her.

“You really think this is a good idea?”

“I wouldn’t have brought it to you otherwise.”

I knew that. Mostly, I was just stalling. We both knew I’d give in to this. It was for the betterment of the team, no matter how I felt about Gemma. I sighed. “For how long?”

“As long as it takes,” Whitney said. “Look, I know this isn’t ideal. But if we’re serious about rebuilding this team’s reputation, we need to strike while the iron’s hot. Gemma can help us do that. The woman knows how to craft a story with heart and humanity, two things the press has been willfully ignoring about us for too long. We need her.”

She wasn’t wrong. We were still working to claw our way back into the good graces of the fans. But I still didn’t like Gemma hanging around the team like this.

Then again, what I wanted didn’t matter.

“I’ll talk to the guys,” I said finally, forcing a nod. “We’ll make it work.”

Whitney grinned, standing and gathering the folder. “Knew I could count on you, Casey. I always can.”

She swept out of the office as quickly as she’d entered. I leaned back in my chair, running a hand through my hair as I stared at the practice schedules in front of me. But the numbers and letters blurred together, and I couldn’t make heads or tails of them.

This was for the team, I reminded myself. For the fans. That was all that mattered. I shook it off and started again.

I hadn’t even had time to clear my head when there was a soft knock at the door. This time, the interruption was less forceful but no less disruptive. I looked up to see Matthew Edwards, the team’s seventy-nine-year-old owner, peeking his head inside with a mischievous grin.

“Got a minute, Casey?” he asked, his cane tapping lightly on the floor.

“Of course,” I said, standing as he entered.

Matthew was, without a doubt, the most eccentric person I’d ever worked for. With his tailored suits, perpetually twinkling eyes, and a seemingly endless supply of bizarre anecdotes, he was equal parts entertaining and exhausting. But he loved the Fire, and he’d poured a fortune into the team over the years, so his quirks were just part of the package.

He waved a hand at me as he settled into the chair across from my desk. “Sit, sit. No need to stand on my account.”

I lowered myself back into my seat, bracing for whatever tangent he was about to launch into. There was always a tangent or ten when he visited. I gulped down some coffee so I might have a chance to keep up with him. “What can I do for you, Matthew?”

He leaned forward, his expression suddenly serious. “How’s the team shaping up this year?”

“Solid. We’ve got a good mix of veterans and younger guys. I think we’ll surprise some people.”

“Good, good,” he said, nodding. “But I’ve been thinking…”

The way he trailed off made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Whenever Matthew started a sentence like that, it meant trouble. He could be thinking of telling concessions to change out their plastic cups for metal beer steins or talk about how we need pyrotechnics to burst each time a goal was scored.

I liked that he was creative, but he usually needed that creativity reined in.

“Thinking about what?” I asked cautiously.

“You,” he said, pointing his cane at me. “You’ve done a hell of a job with this team, Casey. Turned them around, made them contenders. But…”

There was always a but.

“But?” I prompted.

“You’ve gotten too comfortable,” he said bluntly. “Too predictable. And predictable doesn’t win championships, does it?”

I stiffened in my seat. “Predictable?”

He nodded, leaning back in his chair. “Don’t get me wrong—you’re a damn fine coach. One of the best. That’s why I’ve kept you on this long. But hockey isn’t just about systems and strategies. It’s about passion. Fire. Hence the name. And right now, I’m not seeing enough of that from this team—or from you.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he held up a hand. “Now, I know what you’re going to say. You’re steady, reliable, consistent. And those are good things. But you can’t lean on them forever. The Fire needs to evolve. And so do you. Or else.”

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