Page 20 of Playoff

“You’ve got it bad, dude.” Bodi nudges me.

“Shut up,” I mutter, glaring at him.

“You’ve got a hard-on for Ro?” Connor stares at me. “For real?”

I roll my eyes. “I definitely donothave a hard-on for her.”

“How come?” Chandler asks, joining us. “She’s awesome. I mean, I have a girlfriend, but Ro is smart, beautiful, and a great trainer. Why wouldn’t you like her?”

I groan.

This is the last thing I need.

Not only am I trying to focus on hockey, Rowan probably doesn’t want our ugly past spread around the team. Hell, I don’t want that to get around either.

“They were high school sweethearts,” Bodi pipes up, grinning.

“Dude. Would you shut the fuck up?” I give him a dirty look.

“What?” He laughs. “It was a million years ago. I’m just busting your balls.”

“You and Ro?” Connor looks dubious. “She’s way too hot for you.”

I flip him the bird. “Thanks a lot, dickhead.”

He laughs. “Hey, I’m kidding. You seen my girlfriend? She’s way out of my league but she likes me anyway.” He opens his phone and shows me a picture of a gorgeous brunette with curly hair and green eyes. Jesus, she’s hot. What the hell does she see in a kid like Connor?

“I thought you guys were friends with benefits?” Chandler asks Connor.

He shrugs. “Sometimes we are, other times we’re more. Right now, we’re more.”

“Rowan and I broke up nearly a decade ago,” I say. “Ancient history.”

“She dump you?” Chandler asks.

“I was an ass back then. Of course she dumped me.”

We all laugh.

“So you were hittin’ it with Rowan in high school?” Warren asks.

Christ, I’m going to kick Bodi’s ass for this.

“Hey.” I turn to him. “We were together for close to four years. I wasn’thittin’anything. She was my girlfriend, not some hookup. We were teenagers and it didn’t work out, but don’t talk about her like that. Especially not now that we all work together. That’s not cool. Use a little common sense, dude.”

Warren is momentarily quiet. “Yeah. Sorry, man. I didn’t mean anything by it. She’s just hot, so I said something stupid. Thinking with my little head instead of my big one.”

“Well, don’t. It’s unprofessional.”

Look at me, acting like I’m some kind of grown-up.

“Could we not bring this up again?” I ask after a moment. “Seriously. All I care about is helping the Phantoms win a championship. Me and Rowan are ancient history. It’s not gossip or whatever.”

Thankfully, they seem to get it and let it drop as we head to the elevators.

“Okay, everyone who’s going to dinner meet in the lobby in fifteen,” Chandler says. “Gabe is looking for a place that’s open that can take all of us.”

“See you then.”

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