Page 14 of Playoff

“Nerves.” Chandler nods. “Happens to all of us.”

“Not usually me,” I admit, “but I’ve never played in an NHL playoff game before.”

“It’s just another game,” Canyon says quietly. “You can’t think of it as this huge event, even if it is, because that will fuck with your head. Trust me on that.”

“Morning.” Bodi slides into the chair next to mine.

“How’d you sleep?” Chandler asks him.

“Like a baby!” He grins.

Asshole.

“You’ll need that rest,” Chandler says, eating a bite of eggs. “I get the feeling it’s going to be a long series.”

“You think?” I cock my head curiously. “How come?”

“I dunno.” He shrugs. “I usually have a feeling before a series, and I’m right ninety-nine percent of the time.”

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad.” Bodi grimaces, and then we all chuckle.

I get up, heading to the buffet to pour myself a cup of coffee when I see Rowan come in with a couple of women. The tall redhead is Bristol Carpenter, the head of Media Relations for the team, but I don’t know the other two at all. One of them is really gorgeous, and vaguely familiar, so I figure she’s someone’s wife, and sure enough, Canyon gets up and goes over to kiss her.

The gorgeous ones are always taken.

For the first time, it occurs to me that Rowan might have a boyfriend, and I don’t know what I’ll do if I see her with a guy. It’s completely irrational, but I can’t help it, and I quickly turn away, focusing on my coffee.

Now that I’ve got it in my head she might have a boyfriend, I can’t seem to think about anything else.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

Canyon’s girlfriend joins us at our table, but Rowan and Bristol go sit by themselves at a table for two.

“Guys, this is my girlfriend, Saylor. Babe, this is Blake and Bodi.”

“Nice to meet you.” She smiles. “Your goal in the last game was awesome, Bodi.”

“You watched?” he asks in surprise.

“Sure. Canyon and I try to support the minor leaguers whenever we can.”

“Nice to hear.” They start talking hockey, and I make my way over to the waffle station. I need protein, not carbs, but I suddenly feel the need for comfort food.

And of course, Rowan and Bristol come to stand in line behind me. There’s a chef making the waffles, putting whatever you want on them, and there are a few people ahead of us.

“Morning, Blake.” Bristol smiles.

“Hey, Bristol. Rowan.”

“Good morning.” Rowan barely looks up from whatever she’s doing on her phone.

“There’s a photo and video shoot scheduled at noon,” Bristol tells me. “I don’t know if you got my email. This just came up so I apologize for the late notice, but there’s a lot of press happening now because of the accident, so we’re doing a series of videos on how you guys are coping. The aftermath of the accident, being called up unexpectedly, traveling so far to Alaska, stuff like that. They’re going to get half of you in the training room, and the rest of you on the ice. Check the schedule I mapped out, please.”

“Sorry about that.” I pull out my phone and realize there are a slew of texts and emails I didn’t think to check. “I didn’t realize there was anything planned.”

“Like I said, there wasn’t, but now there is.” Her phone rings and she turns then quickly walks out of the room.

“Bristol sends a lot of emails and texts,” Rowan says. “You need to pay attention because she’s very organized and expects all of you to be on time when she needs you to make appearances or whatever.”

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