Who sent the board that file?
Was it Colton?
Colton hates that I challenge him and stick up for the rest of the team, when he bullies them. Has he schemed, created this file on me, and gone behind coach’s back to the board and club owner to get me kicked out?
My shoulders stiffen.
Except, nobody knows who Heine truly is. He isn’t merely the club owner.
Merely a narcissistic billionaire.
He’s also a man who has been love bombing me, since we first met in my therapist’s waiting room. A man who both loves and hates me because I rejected him to start with and then...then I wouldn’t become what he wanted.
“He’s the best captain,” Shay says, passionately. “The players worship him. He’s mentored me, since I started. I’ve learned such a lot. Everyone learns from his brilliant example of dedication and teamwork.”
“I see that you have your cheerleader.” Lee snorts.
Shay ducks his head. “It’s true.”
“PR wise, he’s transformed himself from the devil of the team to the angel.” Robyn strides to the edge of the table, resting her hands on it.
Heine laughs, derisively.
I force myself not to show Heine what trueaggressionis by fiddling with my cashmere scarf.
Robyn looks hot defending me as she leans further over the table. “The website that Eden and I set up with photographs on it, which show Shay and D’Angelo in their day to day lives, has hyped both the team and the PR perception of the players. The scandals that you’re talking about were not D’Angelo’s fault. Right now, you’re victim blaming. Instead, you should be focusing on the fact that standing in front of you are two of the best players in the whole damn NHL.”
I am never going to get tired of being defended by this woman.
But then, I notice the dark red stain that’s spreading out on the back of Robyn’s ivory suit, as she bends forward.
I noticed her clutching her stomach earlier.
Perhaps, it wasn’t only because of hunger from missing lunch.
It suits our luck today, as does her choice of wearing ivory.
Casually, I slip off my long coat. “You’re shivering. Wear this.”
Confused, Robyn straightens. But she allows me to slip my coat over her shoulders to cover the stain, before anyone else in the room sees it.
“How considerate.” Heine rolls his eyes, before pulling out his phone and holding it up. “The problem is what an unpredictable, drunken playboy you are.”
I arch my eyebrow. “Takes one to know one.”
Shay chuckles.
Heine stabs at his phone in response, holding it higher for everybody to see the furious dance under the moonlight that I was blackmailed into recording live by another team’s coach, during the road trip.
I pale.
“I’m glad that I could entertain you.” I cross my arms to hide that they’re shaking. “Watch that a lot of times, did you?”
I try not to imagine what Heine could have been doing with his hands, while he was watching the video.
Heine tilts his head, widening his cornflower blue eyes like that can make them look innocent and not more like a hitman’s. “Most of America did. My favorite headline was: The Puck Off Dance from the Puck Boy.”
“Noise.” Bronwyn tuts. “Hockey is a tough enough sport without distractions. We don’t want this club to be associated with…” I meet his gazewillinghim to say the next words.I’ll rip him to fucking shreds.This meeting is being recorded. “…your type of activities.”