Page 92 of Playing to Win

I gripped her tightly. “Not your fault. I didn’t want anyone to know.”

Faith pushed in. “Group hug!”

“You guys are the best.” My voice was muffled as we embraced.

Faith drew back. “Yes, we are. Now that you’re angry, not fucking hiding?—”

I gave the bag another punch to prove her point.

“We need you to shower and come to my place.”

“What for?”

“You stink, Tempo.”

“Ha, ha. Why are we going to your place?”

She smiled smugly. “To take care of your employment situation.”

An hour ago I’d thought I had no employment future. But when I had these women with me, I was starting to believe I did.

* * *

For the firsttime in days, I fussed with my hair and put on makeup. My arms were sore from punching the bag, which proved I had to get back to my gym routine. Enough licking my wounds. I was still an Olympic champion, a kick-ass winger, and I could deal with my life.

Could I?

I pushed the doubts aside. I’d been doing everything on my own. . But even if I didn’t play again, I still had teammates. It was hard to accept help rather than give it, but what was my alternative? Leaning on Braydon forever?

No, that wasn’t me.

I didn’t know what Faith and Megan thought they could do about work, but I didn’t expect to find Hunter and Cooper waiting for us at Faith’s condo. “What’s up?”

“First we order food, then we talk.” Cooper took a while to work out the logistics of Chinese for five people.

“Where’s Hailey?”

“She’s at my mom’s.” Faith pulled out a pad of paper and some pens. We sat around their table. Faith looked at me. “Jayna, Braydon told me a lot of stuff. And I’ve been working on a plan, but I’d like to share with Cooper. He’s got pull with the team and can help on that side if we need it.”

“Braydon’s not coming?”

She shook her head. “He thought this was something you should do without him.”

Fuck. Was he as sick of me as I was? Faith was waiting, and she didn’t look worried. Okay, I’d deal with Braydon thoughts later.

I narrowed my eyes. “How much do you want to share?”

“What the team asked you to do—the Jaydon stuff.”

So, not Braydon and Faith’s connection, just the fake dating scheme. At this point it was hardly a secret. Cooper had told Braydon he knew something was up. I nodded.

I watched Cooper while Faith told him about the fake dating plan, and then the team’s decision to terminate it. His expression morphed from surprise to anger to resolve. He flashed a glance at me when Faith explained that we’d stopped the fake part.

He leaned back, frowning. “Pretty sure that would violate some workplace standards. And even if not, it’s a shitty way to deal with Tempo. We could work with that.”

“I don’t want to go back to the Blaze.” Everyone stared at me. “I don’t want to work with those people.”

Cooper pulled out his phone and made some notes. “Got it. Still, they owe you.”

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