Page 21 of Playing to Win

His face cleared. “Okay, so I didn’t miss anything.”

“No, but you have to pretend that Jayna and I have been seeing each other for a while.”

“Jayna?”

I came back to the couch. “Yeah, my new girlfriend. She’s a teammate of Faith’s, currently on IR, and she does social media for the Blaze and the Bonfire. We were keeping the relationship quiet because she works for the Blaze, and since that secrecy blew up in a bad way, with me going on a drunken video rant, we have a special dispensation from the team to date.”

Luke’s jaw dropped. He didn’t say anything, just blinked at me.

“And we’re going out for dinner in—” I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “Damn it. In an hour. I gotta move.”

“You can’t.” Luke stood and held up a hand like he was a traffic cop.

I rubbed my forehead. Had I forgotten something in this day from hell? “I’m supposed to go out to dinner with my girlfriend.”

“Yeah, but the guys are coming over. Remember? I told you this morning.”

My memories of the morning were buried under all the information I’d been taking in about Jayna. “You did?”

“To celebrate.”

“To celebrate what?”

Luke rolled his eyes at me. “You were called up. You got a win. We couldn’t do anything last night ’cause we were on the road, but we’re partying tonight.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat. My team—formerteam?—had my back. They wanted to show me they were happy I’d played with the big team, and at least in the game I’d done well. We always had a party when someone was called up, even if only for one game. I couldn’t be the guy who was so full of himself he wouldn’t hang out with his friends because they were on the farm team.

Shit.But I also needed to do this thing with Jayna to salvage my reputation and career. The Inferno had a game tomorrow, so we couldn’t move the party, and I had no idea what plans Jayna had. I needed to be in two places at once, unless…could we do both? “Let me talk to Jayna.”

Luke opened his mouth, undoubtedly to make the kind of comment we always did when one of the guys had to get permission from his girlfriend.

I shook my head. “Not because she’s my girlfriend but because she’s my PR person.” My future with the Blaze organization was on the line.

I pulled out the phone as I headed to my room. I texted:

The Inferno are coming to my place to celebrate my win. Can we work that in?

I set the phone to charge on my bedside table and stripped off my clothes to get a shower. I needed to wash off the last of the hangover and the confusion of this day and get back into the game. The game of what I was doing with my hockey life.

When I’d showered and pulled on some jeans and a sweater, there was a response from Jayna.

This can work. We’ll use the party to launch us as a couple. What time should I come over?

I shot the answer back to Jayna. For a moment I stared at the phone, nerves getting the best of me. It was one thing to pretend to be dating her at a restaurant where we didn’t know anyone. But this? In front of my teammates?

I hoped like hell the two of us could act that well. In the meantime, I needed to call my parents so they’d know why I suddenly had a girlfriend.

* * *

Jayna

Meganand I came by Uber so we wouldn’t have to worry about parking or driving home. I’d convinced Kira that contributing to the party would make this dating thing go over more smoothly—guys who’d had a few beers were less likely to be suspicious of our “relationship”—so I was able to expense some stuff to bring with me. I’d snagged a wheeled cooler from work with the Blaze logo on it, and Megan hauled it out of the car with me, full of nicer beer. I’d been around enough Blaze events to level up my beer taste. Some of the players swore by their Molson and Labatt’s, but players like Cooper were a lot pickier. I was also going to order enough pizza to ensure every member of the Inferno would support “Jaydon,” as Megan was calling it. I threatened her if she used it tonight.

The Inferno were based in Hamilton, on the western edge of Toronto, and real estate was cheaper here in Oakville, between the two cities. It was also a long commute from our place, near the Bonfire arena, so neither of us knew the area. The address Mitchell had given me was a townhouse, fortunately an end unit, so this party wouldn’t disturb too many people. I hesitated on the doorstep, a victim of nerves that had my stomach feeling queasy. Could I pretend I was dating this guy? Yes, I found him attractive, but I’d never dated a hockey player. Never wanted to.

I’d already booked some extra physio time with the money that would be coming in with the additional hours I’d be working as Braydon’s date. I was committed to playing this fall, so it was too late for second-guessing. I pasted a smile on my face while I knocked on the door before jamming my hands back in my jacket pockets. Was the noise too loud for anyone to hear my knock?

The whole team must be here, based on the cars parked nearby and the noise. If I could get photos of the team celebrating, and me in the midst of it, it would look like Braydon and I were an established duo. The result would be a lot of attention to what was up with Braydon and me without manipulating press coverage overtly. Hopefully tomorrow, when we had our press event—I needed to let Braydon know that was happening—reporters would be asking about the photos and we could segue that into the explanation we wanted to give for Braydon’s tantrum. In theory, the presser was to announce he was staying with the Blaze through the playoffs, but it was part of his image rehabilitation as well.

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