Page 25 of Playing to Win

“You think he’ll be there? Oh, shit.” Faith would be at this thing. I didn’t know how to talk or act with her yet. Jayna put her hand on my arm. It felt good. Like I had an ally. The only one when it came to this. “Is that why Cooper invited us?”

Jayna shrugged and her hand fell away. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s killing two birds with one dinner.”

“Who else will be there?”

The thought of me and Jayna and Hunter and Faith with Cooper seemed too cozy and like trouble could happen with one wrong word. On the other hand, if something slipped, there weren’t that many people to worry about knowing my secret. Mom and Dad had promised to play along, but that still meant a lot of people knew. Faith was one of the people we were trying to protect. Cooper had said meet the team—that meant more people, right? I twitched.

Jayna huffed a breath. “I don’t know. I could ask Faith, but she might not know either, and maybe we don’t want to make a big deal of this. I just need to be sure, can you behave around Faith?”

I was twenty-four years old, not a kid, so asking if I could behave? I tensed up, and the wordsof course I fucking canalmost slipped out. But being around the half-sister I’d barely met and who didn’t know me was uncharted waters. Add that I’d gone off on her in that video—how would she even respond? Maybe if she knew I was coming, she wouldn’t show up.

We’d barely interacted last night. There’d been no time for more than a good-job nod between us. After the game she’d been talking to reporters, not me. Things would be awkward between us anyway, without this big thing, the thing I’d only learned about twenty-four hours ago, playing with my composure. “I’ll try. I just don’t know if I’ll be all awkward and shit.”

Jayna rolled her eyes. “There’s no way this won’t be anything but all awkward and shit.”

I’d kinda hoped she’d say she was on top of this.

Jayna pulled her gaze back to me. “One thing in our favor is that no one knows you. If you act weird, they don’t know that you’d normally be different.”

Great.I’d act stupid and everyone would think that’s how I was.

“We should definitely arrive together though.”

I nodded. I had no desire to be there on my own when I had my first interactions with my sister. Half-sister.

Jayna pulled at her lip, distracting me. That kiss had been…well, that part of fake dating wasn’t going to be a problem.

“That way Faith can’t grill me for details,” she said. “I guess we see how it goes.”

I pulled in a breath and nodded. I was not feeling confident about this.

She put a hand on my arm again, gripping gently. “There’s something else, came up after you left today.”

I tensed. That hand was letting me know I should prepare myself. “What?”

“It’s probably in the messages Cooper mentioned. The team has set up a press conference tomorrow.”

Shit.I knew it was coming, but Jayna had talked like we had more time. I should have kept my phone with me, but at the beginning of the season the guys had pranked me by stealing it and setting up a dating profile for me. I’d left my phone hidden in my bedroom at parties after that, and tonight, with Jayna taking photos, that had been fine. I looked over her shoulder toward my room.Get the phone or let Jayna tell me?

I turned back to her. “A press conference?”

“It’s set up to announce that De Vries is out for the rest of the season. His surgery revealed cancer. He and his family wanted some time to deal with this, but rumors have started, so the team moved up the presser to tomorrow morning. Since they’re announcing he won’t be playing, they need to introduce you.”

Yeah, with the team backup out of commission, the media wanted a statement from me, and to ask questions. It would make me nervous enough without the whole viral video/fake dating setup on top of that. My leg was jiggling, nervous energy pushing its way out.

Jayna held up her phone. “I’ve been posting stuff from tonight, so our dating story is leaking. I’ll be at the presser, in the background, as if I’m just part of the PR team. And I’m hoping that will divert some of the questions. I can step in and help you if things get dicey.”

“Thanks,” I muttered. This was so not the way I’d dreamed my NHL career would start. I hoped this wasn’t where it was going to end.

“Hang back after practice tomorrow. I’ll meet you there and we’ll review your statement and make some plans before you meet the reporters.”

Would I have time for my run in the morning? Only if I could fit it in before the Blaze practice, apparently. Missed this morning for obvious reasons, and I might tomorrow as well. That didn’t help the nerves.

“You’ve got my contact info—reach out if you need to. I’m your PR person as well as your girlfriend, so I can deal with whatever comes up.”

I rested my head against the wall.What a day.

“We’ll make this work somehow.” She smiled, and for a moment I believed her.

---