Page 111 of Hooked On Them

“Miles Collins, are you taking credit for my daughter’s stubbornness? Because I’m pretty sure that’s coming straight from her father’s DNA. The man argued with me for twenty minutes yesterday about whether pineapple belongs on pizza.”

“It absolutely does not.”

“See? Stubborn.” Nora shifted to find a more comfortable position. “But you’re right. When I pictured my life, it wasn’t living with three men while helping coach two of them through the Stanley Cup Finals against my dad’s team. But here we are.”

“Here we are,” I echoed, feeling a surge of protectiveness. “And you know what? GB’s going to have the best childhood ever.”

Nora hummed in agreement, her body relaxing against mine as the tension of the day began to melt away.

Her phone buzzed on the coffee table. Nora groaned, clearly reluctant to move from her comfortable position.

“Want me to get that?” I offered.

“Please. It’s probably Dad with his obligatory ‘good game, honey’ text that we both know is bullshit because he’s actually doing a victory dance in his hotel room.”

I reached for her phone, glancing at the screen. “It is your dad, but it’s not about the game.” I frowned, reading the message preview. “He says to turn onPuck Around and Find Out.”

Nora sat up straighter, looking suddenly alert. “That’s weird. Dad never watches those sports talking-head shows.”

A knot of unease formed in my stomach as I reached for the remote. Whatever prompted Brett Hastings to tell his daughter to watch a hockey podcast right after their teams played couldn’t be good news.

I pulled up the streaming app and navigated to the latest episode of the popular hockey gossip podcast that every organization despised. The episode thumbnail showed the host, Troy Maxwell, sitting with a guest I recognized immediately.

“Is that...?” Nora’s voice trailed off, her body going rigid beside me.

“Garrett Wilson.” Dominic’s father. The knot in my stomach tightened.

I pressed play, already dreading whatever was about to unfold on our screen.

“Joining us tonight is hockey legend Garrett Wilson, whose son Dominic Wilson is currently playing for the Tri-State Titans in the Stanley Cup Finals,” Troy was saying, his professional smile firmly in place. “Garrett, thanks for being here.”

“My pleasure, Troy. Always happy to talk hockey.” The elder Wilson’s voice was smooth and practiced, the voice of someone who’d done a thousand interviews.

“Let’s get right to it. There’s been some unusual buzz around the Titans’ organization this season, particularly regarding your son and his... domestic situation. Care to comment on that?”

Garrett’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Well, Troy, I think that’s putting it mildly. What we’re seeing is a complete breakdown of professional boundaries. My son is living with his skating coach, a woman who happens to be pregnant with his child, while simultaneously claiming to be in a relationship with both his captain and another man with financial ties to the team.”

“Fuck.” I felt Nora stiffen beside me.

“That’s quite an accusation,” Troy leaned forward, clearly salivating at the drama. “You’re suggesting impropriety within the Titans’ organization?”

“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m stating facts. Nora Hastings was hired as a skating coach, but she’s clearly much more involved with the team than her professional capacity allows. And let’s not forget that her father is coaching the opposing team in the Finals. You have to wonder about the information being shared across that dinner table.”

“Motherfucker,” Nora whispered, her hand clutching mine so tightly my fingers started to go numb.

“So, you believe there’s a conflict of interest?”

“At minimum.” Garrett’s expression hardened. “The league has clear guidelines about fraternization, and this goes well beyond that. We’re talking about a coach sleeping with multiple players while feeding information to her father on the opposing bench. If that’s not a conflict of interest, I don’t know what is.”

I paused the interview, unable to stomach any more. Nora was trembling beside me, her face drained of color. The warm, intimate bubble we’d been wrapped in minutes ago had completely evaporated, replaced by the cold reality of what we were facing. From cozy to catastrophic in the span of a hockey podcast.

She couldn’t seem to find words, her eyes wide with shock. “He just aired our entire life on national television. And accused me of—” Her voice broke. “Of compromising the team.”

I pulled her against me, rage building in my chest. We were by no means keeping things secret between the four of us, but we had decided to keep specifics of our relationship and the baby private. Management agreed, and for the most part, our relationship hadn’t taken up much space in hockey news.

Tears welled in Nora’s eyes. “What are we going to do? Dom’s going to—” She cut herself off, but I knew what she was thinking.

Dominic was going to lose his mind. His father had publicly outed our relationship, questioned the integrity of the team, and implied that Nora was feeding information to the opposition.

---