Page 29 of Goalie Interference

“What exactly are you worried about, Oliver?” She was still pissed, and I was grateful she was on my side.

“The two of you are almost living together.”

What was he on? I’d been closer to people in high-rises than I was to her. This property was huge.

Sophie’s hands were on her hips. “So what? We’re divorced. I won’t be cheating on you, because I can’t. But Iamallowed to move on.”

“I know, but?—”

“But you want to decide who I can or cannot move on with?”

He ran his hands over his face. “That sounds bad.”

“Because it is. Are you going to let me monitor your dating and sex life?”

Now his face was turning red. “That’s not. I mean…”

Sophie leaned forward. “I don’t want to fight. ButOliver, if you’re upset your player is living above the workshop, you need to vent that on Dad and Cash and your team, not us. And keep whatever is going on with you and Remy between the two of you. Now, I have work to do. Did you need me for something, Remy?”

Otts’s face grew red again. He crossed his arms, determined not to leave me alone with Sophie. I was pissed too, but he was my coach. In my head though, I totally called him Oliver, in the same tone of voice as Sophie.

“Hanny—Larry Han, one of the team forwards—has a guitar. It needs some work done so he sent it with me. He wanted a quote on what it would take to fix it.”

Sophie turned to Otts. She smiled, but I took a step back. “Should I ask your permission to look at this guitar since the owner of it is on your hockey team?” The sarcasm almost pooled on the floor.

“Obviously you’re not going to listen to me anyway, so I won’t bother answering.”

Beast barked again, which gave me a good reason to get out of there. Sophie seemed perfectly capable of handling Otts. Beast had turned his attention away from Oliver and was staring at a tree. Pretty sure his bladder was full. “Beast and I will go. Is the cat around?”

Sophie shook her head. “Goober is in the house, as far as I know.”

I nodded. “Good.” I wasn’t sure what all was going on here, but Otts was not happy. I wouldn’t be surprised if he spoke to the team and they found me another place to live. That was probably for the best. I was in enough trouble with my coach. More than I’d realized. And damn it, I wanted to play.

It was too bad, because I’d already started to like this place. And Sophie…yeah, avoiding her was probably best.

Beast dragged me to a tree and lifted his leg. Then he insisted on sniffing every bush in the immediate area. I wanted to get up to the apartment before Otts came out and decided to talk down to me some more.

It wasn’t Otts who stormed out the door though, but Sophie. She was furious. She caught sight of Beast and me, heading for the stairs.

“Have you got that guitar?”

I nodded. “In the back seat.”

“Then let’s go.” I stared at her. “I’ll look at it somewhere else. I’m not going to be able to use the shop for a while.”

I took a step toward her, wary of the fury in her eyes. She made that growly noise again.

“Keys?”

Playing it safe, I threw them to her. She grabbed them in the air and stomped to the driver’s side. Beast pulled me to the truck—he was a fan of car rides and could see something good within reach.

Sophie turned on the engine and slammed the door. Otts stormed out of the workshop.

“Sophie, come back here!”

Then he turned to me, and as Beast tugged me to the truck I decided Sophie’s idea of running was a good one. Otts had nobusiness sticking his nose in my personal life, but that wasn’t stopping him.

I opened the door, threw Beast inside, and barely managed to get in and close it again before Sophie had the truck in gear and heading for the gates. I quickly pulled on the seat belt. I wasn’t sure where we were going, but I was along for the ride.