Page 1 of Actions and Reactions
PROLOGUE
Silas Wayne
Over the last four years,I’ve seen the Pirates players defy reporters and the odds.
It started with Jules Dupont’s harsh reprimand of the reporters who were only supposed to ask him about hockey. Then came the quiet way Las Vegas’s goalie, Bear, just went about his business and displayed his relationship with another man out in the open without explanation or excuses. Silent and steady.
That continued with star left wing Benny Olsen.
The world only found out he was also in a relationship with a man because Jules posted a picture of four all-male couples.
And now, after they’d won the Stanley Cup for the third time in four seasons, Nikolay “Santa” Brotnik and Charlie Heart had left no doubt that they’re very much in love.
The picture of them—foreheads touching, faces stretched with wide smiles as their teammates celebrated around them—had made the rounds in hockey media.
I’m not just aware or paying attention because it’s my job.
Fact is, being the head of PR of this organization is the easiest job I’ve ever had, even easier than being Dad’s “assistant” when I was nine.
Like Tristan warned me when he called me about it, though, behind closed doors everyone thought my father or Ivan had gotten me the job.Cue the eye roll.
I don’t care . . . now.
When I earned an internship at the most prestigious PR firm in LA after graduating a year early, I understood that there would never be any hiding who I am. Or, more precisely, who my father is. I’m never going to be ashamed that he’s the greatest hockey player in history—even if people say that’s Jules now, he’ll never beat my dad in my eyes.
Naïvely I did think things would be different after college. At UCLA everyone knew who I was and knew I used to play hockey. The other students took three months to understand I won’t talk about that. Ever.
But things were the same when I began my internship. I met Tristan Jones when he was collaborating with my boss’s boss there, and he took a liking to me.
He asked me what my goals were, professionally, and I couldn’t answer him at the time, but he was there when,during a meeting I was taking notes on, I had an idea that ended up resuscitating an actress’s career.
He was impressed, as was my boss’s boss. My boss on the other hand, not so much. He made the next year I spent there miserable for me, but then Tristan called.
After that four week stint in the hospital when I was fifteen and they told me I’d never be able to be a professional hockey player, I never thought I’d want to be this close to the sport that broke my heart.
But it wasn’t only the fact that my work life was hell thanks to that asshole boss who made me take the interview with Gab—it was the honest yearning that will never leave my heart.
Hockey is in my blood, and even though I can never play, it will never not be part of me.
After I accepted Gab’s offer—and only after—I allowed myself to worry over Ivan.
Worry over how he would take it... takemeworking for the same team as him.
It hasn’t gone well . . .
To say the fucking least.
I fucked up there, no two ways about it.
But I’m not the only one.
In any case, I barely have time to worry over Ivan—or Eagle, as they call him here—since from the moment I got here I’ve been putting out fires left and right. I’ve also been coordinating about a million things, and I can’t deny that the hard work is the best distraction I could ever have asked for.
Santa and Charlie being together—and a picture of themcoming out right before the second round of the playoffs started—kept me more than busy enough.
I also can’t deny that the moment I realized a shitstorm was about to hit, I felt every ounce of inexperience in my twenty-two-year-old body. But then I reminded myself that it was time to step up, time to prove I could do this job well to myself and to Gab.
Thanks to Santa and Charlie’s bravery, it wasn’t hard to prove myself at all.
