Page 109 of Keeper
I pocketed my phone, took a deep breath, and felt a burden lift off my shoulders. No, I didn’t know who was going to rep me for my next contract, but for once I wasn’t worried about it. I wanted to stay in Dallas and the Devils wanted me back—and where there’s a will, there’s a way. I knew things would work out.
And then I realized something funny: I could’ve heard a pin drop in the hallway. All the raucous noise that could be heard from inside the locker room just a few minutes ago was nowstrangelysilent. As if hockey players wereeverquiet.
My eyes narrowed at the locker room door.
Determined to catch the guys red-handed, I rushed over and shoulder-checked the door, throwing it open with the force of my weight.
And the door wentdonkas it nailed someone on the head.
“Oi!” Niko yelped, staggering backwards, cradling his noggin in his hands.
The rest of the guys shoved and jockeyed with each other as they scrambled back to their stalls.
“You motherfuckers!” I laughed and threw my arm around Niko’s shoulder, comforting the Russian. “You were listening in the whole time, weren’t you?”
Stifling their laughter, they tried to play it straight.
Dane was confusion personified. “Listening in on what, Vaughnsy?”
“Didn’t hear a word,” Reavo said with a wink.
“Random question,” Big Rig began innocently enough—but his shit-eating grin told me he was up to no good. “Anyone in here got any dick pics?”
The room exploded into laughter.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, taking my spot at my stall.
“Câlisse,I wouldn’t be worried about my dick pic getting out if I were you, either,” Parisi said. He clutched at his heart, feigning a panic. “Oh no! What if the whole world finds out my cock is an absolute wrench?!”
The boys died laughing again.
38
Ainsley
I slowed to a stop in front of Molly and Ryan Cooper’s gated community. Molly had sent me the access code to the gate in a text earlier. Whipping out my phone to fetch the code, I spotted a text from Marta sitting at the top of my inbox.
“Last chance, Ainsley. I’m NOT playing around. You WILL regret it if you don’t give me those pictures. You’ve got one hour to reply.”
I rolled my eyes.Whatever.
I punched the code into the keypad and the gate opened with a mechanical whir. My head swiveled left and right as I rolled down the street, gawking at the enormous houses, the tall trees, and the immaculate lawns.
Molly’s house had a small convoy of luxury cars parked in the circular driveway. Among the WAGs’ Porsches and Mercedes and BMWs and Lexuses, my old and weathered Hyundai stuck out like a sore thumb, resurrecting a nasty case of impostor’s syndrome that I wasstillapparently struggling with.
Pushing those bad feelings away, I walked up to the front door and rang the bell. A moment later, Emma Hathaway answered. “Ainsley!”
“Hi, Emma!”
“Come on in, sister.” She waved me in and greeted me with a hug. “We were wondering when you’d get here.”
“I’m not late, am I?”
“No, but you’re the last to arrive and we’re definitely getting the party started.”
I took one step into the Coopers’ magnificent foyer and had my breath stolen away. Natural light flooded the grand entrance hall. Dual, curving stairways led to the upper floor. Emma practically had to scrape my jaw off the marble floor.
“Beautiful place, isn’t it?” she asked.
