Page 42 of Face Off
“No clue. I haven’t seen her since morning skate. Maybe she’s doing an interview with Piper.”
“Speaking of Piper, she looked queasy when she shoved me into the press room an hour ago. Is she okay?”
“Probably hungover. She was at Johnny’s last night with Maven, Lexi and Hartwell. When I left, Piper was on drink number four.”
“Wait a minute.” He frowns. “You hung out with Emmy outside of practice and lived to tell the tale? I’m impressed.”
“We didn’t hang out.” I take a sip of my sports drink and swish it around my mouth. “We were at the same place at the same time. Alien babies were involved. I turned down an invitation for sex, and the best part? I didn’t get a beer thrown in my face.”
Hudson blinks at me. “That sounds a lot like hanging out to me.”
“It wasn’t. More like the universe having a laugh.”
“And you turned down a night with a woman? You never do that.”
“Alien babies, Hud. Aren’t you listening? There were more important things happening.”
“You didn’t miss anything, Hudson,” Emerson says, appearing at my side in her jersey. “But it would’ve been more fun if you were there.”
“Ouch.” I put my hand over my heart. “I thought you enjoyed our chat, Red.”
“We have very different definitions of enjoyment, pretty boy.” She fixes her hair and tosses it over her shoulder, two white ribbons fluttering behind her. “Why aren’t you all warming up?”
“Because it’s your first start.” Hudson drapes an arm around her, and I see the way she smiles up at him. She doesn’t look at me like that. “And, per Stars tradition, it deserves a minute of celebration.”
“I had three pieces of marble loaf cake when I got home last night to celebrate two weeks on the team,” she says, and his eyes go wide. “We really don’t need to do a first start ritual or anything.”
“Where the hell did you get marble loaf cake?” he practically whines.
“He has an unhealthy obsession with food. Dessert especially,” I explain to her. “Come to the team dinner on Tuesday and see for yourself.”
“Team dinner means more time with you, Miller, and I’m at my capacity as of late. Piper made the loaf,” Emerson tells Hudson. “I’ll sneak you a piece at practice tomorrow. I’m a dessert fiend too. If you ever want to do a food crawl around the city so I can find all the places with the best slices of cake, I’m down.”
“My kind of woman.” He shakes her shoulders, and a real laugh falls out of her. “Are you ready for tonight?”
“I guess. I’m still kind of in shock that this is my life. I’m waiting to wake up from a dream and have it all taken away,” she says.
“You’re going to be stuck with us for a while,” I say, desperate to be a part of their conversation. I don’t like that he’s making her laugh and I don’t like how close they’re standing. “We have months to go.”
Emerson’s eyes meet mine. “There are worse people to be stuck with, I guess.”
I touch my gloved fingers to my temples, concentrating. “Probably the highest compliment I’ll ever get from you. I need to commit it to memory.”
“Is he always this weird?” she asks.
“Always,” Hudson says.
The grin I give her earns me an eye roll, but I don’t care. At least she’s looking at me. I lift my chin toward the rink and the flashing lights. The thumping music and the screaming fans. “You deserve to go out first.”
“Liam always goes first,” she says.
“Not tonight.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” I give her a gentle nudge. “Go on, Hartwell.”
Emerson takes a deep breath. Collects herself before she nods and shimmies out of Hudson’s grasp. She walks across the mats, and without another look back, she disappears onto the ice.
