Page 53 of Blindsided

“Tom, act before he thinks? Never!”

My sarcasm got the stress ball on my desk thrown at me. I caught it easily, but Brax wasn’t done ranting. “How the hell do you work with him every day? I’d kill the man.”

“I think it helps that I’m not his kid. He hasn’t tried to move me into Lincoln’s place yet.” Tom was the reason Brax and Trevor were together in the first place. Trevor had lived at the Cernak house with Tom, Leo, their wife, and Brax when he’d just started in the NHL. When Brax had gotten traded to Nashville, Tom hadn’t hesitated to call Trevor despite Brax telling him not to. In the end, it had all worked out for the best, but the road hadn’t necessarily been without bumps.

Brax groaned. “Leo has made us dinner at least three nights this week. Dad decided we needed a new living room couch and just bought it!”

“The gray beast?”

“Yes! And don’t say it!” Brax nearly growled the words out while pointing his finger at me, and I held up my hands in surrender. I wasn’t going to say anything, but the couch in their living room had needed to be replaced. It had been lumpy and uncomfortable and they had both avoided sitting in it the entire time Brax had lived there.

“I didn’t say a thing.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “But you thought it.”

“The couch was past its prime.”

Brax made to open his mouth, but I spoke before he could tell me what I already knew. “That doesn’t give him the right to buy you guys new furniture without your permission, I know. Though I do think his heart was in the right place?”

The comment shut Brax up and I got a scowl from my best friend. Eventually, he shook his head. “I swear to you, they need to find a third. I don’t know how my mom dealt with them all those years!”

And we were back to this topic. “Brax, this is a conversation you should have with your dads.”

“I have!” He threw his hands in the air, then flopped backward to talk to my ceiling. “I swear to you, I think my dad needs someone to put him in his place. Leo just wants to smother him with attention.”

“And too much information!” Definitely did not need to know this about my boss, or my best friend’s dad.

Tory and Lincoln walked into my office, Lincoln looking more than a little concerned. “Everything okay? I heard you yelling.”

“My best friend here was just trying to test the limits on brain bleach capabilities. What are you two doing here?” I glanced at my watch. “Aren’t you supposed to be in a meeting?”

Brax snorted. “And here I thought I was the one who was managing my boy’s schedule.”

Lincoln’s face pinked and he avoided meeting Brax’s eyes as he spoke directly to me. “It got moved. I decided to go over to the salon and get my hair trimmed. Then Tory offered to come over and trim yours on his lunch break.”

Tory held up a small case he was carrying. It was obnoxiously bright, though it somehow complemented his skintight white jeans and equally tight black shirt with rainbow script font announcing I’ll Cut You, complete with a glittery decal of hair-cutting scissors. Nothing about the outfit looked comfortable except the chunky Converse high-tops on his feet, though I would have chosen something less vibrant for myself.

The case was placed on my desk and Tory was strutting over to my chair before I had a chance to object. Then before I’d even formed another thought, Tory had already opened the case and set two pairs of scissors on my desk. “Whoa! What about the mess?”

Tory just laughed as he flung a smock that looked more like an upside-down umbrella out of the case. He popped some little plastic poles into it and it transformed into something that reminded me of a deflated pool floatie. “What the fuck?”

It was fastened around my neck before I figured out it was made of the same material as a hair cape but was more like a bowl to catch any hair. “Babe, this might be the most insane thing I’ve had happen.”

Trevor walked in carrying one of the signature Grizzlies teddy bears. “If this is the most insane thing you’ve had happen, we have not spent enough time together.”

I glowered. “When the fuck did my office become the central gathering space?” I’d only wanted to text Lincoln about DASH, and now I had an office full of people, one of whom was spraying my head down with water.

“When was the last time you had this cut?” Tory ran a comb through my damp hair.

I tried to think back and drew a blank. “Probably sometime before the playoffs started.”

I got a tsk for my admission. “Fucking criminal. Never again. Hair like this, you’ve got to keep it trimmed. It’s too gorgeous to let it go.” He ran his hands through my hair and moaned in time for Dane to walk into my office.

He stopped in the doorway, mouth half-open to say something, looked around long enough to see who had moaned, then snarled as he stormed away.

Lincoln looked at where the social media director had been standing, then back at Tory. “Is there something I should be aware of?”

From the corner of my eye, I saw the scissors get waved about. “Drama queen, that one.”

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