Page 63 of Blindsided

Tory hadn’t had a chance to respond when I began to laugh. “You do realize that if we do this, Dane is going to have to be involved. Dane nearly swallowed his tongue when Tory was talking about being bent over to have his brains fucked out. I don’t know that it’s safe having those two in the same room.”

Brax shrugged. “It will either help him loosen up a bit or kill him.”

“I worry the second might actually be the most likely.” I liked Dane, but he was just so skittish. I also didn’t want anyone dying before the team ever took the ice… Well, I didn’t want anyone dying at all, but it would look especially bad if our director of social media keeled over due to something Tory said.

Excitement danced in Tory’s eyes and he sat up for the first time since collapsing into the chair. “I’ll do it!”

Of course he would.

CHAPTER 28

EASTON

“What happened to Lincoln?”

Daisy’s question made my head snap up from the video I’d been watching with such force my neck popped. I rubbed it, trying to decide if I was okay while also focusing on her question. “What do you mean what happened to Lincoln?”

She winced. “Are you okay? Should I go get one of the trainers?”

“I’ll be fine. Is Lincoln okay?” I reached into my pocket for my phone to see if he’d texted me. I’d just been with him at lunch an hour before and he’d looked fine, if overwhelmed. He’d been worried more about Dane and Tory being in the same room that afternoon than anything else.

Not that I could blame him for the concern. I swore Tory had a knack for saying outrageous things just when the social media director was around the corner. It wasn’t like Dane was innocent in all of it either. He had an uncanny ability to show up at the exact wrong moment to catch the most absurd part of what Tory was saying. It was always something that—taken out of context—was totally cringe.

And the two were slated to be in the same room for the entire afternoon while Dane took pictures and Tory wrote the chalkboard messages for each player.

Until Daisy’s appearance, I’d been trying to finish the video analysis I was working on, and then I’d planned to go to the lunchroom to pop some popcorn before heading down to the locker room. Dane was so damn serious and such a rule follower, I knew the things the guys were going to say would be enough to make Dane uncomfortable. Add Tory to the mix and I was expecting Dane to become the main source of entertainment.

“Didn’t mean to scare you. Lincoln’s fine. It’s just, he’s different. Tell me you see it.” She propped herself on the side of my desk and stared me down.

I lifted a shoulder. “I’m not sure I’m following?”

“Lafferty, come on! He’s different! Until a few weeks ago, it was like pulling teeth to get him to make a decision. I’d given up and just started telling him what we were doing. Then all of a sudden, he started following up on emails that had come through and he hadn’t seen addressed. Today, he emailed me to see if I wanted him to set up a meeting with the Grizzlies GM so we could discuss one- and two-way contracts for a few players.”

Pride swelled in me. Lincoln had peppered me with salary questions over dinner the night before. He’d wanted to know everything I could tell him about the contracts and how they affected the team salary cap. I’d given him as much detail as I could and he’d listened intently, occasionally taking notes on his phone. “He’s really jumped in with both feet.”

She nodded slowly. “He has. His eyes used to glaze over as soon as I walked into his office. Now he greets me with a smile and asks how I’m doing. And now he starts surprising me with meeting requests to discuss trade contracts! What did you do to him?”

“Me? Why do you think I did something?”

She huffed. “Because, lover boy, you’re the coach dating the owner! The two of you spend all your time together. You must have done something.” She held up her hands when she paused, letting me know she wasn’t finished. “Not that I’m complaining! I like the change, sure. It’s just a little abrupt.”

“I swear, I haven’t done anything.” Well, nothing more than spanking him and being there to explain the concepts he had questions about. “Link has a business background. He’s wickedly smart. Hockey is new and a sport he knew almost nothing about a few months ago. Of course there was going to be a learning curve.”

Dark eyes narrowed in my direction. “You have something to do with this, but fine. Whatever. Don’t tell Daisy, I get it.” She crossed her arms in mock offense.

“Daisy, I swear, this is all on Link.”

She huffed and pushed herself to standing. “You know, every time you call him Link, I have an image of him in a green tunic, beheading dragons with a sword.”

“They aren’t dragons, they’re gleeoks. And, just so you know, you’ll be the one being beheaded if he hears you say that. He hates when people associate him with Zelda.”

“Yet you call him Link all the time. Also, I had no idea you were a gamer.”

I shot her a mischievous smirk. “Pays to be his boyfriend.” And his Dom. Then I rocked my hand side to side. “I don’t know if I’d call myself a gamer in the most literal sense. It’s more like I’ve been a hockey player my entire life and most of us spend our nights on the road playing video games.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Fair enough. Listen, what I really wanted to say is whatever you’re doing, keep it up. Lincoln’s confidence is amazing. I think this relationship is good for the two of you.”

With a roll of my own eyes, I made a shooing motion with my hand. “Get out of here. I’ve got to finish this analysis before I go down to the locker room for the first-day-of-camp photos.”

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