“I wasn’t going to do anything,” I say.
Cap doesn’t look so sure. I know I have a reputation. I get it. But I’m also not stupid.
“Good,” Emmett says.
“I just said she was hot.”
“Fish.” Bouch says my name in warning.
“What? She is. That’s an objective fact. I’m not acting on it. I’m just stating it.”
“The fact doesn’t need to be stated,” Sully says. “Because every time you state a fact like that, it’s the beginning of a story that ends badly. We have watched this story start many times, but not this time. Not Pierre and Felix’s sister. Not someone who works here. Not this season.”
I open my mouth.
“No,” Sully says.
I close it, feeling completely scolded. I know I messed up last year with the whole dick-gate, but what was I supposed to do? I wasn’t going to give that woman a hundred grand because she violated my private space and took a photo of my dick when I was asleep. Let people see it, I’m not ashamed of it, even though my dick wasn’t looking his best because he was exhausted after a big night. I get that my stupidity last season caused some tension in the locker room and took my focus off winning for a moment. I may come off as a cocky little shit, and I am, but I do also have feelings. I didn’t want the guys to see how rattled I was about it. I pretended I didn’t care, but I did. It was embarrassing. But I have this reputation of being a playboy, a bad boy hockey player, and I know I did it to myself for being young, dumb, and naïve. Now the brush has been tarred so I play into it. People don’texpect much from me because all they see is the good looks and brilliant hockey player that I am. And that’s better than letting people see the real me, because I don’t know if they will like that person as much as the fun-loving guy they know now.
“Fish, you know the rules.” Emmett glares at me.
“I do.”
“Good.” And that’s that, subject closed.
The conversation moves on to Nelly’s ongoing one-man campaign to get us interested in a Swedish band none of us have heard of. Evan and Sully are relitigating some argument from last season that apparently still has feelings attached to it. Katie brings another pitcher. Bouch orders more wings. Someone says something that makes the whole table lose it, and I laugh along, and everything is normal and fine.
Collette St. Pierre is hot. This time, I keep those thoughts private. Those hazel eyes, the body that is all curves and sin. She is one of the sexiest women I’ve ever seen, and it’s a shame she is off-limits because I think she and I could have fun, so much fun.
The next morningI’m on the ice early. I like early practice. The rink is quiet, the ice is fresh, and there’s nobody around to chirp me when I’m working on my edges. It’s just me, the sound of my skates, and the kind of focus that’s harder to find once the full circus gets going. I’m halfway through a drill when I see her. She’s at the tunnel entrance, a cue card in one hand, coffee in the other, talking to Zara. She’s wearing a Mavericks hoodie today, her hair pulled back, laughing at something Zara said, head tipped back, completely unaware that I’ve lost count of what lap I’m on.
Don’t.The boys' voices say in my head simultaneously.
I do another lap, then another.
Zara walks off, leaving Collette by herself. She moves to the boards with her cue card. I think I need a break, my water bottle is right beside where she is setting up, perfect timing.
“Morning,” I say, slowing as I reach the boards and my water bottle.
She looks up from her phone, clocks me, and something in her expression adjusts, almost imperceptibly. “Justin.”
“You know my actual name.” I grin as I squirt the water into my mouth.
“I know everyone’s name. It’s my job,” she says with a little bit of sass.
Spicy. I like it. “Well, everyone calls me Fish, but I think I kind of like you calling me Justin.”
Those hazel eyes land on me. “I’m not interested in whatever this is,” she says.
Huh. “Whatever what is?” I ask, the picture of innocence.
“The flirting.” She looks up, arching a brow at me.
“I’m not flirting, I’m being friendly,” I argue back. I’m so totally flirting.
“You’re very friendly for someone who has drills to finish,” she shoots right back.
“I’m a people person.”