Page 27 of On the Line

“I’m always rooting for the Rebels. But Drew Jenkins has so much potential.” He’s been inconsistent as hell this season, so it was good to see him have a good game, even if it was against my team. “And he’s looking to move back to Boston.”

“Back?”

“Yeah, he went to college here.” His team won the Frozen Four, and he shot straight into the NHL. “His family’s in the area too.” Drew spent three years in Vancouver before getting traded to Colorado, and there’s a mid-season trade going on right now between Boston and Colorado that he wants in on. I’m not sure I can make it happen before the trade deadline, but I’m working on it.

“Well, for now, you aren’t allowed to be happy about him doing well when he’s playing us.”

“You sound like a thirty-five-year-old toddler.” I roll my eyes.

“I’m not thirty-five yet, asshole.”

“Close enough. And speaking of toddler-like behavior, what the hell did you text me about?”

Colt sighs and pushes the brim of his hat farther down, then lifts his glass like he’s toasting me. “So there’s this girl in marketing ...”

“No, you fucking didn’t. You don’t sleep with people you work with, Colt. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“We were at an away game in Toronto and got snowed in. We were all at the hotel bar, one thing led to another, and I chose to sleep in her room so I didn’t have to share a room with three other guys.”

“First of all, if you slept with her so you didn’t have to share a hotel room with your teammates, you’re a dick.”

“Nah, she’s cute. I’d have slept with her anyway.”

“You’re still a dick. You work with her.”

“Yeah, so about that ... not anymore.”

I wait for him to continue, but he doesn’t. “What happened?”

He doesn’t look at me as he works on peeling off the corner of the label on the beer bottle that sits in front of him. “When I told her it was a one-time thing, she pitched a fit right in the middle of the team’s offices, then marched into her boss’s office and quit. Made a big stink about me leading her on, but luckily she made it clear that it was consensual.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Colt. This is why you don’t—”

“Sleep with people I work with. Got it.” His voice is how I imagine a puppy would sound after getting yelled at for eating another pair of shoes.

“So what’s happening now?”

“Right now, nothing. But everyone from the GM to the Director of Marketing is pissed at me. People loved her, apparently.”

I flag down the waitress and order myself a scotch. I need a minute for these wheels to stop spinning so fast in my head, because what I’m hearing Colt saying is that there’s a marketing position open at the Boston Rebels—and it feels almost too perfect, like the kind of thing people would say is “a sign from the universe” or some shit.

“I can’t make them less mad at you about this, but I might be able to at least help them fill the position which might smooth things over a bit. I’ll talk to AJ,” I tell him, mentioning the team’s general manager who I have a close relationship with, “because I might know just the person for that job.”

Colt’s eyes narrow again. “Tell me more.”

“She’s got years of sports marketing experience, but then took a break from working to be with her babies, and now she’s looking to get back into the business. That’s all I’m saying until I talk to her about it. She might not even be interested.”

One of Colt’s light brown eyebrows shoots up. “You like this girl?”

“I don’t like anyone.”

He snorts in response. “Isn’t that the truth. But your voice sounds different when you talk about her.”

“Stop trying to read into it. She’s just someone I used to work with.”

“Uh huh,” Colt says, lifting his beer bottle in a mock salute. “Sure she is.”

CHAPTER10

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