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SAM

I’m so nervous about what will happen today, I might puke. Or pass out. Or both. Am I putting all kinds of disturbing thoughts in my own head and making it worse? Very possible. Could I be right about my lingering sense of dread? Absolutely, but I’m hoping like hell I’m just over reacting and everything will be fine.

We made it through our game and the boys played amazing. They made me look good and I’m very grateful for their extra effort. There was some heckling behind our bench by the home crowd towards me, but nothing I’ve never heard before, and nothing that bothered me. Except one. I didn’t give the voice any of my attention but it chilled me to the core.

“Hey, Samantha, let’s make a deal for your captain. I could really picture him fitting in here. Don’t let my heckling throw you off your game tonight.”

He definitely sounded like he had some insider knowledge on what happened with Jason and I. That or he was the shittiest heckler that ever existed. I’m hoping for the second option. What if Jason presented this to the media in a bad way and it jeopardizes the team? Is that even possible to do without implicating himself? I’m going to have to talk with Mr. Burns ASAP and spill my guts to have some protection for that scenario in place. I should have done this months ago, but I didn’t think Jason would show his face again. It’s all a damn mess. If something were to happen to this team because of my prior stupid decision, I don’t know if I could live with myself

Very soon I would have to see Jason. We are all to meet in a small conference room at the hotel we are staying in. Hopefully, once Nixon and Michael are there, I can beg out early to escape from the slime ball.

First, I was in need of a quick stop at my room to freshen up and call Drew to check in. As I dialed, a smile only for him stretched across my face. He is everything I’ve ever wanted and I’ve fallen for him hard. I haven’t said those three little words yet because I don’t have the courage to in case he doesn’t feel the same. On the fourth ring it goes to voice mail and I check my watch to see if I’ve called during chore time. When I hear the beep, I decide to leave him a message.

“Hi, mountain man, I wanted to touch base with you before I head off to a meeting with the coaches. I will try to call you when we finish which shouldn’t be any later than seven I imagine. I really miss you and can’t wait to get home. Talk to you soon.” I finish off making kissing noises into the phone and disconnect. It’s time to arrive at the conference room and get this whole thing over with.

DREW

I have the worst knot in my stomach after seeing Lawless on the screen. As much as I want to drive straight to where Sam is, right this minute, I know I have to let her handle things herself. She obviously didn’t want to tell me about it before she left. I need to trust her. She can do this. Now tell my brain to get my stomach on board so I can relax.

To kill time, I decide I need to start cleaning up the barn that used to be the indoor rink when Sam was a kid. I’m thinking I can surprise her with the rink close to Christmas and put up a crap load of twinkle lights, maybe throw a party for the team or something. I don’t normally do holiday shit, but I think Sam would like it. After moving all the horse gear that was being stored there, I get to work with a leaf blower, clearing all the debris that’s been hanging around over the years and bag it. A few of the boards rounding the rink need repairs, so I start on that too before applying new paint to give the boards a touch up. By the time I’m done doing all that it’s time to get to the barn chores. My body is starting to feel all the work and I’m finally feeling tired enough I may actually fall asleep.

I chat with the horses and even paid some attention to Jack who never seems to get enough if you ask him. I give him extra apples and that generosity puts me in his good graces. At least for now.

I’m so exhausted from the day I decide to lay down for a quick nap. But that nap turned out to be a lot longer than I thought because I have two missed calls from Sam and three from Nixon. Suddenly the previous days thoughts come back. All the fear and dread I have been feeling almost have me rushing to the bathroom to throw up.

By the time I finish listening to the messages, I do indeed throw up.

SAM

I make sure to arrive at the conference room a little late to ensure Nixon and Michael will be there before me. I do not want to be alone in a room with that skunk at all. I’m just barely keeping it together and I really hope I don’t need to do much talking because my mouth feels as dry as a cotton ball right now. With a final solidifying breath, I open the door and immediately hear Nixon’s booming laugh. I exhale a huge breath of relief knowing someone else is already here. Pasting a big fake smile on, I choose the chair closest to the door.

“Sorry I’m late, gentlemen, I didn’t mean to keep you all waiting.”

“We were just talking about the game, Sam, no worries at all.” Nixon says aiming his smile my way.

I feel him before I force myself to look at him. It’s the feeling of thinking there is a snake in the field, but you can’t see it and high step out of the grass just in case because you don’t want it touching you. Except I know there is a snake in the room and my skin is crawling because, quite frankly, I hate all snakes. Real and human ones.

“Miss Maxwell, pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard such great things about you in the hockey world. You’ve made quite a name for yourself,” Jason says as he steps closer holding out his hand to shake.

I freeze in my chair. I do not want to touch him and I stare straight into the table as he waits expectantly. I decide to fake a giant sneeze, covering my mouth with the hand shaking hand.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Lawless, maybe we’ll pass on the handshake. You know germs and sneeze moisture and all that.” I wipe my hand off on my leg and he backs away like I have the plague, returning to his seat.

“Uh, sure thing, no worries. Let’s get this meeting started then. I came to discuss a few of your players that I’m scouting. I can imagine you might be excited about that, Sam, may I call you Sam?” I finally make eye contact and look at him. Same handsome face but if you saw past his looks, the darkness lurking underneath was still there and I’m really wondering what his game is here.

“Miss Maxwell is fine, thank you. Your office didn’t fill me in on what players exactly you want to discuss. Why don’t you tell us who you’re looking at and we will all answer the best we can?” I flash him a sickly-sweet smile and hope it conveys my contempt for him.

I can feel Nixon’s confused expression and hope he lets it slide. But Michael obviously doesn’t feel the vibe or get the memo.

“Sam, don’t be like that. You know who this is right? He’s not just a scout. He’s a decorated player. He played in the world juniors, won a silver with the USA team, and he’s an NCAA winning coach. Show him some respect and give him what he wants or needs. Our players deserve their chances too, right, Jason?” Michael is looking at Jason with hearts in his eyes, and I internally groan. Before I can open my mouth to address anything he said, Michael continues, “Actually, you must know something about him. He’s the guy who caused Drew’s injury. It was an accident, but terrible regardless. Don’t you and Drew talk about that or is everything horses and donkeys these days and you leave the rink at the rink?”

Shut up, shut up, shut up, you ridiculous man.Jason doesn’t need to know any details about my life at all and now he knows far too much.

“Drew Morgan? How do you know Drew?” Jason asks with his eyes narrowed, hyper focused on me. I feel like he’s jabbing a giant thumb tack through my chest to keep me in my chair. I’m not going to let this man poke in my personal life and it’s not the purpose of this meeting. I am not going to let him manipulate me yet again

“Actually, Michael, we do talk about a variety of things but we aren’t here to talk about Mr. Lawless’ stellar resume or my personal life. Let’s continue with the task at hand so we can all get out of here and go about our evening, shall we? Now, what player do you want to talk about first, Mr. Lawless?”

Michael scowls at me like I’m feeding cat food to the queen. Nixon raises his eyebrow questioningly at me, channeling The Rock, doing his own people’s eyebrow impression. Jason though, he knows what I’m saying. He knows Nix and Michael have no idea of our shared past and don’t understand my behaviour. He smirks knowingly, tapping his pen on his folder.

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