Page 19 of Behind the Bench

Of course, the first thing out of his mouth is a smartass comment.

Ignore it, Ellie. Focus.

I take a few steps into his office. “Duly noted. Mind if I sit? I want to go over some personnel changes I have in mind for our penalty kill.”

Link looks at me skeptically. “This isn’t something that can wait a couple hours? We have a coaches’ meeting scheduled at eleven.”

I take a seat even though he never answered my question. “Well, under normal circumstances, this could totally wait. Unfortunately, this isn’t a normal circumstance.”

With a long exhale, Lincoln drops his pen and leans back in his fancy leather chair. He rests both hands behind his head and his ankle up on his other knee, but says nothing.

I guess that’s my cue to continue. “Please don’t sit here and pretend things are all hunky-dory between us.”

With the speech I rehearsed at the ready, I try to continue but he interrupts me. “I’m sorry. Did you just say ‘hunky-dory’ and expect me to take you seriously?”

I scoff. “What’s wrong with ‘hunky-dory’?”

“What’s right with ‘hunky-dory’?”

Is he serious right now? Is it his mission in life to get under my skin every chance he gets? Actually, it probably is. He’s that type of person.

“Sorry. Let me try again. Please don’t sit here and pretend that you haven’t been avoiding me since I found you on the ice last week. I understand why you’d be embarrassed. No one really plans for anyone to witness them during a vulnerable moment. But I wasn’t judging you. I’d never do that.” I’d never tell Link, but seeing him like that had me pretty worried. He must be carrying some heavy shit for it to come down on him hard enough that he had a panic attack.

I watch as his jaw tics and I think I can actually hear his teeth grinding. “Montgomery. I’m not sure what you think you saw, but I just worked myself a little too hard on the ice and couldn’t catch my breath. Nothing more.”

He has got to be kidding me. There is no way that this beautiful specimen of a man was out of breath after skating a few laps. Obviously, I can’t say those words out loud, but he clearly thinks I’m an idiot if he thinks I’ll believe him.

“Link, come on. You don’t want to tell me what you’re battling? Fine. But don’t sit here and lie to my face. I won’t be treated as less than and I sure as hell won’t be taken for an idiot.”

He opens and closes his mouth. That seems to get his attention, so I keep going while I have the chance.

“You know as well as anyone that I’m not going to give anything less than my all. I can’t do my job ifyouwon’t let me. I can’t be your assistant coach if you can’t even be in the same room as me. I want to do my job, Link. I want to prove to every asshole out there that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. You think you can let me do that?”

Link sits up in his chair as if he’s starting to take me seriously. He rests his arms on his desk and folds his hands together in front of him. Finally, he nods.

“You’re right. I’ve been avoiding you. I was embarrassed you found me the way you did, but I can’t avoid my assistant coach. That was extremely unprofessional of me. I know you don’t owe me anything, but I sure as shit owe you an apologyfor how I spoke to you that day. Let me start there. I’m sorry I lashed out at you. It won’t happen again.” He hesitates for a second and drops his eyes to his hands. Looking back up at me, he takes a deep breath and asks, “Could you do me a favor and not tell anyone what happened last week on the ice?”

I pick my jaw up off the floor as soon as I realize my mouth is hanging open. Did Lincoln Scott just take responsibility and apologize to me? I was expecting more pushback, maybe a few insults, but definitely not an apology.

What is even more surprising is the sincerity in his eyes. Link has given me a lot of looks with those eyes, but sincerity is a first. What’s a girl to do when those gorgeous green eyes are peering into my soul?

So I do the only thing my brain can muster. I nod and say, “Okay.”

After Link apologized, we were able to go over the penalty kill changes I had been wanting to try out and he was 100 percent on board. When we went into the meeting, it felt good that we were on the same team for once. The rest of the staff was completely supportive of the changes too. Well, except at one point, I could’ve sworn I saw Grayson roll his eyes. He’s still salty that I’m in charge of special teams even though everyone and their mother knows I’m far more qualified than he is.

It’s finally lunchtime. I’m about to head out the front doors to the parking lot when I hear Hunter call out, “Coach Ellie, wait up!”

I wait and hold the door open for Hunter as his arms seem to be full of…what is that?

“Hunter, is that a boombox from the ’90s? And how many yoga mats could one man possibly need?”

“It’s actually from the ’80s,” he says, pushing his black-rimmed glasses up on his nose. Hunter is totally one of those guys you’d have a glasses kink for. His eyes are a light brown, almost golden in color, and they pop in contrast to his dark hair. A five o'clock shadow covers his chiseled jaw. I’m sure girls were throwing their panties at him left and right in college.

He falls into step next to me. “A guy can never have too many yoga mats. I always bring a backup. I had a very unfortunate incident that involved a tall glass of green juice and my favorite yoga mat. It had the constellations on it and it was never the same after that.”

I can’t help it. I snort. He is a clone of Sadie. I mean, it's freaky how similar the two are.

“Hunter, do you have a long lost sister by chance?”

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