Page 39 of Behind the Bench

He nods his head as the door shuts behind me. I’m pacing the room when I hear muffled shouting outside the door.

Before I know what’s happening the door flies open and the sight before me paralyzes me for a moment.

Because Lincoln Scott stands at the door and the look on his face could bring me to my damn knees.

Ellie pushes her chair back and rushes toward the exit as if the room is on fire. I can’t say I blame her. Roger Park is a world class dick and will never step foot in this arena again if I have anything to say about it.

Niko looks just as concerned as I do as he tracks Ellie’s abrupt exit from the room. “You think she’ll be okay?”

I clasp him on the shoulder. “She’s the toughest person I know. I’m gonna go check on her.”

I’m already halfway out the door when I hear Niko yell something at me. I have no clue what he said but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is getting to Ellie.

I have no fucking idea where this concern and care for Ellie is coming from but there’s no use fighting anymore. There is a deep and primal need inside me that has to know that Ellie is okay.

Hunter is standing guard outside the door when I get there.

“Move.” I’m not sure where the growl comes from, but it’s definitely a growl. Hunter may be my best friend, but that doesn’t mean I won’t physically move him out of my way so I can check on Ellie.

He puts his hand firmly on my chest. Bad move.

I look down at his hand and back up to meet his eyes. “You have two seconds to get your hand off me before I do it myself.” Judging by the stares of the training staff around us, I think I say it a little louder than intended.

Hunter puts his hands up as if he’s surrendering but doesn’t move out of my way. “She told me she needs five minutes. Let’s just give her that, yeah?”

Yeah, no.

I push Hunter out of my way and as soon as my hand hits the door handle, he grabs my shoulder. “Lincoln!”

Hunter very rarely raises his voice. Even as a coach he has a calm demeanor. So his shouting stops me in my tracks just as I’m about to pull the door open.

I turn my head and look over my shoulder. “Yeah? Make it quick.”

He slowly removes his hand from my shoulder and sticks both hands in his black dress slacks. “Just take a breath before you go in there. The last thing she needs is a pissed off head coach to deal with too.”

He’s right.

I take a deep breath in through my nose, out through my mouth. It’s the simplest technique to calm yourself down, but damn if it doesn’t work 99 percent of the time. I take one more deep breath and nod at Hunter before throwing the door open.

Ellie stops abruptly in the middle of the room. If I have to guess, she’s about to put a hole in the floor from all the pacing she’s doing in here. I noticed during preseason games if it was a close game, Ellie would either pace in the hallway or pace in here trying to calm her nerves in between periods.

The look of surprise on her face lasts maybe half a second before anger replaces it on that pretty face of hers. The scowl she gives me could put the fear of God in just about every grown man on the planet, but for some reason it just makesmy pants feel a little bit tighter in the groin region. Because damn if it isn’t the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.

Ellie fired up does something to me.

Even if we didn’t hate each other, there’s no way HR would be happy about something happening between us. Hell, I’m sure it's not even allowed.

I make a mental note to check the HR policy on workplace relationships. You know, just in case.

“What the hell do you want, Lincoln?” Ellie spits out as she begins pacing again.

Slowly, I take a couple steps closer to where she’s pacing back and forth like a caged animal. It’s as if I’m approaching a very scared animal in the wild. I don’t want to spook or set Ellie off anymore, but I can tell she’s two seconds away from losing her shit.

I take a page from Hunter’s book and raise my hands in a surrendering motion. “I just wanted to check on you. That press conference was a shit show. You good, Blondie?”

That’s apparently the worst possible thing I can say because the next thing I know, Ellie is standing toe to toe with me, ready to rip my throat out.

She stabs her pointer finger into my chest and the beast has officially been unleashed.

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