Page 77 of Behind the Bench

I mutter a few cuss words under my breath before removing my glove and rubbing my jaw.

Bless Niko’s heart because he speaks before I can even try denying it. “Don’t worry. The rest of the guys are oblivious. They’re all too busy listening to Coach Montgomery on the ice to notice their head coach is in love with her.”

I hold my hands up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Niko. It’s not like that.”

He raises his eyebrow at me.

“It’s not. We’re just hanging out. We’re adults. We can do that. There’s nothing more to be said.”

Niko grabs my shoulder with his hand and gives it a little squeeze. “I’m just fucking with you, Coach. What you guys do outside of the rink is your own business. But I hope you know, if someone else figures this out, it might become everyone else’s business too.”

He gives my shoulder one last squeeze before releasing his hand from me.

“We’re well aware if this gets out it won’t be good. We don’t want to do anything that will jeopardize or distract people from what’s most important. This team is our priority. Iwant you to hear my words when I say that. You guys come first.”

Niko pushes himself off the wall and takes a backward step toward the door to the locker room.

“Hell, this team is doing better than ever so I say keep doing what you’re doing. But maybe keep the staring to a minimum, Coach? I think I saw you drooling once.”

He busts out laughing and I throw my glove at him. “Get out of here, Captain, before I kick your ass.”

Niko picks up my glove and launches it at my head before escaping into the locker room.

Well, that went better than I could have expected. It’s not ideal that someone already figured us out three weeks into this thing, but if it was going to be anyone, at least it’s Niko. I’m going to have to pull my shit together and avert my eyes anytime Ellie starts talking. She’s just too damn mesmerizing. I don’t even know I’m staring half the time.

When I finally make my way into the coaches’ room, Hunter is on his way out and Ellie is busy on her phone. She’s already out of her coaching gear and looks ready to leave too.

Hunter shoots us a “goodbye” and then we’re alone.

She sets her phone down next to her on her stall and looks at me with questions in her eyes. “Everything all right with Niko?”

I put my gloves up on the top shelf of my stall and sit down to start working on my skates. Without looking up I answer her. “Yep. He just wanted to see how things went with Jefferson after practice.”

I don’t know why I lie. It’s out of my mouth before I can even think about it. Of course, Ellie being Ellie, she reads me better than anyone else and doesn’t believe me.

“You sure that’s all it was?”

Her voice is firm, but I can tell it’s laced with worry. I remove my second skate and finally look up to meet her eyes.She’s nibbling on her lower lip, clearly nervous there’s something I’m not telling her.

I mean, itwasabout us, but I’m not about to tell her that. She has way too many other important things to be worried about. Niko knowing what’s going on between us is the least of her worries. So, like the idiot I am, I decide to keep this one to myself and lie again.

“Yep. He wanted to know if there was anything he could do, but I told him Hunter had it covered and Jefferson seems to understand it a bit better now. So we’ll see how it goes tonight at the game.”

Ellie tilts her head and studies me for a second. Luckily, she seems to buy it, and stands up to get her coat from her stall. “Okay. I’ll text you in a bit.”

She leaves the room, and I lean back into my stall and throw my head back. I didn’t want to lie to her but I also don’t want her to worry. If she gets worried people are finding out about us, she’s going to end things before they even really get started.

Does that make me selfish? Maybe.

But I also know that Ellie never puts herself first. It’s always about her career and not about her actual happiness. So I’m doing her a favor by keeping her in the dark on this one.

Right?

Lincoln has been acting funny ever since pregame skate. I mean, he got me off twice when he was here earlier, which I’m not complaining about. But for some reason, it felt like he was being distant whenever we were talking. I tried to bring up the Niko thing again because I know he wasn’t telling me everything, but he was quick to change the subject. He’s obviously hiding something from me. I just can’t figure out what it could possibly be.

Now is not the time to figure it out, though. I have to be at the rink in forty-five minutes and need to clear my head before stepping foot on that bench. I find myself at Sadie’s door and knock.

“Come in!”

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