Page 52 of Make the Play

Hate how he’s making this feel real with his damn coffees and his damn contract negotiations, fighting for my job like it matters to him. LikeImatter.

So, I snap out of it before I get pulled into something dangerous.

“Don’t be late to our fake date.”

Chase chuckles, stepping away from my desk and heading for the door. “Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart.”

Then he pauses, his hand on the door handle. His head tilts slightly, something unreadable flickering across his expression before he glances back at me, his voice quieter.

“You know I meant it, right?”

My brows crease. “Meant what?”

He doesn’t even blink, his blue eyes turning stormy as he pauses for a beat.

“That no one touches you.”

My pulse stumbles as the words land somewhere deep I can’t reach. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. And before I can stop myself, before I can shove this weird feeling back down where it belongs, I realize I believe him.

He means it.

His jaw tics like he wants to say more, but instead, he taps the doorframe twice and walks out. Leaving me alone in my office with a feeling I have no fucking clue what to do with.

Chapter twelve

Technically, I’m lying… except not really

Chase

Nothing clears my head like being on the ice.

The scrape of my blades on frozen glass, the cold air slicing through my lungs, the clean rhythm of pucks pinging off the boards—it drowns everything else out. No media bullshit. No fake relationship to save my ass. Just the boys, the puck, and the space to breathe.

The Storm’s still weeks out from official training camp, which means today’s just an informal skate. Light drills, half-assed reps, and enough chirping to qualify as cardio. It’s chaos disguised as practice, and I’m usually all for it, but today, I know I’m the fucking entertainment.

I tighten my gloves and coast toward the net. Logan’s already near the circles waiting on a pass, while Jake’s behind him, chirping him like it’s a warmup drill.

I drop into a low stance and send a crisp pass right to his tape. “Heads up, Pookie.”

Logan catches it clean and casts a look towards Jake. “Can you get your boyfriend to stop calling me that?”

Jake lets out a delighted sound, looping a wide circle around us. “Why? You jealous I don’t say it to you like that in mysoft voice?”

“You sound like a walking restraining order,” Logan mutters, flicking a wrister into the net.

“Love you too, baby,” Jake chirps, skating off before Logan can slash him.

Ryan skates up, already laughing. “Gotta be honest, Walton, didn’t think we’d see you today after the shit show you just lived through.”

I groan. I should’ve known this was coming.

“No, really.” Logan wipes his nose with the cuff of his glove. “How does it feel to have your dick go viral?”

I drop my head back with another groan, louder this time. “For the last fucking time, there was noactualdick you could see in the video.”

Jake skates up next to me, eyes gleaming. “Oh, we know. The whole team watched it like it was the fucking Zapruder film. Frame-by-frame analysis.”

Ryan nods solemnly. “We did a full team review.”

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