Page 84 of Keeping it Real

“Oh, this better be a happy hug and not a sad one,” Sloane cried.

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Valentine mumbled as he stomped the snow off his sneakers.

Finn pulled out of their embrace and raced over to Sloane.“Hattie is gonna make it!”

Sloane let out a dramatic sigh.“Oh, thank the lord.”

“How did you know we were here?”It was hard to tell if Sheridan was surprised or annoyed.

The other woman unwrapped the colorful scarf from around her neck.“The WAGs had an emergency meeting for coffee this morning.We were brainstorming ways to help Brooke out with all this mess with Jackson.”She lowered her voice.“And Brad.”She shook her head in disgust.“Claire told us why you were unavailable.Of course I had to run over here to check on our little superstar.”

“Of course.”Valentine was still mumbling.

Alek shot him a quizzical look, but his teammate shook his head.

“That’s very sweet of you,” Sheridan told her.

“Her fans are very worried about her.”Sloane pouted.

“You posted about her surgery?”Sheridan no longer sounded as if she thought Sloane was all that sweet.

“She has hundreds of thousands of followers.Who knows?It might have been their good mojo that helped her pull through,” Sloane replied with a smug look.

One of the techs emerged from the back.“Hattie is ready for visitors,” he announced.

“Oh, yay!”Sloane pulled out her phone.“We can update her status.”

Sheridan blocked the other woman’s path.“Only one visitor is allowed back at a time.And that will be Finn.”

Sloane looked like she might object before donning her social media smile.“Of course.Maybe I can interview the vet who saved her life?”She arched an eyebrow at the tech.“Hattie’s followers would love that.”

“Uh, I’ll see if he’s available,” he said before ushering Finn back and closing the door.

“Tell him it will be awesome publicity!”Sloane called after them.

“For you,” Valentine said just loud enough for Alek to hear.

“Trouble in paradise?”Alek whispered back.

Valentine grimaced.

“So you two made quite a cozy photo op when we walked in.”Sloane bounced up on her toes.

“Nothing to chirp about there.They’re friends,” Valentine snapped.“Sheridan and Finn are like Ice-Berg’s siblings.Don’t read anything into it.”

A shadow fell over Sheridan’s face.“Didn’t you say you wanted to get in with the trainer today?”she said to Alek.“Finn and I can Uber home when they kick him out of back there.”

Alek felt a little like he’d taken a body check.He knew Sheridan was simply steering the conversation away from their private life.That didn’t mean he had to like the tactical way she did it.He wanted to pull her aside and remind her that he did not think of her as a little sister.She was so much more to him.Except he didn’t think he could put what exactly “more” was into words.And he certainly didn’t want to have that conversation in front of Valentine and his content creator girlfriend.

“Timothée and I can take you home,” Sloane offered.

“Actually, I could use a good stretch of my shoulder to work out the kinks before tomorrow’s game,” Valentine said.“If you’re headed to the practice facility, mind if I hitch a ride?”

Alek felt a little like he’d been backed into a corner.He wanted to stay with Sheridan and Finn.Hell, he wanted to stay with them forever.But not if Sloane was going to hang around, poking her nose into everything and turning it into fodder for social media.He looked over at Sheridan, willing her to read the question in his eyes.She nodded ever so slightly.He sighed.

“No problem.Text me when you leave here?”he asked because he had no right to insist that she did even though the Neanderthal within was begging him to do just that.

“Of course.”

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