Page 10 of Call the Shots
“How about I tell you when I’m available?”
“Yeah, that sounds?—”
“Close the door on your way out.”
“No worries.” I opened it and a girl with stacks of paperwork stepped inside. I slipped out my phone. “Do you have Vanysh or something? Because we could?—”
The girl closed the door.
I stared at the designs engraved into the wood, unsure of what to do. If Xavier had one of those other apps to text, he would’ve said something. And I had his number anyway, I could message him after tonight’s hockey meeting.
With a look over my shoulder, I saw a dozen people gawking before they snapped to their work. A flush crept up my neck and I shoved my hands in my pockets, leaving the office.
Whatever, Xavier was busy.
It was fine. No worries.
I loiteredaround campus until the hockey meeting. The Colo somehow looked even worse than when I last saw it. Someone must’ve busted another window on the outside, there was broken glass everywhere, and the far right doors were lopsided with caution tape haphazardly wrapped around them. The team was supposed to make it look better but that couldn’t be my team. There were only a dozen guys outside.
“Hey,” I called, my steps slowing when I saw who the hockey players were surrounding. I couldn’t believe it. “You’re stalkingmenow?”
Mid-handshake with Montoya, June sighed. “Ugh.You.”
“I want security called!”
She rolled her eyes and shook another hockey player’s hand.
“You can’t mess with my family and?—”
“Your shitty brother is why I’mhere,” she snapped.
“Don’t talk about Xavier?—”
Denali grabbed my shoulder. “Bear.”
“Call somebody, I don’t want her here?—”
“Bear, this is June Basil, she’s working with the hockey team.”
I jerked back. “What?”
Heels clicked against the pavement, a pretty redhead held up her clipboard, her lips curved into what was supposed to be a smile but looked like she smelled something rancid instead. “Afternoon, I’m Cleo Bennight, PR director for the Romans—um—well, now the Gladiators.”
A dozen hockey players shifted in awkward silence.
Cleo frowned. “This is…it?”
“No,” Denali said. “We have twenty-six players but most of the phone numbers are dead ends. Coach Vernon didn’t leave a contact sheet.”
She grimaced. “Mm. My goal is to put the Gladiators on the map. This is my assistant, June Basil.”
June folded her arms over her chest, and I had a feeling she was about as ecstatic as her boss was.
“I want to see what we have to work with,” Cleo added and turned to the arena. Montoya raced ahead to open the door for her, but her heels faltered. “Oh. Sticky. Lovely.”
Before Denali could follow, I pulled him aside. “June can’t stay.”
“She already signed on.”
