Page 61 of Thrown for a Loop
“Great. And yours?”
Aiden snickers. “I gotta wonder why you didn’t notice the problem sooner. Like—wasn’t your aim at the urinal off?”
I hear chuckles from all around us. O’Connell chimes in. “Yeah, and when you popped a woody, wasn’t it always at, like, five minutes past midnight?” He holds up a hand at an angle, and Darcy puts her face in her hands and giggles.
But Chase is blank-faced, like he’s been hearing this all night. He sips his beer, and even his wrists are hot. It’s just not fair.
“Look!” someone calls. “It’s the woman of the hour!” Steve Sailor worms his way into our circle. “Zoe! Want to see the latest news story from your coaching session with Chase?”
I brace myself. “At this point I’m afraid to ask.”
“Check it out! Top article in sports atThe Times!” He gives me an oily smile as he hands me a tablet. The first thing I see on the screen is a photo of me and Chase in the midst of a drill. At least it’s a good shot. The photographer has captured us in sync, our body angles almost perfectly aligned. And neither of us is making a constipated face. Small mercies.
There’s another photo, though—a still frame from that long-ago video. Chase and I are holding an arabesque, each with one arm outstretched, our opposite hands clasped together like lovers.
The headline is “Cutting-Edge Skater Grows Up to School the Hockey Bros.”
I hand it back. “Hello, clichés. But this is what you wanted, right? Something cheery to gobble up the search results.”
“It’s fantastic,” he agrees. “Chase is turning a corner. There’s a lot less chatter about the punch.”
“Itwasn’ta punch,” I say irritably.
He shrugs. “Tomato, to-mah-to. My phone is ringing like a Vegas slot machine. And everyone wants to see more of the cute girl in the ‘Wicked Game’ video.”
Oh, please. “I’m glad that video is making your life easier this week. But I’m not here to be a sideshow. I’m here to coach some hockey.”
Sailor just grins. “Being part of the team, Zoe, means doing whatever the team needs most.” He gives me a head-to-toe eye sweep, the way you’d size up a side of beef. “Good work this week. First rate.” Then he slithers away again.
“I hate that man,” Chase murmurs into his beer.
“You know, I’d say it’s mutual,” Darcy muses. “But he likes you a lot more now that you’re internet famous for skating with Zoe. The man hasn’t had this much attention since you and Tremaine both got hat tricks in the same weekend.”
“Those were the days.” Chase takes a sip of his beer.
“Listen,” I say, touching the sleeve of his suit jacket. The fabric is like butter. “I just want you to know that I didn’t put that video on the internet. I’d never even seen it before.”
His eyebrows lift. “I have.”
“Wait, really?” I can’t keep the surprise out of my voice. “When?”
His shrug is nonchalant. “Bess always vets her players. She likes to say, ‘Where’s the best place to hide a dead body?’”
“This conversation took a turn,” Aiden mutters.
“On the fourth page of the Google search results,” Chase says. “Bess found it and showed it to me because she thought it was a hoot. It’s been up there for years.”
“Oh.” It’s wild to think that the video was just out there in the ether. It’s a good thing I didn’t know, or I probably would have done something dumb, like watch it on repeat. I have goose bumps now, but maybe it’s because I’m standing so close to Chase.
“I’m curious about something,” Aiden says, oblivious to my discomfort. Then he points between me and Chase. “How long have you two known each other, anyway? You look like quite the couple in that video.”
Chase takes another sip of beer. “It was just one performance at a summer camp. Zoe doesn’t even like pairs skating. She thinks it’s for losers. Isn’t that right, Zoe?”
My stomach drops. That sounds like something I might have said when I was young and foolish. But I don’t know why he’d remember that.
Then, before I can think of how to answer, Chase sets his empty glass down on the bar. “Now if you all will excuse me, there’s something I need to do.” He slides past Aiden Sharp and leaves the bar.
“Huh,” Aiden says. “Merritt is always grumpy lately. I try not to take it personally.”
