Page 93 of Hot Puck
I stare at Oakley. “I fail to see the difference.”
“The difference is not wanting to talk about it and not knowing what it is.” Cami’s words have me shaking my head.
“I’m sure that makes sense to you but I?—”
“Cut the crap, Nat. And get your ass out of this office. I want to see you at the games, home and away, in the locker room, the occasional drop in at training,” Blake says.
“I don’t need to?—”
“Wrong. And it isn’t about you anyway, it’s about the team, and everyone, players to the front receptionist, knows you’ve pulled away.”
“Pulled away from what? Getting in the way of everyone trying to do their jobs?”
“You never got in the way.”
“That was in the beginning, when we were building the team. Now we’re established, winning more than losing, and I don’t need to be as hands on.”
Oakley looks to the side, Blake and Cami turning her way. “She’s not going to break.”
“Then we’ll make her.” Blake’s words have me sitting straighter.
“What does that mean?”
“You will be at every game for the rest of the season. Every game of the playoffs. And you will bring Chase’s sisters with you.”
Oh.The tension in my shoulders dissolves as the true meaning of her demand falls into place.
“Yeah, now you’re getting it.” Blake’s smile is soft. “This is a season for the record books. Our inaugural season and we’re going to the finals, and Chase and his sisters deserve you to put whatever has you holed up in here aside so they can experience it together.”
“And don’t forget, they have to get through the anniversaries soon,” Cami adds. “The twins told Whitney they are worried Chase might not be able to concentrate because of them.”
I glance at the calendar on my desk. “Dammit,” I mutter. The anniversary of their father’s death is only days away. Their mother’s right behind it. I can’t believe I’ve been so wrapped up in my own problem I forgot about this important—gut-wrenching—milestone the Hawkins’ siblings have to face.
“This isn’t like you, Nat. What’s really going on?” Oakley asks.
I could tell them, reveal the reason I’m hiding out is because when I’m not, when I see Chase—think about him—my brain turns to pile of lust slush. But I can’t. “I don’t want to be a distraction.”
“Or you don’t want him to be a distraction?” Cami asks. She puts up a hand. “Don’t say it isn’t about Chase. The twins might not fully understand the undercurrent running between you and their brother at home, but they aren’t blind to it.”
My back straightens, my stomach churns. “What are they saying?”
“You and Chase are weird around each other. It’s not like the weird you two had going on before Christmas but it’s not the family vibe you had going after it either.”
I’m sure what Cami is saying makes sense. And to a pair of teenagers, young teenagers at that, they wouldn’t—shouldn’t—be able to tell the weird behavior is sexual tension.
Since the day I walked in on Chase in the locker room wearing nothing but a smile, my libido has kicked into overdrive. I don’t go a day without thinking about jumping him.
Who am I kidding?
It’s an hourly struggle.
“Okay, now that we have you thinking, and have reminded you what we expect the GM of the Rogues organization to do, we can get out of your hair and let you do it.” Oakley grins at me. Then with a wink she says, “And if you need todo itto get things back on track, do that too.”
Cami snickers behind a hand.
Blake’s lips twitch but she spent so long keeping her thoughts off her face so the opposition couldn’t read her that she holds firm.
Oakley though, is cackling like a loon.
