“You’re a better guy and of course you saw her first, but I just hate to see that guy get knocked down,” Tweetie adds.

  Kane narrows his eyes as if he’s trying to understand Tweetie but just can’t. “Their relationship was a farce. All made up.”

  “Really?” Tweetie asks, eyes wide.

  “You were there. Karaoke night? When it all went down after the kiss cam…” I stare at him, and Tweetie still has a blank expression, meaning he’s lost.

  “And Trevor is gay,” Kane tells him.

  Tweetie’s jaw hangs open. “Shut up. He is not. Why was he dating Ande then?”

  “Do you know what farce means?” Kane asks, forehead wrinkled.

  “Yes.” Tweetie puts shampoo in his hair and soap trickles down his face like a toddler.

  “Then why would Trevor be upset?” Kane continues his line of questioning while I rinse soap from my body.

  “He’s still being denied by Ande. Imagine if some girl used you like that.”

  “I wouldn’t give a shit if I was gay!” Kane shouts.

  Tweetie lowers his head under the water, soap dripping down his face. “Oh yeah, okay. I get it now.”

  Kane shakes his head, but no one says anything else.

  We all shower in peace until Tweetie finishes and puts a towel around his waist. “So, you’re going after her, Jet?”

  “I’m trying, but my goddamn past is getting in the way.” I finish my shower and follow Tweetie out. “Maybe I should ask you, how the hell did you get Tedi with your reputation?”

  He laughs all the way to his locker. “Because she was my fuck buddy first and things just progressed from there. I think we’d still be fuck buddies if I didn’t catch feelings. That girl hides her true self through two layers of bulletproof glass. Lucky for her, I’m persistent.”

  “You and your magic dick broke through the walls, huh?” Ford razzes him.

  “You bet your little pecker.” Tweetie tosses his hockey tape from his locker at Ford, and he dodges, so it flies right at Maksim.

  “Don’t get me involved in your stupid fights.” Maksim throws the tape back.

  “Seriously though, we’ve all been playboys.” Tweetie sits down next to me.

  A throat clearing across the room alerts me to Drake’s presence.

  “Okay, not you.” Tweetie waves in his direction.

  “Why not?” I ask Drake. “I mean, Tweetie made it seem like a rite of passage or some shit.”

  All the guys laugh.

  “First of all, you should have never listened to Tweetie.” Drake throws on his shirt. “Second of all, you don’t need to be a playboy just because you’re a professional athlete. As you probably already know, it doesn’t always work out for you.”

  He’s right.

  “I take that as an insult.” Tweetie removes his towel without putting on his boxers, swinging his dick around. “I couldn’t deny the ladies all of this.”

  Ford tosses him a towel and sets his gaze on me. “Listen, most of us have been where you are.”

  “Not me.” Warner raises his hand.

  “Me either.” Drake raises his hand too.

  Both of them wear cocky-ass smiles.

  “This is easy to overcome,” Ford carries on. “Just prove to her she’s the one. Lena tried to play hard to get, but in the end, she couldn’t deny me.”

  “I think it was Annabelle. She felt bad that she had you as a dad.” Maksim laughs and most of the locker room joins in.

  I finish getting ready while Ford throws insults at Maksim about how he had to go talk out his feelings before he got some.

  Kane sits down next to me. “Just be you, Jet. I’ve been telling you that since you got drafted. Just be yourself and good things will follow.”

  I nod.

  “It’s clear Ande likes you, so take it slow. No need to rush.” He pushes a hand through his long, wet hair.

  I nod again as if I’m twelve and just got my first crush.

  “But right now, go see Jana because this is what is most important in your life.”

  Kane’s right. Hockey comes first. I’m too early in my career to jeopardize it for anything. Drake, Maksim, Ford, Warner, they’ve all been in the league for years. Proven their worth. This is my time to shine, and I’m focused on Ande.

  I shake my head. “You’re right. Thanks.”

  I grab my stuff and head out of the locker room, still hearing the others arguing about who was the bigger playboy in their day.

  I knock on Jana’s closed office door, hearing laughter inside.

  “Come in,” she says, and I open the door to find Ande on the couch across from where Jana sits in a chair. Jana isn’t wearing her usual heels and she’s sitting cross-legged, sipping a glass of what looks like sparkling water. “Cory, please.” She sweeps her hand, directing me to sit next to Ande.

  I smile at Ande, but she flicks her gaze back to Jana.

  “We were just talking about Trevor and the kiss cam.” Jana laughs again.

  “Oh,” I say, sitting down next to Ande. She’s wearing jeans and a sweater that shows off her awesome figure. “You don’t work today?”

  She glances at her watch. “Trevor gave me an extra-long lunch.”

  Her demeanor is not what I thought it would be after last night. I meant what I told her. She’s holding back on me, and I hope that she tells me what it is that’s keeping her walls up after she decided to give us a shot.

  “Okay, you two.” Jana clicks a button on a remote and a screen comes down from the ceiling in the middle of the room.

  She clicks another button and the blog post my mom saw last night comes up. The puck bunnies questioning who Ande is. Them saying they’ve never seen me look at another woman like I look at Ande. I hate these fucking things, but I’ll give them props on figuring that out.

  But Jana doesn’t give us much time to look it over before she changes the screen. “Then there’s this.”

  We stare at some other hockey gossip blog about married hockey players and their kids. Ford, Lena, and Annabelle pictured at a park.

  “I’ll be honest with you two. I thought women wanted their crushes single, so they knew if they ran into them one day, they’d have a chance to fall in love like some Hallmark movie. But Warner Langley proved me wrong. He got more hype after outing his relationship with Imogen than he did before it was common knowledge. A fan started this blog to report who’s seeing who and the crazy thing is that it’s positive. The more the guy is in love, or at least shows his love for a woman, the more they get on here. They actually rank the guys on who is the better husband.”

  I glance at Ande, wondering what this has to do with us, but she’s looking at the screen, hands clenched on her lap.

  Jana clicks on a picture of Imogen at a game with a shirt that says, “Growing a little number thirty-four” on her belly. “This alone put Warner up to number one for a week above all the other players in the league. In truth, Ford and Warner are competing regularly for the top two spots. Now, Cory, I don’t think I have to remind you that you’ve made some sketchy decisions between the end of last year and now.”

  Jana changes the screen again, and neither Ande nor I say anything. The picture shows Ande and me last night. Her in my arms and the caption reading, “Could Cory Freeman win our hearts after all?”

  “They like this, so we like it too.” She turns off the screen and it rolls back up into the ceiling as she looks pointedly at us. “My question is, what’s going on between you two?”

  “Um,” Ande says and glances in my direction.

  I slide closer and take her hand. “We’re dating.”

  “It’s casual,” Ande clarifies.

  “Monogamous?” Jana leans back and crosses her arms.

  “For me, yes,” Ande says.

  My head whips in her direction, forehead creased. I squeeze her limp hand. “For me too.”

  Jana claps. “I’m so happy to hear that. I was so hopeful.”

  “Why?” Ande asks, clearly confused.

  “Because Cory needs to maintain the trajectory of his career and we need him to clean up his reputation since he’s spending time on the starting lineup. Which makes this easier since you’re already dating.”

  “It’s casual though,” Ande says—again.

  I glance at her, wondering where all this is coming from.

  “All we need is neither of you dating anyone else.”

  “Jana, what are you asking us to do?” Ande takes the lead on this discussion for the two of us.

  “Nothing. Just be yourselves, but make sure you get out there in public. Let them take pictures. I’m thinking you should accompany Cory on an away game because that shows commitment. Most of the other wives travel—”

  Ande laughs. “I’m not his wife.”

  “Tedi, who is also not a wife, travels with Tweetie a lot. We’ll play it by ear. All I needed to know is that you two are monogamous. I don’t want this blowing up in our faces.” She steadies her gaze on me. “You can do this, right, Cory?”

  Ande’s hand turns clammy in mine.

  I narrow my eyes at Jana, insulted that she thinks she needs to keep clarifying whether I can maintain monogamy. “I’m one hundred percent in this, but I’m unsure what my personal life has to do with my hockey career.”

  Jana laughs and shakes her head. “Rookies are so cute.” Then she sobers up. “My job is to fill the seats in that arena. Get merchandise out the door. Seats don’t sell, and guess what? We can’t pay players. Then you’re playing on a crappy team who never wins. You’ll try for a trade, you’re probably thinking? Let me ask you, do you think a team is more interested in a playboy who is out partying all night and getting bad press or the family man who goes home and takes care of himself? Teams want solutions, not problems.”

  She makes a good argument. I nod reluctantly. “Kane said I need to think about my career right now.”

  I swear a sound comes out of Ande, but she masks it.

  “Then listen to me and I’ll make sure you have an excellent career.” Jana grins at me.

  Ande stands. “Is that all?”

  Jana’s eyes widen. “Are you okay?”

  Ande nods a little too much. “Yeah, but I have to get back to work.”

  “Okay, maybe find some dates that work for you to attend an away game,” Jana says. “The team will cover the cost.”

  “Sure.” Ande turns to me. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Hold up, I’ll walk you out.” I stand.

  “I’m fine. No worries.” Ande rushes out the door.

  “If I was you, I’d make sure she’s okay with this arrangement. Something’s up with her.” Jana points toward the door.

  She’s right, so I bolt out the door to find Ande, but she’s gone by the time I reach the elevator.

  As soon as I detour into the stairwell, I take a moment to draw a breath. I’ve never hyperventilated before, but that meeting with Jana made me feel as though the walls were closing in on all sides.

  Knowing I don’t have much time, I jog down the rest of the steps until I open the door to the outside. A burst of Florida sunshine hits my eyes and I squint. I’m not at the parking lot where I parked my car. I walk around the building, crossing my fingers Cory doesn’t pop out from around a corner. I could tell he wanted to talk to me, but I need to gather my thoughts.

  Once I’m in my car and driving out of the Fury parking lot, I dial up York on my Bluetooth.

  “What’s up, Mrs. Freeman?” Her tone is sarcastic and laced with annoyance.

  “I was just at the Florida Fury office.” I check my blind spot and switch lanes.

  “And?”

  “And Jana Gerhardt, the owner’s daughter, likes that our picture was taken and made it onto the gossip sites. I guess there’s some new trend in the popularity of hockey players in relationships.” Even I hear the panic in my voice.

  “Relax, Ande. You sound like you just snorted five lines of cocaine.”

  I grip the steering wheel tighter and continue to talk. I should’ve talked to Trevor about this plan York concocted. He would have talked me out of it. He thinks I’m seeing Cory because I want to. York said the more people we told, the more likely the truth would come out, so I’ve kept the plan to myself.

  “This is good for us,” York says.

  “How do you figure?”

  “Because this way we can stick it to him publicly. How satisfying will that be? Maybe we should do some big reveal with the two of us together and make him squirm.” The vindictive tone in her voice is something I’ve heard many times before.

  “I don’t know, York…” I turn onto the street toward my office.

  “Don’t wimp out on me now. What did Jana say exactly?”

  “She wants us to be seen in public. She wants me to go to an away game. Said it would show our commitment. The other wives go.”

  “So you’re in wife territory now?” I don’t miss the snip in her voice.

  “Girlfriends, I mean. And will you stop sounding so sour? I don’t think I’m the kind of person who can handle this sort of thing.”

  She blows out a breath. “Stop selling yourself short. Remember how you threw up after you found out Cory slept with me? Imagine how many other women he did that to and made feel that way and then he’s trying to act like some Prince Charming? Give me a break.”

  I nod although she can’t see me. Just the image of him with York sends bile up my throat.

  “This is perfect. I’m telling you, he’ll learn his lesson when it goes public and people witness his heartbroken ass.” She laughs almost manically, and I have to remind myself she was played too.

  “So I’m doing this?” I ask, pulling into the parking lot of my work and wishing I could talk to Trevor about this. He’s been my best friend since I moved here. I love that my sister and I are talking more than we ever have, but something in my gut feels off.

  “Yes, you’re doing this!” She’s silent for a moment. “I mean, I don’t want to push you into it. If you’d rather let every guy walk all over you and get away with it, that’s your business. I just didn’t think you were a doormat. Michael took you for a ride. You thought you were going to marry him, and bang, he cheats and drops you. Now Cory is spouting lies and trying to make you think you’re his one and only.”

  She’s right. “Okay, should I call him?”

  “Didn’t you talk to him when you were with Jana?”

  “I freaked out and made the excuse that I had to get to work. He’s going to be gone for five days playing away games.”

  “Ha! I bet he’s hooking up when he’s away.”

  My stomach sours, but I don’t say anything, taking the keys out of the ignition and switching her from my Bluetooth to just speaker.

  “Ande, I know this isn’t normally something you’d do. You’re a lot better person than I am, but sometimes you have to stand up for yourself and teach people a lesson. I think Cory Freeman needs to learn he can’t use women when he feels like it and cast them aside when he’s done with them.”

  “I just wish it could be you. You’re so much better equipped for something like this.”

  She chuckles. “I would’ve if he didn’t…” She stops talking and I hear someone behind her. “Listen, I gotta go, but I’ll call you tonight. I was thinking after this is over, maybe we plan a vacation. Just the two of us, a beach, and fruity umbrella drinks. If we’re lucky, we’ll pick up two hot brothers or something.”

  I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be close to York and I can’t help the warm feeling in my chest, picturing the two of us away together and having fun. “That would be nice.”

  “Just hang in there. From the look of those pictures, it won’t take you long. Looks like you almost have him there.”

  “Where?” I ask.

  “Where Cory Freeman is madly in love with you. Gotta go, talk to you later. Love you.”

  The line dies and I sit in my car for a moment. Shaking my head, I open the door and head back into the office. Hopefully work will distract me for a few hours.

  I’m watching another reality TV show where people are searching for love. This time they have to date but can’t see each other, only get to know each other by talking. I wonder if I could ever go on a show like that. Looks aren’t that important to me in a partner, though Cory is sexy as hell. But he’s not a good man. What I wouldn’t do for a wholesome, honest man in my life.

  My phone buzzes next to me, so I put down my bowl of popcorn to see a text from Cory.

  * * *

  Cory: I wanted to check in on you earlier but had to catch a flight. We’re in New York. Are you OK?

  Me: I’m fine.

  Cory: Can I call you or are you out?

  Me: It’s Monday night. I’m not out singing karaoke and doing shots.

  My phone rings a few seconds after I send the text.

  “Hello,” I answer.

  “Hey, beautiful.” His voice is deep and sultry and smooth.

  “Did you play tonight?”

  “No, tomorrow, but we had to get here early for practice tomorrow and then a game. I wanted to talk to you about the Jana thing and see where your head was at.”

  I pause my show and place my popcorn bowl on the coffee table. I guess I can be honest with him about this much. “I know I freaked. It’s just the thought of everyone knowing my business, or worse, being judged. Plus, you know my fears…” I want to give him an opportunity to come clean.

  “About me messing with other girls?”

  “Yeah. I know what you said, but…” I pick at a piece of fluff on my sock.

  “Right now, I’m alone in my hotel room while most of my teammates are out. Not because I’m trying to prove a point or because of what Jana said about my reputation but because for the entire day, I’ve been waiting for the moment I could message you. I’d rather talk to you than go clubbing any day of the week.”

  I wish I could believe his words. “You don’t have to lie to me.”