Page 26 of Matched with Her Athlete Boss
“Is she going to be okay?” Evie asks, her attention directed at Hillary.
Hillary pushes me a bit and nods. “Yeah, she’ll be fine. I’d say she either quit another job or had a steamy encounter with a certain hockey player.” She grins at me, and I end up sticking my tongue out at her. The others visibly relax. They’re still getting used to the girl who’s been one of my best friends since junior year of high school.
“Is that a poster of Trey on your wall?” Millie asks, pointing inside my closet.
I scramble to my feet, doing everything I can to hide the poster with my arms spread out and my body covering a large photo of him in his hockey gear. Except his head is still visible over mine. I’ve managed to keep my feelings for him a secret over the past six months since I moved in, but it looks like I’ve finally been caught.
“Yes, it’s a poster of Trey.” I might as well own the truth.
“I take it Kenzie hasn’t filled you in on the extent of her knowledge of Trey Hatch?” Hillary says. She stands and the others all find a spot around the room to sit down, as if ready for all the tea. “They used to go to hockey camps together. She’s known him since before he was famous. And can quote just about every stat you need to know about his hockey career.”
I avoid looking up, knowing each of them are looking at me like I’m some sort of psycho. I don’t actively stalk the guy. Okay, online doesn’t count.
“That’s definitely new information,” Dani says, laughing. “I suspected there were feelings there, which puts into perspective the situation after the Breeze game. And why you didn’t want to drive him home after the race.”
“Does he remember you?” Millie asks, perched on the corner of my bed. She’s flashing a dreamy expression, like I’m on the tip of landing a date with my long-time crush.
With a long shake of my head, something pulls loose in my chest. “No. Not even a hint. I haven’t really mentioned my time at the rink or anything. He was at Love, Austen today when I went there to pick up–”
“I’m sorry, did you just say you went to Love, Austen?” Dani asks.
I nod, wondering how I can worm my way out of this story. But my mind is so muddled I kind of want to tell them. So, I explain the survey and how I wanted to give Meg some more insight into how to help people avoid situations like mine.
“You have to do it,” Millie says, looking more determined than I’ve ever seen her.
“I don’t think I can. I mean, go on dates with people and have it filmed for the world to see? It’s too much.”
Evie takes a seat next to Hillary. “But if Trey is in the running, isn’t that a good sign? Maybe the two of you will be matched.” There’s a giddy sigh that floats through the room and I shake my head.
“I’m cursed. And now that Dani is married into the friend group, if I screw anything up, I’ll have to move to some foreign country and never talk about my former life again.”
“Oh, come on,” Hillary says, “You sound more dramatic than me, and that’s saying something.”
“Trey waited for you and helped you throughout the mud run,” Evie says, grinning. “That’s got to count for something.”
Millie sighs and says, “That’s so romantic. He’s like your knight in shining armor.”
Raising my pointer finger, I shake it along with my head. “No, no, not going to happen. There’s not even a chance of me being his damsel in distress. I was the one who had to drag him out of the water to make sure he didn’t drown.”
“To be fair, you didn’t look like this when you knew him,” Hillary says, waving her arm up and down in front of me.
Cue the blushing, and I’m not even close to Trey.
“Do you have a picture of you when you would’ve met him the first time?” Evie asks.
Dani nods. “Yeah, that would be fun to see.”
I bite my lip, trying to decide if it’s worth it to my pride to show them the book of hockey stuff I’ve kept over the years. And how much I really have changed since.
I stand and walk over to my dresser, pulling out the bottom drawer.
“Is that bejeweled?” Hillary says, walking over to check out the cover. “Even I’ve never seen this thing.”
“That’s because you got all funny when you went to college and started dating Roy.”
Hillary nods in acknowledgement. “True. Sorry about that—about everything.”
I hope that means she’s sorry about ditching her own wedding and not telling me about it, or going no-contact for several months. We’ll have to hash that out more later.
