Dakota hummed. “Want me to have Braxton talk to him? He can vouch for you. Try to get Maddox to understand your situation.”
“You can’t tell anyone! Especially not Braxton.”
“Braxton!” she yelled before grumbling, “Oh, I’m going to kill him.”
She’d lost me. “What are you talking about?”
“Remember last night when you kept saying you didn’t want him to invite any players?”
“Yeah . . .” Where was she going with this?
“And he kept protesting that he hadn’t invited anyplayers. . .”
It struck me like a bolt of lightning, and I gasped. “He didn’t.”
Dakota groaned. “He so did. But we thought Maddox was a no-show. He never comes out anymore.”
“A little warning would have been nice,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, funny thing about hindsight. Didn’t really think that when we left, he was gonna show up, and you would take him home for a no-names one-night stand.”
“Fuck my life,” I groaned.
“Did it at least cleanse all the bad Nix juju from your aura?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, only to be replaced by that of Maddox Sterling.”
“Well, if you want my opinion—“
“I don’t.” I cut her off.
She continued anyway. “Maddox is a hell of an upgrade. That filled-out older man look? Don’t tell Braxton, but I get a little excited thinking about how one day he’s going to work his way into the body his brother has in his thirties.”
That brought a smile to my lips. The first since before Maddox walked into that press room. “Hey! Jaxon was my crush first!”
“You can keep him,” she teased. “I’ve got the younger model.”
That, she did. Those brothers could very well be twins.
“So, what are you gonna do?” Dakota brought us back to the more pressing issue of my career imploding.
“I don’t know. It’s out of my hands. My pussy was in the driver’s seat last night, and now I’m the one who will have to pay the price. She gets me in far more trouble than she’s worth.”
“Take a deep breath and channel your inner Hannah. She wouldn’t let a man take her down, and the Bristol I know and love wouldn’t either.”
I laughed at the idea of Hannah and her take-no-prisoners approach. She was badass and didn’t take shit from anyone. She practically owned Comets Arena and every person working within its walls. You never had to wonder where you stood with her because she would tell you straight up. The first time I met her, she told me I was wasting my time being with Nix to view him as my “hockey hunk training wheels.” I had no idea at the time how right she was, too blinded by his charm and good looks. I wouldn’t make that mistake again. The emotional cost was too high.
“You’re right,” I agreed with my best friend.
“You wanna come over tonight and drown your sorrows in a vat of ice cream?” she offered.
“Nah. As great as it sounds, I’ll have to get my article submitted for publication—if I still have a job by the end of the day—and then I should really work on getting unpacked.”
“You’re going to stay even if this goes sideways?”
“I can’t go back to Hartford,” I whispered, and she understood why.
“Okay. Well, no matter what happens, I’m here for you. And I just so happen to have an extremely flexible job. So, whenever you needme, just call.”
