Page 67 of Her Puck Daddies

Coach, normally tanned and composed, is ruddy, his expression twisted into something deeply uncomfortable.

It’s like watching a movie with your parents, only to get blindsided by a graphic sex scene.

Only this is worse. Because this isn’t just any sex scene. This is us. Eric, Levi, me… and Ava. From that night in Newark.

"Who the hell sent this?" I snap, mortification and fury lacing my tone.

Coach halts mid-pace, his gaze sharp. "We don’t know, Sven," he snaps back.

I don’t remember him ever calling me by my first name.

"Are you telling us this is real footage?" he continues.

My fists clench. "Yes, it’s real footage."

The words roll off my tongue automatically, a knee-jerk reaction, and I realize too late, I should have lied. I could’ve called it a deepfake, a setup, anything but the truth.

Coach huffs, shaking his head, the vein in his temple bulging. "I thought so."

"It was a hookup," I try to explain. "Before you hired her. That’s all it was."

Barb’s head tilts slightly. "So you haven’t been together since?"

Her voice lifts with hope. And that’s when I finally shut the fuck up. I turn to coach, but by the tight set of his mouth, I know he sees right through me. My silence is my answer.

And then—

A crash from somewhere near my bedroom, or maybe the ensuite bathroom, followed by yelps, both male and female.

Fuck my life.

Even as coach’s eyes narrow as much as Barb’s eyes widen, coach pushes forward instead of addressing the obvious.

"Somewhere in the middle of that video was a typed-out message." His voice is grim. "It lists your names. And demands five million dollars."

I scoff, but my stomach tightens. "Five million? That’s serious money."

"Each. Fifteen million total. If you don’t pay, the video goes public by 5:00 PM this Wednesday."

I gape at him. We’ve had issues before, but nothing like this. Someone is blackmailing us. And if we don’t pay up? Our privacy, our time with the Avs, and our entire hockey careers are done.

Chapter 23

AVA

Idon’t know why I’m even surprised by this. Not the specifics, though that part is shocking, but the fact that something amazing, like that night in Jersey, has taken a hard left turn straight into nightmare territory.

It figures, considering my terrible luck. Still, it leaves me reeling.

The thought of someone recording us without our knowledge, then sending it to team headquarters, is nothing short of horrifying.

After coach and Barb leave, Sven lays everything out for us. My mind is a complete blank, my body numb, as if I’ve been paralyzed from the inside out.

Except for one thing. A suspicion. A nagging thought buried deep in the back of my mind. I keep it to myself, letting it simmer, while Sven, Eric, and Levi lose their minds around me.

"This is bullshit," Levi yells, his default response always anger. "They need to check that goddamn hotel. The concierge, the bellboy, housekeeping, every single person who works there."

"Barb said there’s already an investigation," Sven explains, his tone steady. "The team’s security firm is handling it. I’m sure they’ll be questioning all of those people."