Page 58 of Hockey Halloween
Good . It was tough for Teddy to think of her social media “career” as that.
Something that held weight in the real world.
That was part of what pushed her to consider a job with the Sinners.
It would be a way to take what she knew and apply it to something tangible.
While there was no denying the very observable number in her bank account from what she did on the internet, somehow it still felt…
like a mirage. Something that could disappear at any moment.
She glanced down at the badge around her neck and slid her fingers over the laminated picture of herself, held onto it.
After the national anthem was sung by the current popstar with a residency on the Strip and the first puck dropped, Saralynn angled toward her, brows down and serious. “Now tell me about the crazy story.”
Teddy almost laughed. “Oh. Well, I was on my way here when in my rearview mirror, I see a guy climb out of a car in the middle of traffic and fight his way to the sidewalk hauling a hockey stick and a huge bag. I didn’t recognize him from our roster, but I thought he had to be going to the arena.
So I pulled over and yelled for him to get in. ”
“You did not!”
“I did. In hindsight, I should probably think before inviting large men carrying weapons into my car, but my gut said to help. He looked so panicked, and if he tried to walk, I knew he wouldn’t make it in time.
Anyway, he gets in, and it’s…” She looked down on the ice and squinted until she found a name that clicked. “Him. Reid? ”
“You gave Archer Reid a ride to the game? This is surreal.”
“Tell me about it.”
“What’s he like? Haven’t had a chance to meet him yet.
Kind of a sad story. He was drafted then injured in training camp before the season even started.
Nursed back to strength in Carson City, but by the time he was ready to come back, we didn’t have a spot on the roster.
That was two years ago. This season was looking questionable too until Boomer went out with blood clots. ”
Interesting. That accounted for some of his nerves in the car. A lot could be riding on his performance tonight. “He…uh very polite. A little awkward in a cute way. He’s going to hate me, though. He’s not on any social media.”
“And your job will be to shove him into the limelight. Yeah, don’t envy you there.
Some guys are like that. Prefer to keep their private lives private.
They’ll participate in the occasional team video but nothing like we’re thinking.
Then you’ve got the opposite end of the spectrum where some guys share too much on their personal socials and we have to rein them in.
Remind me to tell you about the time I had to explain to a player that if he was going to skinny dip in Mexico, he couldn’t post it on Insta. ”
“Bet that went viral.”
“Oh yeah, and between you and me, the team was all over the news about it. I usually lean toward all press is good press, but the higher ups want to keep the Sinners a family organization.”
Teddy glanced around the arena, landed on the dance team in their tiny, glittery costumes.
Saralynn followed her gaze and grinned. “Yeah, well, we are still in Vegas. It’s a hard line to walk.”
That line could be a lot of fun to dance right up to, maybe stretch a toe over. If any organization would allow for maximum creativity within the structure and stability of a semi-controlled environment, it was this one.
“So, he’s cute, huh?” This was offered casually and supposedly distracted while Saralynn watched play on the ice, but everything the woman said and did was for a reason.
Teddy’s guard crept up, and she tried to match the disinterested vibe with a small shrug.
“I mean, they all are, right? That’ll make my job easy.
Easi er , depending on how much of a fight they put up.
” But Archer was cute. Those light blue eyes, that wavy blond hair, and the perfect amount of stubble topped off with full, kissable?—
Saralynn snorted, breaking the reverie.
“What?” Teddy searched the ice for an infraction she’d missed in her daydream.
“That look. You’re done.”
“I’m sorry?” The bottom dropped out of her stomach. Was she being let go already?
“No, not with the organization. God no, you have too many good ideas. I’ve seen that look you just had many times in this building on women currently married to the men they ‘weren’t’ into.”
Am I that transparent? “Okay, yes, he’s cute, but I don’t even know him. I just gave him a ride to the game. And I’m going to have to be his boss in a way. I’m sure the team frowns on that sort of thing.”
“Not as much as you’d think.” Saralynn smiled slyly to herself, clearly indulging in an inside joke.
“Okay, what am I missing? I mean, I know Jacey Phlynn married her captain, but he retired first.” Everyone knew that. It’d been huge in the news when it happened, and they were still together. Teddy had always seen it as kind of a fairytale. In fact, that could be another good angle for publicity…
“Yep, that’s how it started. Then the team shrink married my brother the goalie.
I eventually married the man who was the GM at the time I had just been made PR manager.
The team doc married one of her players turned new GM.
Lots of dancer/player relationships. What I’m saying is, in the Jurassic Park of Sinnersworld, love finds a way. ”
Teddy frowned. She had just met the guy.
Sure, there was a spark, but that was all.
“I’ll keep that in mind. But while we’re on the subject—and I mean this in a calculating business way and not a personal way—Archer is attractive.
Objectively. If he weren’t playing hockey, he’d have a modeling contract.
Same for Sawyer Bennett, Dashel Knight, and a handful of other guys.
I don’t know if every team is like this, but you guys hit the aesthetic jackpot. ”
Saralynn’s shark eyes shifted from teasing amusement to sharp consideration. “You have a point. Every year we’ve done a bachelor auction, the team raised a lot of money on said guys. You have an idea how to use that in another way?”
“Aside from the TeamTok I want to set up, I think it’d be a waste of opportunity if we didn’t tap these guys for solo accounts to post parts of their day, their thoughts after games, what they’re looking for in a woman, and the occasional thirst trap.
Maybe more than occasional. They’ll have the right to say no, of course, or have a say in what they post.”
The gears were visibly turning in Saralynn’s brain, and she nodded. “I like that. They won’t. But that’ll be your job. That, and keeping it platonic with Reid.”
“Not a problem.”
Saralynn had that knowing grin again.
Teddy puffed out an exhale and focused on the game. One way or another, she’d figure out how to stay here.