Page 15 of One Good Puck (Denver Bashers #5)

Abby

“ G uys, no more writing on each other with chalk.”

I walk over to where a handful of kindergarteners from Dakota’s class are playing during recess.

“But Miss Taylor, it’s so much fun!” a little boy says.

The little boy standing next to him nods along. “Yeah, so fun!”

I take in the chalk scribbles all over their t-shirts and shorts and sigh. “When you’re at school, chalk is for drawing on the sidewalk or for playing hopscotch. You can draw all over yourself with chalk at home, but not at school. Okay?”

They nod, then crouch down on the ground and scribble with the chalk on the pavement.

I do a lap around the playground to make sure the rest of the kids are okay, then walk up to Dakota, who’s standing by the water fountain.

“That’s the third time this week I’ve had to tell kids in your class or my class not to draw on themselves with chalk,” I say .

Dakota laughs. “Kids’ ability to turn any activity into a mess is legendary.”

I chuckle. “You’re right about that.”

She swipes her hair over her shoulder. “I should have brought a hair tie today. I didn’t know it was going to be this hot at the end of September.”

I yank off the hair tie from my wrist and hand it to her. She beams. “You’re the best.”

“You can always count on me for hair ties.” I hold up my other arm and show off the three hair ties on my wrist.

She ties her hair into a ponytail. “So how do you like living with the hot hockey coach?”

“It’s been great. Emma loves living there. She’s been using the pool almost every day after school.”

She gently elbows me and wags an eyebrow. “Any sexy run-ins with your new housemate? Have you caught him shirtless yet?”

“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you said that.”

Dakota giggles. “Oh, come on. I can’t help it. That’s how Sam and I got together, remember? We started living together as housemates, and then one thing led to another. And look at us now.”

I smile and shake my head. “You two ooze cuteness. It makes me sick,” I tease. “And you’re weirdly spot on with the shirtless thing.”

Dakota’s big brown eyes go wide. “Tell me everything.”

“Yesterday morning, we bumped into each other in the kitchen right after he came home from a run. He was shirtless.”

A giddy smile pulls at her lips. “Details!”

I groan. “He’s really sexy.”

She giggles.

“I mean, I knew that he was in shape. He’s a former professional athlete. But to see all those muscles up close was…”

“Hot?”

I tug a hand through my hair, my face on fire. “Yup. Very hot.” I let out a breath as my mind replays running into Gavin. All the hard lines in his chest and abs. Those deep V-lines that trailed along his hips and disappeared underneath his shorts…

“He’s ripped,” I murmur.

“You should look up photos of him when he was young and played pro hockey,” Dakota says. “He was a hottie.”

“Oh, I’m sure he was,” I say. “But I honestly, I like older guys more.”

Dakota nudges me again.

“By the way, does Sophie know you think her dad is hot?”

Dakota winces. “Yeah. She thinks it’s gross, of course, but it’s true. Her dad is insanely handsome. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Every woman I know swoons over that guy.”

Her smile turns knowing as she looks at me. “But you’re the one who lives with him. And I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Abby. He likes you.”

I shake my head. No way does Gavin like me in that way, especially after how abruptly he ended our conversation the other night.

“Nothing will ever happen between Gavin and me,” I say. “He’s technically my landlord. My very generous landlord, who’s letting me and my daughter live with him for free. I’m not going to do anything to ruin that.”

Dakota’s expression softens. “You’re right. Sorry for teasing you so much about it.”

“It’s okay. I know you’re just playing around,” I say. “ And I don’t think he likes me in that way. He was a little standoffish last night with me.”

Dakota frowns. “What happened?”

I tell her about whipping up girl dinner for Gavin after he came home from the game, how we were chatting and joking around, having a great time together, until I brought up the reporter who asked him about McCoy.

“God, I hate that guy,” Dakota says. “He’s trash for releasing his ex’s nudes.”

“That’s what I said to Gavin. I told him how sorry I was that the reporter gave him pushback for getting rid of McCoy. And he sort of shut down. He ended the conversation and went to bed.”

Dakota looks confused, but a second later, her expression turns serious.

“I think I know why he reacted like that. It wasn’t your fault, though,” she says.

“Wait, what do you mean?”

“It has to do with Sophie’s mom.”

A loud noise pulls our attention to the playground, where a small group of kids is playing tag while screaming and laughing. When we see they’re okay, Dakota turns back to me.

“Sophie told me this years ago. I almost forgot about it,” Dakota says.

“Her mom, Nicole, used to be a model when she was young. The guy she dated before she met Gavin was a photographer. He took tons of photos of her, and a lot of them were printed in ad campaigns and magazines. He also took nude photos of her. They were private and never meant to be shared with anyone.”

My stomach sinks.

“After they broke up, he published her nudes without her permission.” A pained look flashes across Dakota’s face.

“She tried to sue him to get him to take down the photos, but legally she didn’t have any standing.

She didn’t have a contract saying the photos belonged to her.

So by default, since he was the photographer, legally he owned the right to the photos. ”

“But that’s wrong. She was the model in the photos. She should have had control of them,” I say.

Dakota nods. “Yeah, but I guess at the time, people didn’t look at it that way. They almost always defaulted to the photographer.”

“That’s so messed up.”

“It really was. Sophie said her mom spiralled when that happened. She was depressed and couldn’t get out of bed for weeks.”

I didn’t even know Nicole, but I feel so angry and sad for her. Her ex betrayed her trust in the most disgusting way. He profited from her private photos meant only for him to see.

“She was dating Sophie’s dad when this all happened, and Sophie said he was enraged about the whole thing,” Dakota says.

“I can’t even imagine how upset he must have felt watching her endure all that.”

“I guess Gavin ran into Nicole’s ex at some charity gala, and he kicked the shit out of him.”

I gasp. “Are you serious?”

Dakota nods, her big brown eyes wide. “Yeah. He beat him to a pulp. And he threatened to kill him if he didn’t take down the photos.”

“Oh my god…”

“Pretty badass, right? He was in the prime of his hockey career too, which means he was in amazing physical shape. That photographer jackass didn’t stand a chance.”

“Wait, did Gavin get in trouble for beating him up?”

“Yeah. He got arrested and suspended from his team for two games, I think,” Dakota says.

“But the fans went crazy in their support for him. Sophie told me that sales for his jersey shot up right after he got arrested. Fans made signs supporting him during games. Everyone thought it was so romantic how he stood up for his lady.”

“Yeah, wow.” I stand there, speechless and in awe as I think about just how far Gavin was willing to go to defend and protect his wife.

“Did Nicole’s ex take the photos down?” I ask.

“Yeah. He tried to sue Gavin, but there was so much public support for Gavin and a ton of backlash against him because people thought he was a creep for printing private photos of his ex-girlfriend. The judge threw out his case. Gavin ended up getting community service for the physical assault on him, but that was pretty much it.”

“I didn’t realize he had been through all that,” I say. “I guess it makes even more sense why he wanted to get rid of McCoy over that revenge porn crap he pulled.”

Dakota nods. “That’s probably why he was a little off when you mentioned what McCoy did. It might have triggered his memory of watching Sophie’s mom suffer as a victim of revenge porn.”

I sigh and shake my head while processing everything Dakota told me.

“Thanks for explaining all that to me.”

She pats my arm. “Of course.”

The bell rings, signaling the end of recess.

Dakota and I line up our classes and take the kids back inside to our respective classrooms. Gavin lingers at the back of my mind.

I don’t want things to be weird between us the next time we see each other, but I don’t want to bring up something that upsets him again.

I push aside the dilemma and refocus on finishing out the school day.