Page 25

Chapter 25

I was their asset

Braydon

Back in Toronto, Blaze flags were flying on homes and cars, and there was a group of fans waiting at the airport to cheer us as we came through. We were guaranteed at least one round in the playoffs and the city was thrilled. Toronto loved hockey.

There was of course the other local team. It was a Blaze tradition not to mention their name aloud. They’d been here longer, one of the original six, but they hadn’t won the Cup in almost sixty years. Not sure how mentioning their name was supposed to jinx us, but I sure as hell wasn’t messing with tradition.

With the rest of the day off, I was looking forward to a long nap and some time with Jayna. I’d offered to pick her up from work to bring her to my place. She didn’t answer, so I hoped she wasn’t dwelling on her retirement alone. I wanted her to dwell on it with me so I could help.

Luke’s truck was in the driveway when I got home. I dragged my bag in behind me and found him in the kitchen, cooking chicken with rice and veggies.

“Hey! Congrats!” I said. The Inferno were now in the playoffs as well. By the skin of their teeth, after another team epically collapsed. But still, they were in.

He turned, but he wasn’t smiling the way I expected. “You’re back.”

“Uh, obviously.”

“There’s someone waiting for you upstairs.”

And he’d let that person in, so…

“She’s pretty upset.”

“Jayna.” Worry gripped me.

He nodded. “She wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“She had to retire. That’s a lot to deal with.”

“Yeah, she told me before. She still wouldn’t say anything.”

I lifted my hand. “If you were injured and out of the playoffs?”

He met my gaze. “That would be tough, but I could handle it. Just saying, this looks like more. Maybe I’m wrong.” He shrugged. “She’s been here for hours.”

He turned back to the stove and I climbed the stairs two at a time. Shoving open the door to my bedroom, I found Jayna huddled in my bed.

She was under the duvet, wrapped up to her neck like she was freezing. Not asleep, but staring out the window, which looked over the parking lot to some more townhouses. Not a riveting view, but even though I was as quiet as an elephant on skates, she didn’t turn or acknowledge me. Luke was right. This was more than what we’d been dealing with.

I dropped my duffel and pulled off my suit jacket and laid it over a chair. Then I crawled into the bed beside my girlfriend and wrapped one arm around her, holding her close. “What’s wrong?”

Her chin tilted up and she swallowed. “I don’t have a job.”

Yeah, she’d retired from hockey and her Bonfire job went with— Wait . “You mean with the Blaze?”

“Yep.” She popped the P and then was silent again.

What the hell had happened? I followed the club socials, mostly to keep up with what Jayna was doing. None of the things I’d seen before we caught the plane would explain not working for the club. I lifted my hip to pull my phone out of my pocket.

She must have felt me move. “You won’t see anything on there.”

I still checked. There had to be some reason why she wasn’t working for the team. And if I knew what it was, I’d know what to say. Help her get her job back? Yell at someone in management? Tell her she’d find something better?

Nothing had been posted in the last few hours. Still, something felt like it was my fault. Like this fake dating thing was behind it. Because that was the only sketchy thing I knew of in Jayna’s life.

“Do you want to talk about it?” That was the right thing to say, I hoped.

She shook her head. “Not really. But you need to know.”

It must be the fake dating. But could they fire her for that? Had someone found out? We were really dating now, so how could it be a problem? “Tell me if you want to. Or at least tell me how I can make you feel better. A drink? Something to eat?”

I wanted to do something concrete. Something to feel less useless.

She shook her head again and took a long breath. She huddled farther into the duvet. “The team found out we’re not pretending to be together.”

Was that a problem? And, “How?”

“The security cameras caught us when we were outside the arena, after the Bonfire lost.”

Right. We’d kissed, but it hadn’t been excessive. It had been sweet and romantic. How could they?—

“And someone took a picture of me leaving your house one morning.”

Oh . That was a little harder to explain in any way except that we’d been sleeping together. “If they were okay with us fake dating, what’s the problem?”

She shivered. How the hell could she be cold under all that fabric? “Your reputation with the fans is good. And now that I’m not a player, just an employee, we no longer have a loophole to be dating.”

“What?” I wanted to go out and get drunk again, say something stupid. Make it vital that I keep dating Jayna for my reputation. But things weren’t adding up. “Are you here to break up with me?” I wanted to sound calm and professional, but a panicky feeling was pressing on my chest. Jayna needed her job. How could I expect her to put us, something this new, up against that?

I had feelings, and they were deeper than I was prepared for. I wanted to be with Jayna. There had to be a way to make this work. Then her words came back. Jayna said she’d lost her job.

“Did you quit because of that?”

She didn’t answer right away, and I was clenching my fists so hard my knuckles were white. Were we that serious? There was excitement with the idea, but also a lot of panic. Was I ready to be serious? Would it affect my playing? I felt like an asshole to even think that, but I wasn’t used to drama. I didn’t want to risk my hockey career?—

I was an asshole. Jayna had just lost her career, and she was just as committed to hockey as me.

While I had a mental freak-out, Jayna finally turned to look at me. Her eyes were dry but her face was pale.

“I didn’t choose dating you over my job.”

Now it was disappointment and relief dancing around in my chest. I was a mess.

“I didn’t even think about what I would choose—Radner and Kira just assumed. We had to create a breakup story, and when we went through the options, the best one for you was if I cheated.”

“What the fuck? They wanted you to cheat on me?” There were definite tinges of red around the edges of my vision. This was a fucking shitstorm.

“No.” She raised her voice to get my attention. “I didn’t have to do anything. They’d release something to indicate we were broken up, please respect our privacy, blah blah blah. But people would want to know the story behind it. And we couldn’t mess up your reputation, not with the playoffs coming. We also couldn’t have anyone think it was my retirement because that would make you look bad. It would only require a couple of unofficial hints. Maybe they’d use the photo of me with Superfan when I was drunk, and you’d get tons of sympathy, just like JJ.”

Ducky had told me about JJ. “That’s horrible. Fucking horrible. Messing up your life like that?”

A trace of a smile appeared on her face. “They didn’t even think that for the rest of my life I’d have a reputation as a cheater. They didn’t care. Just worried about protecting their asset.”

I was their asset. Fuck, that was wrong.

“You quit.”

She nodded. “I was so fucking angry. Once they painted me as a cheater, they’d find some reason to get rid of me. It doesn’t look good for the organization to employ someone who cheated on a player. If I was going to be out on my ass anyway, might as well have a decent reputation to come with me.”

“Can I hold you?” I didn’t want to push her, but I needed to feel her. Know that she would be okay and that she didn’t blame me for the whole thing. It was my stupid mistake that started all this. And now I had the good rep, hockey, and a girlfriend, and Jayna had…

She threw herself at me and I wrapped my arms around her. Her body started to shake. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I don’t have a job. I don’t have a team?—”

“You’ve got me.” I pushed down those nerves, wondering if I was taking on too much. “We’ll figure it out.”

I sure as hell hoped so.

* * *

Jayna stayed the night. We didn’t even have sex, just watched some mindless TV on my laptop till she crashed. I slid my arm from around her shoulders and watched her snuggle into the covers before I quietly walked out of the room and went down to talk to Luke.

He paused his game when he saw me. “Jayna okay?”

I shook my head as I sat down beside him. “She lost her job.”

Luke dropped the controller and slid back to face me. “What happened?”

I gave him the cheat notes version. Ending with her here.

“So, you two are totally real dating now.”

I grinned. “Yeah.” Luke didn’t grin back. “Do you have a problem with that?”

He slouched down further and sighed. “I hope you really do like her, Mitch. Because now you’re the only thing she has.”

“I know. And I do.”

“It’s great that you’re supportive. Just don’t…”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t lose your career over this.”

“What the hell?” Jayna was the one losing here.

“You’ve worked hard to get where you are. Your parents, they sacrificed, right? And you didn’t get involved with anyone because you needed to put hockey first.”

“I know, but?—”

“This is an important time for you. Playoffs, in the NHL. One slip with Petrov and it’s all on you. You can’t stop running or blow off practice. You have to be ready.”

“I will be. I’m not doing that anymore. Doesn’t mean I can’t help Jayna too.”

“Hope so, man. Because if you’re in that deep with her and something happens, it’s going to mess you up bad.”

He started the game again, not looking at me.

I’d told Jayna she had me, and I meant it. Part of me even liked that. But it was a responsibility, and I also had a responsibility to the team. If I ever got in net, I had to be the best I’d ever been. As long as these two things didn’t conflict.

* * *

Jayna

I woke up in the morning when Braydon did. He had running and his practice, so I gave him a quick blow job to thank him and get his day off to a good start. Then I headed to my apartment.

I’d timed it well. Megan was at work and I had the place to myself. I hadn’t told her or anyone yet that I was unemployed, so that was something for my to-do list. The time for self-pity was over. I’d always had to fight against the inequalities in my sport, so I could handle this. I needed to work out my financial situation, and then look for another job ASAP.

I showered, had some coffee and yogurt, and pulled out my laptop. First I checked my bank and credit card balances. I’d made some extra money working on this thing with Braydon and I had one more paycheck coming from the Blaze. They’d better not sit on it. They owed me vacation time too.

I could get through pretty comfortably through the end of June, but I didn’t want my balances to drop that low. Hockey-related jobs wouldn’t open up till hockey season started in the fall again, so I had to take whatever I could find now.

I applied for any jobs that were even moderately appealing. If none of these worked, I might have to leave Toronto. This, the biggest city in the country, should have the most openings, but it also had the highest cost of living.

I was deep in the rabbit hole and didn’t hear Megan arrive until she called my name from right beside me.

I jumped in my seat. “Fuck. You gave me a heart attack.”

“I wasn’t exactly quiet. What’s got you so absorbed?” She looked at my computer screen. “You’re looking for another job?”

“Yeah. I need wine before I tell you about my last twenty-four hours.”

Megan raised her brows but went for the glasses. Once we were settled on the couch with some cabernet, I told her what happened to end my job with the Blaze.

“That’s so gross. There must be something you can do.”

“If I say anything, they’ll get their lawyers involved. And I need a good reference. Kira owes me that at least.”

“I thought she was a friend.”

Yeah, me too.

“Anything I can do, let me know. You did great work with the Bonfire. And I can probably swing the rent?—”

“That’s sweet, but no, Megan. I have to pull my own weight. Don’t forget, I know how much you make.”

She gripped me in a hug. “I don’t care. I’ll do whatever I can. We’re friends, and we take care of each other.”

I hugged her tightly back. Bright side: I had great people supporting me.