Page 27

Chapter 27

Starting to believe

Jayna

Braydon didn’t ask me to come to another game. I avoided even the Blaze games on TV. I could watch the other playoff series, but when I tried to embrace the idea of the Blaze and Braydon something rebelled inside. I was angry at the team for making me get involved with Braydon and then taking my job away because I did. But letting that anger out wouldn’t be productive, so I took deep breaths and broadened my job search to places outside Toronto.

I checked our women’s hockey league offices—they were in New York, but maybe we could work out something remote. They didn’t have any openings, but I sent in my CV anyway. Nothing ventured…

I wasn’t sure about trying other NHL teams. The Blaze had left a sour taste in my mouth. Anxiety over my dwindling bank balance made me twitchy. My absolute last resort plan was to go back to Brandon. My parents could get me some cushy job in their firm, or with some of their friends. But I’d rather sell burgers than that.

I expanded my job search to include any work I could remotely be considered qualified for, no matter what it was.

I was holed up in my room, calculating how many hours of overtime I’d have to work at minimum wage to pay for food and rent, when I heard voices in the apartment. Megan must have someone over. I tried to get back into the tax deductions on that minimum wage job but my door slammed open.

Megan and Faith were in the hallway.

“Good. You’re in sweats. Let’s go, Tempo.” Faith was in boss mode.

I frowned. “Go where?”

“We’re going to the gym.”

I hadn’t gone for days. I’d lost my motivation after I got the news about my knee. I looked down. Yeah, sweats, but they were pretty gross. I hadn’t showered since…well, since a couple of days ago when I’d been with Braydon.

“I don’t know—” I started.

Faith stepped in and closed my laptop. “We’re not asking. This is an intervention.”

* * *

At the gym, they dragged me over to the heavy bag.

“We don’t use this. Why now?”

Megan and Faith ignored me and instead grabbed my hands to put gloves on.

I flexed my knee—it was good, but I hadn’t warmed up yet. “Shouldn’t we stretch first?”

Faith crossed her arms. “The Blaze fucked you over.”

My jaw dropped. “What?”

“Braydon told me. They used you to make him look good, then were going to trash you to keep him looking good.”

My hands started to clench in the gloves, but I fought that down. “It was my job.”

Megan gave the heavy bag a shove. “Dating someone isn’t part of your job unless you’re an escort.”

“Are you saying I’m an escort, Megan?”

“No, but the Blaze used you like one.”

The anger was burbling up again. “What are you trying to prove?”

“You should be fucking angry, not hiding away in your room. They were bastards. Fight them.”

I was vibrating with fury, but, “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“For now, take it out on the bag.”

I swung. The impact shot up my arm, and the bag moved. Not enough.

Megan cheered. “Show them.”

“Fucking Radner.” I hit the bag hard. Wrists straight, because fuck if I was going to get another injury.

“Who else?”

“Fucking Kira.” I jabbed several times in a row. “I thought she was an ally, if not a friend.”

“Fuck Kira!” they chorused.

“And fuck Braydon!” A cross and the bag swung.

“Fuck him,” Megan agreed.

“What did he do?” Faith asked.

“Stupid fucking viral rant started all this,” I panted as I hit the bag. “Then he has to be nice and sexy and give great”— punch —“orgasms”— punch, punch —“and make me fall in love with a hockey fucking player!”

I froze and the bag bumped into me, pushing me back a step.

“Fuck,” I said.

“Are you serious?” Megan stared at me in shock. I couldn’t blame her. “You swore you’d never just be someone’s plus-one for the rest of your life.”

I swiped my wrist over my forehead. “I know.”

“So what happened?”

Faith interjected. “Sounds like some orgasms happened.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “But it’s not just that. He defended me against my parents. He offered to face off with the Blaze PR.”

“What?”

“I told him not to. He’s not in a position to make demands with the team.” Though part of me had wanted to let him tell them to fuck off.

Faith shrugged at Megan. “I saw that video, and yeah, entitled asshole. But once I got to know him I was more sympathetic. He came to see me about you, Jayna, because he’s worried. That’s why we’re here.”

Megan crossed over and gave me a hug, sweaty and funky as I was. “I’m sorry, I should have realized.”

I gripped her tightly. “Not your fault. I didn’t want anyone to know.”

Faith pushed in. “Group hug!”

“You guys are the best.” My voice was muffled as we embraced.

Faith drew back. “Yes, we are. Now that you’re angry, not fucking hiding?—”

I gave the bag another punch to prove her point.

“We need you to shower and come to my place.”

“What for?”

“You stink, Tempo.”

“Ha, ha. Why are we going to your place?”

She smiled smugly. “To take care of your employment situation.”

An hour ago I’d thought I had no employment future. But when I had these women with me, I was starting to believe I did.

* * *

For the first time in days, I fussed with my hair and put on makeup. My arms were sore from punching the bag, which proved I had to get back to my gym routine. Enough licking my wounds. I was still an Olympic champion, a kick-ass winger, and I could deal with my life.

Could I?

I pushed the doubts aside. I’d been doing everything on my own. . But even if I didn’t play again, I still had teammates. It was hard to accept help rather than give it, but what was my alternative? Leaning on Braydon forever?

No, that wasn’t me.

I didn’t know what Faith and Megan thought they could do about work, but I didn’t expect to find Hunter and Cooper waiting for us at Faith’s condo. “What’s up?”

“First we order food, then we talk.” Cooper took a while to work out the logistics of Chinese for five people.

“Where’s Hailey?”

“She’s at my mom’s.” Faith pulled out a pad of paper and some pens. We sat around their table. Faith looked at me. “Jayna, Braydon told me a lot of stuff. And I’ve been working on a plan, but I’d like to share with Cooper. He’s got pull with the team and can help on that side if we need it.”

“Braydon’s not coming?”

She shook her head. “He thought this was something you should do without him.”

Fuck . Was he as sick of me as I was? Faith was waiting, and she didn’t look worried. Okay, I’d deal with Braydon thoughts later.

I narrowed my eyes. “How much do you want to share?”

“What the team asked you to do—the Jaydon stuff.”

So, not Braydon and Faith’s connection, just the fake dating scheme. At this point it was hardly a secret. Cooper had told Braydon he knew something was up. I nodded.

I watched Cooper while Faith told him about the fake dating plan, and then the team’s decision to terminate it. His expression morphed from surprise to anger to resolve. He flashed a glance at me when Faith explained that we’d stopped the fake part.

He leaned back, frowning. “Pretty sure that would violate some workplace standards. And even if not, it’s a shitty way to deal with Tempo. We could work with that.”

“I don’t want to go back to the Blaze.” Everyone stared at me. “I don’t want to work with those people.”

Cooper pulled out his phone and made some notes. “Got it. Still, they owe you.”

Whether they did or not, I needed to plan for a future without them.

“Now, for Tempo’s next project,” Faith said.

A buzzer announced the arrival of the food, so we had to wait for whatever Faith had in mind. I was cautiously optimistic. Online job sites hadn’t helped yet, but maybe she knew someone. She had a lot of connections in the world of hockey.

Cooper kept a strict diet since he was in the playoffs, but the rest of us enjoyed wine and the less nutritious side of North American-style Chinese food. I wished Braydon was here, but maybe he was right about sorting this out on my own.

When we were done eating, Hunter took the dirty plates and leftovers to store away while Faith grabbed her notepad again, now slightly spattered with sauces. “Before we tell you some ideas we came up with, will you tell us what you want to do?”

I studied the wine in my glass, light reflecting off the red surface. I swirled it, breaking up the reflection. “What I’d like to do without worrying about the cost of living in Toronto and other expensive places where there are actual jobs?” There had been ideas percolating in the back of my head, but they weren’t practical. Not the kind of thing that could pay the rent.

“Exactly.”

“I love hockey, and I like talking about it—posting and interacting and promoting it to people. But everyone knows the NHL, and too many people think that’s all that really counts in hockey. If I didn’t have to worry about paying the rent and supporting my lingerie habit…” Cooper’s eyes bugged. Oops, TMI. I’d forgotten about him. My teammates knew my weakness. “I’d like to do the same kind of thing for the types of hockey that people don’t know as well.”

“Like the Bonfire.”

“Women’s hockey doesn’t get a lot of respect, but there’s more than that. Sledge hockey. Blind hockey. I mean, can you imagine playing without full vision? Or being blind and loving hockey and thinking you can never play?”

Faith set down her glass. “That sounds like an incredibly worthwhile way to use your skills.”

“Yeah, but without the support and money professional teams have to pay for someone like me, how could I make a living from that?”

“What if you worked for yourself?”

My head snapped back. “For myself?”

“Your own company, doing the same kind of work you’ve been doing for the Blaze and the Bonfire. You could have some bigger clients who pay more and support your eating and sexy underwear habits, and that would let you do other, more meaningful jobs for smaller clients who couldn’t pay a lot.”

I blinked at her. Where had she come up with this idea? “I hadn’t even thought of that. Wouldn’t it be risky?”

“Tempo, I’ve seen you play. You can handle risk. But if you had a couple of clients ready now to keep you going through the summer, until hockey season starts up again… If you’re working with disadvantaged groups, there might be grants. And, well…”

Faith had thought a lot about this. And she looked…guilty? “What have you done, Faith?”

“I think it’s Cooper’s show now.”

I glared at Faith to let her know I wasn’t letting her off the hook, but Cooper had his phone out again.

“Faith told me about the project Braydon has planned for this summer in Montana, and I spoke to him. It’s also a worthwhile thing.”

“Yeah. I was impressed. It would be good to expand elsewhere, but when it’s just him he can only do so much. Especially if you go far in the playoffs.”

Cooper nodded and relaxed back in his chair. “He spoke to the team when we were on the road. Some of the guys want to do it back where they’re from, but it’s too late for this summer. Still, we’d like to get things set up, get some attention on it.”

I tapped the table. “I see where you’re going with this, but Braydon doesn’t have money.”

“He does now,” Faith said.

“Oh no, I’m not going to be your pity project.”

“Jayna”—I didn’t know if Cooper had ever used my given name before—“if you’re going to work with groups like sledge hockey and blind hockey, you’re going to be some people’s pity projects. That’s how you get them to give you money. Why don’t you wait to hear what we’ve got worked out before you turn it down?”

I crossed my arms and waited.

“Faith spoke to the women’s hockey league office. They could use someone freelance when the Canadian teams are playing. It would be on a contract basis, and won’t start till fall, but you have that in your pocket.”

Working with the women’s teams would be awesome, but that wasn’t a full time job.

“Braydon’s project has been funded to about a hundred thousand dollars. That will provide some equipment, travel, promo and organization. I know you’ve worked in PR, but Faith thinks you could do some of the admin, keep it organized for this summer while we’re working out the kinks.”

Now I was even more suspicious. “How did Braydon get funding? The Cooper Foundation?”

He smirked. “There is no Cooper Foundation. I provided some, not all of it.”

“My dad is putting money in.”

I turned to Faith. “What?”

She grimaced at me. “For his own reasons, and Braydon is willing to take it. He thinks it’s worth it to help other kids who are in situations like his growing up.”

Was Frank trying to get in good with Braydon, or ensure his silence? “Wow.”

Cooper looked like he knew something was up but was willing to let it slide. “If you’d travel with Braydon and his friends for the summer, keep things under control and promote the hell out of it, there’d be enough money to keep you covered till fall. Then you can find some other clients or another job.”

Was I willing to spend the summer with Braydon, helping his camps and making sure the nontraditional kids who wanted to play weren’t overlooked? Potentially working with some of those overlooked hockey groups and helping them become part of what hockey was known to be? It sounded too good to be true.

“What’s the catch?”

Cooper smirked. “Sadly, you’re likely to be called a WAG.”

That…would take some getting used to. My mom would be thrilled. Almost enough to make me say no to spite her. But I wasn’t that stupid. “Thanks, to all of you. I’ll try to handle the WAG stuff.”

Faith raised her glass. “To Tempo. And Mitchell—he’s the one who asked us to step in.”

My gratitude to Braydon would be shown in ways that weren’t safe for work.