Page 102 of Vegas Heat: The Expansion Team Complete Series

I drive Joanie and myself to the stadium, and she scribbles notes while we make our plan of attack in the car, not wasting a single moment.

“I wish Dad could be there on Tuesday,” I muse.

“It’ll be hard on him missing it, but it would be harder if he wasn’t here at all,” she says as I pull into the parking lot. Security waves me through, and we head up to her office.

She makes me a list of her passwords and tells me everything I need to know in order to effectively do her job while she’s out this week, and she also gives me a list of tasks for the interns.

“Mackenzie is going to love having me call the shots,” I murmur, and Joanie laughs.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, Gabby. All personal feelings aside, your ideas and creative content are in a completely different league than hers.”

“She knows about Cooper and me,” I admit.

She twists her lips. “Is she using it against you?”

“She hasn’t yet, but I don’t doubt this will tip her over the edge.”

She picks up her phone and taps on it a few beats without responding. “There.” She sets her phone down and wipes her hands as if she’s taken care of the situation, and my phone buzzes with a new text.

I lift it to read what Joanie just sent.

Joanie: Hi Interns – I will be taking the week off for personal reasons. I’ve selected Gabby to fill my place for the week, and she will hand out your tasks. If any of you are available to come in right now, we’re working on the new player welcome day on Tuesday and we could use all extra hands on deck. Thanks!

She lifts a shoulder as she raises her brows. “Let’s see who rushes over, shall we?”

I laugh and shake my head. She’s got a point, though—if the others aren’t willing to drop whatever they’re doing to come in on short notice, then do they really deserve a full-time position here after all?

Likely not. This sort of career isn’t just a job . It’s a lifestyle, and I’m already living it.

The others…they’re just not. They’re living as college students working an internship, but I’ve got different stakes in the game than they do.

It’s not that my father is the manager or that his future bride is the marketing director. It’s not even that I’m hot and heavy with the third baseman, though some combination of those things are what landed me here.

I want the job, and I think I want it more than the others do.

It’s that I want this to be my lifestyle. I want it more than the other interns do because of how I landed here. I want to learn everything about the game. I want to watch film and get to know the strengths of every player. I want to film behind the scenes footage and brag about how the Heat are the best team in the league. I want to travel with the team and show the world what it’s like. I want to be a part of this organization.

Do I have advantages? Certainly. And I’d be stupid not to use them.

“Do we have a float?” I ask.

Joanie’s brows draw together. “We have three double decker buses for the players.”

“No, not the players,” I say, shaking my head. “Not the coaching staff, either. I mean us .” I wave my hand between Joanie and me. “The marketing department. The front office staff. The interns.”

She sighs as she looks down at her desk. “I mean…no. It’s a great idea, but it’s not a necessity and I should really get back to your dad.”

We both turn toward the door when we hear a knock on it. “Then it’s a good thing you ran into me.”

I smile broadly at Justin. “You have experience with floats?”

“Oh, not only do I have experience with floats, I was president of my high school’s student council, and I oversaw the most epic float to ever grace the football field at Sunrise Academy’s Homecoming Game.” He raises both brows arrogantly, and he steps into the office as both Joanie and I laugh.

“Joanie, can we get into the swag closet?” he asks.

She narrows her eyes at him. “How do you know about the swag closet?”

He laughs. “I may play dumb, but I’m a good listener.” He winks, and she grabs a key off her keyring. “You know where it is?”

He nods. “Am I free to take what I want from it?”

She nods. “Sure, but first you need to organize and inventory the stuff I haven’t gotten to yet. I had it on the list for next week, but it looks like it’s not happening.”

“Oh, it’s happening. I’ll get it done today ,” Justin promises.

“What’s the swag closet?” I ask, looking between the two of them.

“It’s a storage room downstairs near the clubhouse where we house giveaway items and decorations for events. Some stuff is still on order, and I’ve gotten some new deliveries down there but haven’t had time to go through them,” she says.

“Then it’s a good thing you have a team of interns. You got this up here?” I ask, and she nods. “I’ll be back.” I head down to the swag room with Justin, and we discover a room filled with shelving units and boxes stacked on top of each other.

It’s a little chaotic, a little disorganized, and filled with stuff we can use to make our float.

“My dad has a large trailer we can decorate.” He walks to a far wall where a bunch of boards are stacked, and he reaches between them. “I saw these the other day.” He unrolls long clings with the Heat logo on them and holds them up to show me.

“Oh my God, Justin. This is perfect!”

He grins. “I know! And we can toss these at the people in the crowd.” He pulls a box down and shows me a whole bunch of mini stress balls in the shape of baseballs with the team logo on them.

“You mean toss them to the people in the crowd, right?”

He shrugs. “Potato, po-tah-to.” He winks at me, and I get the mental image of him whipping balls at unsuspecting fans. “I’ll be good. Promise.”

“I mean, feel free to fire a few off at Mackenzie,” I mutter, and he laughs.

“That’s what the t-shirt gun is for. So how are you going to handle her over the next week?” he asks.

“I’m not sure,” I admit, but with Justin by my side, I have a feeling I’ll be okay.