Chapter 6
Piper
Are you sure it’s okay I come to the game tonight?
Cash
Yes.
That’s it? Yes?
What else do you want me to say? You can come to the game, Piper
Ugh! Are you always like this?
Come to the game and find out ;)
I don’t want people to know this thing is fake
How will they find out?
I don’t know…
No one will know, Princess
Cash…
Fine, Piper. As long as you don’t hold up a sign that says “Hey Black Diamond Fans! Cash and Piper are dating to impress the media,” you’ll be fine.
That’d be quite the sign
Leave it at home lt;lt;winking emojigt;gt;
I’ll be sure to do that
Now, get that pretty ass of yours to the game
Pretty ass, huh?
It’s a great ass
You’ve noticed?
Yes. But don’t tell anyone
Your secret is safe with me lt;lt;zipped lips emojigt;gt;
I’ll see you after the game lt;lt;crown emojigt;gt;
lt;lt;eye roll emojigt;gt; See if I wear your jersey now
Ifeel like an imposter.
Being in the WAGs suite with all the other family members? It feels like there is a neon sign above my head saying “FAKE GIRLFRIEND COMING THROUGH.”
This thing isn’t real, so couldn’t I have sat in the stands with the other fans?
Taking a deep breath, I smooth out the front of my jersey—Cash’s jersey—and head inside.
Gotta sell this thing, right?
The suite is massive. Pictures line the wall from the team’s Stanley Cup victory a few years ago. A well-stocked bar sits directly to my right and platters of food are laid out to my left. A small grouping of chairs sits in front of TVs that show the players warming up. And just beyond them is the glassed-in area with our seats for the game.
Only a few people are here, but I notice Angie right away. She’s hard to miss.
“Piper. What are you doing here?”
The second her eyes lock on to mine, she looks confused.
I guess now is as good of a time as any to rip the Band-Aid off.
“I’m here for the game.” I try to inflect some levity into my voice that I don’t feel. Maybe it will stop the torrent of questions that I know will come.
“I know that, but…” Her brown eyes glance down, noticing my jersey. “Whose jersey is that?”
“Cash’s.”
“Cash? Are you with Cash?”
I nod, shoving my hands into my jean jacket pockets. Otherwise, I’ll turn into a fidgeting mess.
“Wait, like dating him?” Angie pulls me to the side.
“Like dating him,” I confirm.
She’s wearing her husband, Troy’s jersey. Number twenty-two with a newly emblazoned captain’s logo.
“Since when?”
Angie sounds as confused as I feel.
“A few weeks,” I blurt out.
I really should have thought more about this before I got here. If anyone had asked, it was easy enough to tell them how we met.
Like Cassie said—a fairy tale of two people falling in love at work.
“How did I not know this?”
I shrug a shoulder. “We’ve been keeping it under wraps.”
“I’ll say.” She nods behind her. “Want a drink?”
“Sure.”
“We had the team cookout a few weeks ago and I didn’t see you there.” Angie casts a wandering eye at me as I order an old fashioned from the bartender. It’s about the only thing I like and will help calm my nerves.
“Oh, that.” I stall, sipping on the sweet and smoky drink, a favorite of mine that I picked up from my dad. “I had class.”
That seems to satisfy her. “I don’t miss those days.”
“You’re telling me. I’ll be done with my master’s in the spring and then get the fun task of job hunting.”
“What are you doing now?” Angie takes her glass of white wine and points toward the seats.
“I’m finishing school for PT, and doing an internship with the team.”
I follow Angie to our seats. “How’s that going?”
The arena is starting to fill as it gets closer to the puck dropping. Both teams are out on the ice warming up. My eyes immediately lock on to Cash.
It’s hard to miss him down there. He has a presence on the ice that is unmatched. The way he skates is powerful. Like the blades of his skates are an extension of him.
I don’t think I ever noticed Duncan like this. And we dated for a few months.
God, I really need to get it together.
“Piper?” Angie nudges my shoulder. I completely missed her question.
“Hmm?” I turn my focus to her. “What were you saying?”
“The feeling doesn’t get old.”
“What feeling?” Now I really have no idea what she’s talking about.
“Watching your guy out there on the ice.”
“He’s—” I’m about to say he’s not my guy, but stop myself. “He’s really good.”
“Really good?” Angie practically has to pick her jaw up off the floor. “He’s one of the best players on the team.”
I sit forward, resting my elbows on my legging-clad knees. I can’t tell much from a warm-up, but I know Cash is good. His reputation precedes him, even if it might not be for the best reasons.
“I don’t want to sound cocky.”
Angie laughs. “All hockey players are. You can brag about Cash if you want. I won’t say anything.”
The seats start to fill up around us. I don’t recognize half these women, but I know their significant others based on the numbers they are wearing. Some are wearing bedazzled jerseys and dressed to the nines, but others, like Angie and me, are in simple pants and our jersey.
The teams leave the ice as the pregame starts. Fans start cheering as the lights go down. Bright spotlights start to flash through the rink.
A video of the players, all of them looking like badasses, starts to play on the jumbo screens hanging over the ice.
Energy thrums through the arena like a real-life, breathing thing. It’s palpable.
From what I can see, not a single person around us is sitting down. Boos echo as the opposing team skates out onto the ice.
The orange and black of Vancouver’s jerseys are a blur as they skate around their end of the ice. People are banging on the glass. It’s electric.
Then, the lights shut off completely. The music changes to a low bass, steadily increasing before the Black Diamonds are announced. The fans go wild. Angie and I cheer right along with them as the team skates onto the ice. Cash skates out, followed closely by Troy, and Angie loses her mind.
Butterflies are swarming inside me as I track him across the ice. Both teams are out there now as the Black Diamonds announce their starting lineup.
When Cash’s name echoes throughout the arena, a burst of something explodes in my chest.
Pride.
Cash and I have been at this thing for, what, twenty-four hours? And all I feel for him is pride.
I don’t know what it is about his reputation that Cassie isn’t on board with. From what I can see, the fans are eating this up. Not that anyone would boo one of their own during a game.
After the national anthems of both the US and Canada are played, the game starts. There’s no denying that Vancouver is a good team. Great, even.
But they are no match for the Black Diamonds.
The team is fluid, moving as one across the ice. The play sets up, with our team easily driving the puck toward their goal.
Troy. Cash. Noah. Back to Cash. Before he sends it up the ice to a winger who scoops it up and sends it flying into the back of the net.
“Yes!”
The red light flares as the horn echoes out across the arena. I’m jumping up and down right alongside Angie, celebrating the first score of the game.
They make it look easy.
“What’s going on?” I ask. Stuffed animals of all kinds are being thrown onto the ice.
“Every time they score tonight, fans throw stuffed animals onto the ice. They’ll take them to the local children’s hospital later this week.”
“I love that.” Play temporarily pauses as members of the team skate onto the ice to collect everything. “I can’t believe how many are out there.”
There have to be hundreds lying on the ice.
“It’s because we have the best fans,” Angie tells me.
“You don’t have to sell me on being a fan.”
The minute my brother got into hockey when he was younger, the entire family became fans of Colorado’s NHL team.
I’ve known of Cash since Noah was drafted. He’s not an easy person to get to know, but since we started this thing, I’m determined to get to know him. At least as much as he’ll let me learn about him.
The game picks up again, and I take the opportunity to refill my drink and grab some pretzels with cheese.
“Are you going to go with Cash to hand them out?” Angie asks, stealing a pretzel off my plate as I take my seat next to her.
“Am I allowed to?” I drag a warm pretzel through the beer cheese and take a bite. “I thought those were players only.”
I don’t know if it was on Cassie’s official list of events, but I didn’t look too hard after I left Cash the other night. I guess I should look more closely.
“I think it’d be a great idea. Let people see a different side of Cash.”
A smile erupts on my face. “I can’t imagine how cute he’d be with kids.”
Under all the broodiness, I feel like there has to be a heart of gold. Maybe there isn’t; I don’t know. I’m hoping with time Cash will show me his true self.
Sure, he stepped up for me with Ava and Duncan, but that could’ve been a one-off. I know very little about my boyfriend.
My fake boyfriend.
A fight breaks out on the ice, distracting the two of us. One of Vancouver’s players has his gloves off, going at it with Duncan.
I lean over, whispering to Angie, “Is it bad I hope the Vancouver guy punches him in the face?”
Angie peers around the suite, most people lost in their own conversation. “Just don’t let the others hear you.”
Duncan gets sent to the sin bin and I groan on behalf of the team. Playing a man down is never easy. If only the Vancouver guy had gotten a piece of him.
Cash is on the ice, working hard to defend our goal and kill the power play. Fans are on their feet cheering loud as Vancouver is circling.
A bad pass from Vancouver has Cash grabbing the puck and streaking down the ice.
Cash’s stick-handling skills are doing something to my insides that Duncan never did. It’s intoxicating watching him, the way he dodges between the defenders and breaks away toward Vancouver’s goal.
“Go! Go!” I’m out of my seat, jumping up and down, cheering him on. He cranks the puck toward the goalie, and it sails just over the tip of his glove and into the net.
The horn sounds as the stands erupt.
“Yes! Way to go, Cash!”
I know he can’t hear me, but I’m bursting as I watch the team crowd around him to congratulate him on his goal. More stuffed animals rain down onto the ice.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an incredible goal. On their power play no less!”
Angie wraps an arm around me, pulling me into a side-arm hug as the game resumes. “It’s a high, right? I love watching Troy out there. He’s so good, it’s mesmerizing to watch him play.”
“That’s it exactly.”
I sip on my drink, trying to cool my cheeks. Cash is now on the bench as Vancouver is trying to tie it up before the end of the first period.
I could get used to this. Watching Cash play and hanging out with Angie? I thought I would be more nervous, but she wiped out any nerves that I had about being here tonight.
Nick easily blocks another shot on goal before Colorado is taking it back down the ice. It’s easy to see how skilled they are.
“Is it weird your brother and husband play on the same team?” I ask Angie.
She laughs. “I don’t think I ever thought Nick would get drafted by Colorado, but I guess they want to keep the Colorado kids in Colorado.”
“Helps that he’s one of the best goaltenders in the league.”
“And yet, he’s still my annoying little brother.”
“I guess it’s the same with Noah. None of them went all that far.”
“Maybe because they’re some of the best players in the league and Colorado was smart to pick them up.”
The horn sounds for the first intermission as the team leaves to the cheers of the crowd. Colorado is up 2-0 early in the game. If things continue like this, it’s going to be a good game.
And that’s exactly what happens.
Colorado dominates Vancouver with a final score of 5-2.
“Do you always feel like this after a win?”
My voice is hoarse and scratchy as Angie links arms with me and leads me to where we’ll meet the guys.
I’m anxious to see Cash.
A few families are already there. Little kids are running around the carpeted room decorated with squishy sofas. It’s nothing fancy, but comfortable. A few of the guys are already coming in after the game. I bet they didn’t have to talk to the media—something Cash probably wishes would happen to him.
But after that goal he stole on Vancouver’s power play, they’ll be eating up what he has to say.
Before too long, he’s walking into the suite. Cash has a presence, all eyes seeming to turn to him as he walks toward me.
His stride is powerful as he closes the distance between us.
“Cash.”
“Princess.”
“I’ll give you that since you had such a great game tonight.”
“Yeah?” he asks sheepishly.
“How many teams score when the other team has a power play? Not many.”
“It felt really good.”
“It was great, Cash.”
Cash rubs a nervous hand on his neck. “Listen, I know you’re working tomorrow, but want to come to the hospital with me? To hand out stuffed animals.”
“Sure.”
I know he’s only asking me because we have to look like a couple. But I like that he asked me without saying the reason why.
“Great. I’ll text you my address. Maybe you can meet me there and we can go together?”
“That sounds great.”
“Great. Sounds like a plan.”
Great.