Chapter 13
Sasha
The team’s wins weren”t coming in quite like before with Wes Darling out for the season, but the boys were still playing well. They had clinched a seat in playoffs with their last game between that and their newfound online popularity, ticket sales were at an all-time high. That was so validating for Sasha. She really liked the players, Hillary, even Bill was growing on her in all his grumpiness.
She only had the one message from the website, but everything had been quiet on that front, so she was relaxing there too. Maybe it had just been one of her old fans recognizing her.
Evie - Are we still on for tonight?
Sasha- Yep! I”m just finishing up at work. I will meet you at the West Side Pub for dinner and drinks at 7.
Sasha smiled at her phone as she set it back on her desk. She was settling in nicely here in Glendale. Evie Masterson, who she had met at the rink, was becoming a good friend, which was nice. And Conner McPhee was becoming a friend as well, as hard as it was to keep it at just a friendship when all she wanted to do was kiss his ridiculously handsome face all the time.
“What are you smiling at?” she heard a voice ask from the door.
She looked up and there he was. He was dressed in casual jeans and a sweater. She almost never saw him like this, it was usually either a devastatingly handsome in a suit, out on the ice in gear, or in the gym. But looking like this made him seem even more like a real person, like there was more to him than Conner McPhee, Captain of the Glendale Magic.
“Nothing, just getting ready to meet someone for drinks. What are you doing in the office? I thought you guys had a rest day before tomorrow”s road trip?”
“We do, I was just in to meet with Coach about something. We are trying to work out what to do with the Blake Kelly situation.”
“Do you know what they are wanting to do?”
“Not yet. Wes just wants it all to be over, but the team might be out of running for the cup because of it. I’m hoping to get some chemistry with Sven going, but it”s just not the same.”
Sasha nodded.
“So…you got a hot date?” he asked with an uneasy tone to his voice.
“What?”
“You said you were getting ready to go out for drinks.”
“Oh, no. I”m meeting a friend.”
“No boyfriend?”
“Nope, not a boyfriend.”
Conner just looked at her and nodded, the air electric between them. Then he gave his head a little shake, ”Right, well, I’ll see you on the plane tomorrow.”
“I’ll be there,” she said, smiling at him. He left as she made sure she had all the posts scheduled for the trip.
“Hey, Sasha.” She looked up to see Hillary standing before her. “I just wanted to touch base before you leave. The gala is all set, we got in two last charities today. I think the reverse auction idea you had is going to be a big hit. Staying with the theme of Magic, Wes gave me the name of a tarot card reader so I think that would be perfect.”
“Perfect! Can you email all the info so I can be sure to include them in some of the posts.”
“You got it.”
The gala was going to be something special. While it had been mostly planned before she got here, she had added her ideas to it, and everyone had been really receptive. The theme already was magic, but she suggested that they up the theme and bring in some magicians and other elements, a tarot card reader would be perfect.
It had also been her idea to turn it into a reverse auction. There was this outdated idea of an auction about winning a date with a hockey player, this was a spin on that. The charities planned days for a hockey player to volunteer to help them. They get the money from the auction, but then they also get a player for a day and the publicity that goes with it. Win for them. The organization got the publicity that goes with it for the player and a bigger presence in the community, win for the Magic. She was proud of that idea, and it had been very well received. The players got an email about it today and so far, the response had been great.
That night she was walking into Westside. She was used to heading upstairs to the players section, but Evie was already here and had them a table in a quiet corner.
“Hi,” Sasha said as she made her way over to her.
“Hey,” Evie said back to her standing to give her a hug. “It’s nice to see you, you learned how to skate, and I haven’t seen you around the rink.”
“I know, it’s been busy. But I did want to talk to you about the gala. We are finalizing up the charities. I know the camp is going to be a hit. You’re thinking two players, right?”
“I mean two players would be great, but we are just happy to get some publicity and money for our scholarship program. Hockey is an expensive sport to play.”
“Awesome. I’ll send you over the finalized auction entry to approve tomorrow and we should be all set.”
“Now that’s out of the way. How are things going?”
Sasha sighed. How were things going? She could say good…if it weren’t for Conner McPhee.
“Uh oh, that sigh and a long pause…it can’t be good.”
“No… It’s good. There is just a work issue…maybe…I don’t even know.”
“What’s going on?” Evie asked with curiosity in her eyes.
It struck Sasha, Evie was someone she could talk to about this. She couldn’t talk about Conner to anyone because he’s a beloved figure to their community, but she didn’t seem to care much about hockey.
“So, you know Conner McPhee right?”
Evie’s eyebrows flew up and a smile fell across her face. “Of course, everyone in this city knows him.”
“Yeah…that’s part of what had been so hard.”
“Is there something going on between you guys?”
“No.” That answer came out fast, but she knew it wasn’t quite true and Evie’s raised eyebrow told her she didn’t quite believe it either. “It’s weird.”
The waitress stopped by, “Can I get you anything?”
“Yeah, I’ll have a white wine,” Sasha answered.
“And a basket of fries,” Evie added. “I feel like this is about to get good.”
The waitress left and Evie turned back to her. “Okay, what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure if anything is going on. Everyone told me what an amazing guy he was, but then whenever I talked to him, he kept being a jerk. I needed him to make this video series I was planning for the team, but he was just being a giant pain in my ass. I was just about ready to write him off but…” She trailed off remembering some of their more recent interactions. Remembering the feel of his arms around her as he steadied her on the ice. Remembering the look on his face when he stopped by her office this morning. Conner McPhee was infuriating but she also could not get him out of her mind.
“But?” Evie asked, sensing there was more.
“I don’t know. The past couple times I’ve talked to him, it’s been different. I see why everyone loves him, and I mean you’ve seen him. He’s gorgeous.”
“Is there something going on with you two?”
“No.”
“Do you want there to be?”
“No… maybe… I don’t know. We work together, so it’s a bad idea.”
“Is it though?” Evie asked with a smirk.
“Yes. It is.” Sasha answered with firmness, but she knew she was just trying to convince herself.
“If you say so. How are you liking the rest of the job?”
After too many glasses of wine and another basket of fries they finally called it a night. Sasha went home to make sure she was packed for tomorrow and check her email one last time before climbing into bed. She wished he wasn’t, but Conner was on her mind as she fell asleep.
The next day the plane was taking off early in the morning because they had a game in Seattle that night. They guys were mostly boarded by the time Sasha was boarding. She had been running late today because drinks with Evie had gotten a little out of hand, but she really enjoyed her company. She could sleep on the plane once she checked all the accounts.
They were getting ready for lift off, so Sasha pulled out her phone to turn it off, only to find her screen full of notifications. That was odd because there wasn”t a scheduled post until the next few hours.
The announcement to set their phone to airplane mode sounded as everyone was in their seats and the plane got ready to take off. She turned it off and slipped it into her pocket. She would check what that was all about once they were in the air. This was her first flight without another member of the pr team. Hillary had always come in the past, but today it was just her. Knowing Hillary trusted her like that felt good.
Once they were in the air, she checked to see what post was getting so much traffic right now, and her heart stopped. There was a meet the staff post, and it wasn”t one she had done. Right there was her face and post about her with a kind message about how she was revamping the team”s social media presence. It was a really flattering post, but this is not the public face she needed.
She was just starting to feel comfortable in Glendale. There had been one weird email over a month ago and then nothing. She thought she was good, but this was a loudly tempting fate. She went in and turned the post private. She was just about to text Hillary to see if she was behind the post when someone slid in beside her. Conner McPhee.
“We need to talk,” he said glaring at her.
She was not in the mood for a back and forth with Conner. They had been getting along lately and she couldn”t deal with this right now.
“I’m sorry, Conner. I can”t do this right now.”
“I thought you weren”t going to treat hockey players like a piece of meat.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked as she tried to text Hillary.
“Was the player auction your idea?”
She sent the text to Hillary and then looked at Conner trying to figure out what he was so mad about.
“Yeah, it was.”
Her phone buzzed.
Hillary - I did! I thought our fans needed to see the face of our new social media manager that was changing things up.
Sasha felt like her head was about to explode. She didn”t want to disappoint Hilary, but she couldn”t be a public face. She needed to deal with this diplomatically. But then Conner was next to her glaring at her for some reason and she couldn”t figure out why.
“And you think auctioning us off to the highest bidder isn”t treating us like a piece of meat? I refused to do it in college, and I refuse to do it now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You”re turning the gala into an auction.”
“Conner. Will you please stop thinking I”m trying to exploit all of you? It”s really getting old.”
“Well, stop doing it.”
“Did you even read the email? Yes, it is an auction. But you are not on the block. You are the bidder. You’ll all be bidding on a charity that you will spend the day with. They’ll get the money and the publicity. We get publicity and community involvement. If you don”t want to be a part of it then don”t, I don”t care what you do. I have some work to do. Can you just leave me alone?” she snapped.
He sat there looking at her. She didn”t know if she wanted to punch him or kiss him, but she kind of wanted both.
She turned back to her phone and privated the post with her face on it and then went looking for it in other places. She was back on the website homepage. This was not good.
“I’m sorry, Sasha. I should have read it more carefully and not jumped to conclusions.”
“Yes. You should have. Can you leave? I have to deal with this?”
She emailed Hillary.
Hi Hillary,
The post is great, but I”m not comfortable being that public for personal reasons. I put the post on private if that”s okay with you. I’m going to have Bill take it off the site too if that’s okay.
Sasha Maloof.
She set her phone down and closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Conner was still there beside her, studying her.
“Why are you still here?” she said with a glare.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, Conner. I”m fine. I”m just dealing with a post.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I have work to do, if you don”t mind.”
He looked at her and reluctantly got up and went back to his own seat. She took a deep breath and told herself it had only been live for a couple hours. There was no way he had seen it. She was not in Illinois anymore and he wouldn’t be able to find her in New York. But that anxiety she had dealt with for so long was creeping back in, that anxiety that had her scared about people lurking around the corner, questioning everyone who made eye contact with her at the grocery store, every car that just happened to turn the same way she did. She had just started to shake that feeling, but here it was crashing down on her again.