Chapter 28
Sasha
Sasha was out of the shower getting ready for the day. This morning was a pleasant surprise. Being with Conner, it was easy to forget the reason she was here with him. Sadly, she wouldn’t be able to forget much longer. She would feel out during the morning PR meeting about Wes to find out if she would be able to tell Hillary about all of it today. So far there hadn”t been any activity since the gala, but that was only two nights ago. It felt like longer because so much had happened, so many very unexpected things had happened.
Last week at this time she and Conner had still been doing their dance of amazing little moments but mostly being irritated with each other. She didn”t want to read into things too much, but things seemed to be changing and the fact that she would have had sex with him with both of them being sweaty messes had to say something.
But it was time for her to face the real world, and she didn”t really want to. Having this stalker after her was complicated. She was scared and that emotion made sense to her, but she could never quite shake the shameful feeling that accompanied it. Like she had done something wrong by posting some of the pictures she used to post. She knew that was ridiculous, she was proud of what she had done. She was proud of the pictures she had taken. She thought she was beautiful, but there was a sense of shame with it now that she hated.
There was a knock at her door. “Hey Sasha, do you want breakfast?”
She opened the door and there was Conner in his Magic workout clothes looking fresh out of the shower.
“Yeah, I”m almost done here. I just need to finish getting ready. Can you give me fifteen minutes?”
“Of course, meet you downstairs whenever you are ready.”
She finished getting ready and headed downstairs and once again found Conner and a familiar face sitting at the kitchen table. Conner looked up at her with his handsome smile and something inside of her squeezed. She really could get used to seeing his handsome face every day.
“Let me make your breakfast,” said Dylan. “I’m making omelets.”
“Are you sure?”
“It”s the least I can do. I feel like I have been interrupting things,” he said with a cheeky smile. She couldn”t disagree there.
She opened her mouth to tell him she was a vegetarian, but he cut her off with “Conner already told me to make it veggie.”
There her heart went again squeezing in her chest. Conner was looking at her with a small smile on his face and she bit her lip and smiled at him.
“Yeah, thank you. That sounds great. You”re Dylan, right? You represent quite a few guys on the team, right?”
“Yeah, this big lunk,” he said, punching his brother in the arm. “And then Cash, Taylor and Sven are on my roster too.”
“Do you do any other sports?”
“Nope, just hockey, but I also represent Lainie Davidson who plays for the Detroit Rivetters. She gets most of my focus right now,” he said as he broke some eggs in a bowl and whisked them up. “She is working hard to build the women”s league.”
“Really?” Sasha said as she sat down at the table. “That”s really fascinating. We should talk, maybe we can do some social media sharing, I’ve been talking about doing a campaign on women in hockey. I”ll talk to Hillary about it over the summer.”
Dylan looked at her with a surprised look on his face and he poured the egg into the skillet. “Yeah, I can set you two up. I know she would love that.”
When she caught Conner”s eye he winked at her, and damn, she wanted to jump his bones.
After they had finished breakfast Sasha looked her phone. “How long does it take to get to the center from here?” she asked Conner.
“Only about fifteen minutes.”
“We should probably get going, if you don”t mind.”
It felt so comfortable getting ready here with him. But the closer they got to the center the more nervous she got for the upcoming conversation she had to have. She didn”t want to be dealing with this, but she couldn”t ignore it anymore.
Conner”s hand settled on her knee as he pulled into the Magic center”s lot. “How are you feeling?”
She tried to smile at him, but she knew it was a tight smile. She couldn”t shake the concern, and now she couldn”t shake the feeling that he might be here watching her.
“Hey, he can”t get into this lot,” Conner said, as if reading her mind. “You’ll be safe in the building. I”ll be there to take you right back to my house when we’re done today. I”m here for you.”
She laced her fingers through his that were resting on her leg. “Thank you. It really does mean a lot to me.”
“You ready?” he asked with a warm smile.
“Let”s do this.” She grabbed her purse and her work bag before they both hopped out. He opened the trunk and grabbed his bag before they headed in.
As they walked in together Sasha found herself to be a mix of feelings. Something about walking into work with Conner felt good. She could see herself doing this every day, but she was getting way ahead of herself. He was only doing this because of the situation she found herself in. Conner would do this for anyone. He was what her DD loving brother would call a paladin, the red headed paladin of the ice, always doing the heroic thing. She kind of loved that about him.
But part of her was worried she was clinging to him because of that, she felt the need to be around his safety and goodness. And part of her did worry what he would think about some of the pictures she had posted on her old accounts. They were probably part of why this guy was after her.
They came to the hallway where it was time to part ways.
“Do you want me to walk you to your office?” he asked.
“No, I”m good. What time are you done for the day?”
“That all depends on Coach. We are reviewing videos at ten with practice after, so I”m not too sure.”
“Okay, I have a meeting this morning, but after that I”m flexible.”
“Are you going to tell Hillary?” he asked. That question hung between them. Was she going to tell her? She wasn”t too sure.
“I’ll see what happens after the meeting. With the announcement going wide that Wes is out for the season there might be more work than normal. But I’ll figure it out.”
“I think you should tell her.”
She nodded. “I know…”
“I’ll be by your office when I”m done,” he said. He leaned in to kiss her but stopped halfway there and the moment hung in the air between them. Things with them had felt so natural since the gala, like that is how it should have been all along, and then everything after that night had only cemented that to her. But now they were here in the real world. The world where Conner was all hockey all the time team captain, and she was the put together social media manager.
She gave her head a little shake. “Bye Conner, I”ll see you later.”
“If you want me there when you tell her –“
“I know,” she said, quickly cutting him off and looking around. “I know and I appreciate it. See you later,” she said as she quickly turned and walked away from him. She could feel his eyes on her as she made her way down the hallway, but she needed to figure this out on her own. She appreciated it, she really did, she just hated it.
She walked into her office. Bill was there working. “Good morning, Sasha. How was your weekend?”
“What?”
“Your weekend, the gala, how was it?”
“Oh right, the gala. It went beautifully,” she said honestly. The gala had gone off without a hitch, it had been a remarkable event. They had raised thousands of dollars for local charities, the boys all picked charities to sponsor, the Magic organization was deepening its community connections, it was all best-case scenario. That is with the exception of the deranged stalker that was now after her.
“Do you have some posts ready for announcing Wes is out for the season?” he asked.
“I do, I saw the email about the meeting yesterday.”
“It”s a real shame, I thought the boys were really going to bring home the cup this year.”
This was more words than they had ever spoken. Why did he decide this morning of all mornings to start being chatty? She really needed to get her head screwed on straight before the meeting.
She pulled up all the social analytics and messages and got prepared for the meeting just in case anyone had any questions. Sasha was always one to be prepared. And much to her relief there was no real new activity on the accounts that seemed out of the ordinary. So, she took a slight breath of relief and got ready for the meeting.
After Sasha was in the meeting things were going good. They had the posts ready and the messaging ready—disappointed about Wes of course—but still hopeful about the cup, at least on the outside. The organization on the inside was fully acknowledging the cup was probably out of reach without their top scorer. But towards the end of the meeting something happened that Sasha hasn”t been expecting.
Hillary stood up and made an announcement. “I have some exciting news to share. Since Sasha has joined us our ticket sales have been at a record high and the community engagement is amazing. It is clear to us we have not been fully investing our efforts into social media. I”m so excited to announce that this summer we will be hiring two people to come on and help Sasha. She will be the manager of our entire social media team, that is if she is interested in the promotion. What do you say Sasha? I know I shouldn”t have put you on the spot like this, but we talked about this earlier and everyone is on board.”
Sasha”s mouth fell slack. This is not what she was expecting from the morning meeting. Managing social media for an entire organization like this was truly more than a one-person job now, and she desperately needed the help.
“I think we can accomplish amazing things,” Sasha said with a smile. “I look forward to hearing more about this.”
As the meeting was wrapping up Hillary stopped by Sasha. “I hope I didn”t put you on the spot, but I just got word we were good to go to hire two people for your team.”
“If putting me on the spot means I get some help and can do bigger and more creative things, I”m here for it.”
“Of course, the new position will come with a new salary. Swing by my office after lunch and we can talk about the offer and the details.”
“That”s amazing. Thank you, I’ll be in after lunch.”
Sasha was wrapping up her day. It had been incredible. At some points she had even forgotten about everything else that was going on. She knew she needed to talk to Hillary about what was going on, but he hadn”t contacted her through the organization”s accounts since the gala. There had been nothing since the note on her car. There was a big part of her that wanted to pretend that it wasn”t happening, but as she was packing up for the day the knock and handsome face at her office door were a reminder that he was there because she needed protection.
“How was your day?” Conner asked with a concerned face.
“Actually, it was amazing!” she said.
“It was?” he asked, clearly taken aback. That was not what he had been expecting.
“Yeah, it was announced today they’re going to hire a social media team and I was unofficially offered a promotion to be the lead of the social media team,” she said grinning at him.
“That”s amazing. I”m so proud of you,” he said as he came into her office and swept her up into a hug, picking her up clean off the ground.
“Thanks,” she said, beaming up at him when he finally put her down. “They’re working up the offer right now. It’ll be more money and I’ll have help doing all this stuff.”
“That”s amazing,” he said as he sat back propping his butt against her desk. She looked over at him and she really wanted to kiss him, but they hadn”t talked about what this looked like outside of their current predicament. The same predicament she had been avoiding all day.
“Did you talk to Hillary about the other thing?” he asked gently, addressing the elephant in the room she was trying her hardest to ignore.
“No, it just didn”t feel like the right time. I mean what do you say, thank you for this responsibility, oh wait I”m about to make everyone”s job harder?”
“You got the promotion because you earned it, and you’re good at your job. It had nothing to do with the safety concerns you have right now.”
She sighed and turned away from him to packing her bag. He stopped her with his hands on her hips and pulled her towards him, so they were close, face to face. “I don’t mind you staying with me and keeping you safe, but we need to deal with this situation before it gets out of hand.”
She gasped at the pull she felt to him, at the spark she felt when he touched her. She had been pushing those feelings down because this was new and unexpected, and he was this impossibly handsome hockey star. And while Sasha knew her worth and knew she was beautiful, but something about his words and the way he was looking at her made her feel like she was glowing from the inside out.
He kissed her head and she leaned into him.
“I know, it just didn”t feel like the right time.”
“Baby, sometimes things like this don”t always have a right time, but you just have to make it be the right time. Difficult conversations are like that, and since this one revolves around the safety of someone I am starting to care deeply about, I think it is important.”
She took a deep breath and sighed, leaning in to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her. The sound of his heartbeat soothed her. It matched hers, and something in that thought filled her with hope. He would be here to help her through this.
“I’ll talk to her with you,” he said as he cupped her face, looking deeply into her eyes.
“No,” she sighed again. “I’ll talk to her tomorrow. How was your day?” she asked as she packed up her bag.
“Good, practice, work out, get ready for playoffs.”
“Good. Are you ready?” she asked, feeling a little deflated. He was right, she needed to deal with it, but she didn”t want to. She hated everything about this situation. The only positive was the man who was holding her hand as they made it through the center to the parking lot.