Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Josie
“Hey, man,” Dane says to Archie, giving him a fist bump as he and his family arrive for the game.
Archie is beaming as he passes Dane a picture he drew of the two of them.
“You didn’t tell me you were an artist,” Dane says. “This is great.”
He asks one of the PR people to get him a folder to keep his picture safe in, and I remind myself that I’m mad at him. It’s hard to stay that way, though, as I watch Dane and Archie posing for photos, both of them in masks. Dane made sure there was an entire box of medical masks in the suite and had a sign put on the door saying no one could enter without one on.
I’m only speaking to him when I have to. I’d rather unleash my fury, but this is a working relationship and I need to keep it professional. The silent treatment seems to be driving him crazy, but he brought it on himself.
While everyone else watches the game, I’m in a corner of the suite on my laptop. My biggest client at work is a cable company called Brightside, and I didn’t want to shift the account to another publicist during the Dane assignment and risk never getting it back. I’m working with Julie, a graphic designer at the office, on a new campaign for Brightside, and so far, she hasn’t been giving me what I want, so I’m scouring the internet for examples of what I’m aiming for.
The Mammoths are down by two goals at the start of the third period, and though Dane isn’t letting it show, I can tell from his expression that he’s frustrated. It has to be hard to watch his team play while he’s stuck up here, even if it is his own fault.
I’m writing an email when a text comes into my phone.
Dane: Still mad at me?
I shoot him a glare and don’t respond. My phone immediately buzzes with another text and I want to ignore it, but I can’t. My brow furrows when I see the new message isn’t from Dane, but from the designer I’ve been working with.
Julie: I’m sorry I’m texting so late, I’ve been busy with my kids all evening. I just hopped on my email and saw your messages. Jane told me at the end of the workday that Monica has the Brightside account now.
I read the message twice, not believing it. My blood pressure is rising steadily when I text Jane.
Josie: Did you give Monica my Brightside account?
Jane: The client belongs to my agency, and yes. You aren’t available for in-person meetings right now and Monica is.
I want to throw my phone at the wall. Why did my aunt give me this damn job babysitting Dane? It isn’t adding anything to my PR skill set, and it just cost me my biggest client.
Of course she gave it to Monica. Of all my coworkers, I dislike her the most.
Dane: What’s wrong? Did the bookstore run out of books?
Josie: Eat shit.
Dane: We’re going out with some of the guys after the game, you need a drink or three.
I wish I could walk away. From this suite, from watching over Dane and from my job. I’m too broke for that, though.
After closing my laptop, I take a paperback out of my bag and open it. Meeting Dane’s gaze across the room, I scratch my cheek with my middle finger, the same move he used on Arnold the day we met.
A smile tugs on his lips as he looks away.
He’s mostly gotten my nice, diplomatic side up until now. It’s time for Dane to meet unfiltered, zero-fucks-given Josie.
“And she heats up leftover fish and broccoli in the office microwave at least once a week, which is actually worse than when she opens a can of sardines at her desk. Who does that?”
Lucas nods and gives me a sympathetic look. We’ve been at a bar for nearly an hour with other Mammoths players. Chicago won the game 4–1, and even though tomorrow morning we head out early for another road trip, lots of guys are drinking away their sorrows over the loss.
I’m three margaritas in, complaining to Lucas about Monica while watching Dane out of the corner of my eye and daring him to misbehave. He’s at the table next to mine with three teammates, several women swarming around them like flies on shit.
“I swear Dalton saves his shits for the team plane,” Lucas says. “He could go at his hotel, but he likes to take a big shit as soon as we get on the plane and then we all have to smell it for the whole flight.”
“Inconsiderate,” I say, shaking my head and sipping my drink. “Just like Monica. I spilled soup on my shirt at work once and she was like, ‘Oh, I’d let you borrow one I have in my office, but it’s too small for you.’ Like, why say that? Just say nothing.”
One of the women at Dane’s table cozies up to his side, trying to look casual as her body molds against his. He’s been nursing his drinks, only on his second beer of the night.
“Do you ever get time off?” Lucas asks me. “Days when you don’t have to keep track of Dane?”
“No.”
“Can you get someone to cover for you for an evening sometime?”
I scoff. “I’d love to, but there’s no one.”
“I could talk to him. See if he’d agree to stay in for an evening.”
Lucas doesn’t know Dane very well. He didn’t listen to his coach and team owner telling him to behave. Why would he listen to a teammate?
“Good luck with that,” I say. “He lies.”
“Well, how can I get you alone?” Lucas asks.
He leans in so close I can smell his soap and cologne. My head is swimming from the alcohol, but even with my judgment impaired, I know I can’t get involved with one of Dane’s teammates. I have to keep my focus on this assignment because I need that promotion. I have student loans to pay off, and somehow, I have to buy another car.
Dane is laughing, tipping his bottle of beer to his lips as he glances over at us. His happy expression fades, turning serious.
He sets the beer down and says something to the woman superglued to him. She moves away and he gets up, walking toward the bar’s front door.
“I have to go,” I tell Lucas, grabbing my bag and following Dane.
“Dane,” I call as he walks. “Dane, stop!”
He turns to face me, his gaze dark and angry. “What? You need a condom? Looks like you and Lucas are about to fuck right here in front of everyone.”
I recoil, taken aback by his hostility.
“What are you talking about? We never even touched, and that blond just had to peel her body off yours so you could get up.”
“I didn’t encourage her.”
“And I didn’t encourage Lucas. I need to pay for my drinks before we go.”
“I already paid for them.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
He exhales through his nose. “You’re not a puck bunny, Josie. Don’t let Lucas make you into one.”
I give him a confused look. “Dane, I was just talking to him. A shitty work thing happened today and I was talking to him about that.”
“Why can’t you talk to me about it?”
I laugh, getting so lightheaded I reach for a nearby table to steady myself. “You mean besides the fact that you don’t care?”
He puts an arm around my waist, the heat of his solid body against mine making me gasp.
“Let’s get you to the car,” he says.
“I’m fine.”
“Stop arguing and let me get you to the car.”
“Stop helping and let me argue,” I say, knowing it doesn’t even make sense.
He walks me out to his Range Rover, helping me into the passenger seat. I lean my head back against the seat, wishing I wouldn’t have had three strong drinks when we have to fly out so early tomorrow.
“I feel like we’re even,” Dane says as he gets into the driver’s seat.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, I got wasted last night and you got wasted tonight. Even.”
I laugh at his flawed logic. “I’m not wasted.”
“You’re not sober.”
“That’s the truth. If you bolt on me right now, I don’t think I could catch you.”
His smile is wry. “I hate to break it to you, but there’s no chance you could ever catch me in a race unless I wanted you to.”
“Hey, I played volleyball in middle school.”
His deep, full-throated laugh makes me warm all over. “Can’t compete with that, Nosy. You’re a fucking boss.”
I turn up the air conditioning, swearing to stick to one drink only when we go out in the future. Or even better, none.
“You can talk to me, you know,” Dane says.
“I talk to you all the time.”
“No, I mean back at the bar when you said you talked to Lucas because I don’t care. That’s not true.”
I close my eyes, wishing everything would stop spinning. “I lost my biggest account at work today.”
“What happened?”
Usually, I protect Jane. I don’t know if it’s because of the alcohol or because she took away my client and didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me, but I don’t feel like making her sound better than she is.
“My boss is also my aunt. She’s my dad’s sister and she always hated my mom before my mom died, so she treats me like shit. She took it away because she could. Just like I’m here working twenty-four seven on a job no one else wants.”
“I’m sorry.”
My laugh is bitter. “The worst part is that I still want her approval so badly. I hardly have any family left. So I try like a fucking idiot to make her proud of me.”
“You’re not a fucking idiot.”
“Sometimes I am.”
“Karma will catch up with her.”
I scoff. “Bullshit. If karma was a thing, my car wouldn’t have been repossessed. My mom wouldn’t have died.”
“Hey--”
I cut him off. “I don’t want to talk anymore.”
After pausing for a couple of seconds, he says, “Okay.”
He doesn’t say anything else. We get back to his place and I go straight to my bedroom to curl up with Mr. Darcy.
There’s a one-hundred-percent chance I’m going to be miserably ill and hungover on the flight. I fall asleep in my clothes, needing to catch five hours of sleep before we have to leave for the airport.