Chapter 18 Hillary
HILLARY
WINTER
“Absolutely. We’ll coordinate with your management team to make sure rehearsal time fits the arena schedule,” Hillary said smoothly into the phone, her pen scratching notes across her planner.
“Yes, the players will be briefed on choreography. And yes, your social team will have access to our content hub.”
Her smile was professional, but her stomach twisted.
This was the kind of high-visibility stunt that could tank if anything went sideways.
Still, the boy band, North Star, was hugely popular, even if Hillary had no clue who they were.
Sasha had been pushing for more crossover content.
If Hillary could make this work, it would be a PR goldmine.
She ended the call and leaned back in her chair, massaging the tension from her temples.
November was ending. The season was in full swing, and she hadn’t had a chance to breathe in weeks.
Between managing the team’s image and wrangling egos—on and off the ice—she felt like she was holding the whole franchise together with sticky notes and coffee.
Her office door creaked open.
Hillary looked up, expecting Sasha, but she saw Murphy instead.
He filled the doorway, cheeks flushed from the cold, hair still damp from his shower. In his hands was a steaming cup of coffee and a lemon-blueberry muffin.
Her heart lurched. It had been a week since that road trip, a week since karaoke and snow and the fight she kept replaying in her head. She’d told herself distance was better. Safer. That she didn’t miss the way his presence warmed the room, the way he made the chaos feel lighter.
A smile tugged at her lips before she could stop it. She held up a finger, signaling him to wait while she finished her call. He just grinned and strolled in, dropping into the chair across from her desk as if he belonged there.
The smell of blueberries drifted between them. Hillary swallowed hard.
“Brand deal?” Murphy asked casually, nodding toward her notebook.
“Boy band,” Hillary corrected, closing the folder in front of her. “Trying to make your teammates embarrass themselves on TikTok.”
Murphy laughed, low and warm.
Hillary pressed her lips together, fighting the pull of her smile.
She was supposed to be keeping her distance.
She was supposed to remember why this was a terrible idea.
But with him sitting there, grinning at her like she was the best part of his morning, she couldn’t remember a single good reason.
Murphy leaned forward, eyes lighting up. “Wait. Did you say a boy band collab?”
Hillary blinked at the sudden burst of enthusiasm. “Yes. Management is still ironing out the details, but they’ll be shooting some crossover content when they’re in town next month.”
“North Star?” Murphy asked, almost bouncing in his chair. “Please tell me it’s North Star.”
She frowned. “Yes, how did you—?”
“My sister is obsessed with them,” he cut in, grinning so wide it was contagious. “She went to their concert last week in Boston. Her room is basically a shrine to them at this point.”
Despite herself, Hillary smiled. He was practically vibrating with joy, like the overgrown golden retriever he was. Without thinking, the words slipped out of her mouth. “Do you want to be one of the players in the video?”
His answer was immediate. “Yes. God, yes. Are you kidding? My sister will lose her mind.” He was already laughing, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t wait to tell her. This is gonna be epic.”
His excitement rolled over her. Hillary caught herself smiling again, caught herself leaning into it.
After a minute, Murphy pushed back his chair. “I should go. Coach will bench me if I’m late to video review.”
She reached for the coffee he’d brought her, taking a sip. Perfect.
“Thanks for the coffee,” she said, her voice more even than she felt.
“Anytime,” he said, flashing her one last grin before heading out.
The door shut behind him, and his presence left the room like the sudden silence after a storm. Hillary exhaled slowly, staring at the muffin still sitting on her desk.
Why had she offered that? She still had to talk it through with Sasha, make sure it fit their PR strategy. And spending more time with Murphy, especially in front of cameras, was dangerous.
The heated words they had exchanged that night after karaoke played in her head, as they often did. She hated that side of herself, the self-preservation side that lashed out at anything that made her seem weak. Yet, nothing had changed. Being together was still a bad idea.
The door shut behind Murphy, and Hillary forced herself to breathe. She reached for her phone, thumbs flying over the screen.
Hillary: Need to talk boy band logistics when you have a minute.
She had barely set the phone down before Sasha appeared in her doorway, eyes wide and practically glowing.
“Please tell me you just texted me about North Star,” Sasha said, slipping into the chair Murphy had just vacated. “Because I have been trying to figure out how to get a collab going with them since I found out Glendale was a tour stop..”
Hillary couldn’t help the corner of her mouth from twitching. “That’s exactly what I texted you.”
“Girl.” Sasha clapped her hands once. “This is going to be gold. Now—five players. That’s the sweet spot.”
Hillary nodded, already flipping open her planner. “Wes and Ethan. They already do TikTok dances for team content. They’ll be naturals.”
“Agreed,” Sasha said. “And Conner and Cash. Team favorites. Conner’s a ham, Cash will grumble, but he’ll do it.”
“Okay,” Hillary said, making notes. “That’s four.”
Sasha leaned back in her chair, tapping her pen against her lip. “Sven. Crowd pleaser. This is right up his alley.”
Hillary grimaced. “Of course, it is.” She hesitated, the words catching in her throat before she forced them out. “What about Murphy?”
Sasha tilted her head, eyes narrowing just slightly. For a split second, Hillary swore she caught a knowing gleam there, but Sasha only smiled. “Yeah. He’s perfect for this. Likable, easy on camera. Everyone loves Murphy.”
Hillary’s pen scratched across the page, but her chest ached with unspoken agreement. Everyone loved Murphy. She knew that all too well.
"I think if we head down there now, we can catch them at the end of video review."
Hillary took a breath and another sip of her coffee, biting back the smile that wanted to cover her face before they made their way over to the video review room.
The sound of last night's game filled the video room, broken only by Coach Wagner’s voice as he replayed clips from last night’s game. Hillary and Sasha slipped in quietly, standing along the back wall.
Usually, whenever she and Murphy were in the same room, she could feel his attention, his warmth.
He lavished it on her so easily she sometimes wondered if anyone else noticed.
But today, he didn’t look her way. He was hunched forward in his seat, brow furrowed in concentration, eyes locked on the screen.
The happy-go-lucky golden retriever part was gone, replaced by a man locked in focus.
He looked older like this. More serious.
For one dangerous moment, the thought slipped in that maybe there was more to him than she’d let herself believe.
She shoved it away. That line of thinking would only get her in trouble.
“Special teams,” Coach Wagner barked, shutting his laptop. “Quick practice before tomorrow’s game.”
Players pushed back from their chairs, stretching and talking as they gathered their things. Hillary nearly forgot why she was here until Sasha nudged her with a pointed elbow.
“Right.” Hillary cleared her throat, stepping forward. “Coach Wagner, can I have a word with Conner, Cash, Wes, Ethan, and Murphy?”
“Of course,” Wagner said. “You heard her, boys. Hang back.”
The rest of the team filtered out, leaving the five players exchanging curious glances. Hillary smoothed her skirt and forced herself into business mode as she and Sasha moved forward.
Time to sell a boy band collab.
The five players exchanged looks—half suspicious, half curious—as they gathered in a loose circle around Hillary and Sasha.
Sasha clasped her hands dramatically. “Okay, guys, we’ve got something big. And by big, I mean viral.”
Conner smirked. “Oh God, what now?”
“North Star,” Sasha said, and the room shifted instantly. Wes perked up, Ethan’s eyes widened, and even Conner’s grin sharpened. Cash groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.
“The boy band?” came a voice from the hallway. Sven leaned in with hopeful eyes. When Sasha didn’t call his name, his face fell. “Man, this would’ve been my moment,” he muttered, shaking his head as he disappeared down the hall.
“North Star is coming through for a show,” Sasha continued smoothly, “and we’re putting together crossover content. TikTok, behind-the-scenes, maybe even a cameo on stage. We need five guys who can sell it.”
“Why us?” Cash muttered, already bracing.
“Because you’re fan favorites,” Hillary said crisply, pulling her tablet from under her arm.
“Conner and Cash: your faces are basically team mascots. Wes and Ethan: you already do TikToks with Sasha, so you’ll make this seamless.
And Murphy—” her throat caught, but she forced herself to continue evenly, “—you’re a natural.
Likable, magnetic. Everybody loves you.”
Murphy’s whole face lit up, brighter than she’d seen it in weeks. “My sister is going to freak out.”
Cash snorted. “No, get Sven to do it,” he groaned.
Hillary crossed her arms over her chest. “Payback for the stunt you pulled in Calgary.”
Cash let out a huff of laughter while he shook his head, giving in, clearly respecting her game.
Murphy only grinned wider, turning his gaze to Hillary. “Thanks for putting me in.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said, her voice sharp to cover the flutter in her chest. “You’ll have to dance.”
The group erupted into laughter, but Hillary’s pen shook just slightly as she tapped it against her tablet. She’d told herself it was a strategy. PR logic. But the truth was, she knew what everyone else did. People loved Murphy.
And that was exactly why she was in so much danger.
The room buzzed with energy the moment Sasha finished.
Wes leaned back against the desk, arms folded, grinning like a man already plotting his big solo. “Finally. A chance for the world to witness my true talent. Hockey is just a side hustle, really.”
Cash groaned so loudly it drew a laugh from Conner and Ethan. “I can’t believe you're doing this to me?”
“You’ll survive,” Hillary said dryly, making a note on her tablet.
“Barely,” Cash muttered. “Evie’s never going to let me live this down.”
“That’s the point,” Conner teased. “She’ll love it. You’ll be her favorite North Star member.”
Wes and Ethan were already in their own world, exchanging excited glances. “We can definitely pull some moves,” Wes said. “We’ve already done half their dances for fun anyway.”
“Yeah, I’ve got the chorus of ‘Satellite Heart’ memorized,” Ethan added, doing a little shoulder shimmy that made Sasha clap her hands in delight.
Murphy just shook his head, smiling so wide his cheeks flushed pink. “You guys don’t get it. My sister is going to lose her mind. I’m not kidding; this might make me her favorite sibling again.”
“That’s a stretch,” Conner joked, clapping him on the back.
Murphy only laughed harder, glancing at Hillary as if to share the joke with her alone. Her chest tightened, the warmth of his smile pulling at something deep inside her.
Hillary cleared her throat. “All right. That’s settled. You’ll get choreography details next week.”
Cash groaned again. Conner was already humming, Wes and Ethan looked like they were about to start practicing right there in the room, and Murphy was still beaming, like she’d just handed him the world.
Hillary straightened her notes, pulling the group back from their chatter.
“We’ll film over the next break—two weeks from now, when North Star is in town.
Here’s what it looks like: shots of you hanging out with the band, showing them the locker room, backstage content before the show, and one performance together during the concert. ”
The guys all leaned in with varying degrees of excitement—or dread, in Cash’s case.
“You’ll each get two tickets,” Hillary added. “So plan accordingly.”
“Hell yes,” Murphy said immediately, grinning. “I’m bringing my sister. She’s going to lose her mind.”
His joy was so unfiltered, so big, it was impossible not to feel it. Hillary caught herself smiling back before she snapped her folder closed. “All right. That’s all for now. Sasha and I will finalize the logistics.”
The players filed out, still ribbing one another. Murphy lingered for a beat longer, his grin so wide it made something inside her chest tighten.
As she and Sasha turned to leave, Hillary forced herself into business mode again, rattling off next steps. But the smile on Murphy’s face lingered in her mind like an echo, leaving her more contented than she had any right to be.