Chapter 23 Savi
TWENTY-THREE
SAVI
“Dr. Montgomery?”
I lift my head up and see Miss Dorothy standing there with the biggest grin on her face. Her cheeks are red, and she looks flustered as her eyes shine with excitement.
“What in the world has got you so worked up?” I laugh, setting the client folder aside and giving her my attention.
“I knew you loved hockey, but I had no clue you knew the team personally. Lordy child, there’s a whole damn team out there to see you, and let me tell you, I love my Henry, but those men can be my hall pass any day of the week.
They are too gorgeous for words and have the whole staff worked up.
Even the animals are flocking to them in the waiting room. ”
“What?” I ask, standing up.
Knox is here?
Before I can stop it, a rush of excitement starts to flow through my veins at the thought of seeing him again, and I hate how easily my body bows to him.
He avoids me for two weeks, and suddenly he chooses my work office as a good time to show his face… with his teammates?
“You are definitely full of surprises,” she chuckles. “I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me like this.” Her words are a distant hum in my head as I suddenly get nervous. I have no idea what to expect when I see him again or how this is going to play out.
Turning the corner, I see Cayden, Hunter, Thane, Colton, and Jett all standing in the waiting room. A litter of puppies has been brought in for their first examinations, and I can see why all the staff is worked up.
They must have come straight from the gym because they’re still in their workout clothes—their muscles on full display.
Add in the beautiful ink that a few of them have, and the fact that each one has a puppy in their arms as it excitedly licks their chins, causing them to grin, and it’s like the perfect setup for a woman’s heart and panties to melt in an instant.
I glance around, and disappointment shoots through me when I notice Knox isn’t with them. Hayes looks over just then and sees me.
“Hey, Savi,” he grins.
“Hi,” I laugh, watching the puppies squirm in their arms excitedly. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We came to see you,” Cayden smiles, putting the puppy back in the box as the others do the same.
“Got a minute?” Colton asks, picking up a gift bag from off the floor.
“I have some time before my next appointment. Let’s talk in my office,” I say, clearly still baffled why they are here.
“Perfect,” Jett says excitedly, following me down the hall with the rest of them trailing behind. I step into my office and shut the door so the staff doesn’t hover around trying to get another peek.
The guys immediately make themselves at home as Colton and Jett take a seat on the end of the chaise, Hunter leans against my bookcase, and Cayden and Thane take the two chairs facing my desk.
Feeling too antsy to sit, I decide to lean against the edge of my desk. My fingers grip the side of the wood as I study them.
“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like what you have to say?” They look at one another, and I can tell they are nervous, which makes me nervous because they always seem so confident and sure of themselves.
“We need you at the game on Saturday, Savi.” Jett takes the lead, and I look his way.
“Not going to happen,” I shake my head. “Knox and I aren’t on good terms right now, and trust me, it will only hurt your team if I’m there.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Colton says, shaking his head.
“He needs you there, Savi, even if he’s too stubborn to admit it,” Cayden adds, sitting forward with his arms on his knees.
“Did you watch the last three games?” Hunter finally speaks, and I notice him holding one of my romance books from my shelf in his hand.
“Well, no. I didn’t want to break my TV screen by throwing things at his face,” I mutter.
“God, Stone is a lucky bastard. I love a girl with a feisty side,” Jett winks at me, causing me to laugh.
“You love all girls, period,” Thane says, rolling his eyes.
“True,” Jett laughs.
“Can we get back on topic here, so Savi can get back to work?” Cayden says, reining in the boys before turning back to me.
“He likes you more than he wants to admit, and it’s fucking with his head.
He’s got it in his mind now that you’re a distraction, and he’ll win this game if he just puts you out of sight, out of mind type thing, but he’s got it all wrong. ”
“He’s falling apart, Sav. The whole team sees it. Even Coach reamed his ass the other day. You’re not his distraction—you’re what he needs to get his head back in the game,” Jett says, his blue eyes piercing me with their determination.
“I don’t see how my sitting in the stands is going to change anything. He’s still not ready to talk.”
“It’s a known fact that every athlete plays better when a girl they like is in the stands. We get big-dick energy. It’s like a primal part of us takes over. We play harder to show off and win the fucking game for her. It’s in our DNA,” Thane shrugs.
“This is crazy,” I chuckle. They all look so hopeful, and I’m finding it hard to say no to them. “I can’t believe I’m even entertaining this idea.”
“I knew you would do it for us,” Jett says excitedly, clearly making my mind up for me. He takes the gift bag from the floor and hands it to me. “We bought you a little something for you to wear to the game.”
I look inside and pull out a Bolts jersey. When I see Hayes’s name on the back, I start laughing.
“So, you want me to wear your jersey to the game on Saturday?” I ask, looking at him with a ‘are you fucking kidding me’ look on my face.
“For the record, we all put our names in the hat. I just happened to be the lucky one who got pulled,” Jett grins.
“I’m pretty sure you are the unlucky one. He’s not going to like this,” I say, shaking my head and remembering how jealous he got when all I did was sit at their table.
“It’s just the rude awakening he needs, trust me.
He’s good at channeling his anger into a game, so we aren’t worried about that.
He just needs a reason to be the alpha male, and nothing gets a man going like a little competition and fear that he might lose if he doesn’t step up,” Jett says, clarifying his reasoning, which is scarily starting to make sense.
“You’ll only be wearing it for the first period anyway,” Colton laughs.
“How do you know that?” I ask, holding the jersey up to my pink scrubs and seeing how it fits.
“If we are right about how he feels about you, you’ll find out,” Jett grins as the guys break out into laughter. I’m clearly missing the inside joke as they get up to leave.
“There are two tickets in there, too. Bring a friend if you want.” Cayden says, tilting his head at the bag.
“We got you good seats,” Jett adds with a mischievous smile that makes me wonder how much he isn’t telling me.
I pull out the envelope and set it on my desk.
“Thanks.” I know my brothers are taking their kids, so I’m sure there won’t be an extra ticket among them for this game. Maybe I’ll invite Wren. I don’t know if she likes hockey or not, but at least I won’t be alone, plus I could use the extra support with this crazy idea of theirs.
“Just don’t bring Tristan,” Jett mutters. “Anger when directed at the opposing team, we can work with, but actually trying to stop him from murdering a fan in the stands is a whole other problem we don’t need.”
Tristan?
“Wait,” I say, furrowing my brows. “How do you know about Tristan?”
“That asshole reporter who loves to push Knox’s buttons mentioned the date you went on to try to get a reaction out of him for views on his stupid social media page. I thought he was going to break the mic in half when he heard the name, Tristan.”
Shit.
No wonder he’s so worked up.
“It wasn’t a date,” I sigh. “Tristan is my old high school boyfriend, and I ran into him at Montgomery’s. He sat down for a drink, and we reminisced for a bit before I left early. Alone,” I add for extra clarity. “There’s absolutely nothing there for me anymore with him.”
“You don’t have to explain it to us,” Cayden says, shaking his head. “Knox, on the other hand, might feel better knowing that,” he chuckles.
“You know most of that shit in here isn’t allowed in games, right?” I turn to Hunter, who has the romance book open now and is skimming the pages. I laugh when I see it’s one of the dark hockey romances that I couldn’t resist reading after I saw all the book girls go mad over it.
“I know,” I grin. “They call it fiction for a reason. It makes damn good entertainment, though.”
“The real deal is better.” He slides the book back and grins before following the guys out of the office.
“Not going to argue with you there,” I softly add under my breath.
I feel my cheeks warm as memories of Knox appear. He puts every man in my library to shame and has ruined all my favorite fictional men for me. Just another thing he’s done to piss me off as the list continues to grow.
Walking to the front with them, they sign a few autographs for the staff, and Miss Dorothy even gets them to take a group photo so she can frame it and hang it in the waiting room.
We say our goodbyes, and even though I strongly think their plan is going to blow up in their faces, I promise them I’ll be there Saturday night.
I’ve somehow managed to turn my pain from him leaving into anger. I would be lying, though, if I said I didn’t miss him. There’s a constant ache in my chest that, no matter how much I throw myself into work, doesn’t seem to ease.
Sighing, I walk back to my office and collapse in my office chair. Picking up the jersey, I finger the material and run my hand over the Bolts logo.
I have no idea how this is going to play out, but at least I’ll get some answers I need one way or another.
“This is so exciting!” Wren exclaims, practically jumping up and down as I look for the seats that match our tickets. “I’ve never been to a hockey game before. Do you think there will be a fight tonight?”
Unsure of how Knox is going to react to seeing me, I chuckle softly.
“I think your chances are pretty good tonight.”
I find our seats and stop when I see how close we are to the ice.
“These are our seats?” Wren asks, dropping her jaw. “We’re in the front row and practically at center ice!”
Hayes definitely set me up. I’m like a neon sign for Knox. There’s no way he won’t see me every time he skates by this way.
“It looks like it,” I murmur, double-checking the tickets and seeing that the numbers do indeed match. I take a seat next to Wren and try to relax. I don’t know why I’m so nervous all of a sudden. Taking a sip of my beer, I place it in the cup holder and do my best to keep up with her conversation.
The lights finally go out as the multiple spotlights dance across the ice. The scoreboard starts showing highlight reels just as their signature song comes on to amp up the crowd.
It’s hard not to get wrapped up in the energy as I find myself standing with the rest of the fans as they announce their starting lineup one by one.
I watch Colton’s name and picture flash on the screen as he hits the ice, followed by Hunter, Thane, and Jett.
Cayden steps out in his goalie gear, and the crowd goes wild as his blades touch the ice, but it’s nothing like the roar of the fans when number twenty-two flashes on the screen.
Knox hits the ice, and the sound is deafening in the arena as his name is announced.
One by one, I watch his teammates tap their sticks to the glass as they skate by me with a grin. Hayes mouths that he loves my jersey as he blatantly points to his own that matches, and I can’t help but laugh at the craziness of it all.
Goosebumps appear on my arms as I feel his eyes land on me.
When I finally turn and make eye contact with him, the whole arena disappears as I’m thrown into this intense energy that surrounds us in a bubble.
His eyes glance down and darken into slits.
Ice flies as he comes to an abrupt stop right in front of me.
I’m frozen in place and unable to break away from the heat being thrown my way. The people around me start to notice he’s standing there as they get excited and try to get his attention, but it’s all focused on me.
He’s breathing hard and gripping his stick like he wants to break it in two.
Thane appears behind him and says something in his ear.
Knox finally snaps out of it and skates away.
He glances back once more as an onslaught of emotions crosses his face before turning and skating toward center ice for the anthem.
“Jesus,” Wren breathes. “What the hell was that all about? For a minute, I thought he was going to break through the glass and throw you over his shoulder to take you back to his cave.”
“I might have left a few things out about tonight,” I say, when I can finally breathe again.
“A few?” She laughs. “You could have warned me how hot these hockey players are. It’s like a boy aquarium loaded with gorgeous male specimens in a glass tank that we get to stare at all night long.”
“Boy aquarium?” I giggle. “That’s a pretty good one.”
“Thanks, it just came to me, but don’t change the subject. You know that guy. I’m not talking about as a hockey fan. I mean, like, really know him. Number twenty-two. You know, the sex on skates that stopped in front of us and looked like he wanted to devour you whole…that one.”
“I know who Knox is,” I sigh. “The shortened version is I’ve known him since I was a child.
We’ve always had a love/hate relationship.
Since he moved back, things have been complicated between us.
I came here tonight because his teammates seem to think I’m a lucky charm for him, and he needs me here to win.
Based on the look he just gave me, I don’t think he agrees with them,” I softly chuckle as the sound of the anthem playing cuts off her response as we stop to listen.
Once seated, the players get in their positions as they wait for the first drop of the night.
“Remind me later to scold you for the fact that you’ve been seeing and keeping all of these sexy players to yourself. Does ‘sharing is caring’ mean anything to you?”
“I’ll introduce you to them all, I promise, but don’t get your hopes up. None of them that I’ve noticed seem like the commitment type.”
“I’m fine with just a little fun,” she shrugs, taking a sip of her beer.
“I thought I was too,” I say quietly, watching Knox win the face off and pass it to Jett. It’s like the hounds of hell are on his heels as he skates with an aggressive speed that already has another player being slammed into the boards.
I really hope his teammates know what they’re doing because Knox is out for blood tonight, and I have a feeling I’m the cause of it.