“I know. Love you too, little sis. Give my love to Jules?”
“Of course.”
I hung up with another long sigh.
Why hadn’t I gotten Veronica to do my cover-up yet? Was my sister right? Was I still holding on to Astrid? I wanted to move on. I definitely didn’t want to turn into my dad.
On that cheery note, I walked into the arena to prepare for morning skate.
I ran into TJ, but I steeled my features so he couldn’t tell how upset I was. I was supposed to be happy. I was playing for the team my dad had played for, the one I had grown up rooting for. This was supposed to be a dream come true. I also just announced to the whole hockey world I was dating someone new. I should be happy, but it was all a lie. A carefully crafted lie to get my family off my back and for Veronica to get closure from her ex.
“Yo, dude!” TJ cheered.
“Hey, man,” I greeted back and plastered on a fake smile.
His hazel eyes bored into me. “You okay, man?”
I nodded as we walked together into the locker room. I took my seat at the cubby in between Riley and Benny. Riley wasn’t here yet, but Benny already had his practice jersey on and was lacing up his skates. He gave me a nod, and I started stripping off my street clothes.
I put my phone on the shelf, but I paused at the text message on the screen. My lips curled up at seeing Veronica’s name.
VERONICA: Sorry about rushing out this morning. It was all very awk…and work’s a mess right now.
VERONICA: I hope you’re not mad at me.
ME: Not at you, sweets. I’ll see you after the game?
VERONICA: Yup. D’s excited to ‘teach me how to hockey.’
I leveled a glance across the room at Dinah’s fiancé, Noah. He was a quiet guy with long hair and a massive beard. Whereas Dinah was a tiny Italian girl with a loud mouth. She was my kind of people.
A stick jabbed into the back of my knee, forcing me to jerk forward, and I dropped my phone onto the shelf. I turned around to see Benny with a smirk on his face.
“Motherfucker, what?”
He and TJ snickered at me while I pulled on my compression shirt and started working on getting on my equipment.
“So, when Rox gave you the name of her tattoo artist to fix that shit,” Benny began and motioned to my chest, “it wasn’t so you could bang her.”
“Was already banging her,” I stated flatly and laced up my skates. When I looked up at Benny, he was slack-jawed, and TJ howled with laughter.
“Hmm,” Noah muttered next to TJ.
“Bro, what?” I asked.
He ran a hand through his flow. “D said Veronica doesn't do relationships anymore. Period.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you saying?”
“Be careful, man.”
Shit, maybe convincing people Veronica and I were together was going to be tougher than I thought.
Chapter Twelve
VERONICA
“I’ve got a last-minute walk-in. Can you take it?” Seth asked me while I was packing up, ready to take a bus over to the stadium.
I shot him a glare. “Are you kidding me?”
“Please, Roni?” he begged.
“No. I have to get to the game. Ask the other two.”
Who did he think he was? Blaise asked me to come to the game tonight, and it was important if we were going for this illusion we were dating. I had to play the part of the good hockey girlfriend.
“I asked Olivia, and they’re busy,” he said.
“Figure it out yourself, asshole!” I screeched at him.
That caused my brother to look up from the client he was working on. I gave him a glare as I slid my leather jacket on my shoulders. I didn’t have time for this. I was having a shit day already. The hot water was out upstairs, so I took a cold shower, and then the interview was a no-show, and I had back-to-back clients who were indecisive. I could use a drink or several, and as much as I didn’t care about sports, I was excited to see Blaise on the ice and hang out with Dinah. That tiny brunette was a trip, and she’d explain all the hockey shit to me.
I passed Olivia on my way out. She gave me a sad smile and a big hug. “I needed that,” I said.
She laughed. “I know. When can we hang out so you can fill me in on the details?”
I sighed. When I walked downstairs into the shop with my hair still wet this morning, she laughed at me and asked if I ever went home.
“I have off tomorrow. Maybe we could go shopping?”
Her dark eyes lit up. I hated shopping, like loathed it with a passion, but Olivia lived for that shit. Then she got suspicious. “Wait, why?”
I couldn’t answer her because Seth was breathing down my neck again. “Roni?”
“What?”
“Are you at least gonna let me know if you’re coming to my wedding? Lily needs to know for the seating chart.”
I gritted my teeth and turned to my ex. “Yes, Blaise can come. We’ll be there.”
“Awesome!” he cheered.
That proved the only reason he wanted me there was because of Blaise.
He didn’t want to let bygones be bygones; he just wanted my famous boyfriend to be there. My famous fake boyfriend, who was good at eating pussy and liked to spank me and call me a bad girl. It was too bad I didn’t do relationships anymore because Blaise would have been perfect for me. But I would never again let someone break me down into a million tiny pieces like Seth had. No matter how much chemistry I had with them. Or how hot they were. It wasn’t enough to put myself through that shit again.
“Ugh, goodbye!” I snarled and got out of there before he could drag me into taking one more client.
I felt bad leaving Olivia in a lurch with a furrowed brow on her face, but I’d explain everything to her tomorrow. I needed her help to find a dress for the wedding anyway, and I knew she loved that enough to forgive me.
I was still stewing by the time I got to the arena and found Dinah. Her green eyes grazed across me, and then she shoved her beer in my hand. “Here, you need this more than I do.”
I hugged her tightly. “Oh my God, you have no idea!”
I took the beer she handed me while I watched the players on the ice coming out for warm-ups. I wasn’t completely ignorant when it came to hockey, so I knew what warm-ups were. Dinah’s smile got wider when her boy-toy tapped the glass with his stick.
I flinched at the sound of a puck hitting the glass in front of us. I turned and almost glared at the blonde giant standing in front of it with a cheeky grin. The same grin he wore last night before he went down on me. I clenched my thighs together just thinking about it. Blaise tapped two fingers against his heart, and then pointed at me.
I didn’t know what that meant, but I repeated the motion back at Blaise. He smiled at me before he tore off down the ice.
“Um, that’s adorable,” Dinah said with a grin. “I’m so happy for you, V. You deserve to find happiness after that asshat.”
“Guess who I have to see every day now?”
She frowned. “Eds told me. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too,” I whispered.
I wanted to tell her I was pretty sure this Lily person was the other woman, and she got pregnant, so that’s why Seth left. I don’t know what would have hurt more, him leaving like he did or him telling me about it. Maybe he thought it would have hurt me less. Even though it cut my heart into tiny specks until there was nothing left. I was dead inside, a cold, feelingless person, but I was okay with that. Being cold-hearted was better than getting hurt again.