Page 62 of Deking at Love
“Then whatisit like, cuz?Tell me, please, because so far you’re spending time with him outside of work—when you shouldn’t be—and you’re gushing so hard I want to puke.”The snark in Jenna’s tone raised Angie’s hackles.“Have you slept with him?”
“That’s none of your business!”Angie blurted.Unwisely.She and Jenna didn’t keep those kinds of secrets from one another.
True to Jenna’s personality, she jumped to her own—correct—conclusion.“Youhavebeen sleeping with him,” she accused, her voice ripe with judgment.“Angie, what are you doing?And for God’s sake, why?”
Angie’s heart folded in on itself.She had always trusted Jenna, looked up to her, valued her opinions.Jenna was the first sounding board Angie turned to when she needed guidance—and usually Angie took that guidance to heart and applied at leastsomeof it.She had always believed her cousin’s cool logic meant she was the wiser of the two.But right now Angie wasn’t buying what her cousin was dishing up, and a battle broke out inside her.Her heart wanted what it wanted, and it was being pitted against Jenna’s rational mind.The war inside Angie made her stomach flip over, squeezing bile up into her throat.
“It’s been six years,” Angie tossed back.“I’ve changed, and so has he.He’s not like that anymore.”
“Like what, exactly?”
Angie didn’t have time to think about an answer because her phone’s alarm chimed.“My lunch break’s up, Jenn.I need to get back to work.”
“Well, isn’t that convenient,” Jenna snorted.
“And true.Look, I gotta go, Jenn.I’ll call you.”Angie disconnected before her cousin had a chance to utter another word.
Chapter 21
Adrift
Themomenttheelevatordoors closed, Toby turned to Sam.“Hey, so I’m not sure I’m supposed to say anything, but the team just held a vote on the bonus money for round one.”
Sam’s eyes bugged.“Without me?”he croaked.
“It’s what Grims and the alternates told us to do.”
Grims, or Dave Grimson, was the captain of the Blizzard and a scary fucker to cross.The thing was, though, Cap was a fair leader who usually sought buy-in from the entire team—so were the alternate captains.This move didn’t make sense.
“I don’t get it.I was only a few floors down.I could have been there.Why didn’t I get a text?”
Toby’s eyes darted to the side.“It was a last-minute thing.We couldn’t find you, and we figured you were busy doing your rehab.”
Sam gave him a hard stare.“And yet you found me just now.”
“We didn’t know where you were atthat moment,” Toby defended.
Had Sam been deliberately left out of the vote?Acid in his stomach churned.“How, uh, did the vote turn out?”
Toby shrugged.“Not sure yet.But I assume you’re covered.”
Covered by what?A full share?A partial?A courtesy share?Pride kept Sam from asking—Toby probably didn’t know the answers anyway—so he stared at the elevator wall in sulky silence as they rode the few floors up to where the team bustled with activity.
The doors whooshed open.As he peeled away, Toby called, “I’ll see ya later, yeah?Good luck.”
“Later.”
Sam trod with heavy steps toward Coach LeBrun’s office, stopping short when the man himself loomed in the doorway.Coach motioned him inside.“Take a seat.”
The door closed, the sound echoing the anxiety vibrating inside Sam as he perched on the edge of the chair.Coach rounded the desk, holding his tie to his middle as he took a seat across from him.
Coach leaned forward, the sleeves of his dress shirt straining the fabric against his biceps.The guy was a beast.He was also direct, all business, and spare with his words.No chitchat.“So tell me about the ankle.”
Sam’s frustration simmered in his gut.He’d done a good job hiding his discomfort, but he’d hit a wall, his ankle getting no worse but also no better.His mobility wasn’t where it needed to be.Still, taped up and laced in a boot, he could skate.But push off and burst at high rates of speed?That was the question.
He blew out a silent breath.“I’ve been making steady progress.Pretty much there.”Would Coach buy it?Maybe.If he hadn’t been keeping up with the trainers’ reports.Or if the trainers were making the injury sound better than it was.
Like Grimson, LeBrun was exacting, demanding, tough when he needed to be, but fair.He was currently sizing Sam up with one of those looks so typical of Coach—the one that said Sam was full of it.
