Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 124005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
I lean against the jamb. “Okay. We’re still on for tonight, though?”
“Yeah. But I might be late, depending on how all of this goes.” She grimaces. “I need to check in with Topher. And I need the scheduling conflicts with ice time to stop being a thing,” she grumbles as she pushes her chair back. “I can walk you out.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Let’s hope so.”
She meets me at the door, and we head down the hall, but she stops outside the staff break room to adjust her shoe.
“I wouldn’t date a player, but you can’t be mad at the paycheck,” one woman says.
“She’s set for life, isn’t she?” adds a man I recognize from accounting.
“I don’t get it. She’s so high octane.”
“Topher can’t stand her,” the guy says. “She’s kind of a bitch, just like he says.”
“Maybe he’s known about this longer than we have. You know it had to be going on for a while,” a third voice says.
“You think she took the job so she could get close to him?” the guy from accounting wonders aloud.
I take a step toward the room, but Wilhelmina’s fingers lap my wrist, and she shakes her head. She tugs me down the hall, not sparing the group a glance, but her jaw tics and her posture is stiff.
She stares straight ahead as we wait for the elevator to arrive. It’s empty when we enter.
I wait until the doors close. Keeping my cool is a challenge, but I don’t want her on the receiving end of my anger. “How often does that shit happen?”
“Enough that I’m used to it. Before I was dating you, it wasn’t quite as bad. But I’m still me.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t mince words, and I make things happen. Not everyone likes my style.” She inspects her nails. “I’m head of PR, and I’m dating you, the team golden boy. People have a lot to say about it.”
“They’re shit-talking you behind your back.” I can’t believe she puts up with this garbage.
“It’s nothing new, Dallas. It happened all the time in high school. I would love to be the office favorite, but then things wouldn’t get done. It’s obnoxious, but Bitches get shit done is true for a reason. And now we’re a thing. Everything they’re saying is exactly what I would think too if it was one of them and not me. Ugly or not.” She shrugs. “It’s why Hammer and I had more than one conversation about the logistics of her working for the team when her dad is a player and she’s with Hollis.” She taps the ring on her finger. “This is what I signed on for when I said yes to being your fiancée.”
“But it’s all bullshit.” What I’ve done to her is hitting me in a whole new way. She saved my career and put her own in jeopardy. No one should ever treat her this way. And I don’t like it one bit. Especially since the engagement part isn’t something she wants the way I do.
She sighs. “What can I do about it, Dallas? Tell them they’re wrong? They won’t believe me. Why should they?”
I cross my arms. “But it’s not true.”
“Neither was the gossip about why you told everyone not to ask me to prom, but people still believed it. I believed it. You were and still are the popular hockey player, and I was and still am me. Too intense. Too bossy. Unlikable.”
“You’re powerful and exquisite.” I remember what everyone said in school, but they were wrong. They just wanted to project their own shit onto her, tear her down to make themselves feel important. Wills has always been the most competent person in the room, but she wasn’t unaffected by the petty things people said like she pretended to be.
“I don’t have the softest touch, which sometimes doesn’t go over well,” she continues. “I’m better at it now than I was growing up.” She pats my chest as the elevator doors open. “It is what it is, Dallas. Just let it go.”
We step out of the elevator, and Wilhelmina says hi to a couple of women. They’re polite, but their demeanor changes when they see me. Their smiles widen, and they stop to ask if I’m excited for the coming season. They’re proving her exact point.
“I’ll see you later.” Hemi waves and heads down the hall without a backwards glance.
What we heard in the break room sits with me for the rest of the day. How often does that happen? How frequently is Wills the focus of water cooler chats? I did this to her. Again. I made her life difficult because I did what I always do—act without thinking through the consequences.
I’m distracted all through the workout with the guys, and I’m not surprised when Ash asks me if everything is okay once we’re on the way home.