When she got to Matt, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she raised her brow and pressed her lips together. Things were still raw between them. She knew that. But she still had a job to do and she wanted to get this done as quickly as possible.
Her pencil was positioned to write zero next to his name – that was what he always responded with unless they attended something together – when he said, “Uh, my girlfriend.”
Katella furrowed her brow and cocked her head to the side. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Did you say your girlfriend?”
Matt nodded, shifting his eyes with obvious discomfort.
Katella was typically good at watching her emotions, at keeping them in check. Seraphina was the one who had trouble controlling herself. Yet she felt her eyes go wide in surprise and her mouth drop open in order to question that statement.
He had a girlfriend? A person he actually referred to as his girlfriend? He had only been back for four or five months, which meant they couldn’t have been together for very long, and yet here he was, calling this mystery girlfriend his girlfriend.
What the actual fuck?
“God, Hanson, can you hurry up?” Negan’s voice came booming through the group, a rescue line being thrown to her as she found herself drowning in a sea of stares and judgment with no way to pull herself up. “Some of us have places to be before the game, like in front of a bowl of homemade spaghetti.”
Katella blinked her eyes. She knew Negan wasn’t being an ass to be an ass, he was trying to distract her. She had never been more grateful to him before and she swallowed, feeling herself grasp more control that had previously slipped through her fingers.
“I take it it’s a table for one?” Katella asked. It wasn’t as quick as it would have come and her voice shook a little. It felt forced but no one else seemed to notice save for Negan and possibly Matt.
She refused to look at Matt. Instead, her eyes found Negan’s brown orbs and she felt safe. Secure. She couldn’t give anything away, she couldn’t tell him thank you considering everyone was looking at the two of them, but she hoped he could read her eyes well enough to know what she meant, how much she appreciated the simple gesture.
He shrugged his shoulders in response to her question. “More for me,” he said, though he gave her one nod, as if to say you’re welcome. “I don’t like to share my spaghetti, Hanson. Not even with my significant other. Maybe, if you’re really lucky, I’ll cook you up some myself and I’ll get you your own plate. What do you say?”
“Are you asking her out on a date?” Matt asked, turning to look at him.
Negan’s eyes narrowed at Matt, cocking his head to the side. “So what if I am?” he asked. “You got something to say about it? You just told her you had a girlfriend. Why do you care if she goes out with me?”
“She can go out with whoever she wants,” Matt said. “Just not another hockey player. Especially not you.”
Instead of getting mad, Negan grinned at Matt, though the smile did not reach his eyes. If anything, it was dark. A warning to not mess with him, especially in front of his teammates. It was a smile that promised a fight if that was what Matt wanted. From the look on Negan’s face, he definitely wanted it.
“You want another shiner to go with the one on your left eye?” he asked, raising his brow to taunt him.
“You had a jump on me,” Matt growled.
“You hit first, if I recall,” Negan pointed out.
Katella cleared her throat and shifted her eyes over to Cherney, who was watching the exchange between his players with mild interest. It was difficult to read Cherney most of the time. The only time he ever got emotional was on the ice, behind the bench. And if the Gulls’ gave him a crap period? He had no problem lighting a fire under their asses and burning them if he needed to.
“Let this play out,” he murmured to Katella in his low voice. Neither of the players in question noticed Cherney’s instructions but a couple of nearby Gulls chuckled. “I want to see how this ends.”
“It’s embarrassing,” she said under her breath.
“Kat, you can stop this if you want,” Matt said, whirling his head around so his brown eyes found hers. “Tell him you don’t want to go out with him.”
Katella felt all eyes turn to her. The coaches, the players. Even Negan’s looked at her expectantly, though she realized he expected her to reject his fake offer – because there was no way this was a genuine offer – and that made this weird feeling start to pit in her stomach. Why would he expect her to reject him? Had he forgotten their makeout session in the gym yesterday? She was almost offended at his presumption.
No, he just figures kissing is okay but that you don’t actually like him as a person, a voice pointed out.
Without even trying to, her eyes found Xander’s. The two were friends before anything and remained friends after their foray into sleeping with each other for a few weeks. And when he was with her, he treated her like a princess. Like she deserved to be treated this way. If only there had been feelings between the two; he would have made a perfect boyfriend.
He gave her a supportive smile.
“Well?” Matt asked, pushing his brow up.
“Leave her alone,” Negan drawled in a rough voice. “She doesn’t need you to-“
“Yes,” Katella said, pushing her brow up and locking eyes with Negan. “I accept your offer.”
“You, what?” Matt asked.
“I think Katella’s gotten everything she came for and then some,” Cherney said, deciding now was the perfect time to step in. “We got a game to get ready for. That should be in everybody’s head right now, nothing else.”
Katella felt herself grin at Cherney’s speech. She couldn’t help but agree. As such, after murmuring a quick thank you, she headed out of the locker room without putting any thought into her answer.
Chapter 9
Katella sat back in her reserved seat in the club suite that overlooked the arena, her eyes focused on the ice below. No one ever sat in front of her so she got to rest her feet on the seat in front of her. While her body seemed to be completely relaxed, in reality, she was tense and focused. Her lips were pressed into a tight line, her fingers curling underneath her chin, her elbow jutted on the armrest of the plastic chair. She wore her same outfit from today, but with a motorcycle jacket thrown over her shirt to keep her arms warm.
Seraphina sat next to her, more expressive than Katella was. Her blonde hair was straightened and left down, a Gulls SnapBack hat resting on her head. She, too, wore a Gulls' shirt but this one was white - it was similar to their away jerseys but wasn't actually a jersey. She had on light blue skinny jeans and knee-high brown boots.
"How do you think we're going to do tonight?" Katella asked. She needed to say something, needed to get her focus off of Matt and Negan and everything else and on something - anything - else.
Seraphina shrugged but it was a rigid gesture. "No idea," she said. "We've been doing really well but Salem’s injury is going to throw the team off. Just because Matt played with a few of these guys doesn't mean they're going to have the same chemistry the team did before. And with what I'm hearing, I hear a certain second-line center doesn't like him very much?" She cocked her head at her older sister, a small smile on her face.
Katella felt her lips curl up but the smile, while genuine, didn't quite reach her eyes. "I guess not," she replied.
The national anthem had just finished. The lights were going off, the announcer was listing the starting players, and the crowd cheered on the skating players, keeping their muscles moving even just before puck drop.
"But Negan doesn't really like anyone," she continued. "Look at him: the fans at the glass are calling his name and he can't even be bothered to look at them."
"Maybe he's just that focused."
Katella pulled her eyes away from the man in question to give her sister a look. "Please," she said with a snort. "James Negan has an ego. He feeds off of the cheering. It gives him power."
"And how do you know so much about Negan?" Seraphina asked slowly. She was still teasing Katella and there was no way she knew about what happened yesterday in the gym because there wasn't any cameras in there, but that didn't stop her cheeks from turning red. Seraphina immediately picked up on that and nudged her shoulder with her sister's. "Did I strike a nerve?"
"Ugh." She pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "Because I just know. The guy is notorious for getting on everyone's nerves."
"Especially yours," Seraphina pointed out. She smiled and shook her head, shifting in her seat. "Kat, whether you want to admit it or not, there's something between you two and it's been that way since you met. I don't even understand what rubbed him or you or whoever the wrong way."
"After the press conference, I invited everyone out to Taboo, like I would for anyone," Katella told her. "I explained it was good bonding and the tab was on us. But he rejected me."
"And you took that rejection personally?" Seraphina guessed. "Kat, you can't-"
"He told me going out to a nightclub to bond with the team is the dumbest idea he ever heard and if going to a nightclub was required, he was going to rethink even being on the team," she told him, her tone flat. "Guess who came up with that idea, Sera?"
"You came up with that idea," Seraphina said at the same time as Katella said, "I came up with that idea."
Seraphina shook her head, rubbing her hand across her forehead. "And it's been like this ever since?" she guessed. "Negan has a way of sinking his hooks into specific people. You're special to him, Kat."
Katella did not like where the conversation was going. It might teeter on asking about feelings and if they talked about feelings, things would come up. It was difficult to lie to her sister at all and to be honest, she was bursting at the seams to tell someone what had happened between her and Negan, how amazing the kisses were, how she loved him touching her, how she wanted to go further but stopped.
Why did she stop?
So you wouldn't fall in love with him, a voice snarled.
"What about you and Thorpe?" Katella threw back, her eyes sliding over to the goalie. "It's been a year and a half. Are you seriously telling me there's nothing going on between the two of you? Not even a kiss? Maybe that will change with Valentine's Day coming up! You never know."
"I'm worried he's seeing someone," Seraphina let out without being prompted. Katella's brow shot straight up, surprised her sister even admitted such a thing. "We don't really talk anymore and every time I see him, my heart breaks. Kat, I'm in love with him and I can't do anything about it. I can't..." She shook her head, placing her face in her hands. "I don't know what to do."
"Fuck that," Katella said. Her eyes turned emerald as she locked her sister into a sharp gaze. "Yes, you can do something about it, Sera. Stop playing the victim. I've already told you."
"I'm not going to have this conversation again with you, Kat," Seraphina told her. She dropped her hands to her lap and leaned back in her seat. "Let's just watch the game."
James Negan purposefully avoided the fans before and during game intermissions. It helped feed his ego, that not only was he meant to do this, but he was good at it, too. He also focused on what he wanted to do this game. As a second-line center, he knew he would be called upon to win faceoffs and make passes. That was what Cherney expected from him and that’s what he hoped to deliver tonight. Despite Zachary Ryan being first-line center, Negan beat him in faceoff wins by three percent. Both men were up in the league for faceoff stats as well, which gave Cherney a second option during a penalty kill or a power play.
Because Cherney got to control the matchups – which line faced which at any given moment when players were on the ice – due to the fact that the Gulls were at home, he always placed his second line out to start the game against the Rangers’ first line. The first line was supposed to be the most skilled, the second line, less skilled but just as much of a threat. The third line, at least in Cherney’s case, was filled with more speed than strength, while the fourth line was known more for fighting and strength than skill. If Cherney sent out the fourth line, it was to send a message rather than to score a goal – though the Gulls’ fourth line had players capable of doing both.
While the announcer told the audience to sit in their seats, while the lighting and the noises flashed and whirred, Negan liked to keep skating, keep his feet moving. He always slowed around the glass – he loved hearing his name chanted; he loved noticing kids wave enthusiastically at him – but he never acknowledged them. He still had to focus.
Once the game was ready to start, Negan and his linemates – Drew Stefano and Viktor Jansson – positioned themselves. Drew was on his right, Viktor on his left. Negan was in the center, his stick held horizontally as he crouched low, bent at the waist. Once the referee nodded, he held is stick diagonally, prepared to take control of the puck and win the faceoff by sweeping it behind him so one of his linemates or, if not them, one of the Gulls’ defensemen, would be able to get to it and start the play.
The referee was also bent at the waist. He looked to Thorpe and the Rangers’ goalie, making sure they were both ready. When he confirmed they both were, he did the same for Negan and his opponent, nodding at each of them. He raised the puck over the center circle, his black whistle between his lips, and as he dropped the puck, he blew his whistle, starting the game.
Negan was trained to go. The minute he heard that whistle, go.
It was difficult to win faceoffs cleanly – simply taking control of the puck and pushing it back. If Negan knew there was a chance he might not win the puck – especially in moments of duress, like two minutes to go in the third period with the Gulls down by one – he would tie up his opponent’s stick and kick the puck to his teammate or something similar. Since the game just started, he decided to win the puck cleanly, and that was what he did.
From there, the game was a blur. It was difficult for him to focus on any one play, on any one player. He had a job do and that was all he cared about. Thoughts of Edina and Katella and Matt disappeared from his consciousness. Although, to be honest, he wished there was time to think about Katella’s acceptance of his date. The fact that she had said yes boggled his mind, to Matt, to Xander, to everyone there. Right now, he was in the moment. He needed to check, to defend, to win faceoffs. He loved hockey for the speed of the game, how it felt like he would blink when the referee dropped the puck and then it was gone. Game over.
He always liked to chirp to the other teams, rile them up, get under the skin. He wasn’t the best player on the team – Underwood probably had the most skill and Ryan was a great center, but Negan worked the hardest. Effort was the word he lived by, not goals, not scores, not plays. If he wasn’t sweating disgustingly after a period, he wasn’t working hard enough. He wanted to be sore after a game, out of breath after every shift, too tired to go out in celebration after a game. He checked hard, he shot hard, but his passes were accurate, with finesse.
By the time they wrapped up the game – beating their opponent by one goal – Negan couldn’t wait to go home and take a nice hot bath with a cup of tea. He listened to Cherney’s after-game speech, and even though he had two assists and would probably be questioned by the media including Ryan’s girlfriend Harper, he wanted nothing more than to undress and leave. He didn’t even like to shower after the game.
Once he was in a thermal and his hockey tights, he slid into his car. The sweat was sticky, causing the shirt to stick to his back uncomfortably. He put on some classic rock – he was particularly fond of ACDC and Queen – and went through the motions of driving home. His mind kept going back to the moment when she said yes.
Katella said she would go out with him.
He hadn’t intended to ask her out. But Matt pissed him off and he ran his mouth without stopping to think and it just happened. And she had said yes.
He wasn’t sure if it was genuine or if it was her trying to get back at Matt, but either way, she had said y
es.
And that, to him, meant something.
Chapter 10
Katella wished she was as organized and as punctual as her sister. Instead, she was tossing her hair in a ponytail before shoving on her Harley Quinn styled high tops and rushing out of the house in hopes to make it somewhat on time to a meeting she called with the Gulls Girls. The Gulls Girls were the answer to sports teams' cheerleaders. While the Girls didn't cheer or do anything particularly choreographed, they did scrape up the ice every commercial break in order to make sure little flurries didn't trip the players or prevent the puck from moving across the ice. They paid special attention to Thorpe's goal crease as well.
The Gulls' Girls were also at every event, assisting in promoting the team or encouraging ticket sales. They were drop-dead gorgeous, with fit bodies, perfect hair and makeup, and warm smiles on their faces. They attracted males and made friends with females. They endured groping men - which was not tolerated whatsoever by Seraphina or Gulls’ security - and harassment by men who thought they had a right to get overly familiar with them. There were other times they had to deal with hate because of jealous women who weren't as secure with their looks. No matter what, however, they made the best of it, always wearing a smile on their faces. It was probably the hardest job the Gulls had and Katella respected them for their tenacity.
Their person of contact was Lara Stinson, a woman of a particular age who wore all black and lots of rings. She could have been a Gulls Girl back in her prime, if the Gulls had been around thirty years ago. She was prim and proper but had an interesting way of speaking to her team. She wasn't a coach nor was she a choreographer, but she assisted the Girls with skating technique and lift training as well as how to deal with fans while maintaining both class and grace. She also helped style their outfits.
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