He shifts in his seat and folds his hands together. “Keep her fucking busy. Run her ragged. Make her regret she ever took this position. I’ll put together another list and email it to you. Continue to be demanding. I talked to her last night, and her hopes seemed high. I didn’t like it.”
Why? Doesn’t he want his daughter to be happy?
I don’t understand this entire ruse.
If I had a child, I’d want what’s best for them, and what’s best for them is their happiness. Why doesn’t Coach Wood want that?
Maybe he’s unaware of what happiness is. He’s just an old crotch of a man with beefy shoulders and a bald head.
Perhaps he needs a little love in his life. Maybe I’m the one to help him find that love. My success rate is at one hundred percent right now, so I could help him find a lady friend—or man friend if that’s where he’s headed. Who knows. I’ve never gotten that personal with him. Either way, I’m the key to him finding love, and I’m up for the challenge.
“You know, Coach Wood, have you ever considered dating?”
He points at his door and yells, “Get the fuck out.”
I wince as I scurry out of my chair. “Sure . . . yup.”
I duck out of his office. “I’m going to take that as a no on the dating thing.”
His loss.
I head down the hallway toward the locker room just as I receive a text. I pull out my phone and see that it’s from Wylie.
Wylie:Here with your smoothie. Where should I meet you?
Levi:I’ll come to you. Where are you?
Wylie:Third level, going to meet with Blakely who caught me in the hallway.
Levi:Be right there.
I pocket my phone and head toward the elevators, where I find Eli as well.
“Hey man, you’re here early,” Eli says.
“Yeah, had to meet with Coach.”
“About what?” Eli asks.
“Uh . . . payment for his daughter,” I answer. “He wanted to make sure I was being fair.”
“Oh, sure,” he says, buying it . . . thankfully.
“What are you up to?” I ask.
“Just dropped off Holden. Penny has breakfast, so I was going to eat with her in her office.”
Holden is Penny and Eli’s baby boy. We have full-time daycare here in the arena, so they’re able to do what they need to do for their jobs while visiting Holden throughout the day. I know they love the convenience. Especially Eli, who likes to visit between practices, warm-ups, and training sessions.
The elevator opens, and we both walk in. He pushes the button for the third floor, where Penny and Blakely work. “How’s the new assistant anyway?”
“It’s been a day,” I say. “Not even a full day. It’s fine. Nothing special.”
“So she hasn’t given you any problems?”
“No,” I say. “Why would she give me problems? You make it seem like she’s difficult, and I haven’t seen anything to indicate that.”
“Not difficult. She’s just strong-willed is all. She knows what she likes, and when she likes it, she goes after it. And I know you . . .”
“What about me?” I ask.
The doors part, and we step off the elevator. “Dude, you like to fuck. She’s an attractive girl. I could see something there.”
Little does he know.
There’s more than just something.
There’s a fucking semi-truck full of lust.
“Yeah, but she’s Coach Wood’s daughter. Do you really think I’d get even close to that?”
“I mean . . . I could see it. You let your dick do the thinking a lot. I’ve had to get you out of a few mishaps.”
Everyone seems to remember the little favors they’ve done for me here and there, but heaven forbid they give me any fucking credit for the ginormous favors I’ve done for them—found them love.
“Trust me when I say nothing will be happening between us. First of all, she’s fucking young, like ten years younger.”
“Silas is ten years older than Ollie.”
“Yeah, and there are times when she calls him granddad. Do you really think I want that for my life?”
Eli chuckles. “No.”
“And second. If I even think about going near her, Coach Wood will find out somehow and chop off my dick, douse it in gold, and then keep it as a trophy on his desk as a prized possession.”
Eli nods. “Yup, that pretty much sums it up.”
“Oh, there you are,” Penny says as she spots us in the hallway. “How did Holden do?” She takes Eli by the hand, and he leans down and kisses her. I look away because I’m so fucking hard up at this point that a light peck on the cheek could get me revved up and ready.
“He did great,” Eli says in his sweet voice made only for Penny.
“Wonderful. Ready for breakfast?”
He wiggles his brows. “More than ready.”
Looks like Penny is on the menu.
They take off and slip into her office without even having the decency of saying goodbye. Fucking rude. They shut the door behind them with a click of the lock. Yup, it’s a do-not-disturb situation over there.
I head down the hallway and poke my head in Blakely’s office. She’s sitting across from Wylie, and Wylie’s back is toward me. For a second, I take in the long slope of her neck and the poise in her shoulders as she speaks with Blakely.
This morning, when she walked into the kitchen, makeup-free, I had to keep myself from getting close, tugging her into my chest, and lifting her onto the counter so I could personally count every freckle on her cheeks. It was a monumental feat, and when I remained stoic and in place, I inwardly said I’d reward myself later for such strength.
Even now, though, I feel the pull with her a few feet away.
My body wants to gravitate toward her like Eli gravitated toward Penny. And I’m sure if Halsey was here right now, he’d be doing the same with—
“Hey, can I interrupt?”
Speak of the devil.
Blakely looks up at the doorframe and catches me and Halsey standing there, but whereas I’m empty-handed, looking for my protein shake, Halsey has a box of donuts for his wife.
Wow, I look like a real fucking asshole.
“Did you bring me donuts?” Blakely asks as she stands from her chair.
“I did,” Halsey says as he walks into the office.
And painfully, I watch as they meet in the middle. Blakely slides her hand up Halsey’s chest as he wraps his free arm around her waist, and they kiss.
These motherfuckers. All around me, they’re in love because of me. Rubbing it in my goddamn face while I’m over here living a fucking nightmare of blue balls and semi-hard-ons with no relief. Not to mention, a live-in assistant who I can’t fuck. A girl so fucking hot, so fucking perfect for me that the night I met her, I wept myself to sleep from not being able to bury myself between her legs.
How is this fair?
“Oh, here is your protein shake, Mr. Posey,” Wylie says as she hands me my shake.
“You make her call you Mr. Posey?” Halsey asks with a disgusted look.
“No,” I say and then glance down at Wylie, who now has a coat of mascara on her lashes, making her light gray eyes stand out even more. “We went over this. You can call me Levi.”
“Ooo, Levi, that seems so personal,” Blakely says while her arm is still wrapped around Halsey.
“She didn’t want to call me Posey. I didn’t want her to call me Mr. Posey. So we settled on Levi.”
“I don’t know anyone who calls you that,” Blakely says.
“Only when he’s in trouble,” Halsey says.
When it comes to Wylie Wood, I’m in a whole lot of trouble.
“I didn’t want to seem disrespectful at work,” Wylie says.
“Call me Levi at all times. There’s no need to be fancy around these guys.”
“What does that mean?” Blakely asks. “Are we not upper crust enough for you?”
“Not even a little.” I take my protein shake from Wylie. “Thanks for this.”
“Do you really have her fetching you drinks, Posey?” Halsey asks. “You’re better than that, dude.”
Yeah, I fucking know!
If it were up to me, Wylie would be sitting pretty in my guest room, playing around with her art while casually making social media posts for me. But thanks to her dictator father, I have no choice but to have her fetch me things. If the way her dad pulled me into the office today isn’t an indication of the tightrope he has me on, I don’t know what is.
“I don’t mind,” Wylie says. “I’m here to help Levi with whatever he needs. Which, by the way, when you get a chance, will you send me access to all the team photos and video clips?” she asks Blakely.
“Yes, I’ll talk to the team and get you a login this morning.”
“That’s amazing. Thank you.”
“Not a problem,” Blakely says. “There are some clips of Posey I’ve never used, but they’re solid gold. Have fun.”
“Just don’t embarrass me,” I say, wanting to clarify that.
“You embarrass yourself on your own terms,” Halsey says. Look at this motherfucker, coming out of his shell now that he’s found happiness. He wouldn’t have even said two words to Wylie a year ago, but now he’s making jokes at my expense.
See what I’m talking about? Ungrateful friends.
“And with that, I’m taking off. You coming, Wylie? Lord knows these two want to share a donut Lady and the Tramp style.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Blakely says as she leans into Halsey.
Rolling my eyes, I leave the office with Wylie trailing. Once we’re down the hallway, she says, “They’re really cute together. They got married this past summer, right? I think I remember seeing a picture from their wedding.”
“Yeah. This summer. It was an intimate wedding in Banff.”
Halsey and Blakely kept the guest list to a minimum and celebrated the wedding at Silas’s cabin in the Canadian Rockies, where they said their vows in the backyard. Silas’s private chef catered the event.
I offered up the great idea to have bologna sliders as an appetizer, but they didn’t take the suggestion, nor did they listen to me about bringing Sherman—their bonsai tree—to the wedding, which I thought was flat-out irreverent. That tree was one of the main reasons—besides me—that they got together. Because of those two huge misses in their event planning, I knocked their wedding score a full point. They didn’t care when I told them.
Fucking rude.
“So you’re close with Halsey, right? And from what I can tell, Eli Hornsby. And perhaps Silas Taters?”
“Yeah. And Pacey Lawes. Oden O’Connor is in the mix now too, as well as Ian Rivers, but with his injury that still has him out, I’m not sure he’s going to return. He seems to keep having complications.”
“And Oden is new to the team from last season?”
I nod and press the elevator button. “Yes. Surprised you even have to ask, given who your father is.”