Playing the Game (The Renegades) (Volume 3) (2 page)

“
Hey guys. I just wanted to
introduce you to my new assistant. This is Paige Martin.” She
turned to Paige. “These are the Renegades, all except for… looks
like, Tyler?”

“
Yeah, Ty hit the showers early.
I’m sure she’ll have the pleasure soon enough.” Coach Walker
quipped.

She waved confidently to the team. Her pulse calmed
as she glanced around the ice, recognizing some of the faces, and
she was thankful that Tyler Kidd wasn’t here. With a cleansing
breath Paige brushed the hair from her face and tucked it behind
her ear. She wasn’t sure if she would be a babbling idiot or simply
faint when she met him. How was she ever going to work one-on-one
with the handsome player? He was every girls dream—well, he was her
dream.
Why did I think this job would be a good idea?

“
Okay, so this is the team, minus
Tyler Kidd.” Turning back to the team, Melanie continued. “Guys,
when I am not available, Paige is in charge. I expect you’ll treat
her with the same respect you show me.”

A catcall came from the back of the group. Heat
rushed into Paige’s cheeks; hopefully they weren’t turning
pink.

“
Matt.” Melanie called with a
pointed look like a teacher. “Grow up and zip it, because I’m still
talking.”

Matt silenced. It was amusing how much respect they
had for her. She continued to run through Paige’s credentials:
she’d worked in public relations for the last six years, and her
last job was Communications Manager for Saint Vincent’s
College.

“
She is talented and more than
capable of taking over when I’m not here. Paige will step right in
for me when needed.”

“
Well, welcome aboard, Paige,”
Coach Walker said. “Men, I’m sure Paige knows some of you from
seeing your ugly mugs on television, but make sure over the next
few days you make an effort to go introduce yourself to her.” Coach
nodded at Paige, and then turned back to the players. “Okay men,
laps!”

“
Well, that’s it. Wasn’t so bad,
was it?” Melanie waited for Paige to walk down the hallway
first.

“
No, it wasn’t. But where was Tyler
Kidd?” Paige looked around, trying to take everything in as she
headed back towards the offices. The players’ equipment lined the
hallway, and photos of past teams and trophy presentations hung on
the walls.

“
All Coach said was he hit the
showers early, and you don’t question Coach. So who knows where he
was? I just work here; I can’t get involved in any of that drama.”
Melanie pointed ahead towards the offices.

“
Drama?”

“
Oh please, you can’t tell me you
don’t follow it all on social media.”

“
Well, sometimes, maybe.” Paige’s
face warmed again.

“
I figured. It’s hard to miss it.
It’s none of my business, but I’m the fixer, if that makes any
sense. The one who steps in and cleans it all up. But I don’t get
involved unless I have to. That’ll be your job soon enough, so get
familiar with Ty. I’m sure he’ll stop by the office
soon.”

“
My
job? I just sort of
figured I’d be sitting in the office doing the paperwork that you
didn’t want to do.” Paige smiled as they entered her office.
Her
office
. She liked the sound of that. Her name graced the plaque
on the door, and a large desk sat at the back of the room. A
television hung on the wall on the opposite side of the room. The
leather furniture looked soft and comfortable.

“
No way, girlie! You’ll be in the
middle of all the chaos with me. You’ll see, don’t worry. So get
your big girl pants on and find your mean voice, because we need to
be able to show them who is boss.”

“
Excuse me.” A large young man with
dark blond hair that kept falling into his eyes entered the room.
“Sorry to bother you ladies. If I’m interrupting I can come
back.”

“
Nonsense, Kaden.” Melanie moved to
his side and gave him a small hug. “Paige, this is Kaden O’Conner.
He’s our star goalie.”

“
I wouldn’t say that.” His face
turned a light shade of red. “Now Dominic, he’s a star.”

“
Oh, Kaden, please.” Melanie
squeezed his shoulders. “He’s so modest.”

“
Well, I just wanted to stop by and
introduce myself. So, hi. Welcome to the team.”

Paige smiled at him. “Thanks, Kaden. I appreciate it.
Melanie has nothing but good things to say about you guys.”

“
Good to hear.”

Another light knock sounded at the door, and they all
turned as another man walked in.

“
Oh look who it is, the star
himself.” Kaden chuckled and shoved the tall young man playfully.
“Paige, you’ll have your hands full with this one. When he wins a
game, the media swarm him. They adore this guy. I think it’s the
tattoos.”

“
Whatever, dude.” Pink filled
Dominic’s cheeks as he looked at Paige with dark blue piercing
eyes. Holding out his hand to her, he flashed a shy smile. “Paige,
it’s nice to meet you.”

His strong hand gently shook hers.

“
Nice to meet you, Dominic. Thanks
for stopping by.”

Melanie grinned. “I told you these guys were great.
See? Teddy bears.”

“
Has Captain stopped by at all?”
Kaden asked.

****

“So, how was your first day, dear?” Gram sat at the
kitchen table, drinking her coffee. She’d mentioned her hip had
been bothering her all day, so the girls offered to make dinner.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you?”

“
Absolutely not, Gram. We’re fine.”
They were far from fine. Paige frantically flipped the burgers, as
smoked poured off the stove, choking her. The burgers were charred
on one side and raw on the other.

“
Paige, what did you do to this
rice?” Rylee pulled the bowl from the microwave. The white and
yellow rice was brown and hard, everything it wasn’t supposed to
be. A strange smell wafted from that direction, a mixture of
oatmeal and singed toast. “Paige, it’s burnt.”

“
No it isn’t. Let me see that.”
Grabbing a spoon she attempted to stir the dense mass, but it was
like a rock. Chipping away at the solid edges of the bowl, she
tried to see if there was any soft rice below the hard, dry
exterior.

“
Paige, it’s burnt.”

“
Shut up, rice doesn’t burn. I
followed the directions; it should be fine.”

“
Honey, I think we should just put
that in the sink. Fill it with water and let it soak.” Gram said,
slowly trying to stand up.

“
Gram, sit down. We have it, don’t
worry.” Paige patted her hand, then kissed her on the cheek before
filling the bowl with water like she suggested. She loved Gram so
much, it didn’t matter that she wasn’t her actual Grandmother. What
mattered was that the old lady was her Gram in every way that
counted. She’d taken Paige in as a child and raised her as her own;
Paige grew into the woman that she was because of Gram.

“
I’ll just put a salad together
instead.” Rylee pulled a head of lettuce out of the refrigerator.
“Paige, turn that flame down. Those actually look done.”

“
You think?” She truly hated to
cook; ordering out would’ve been so much easier.

“
Yeah, unless you want the smoke
alarm to go off, they are.”

“
I like my burgers well done
anyway.” Gram moved the silverware around the table and smiled
sweetly when Paige set the plate down in front of her. “It looks
good, honey.”

“
Thanks, Gram.”

“
Do you think you’ll like the new
job?” Gram asked, as both girls sat down at the table. She spooned
some salad on to her plate.

“
Sure. The girl I’m working with,
Melanie, is very friendly. I met a few of the players today.” The
garlic in the homemade salad dressing caught her nose. The burgers
might be less than desirable, but the salad was
delicious.

“
Did you meet your boyfriend yet?”
Rylee asked, while making a kiss face.

“
Cut it out, Ry. No, I didn’t meet
Kidd yet. He wasn’t there when I met the team.”

“
You’re not going to go all fangirl
when you meet him, are you?” Rylee made googly-eyes before stuffing
her face full of salad.

Paige glared at Rylee as she took a bite of burger.
It was burnt, like hockey puck burnt, and she feared she may have
just broken a tooth on it.

“
How have the players been?” Gram
asked, ignoring Rylee. “Will you be working with them a
lot?”

“
So far they’re great, all very
friendly and well mannered. I think I’ll be working with them more
than I thought.”

“
All joking aside, be careful
around Tyler Kidd. He has a reputation, you know.”

“
Oh Rylee, don’t scare her. She’ll
be fine. Now let’s eat before the food gets cold.”

“
I’m just saying that boy has bad
habits. It’s all over the internet.” Rylee mumbled. “Oh, don’t look
at me like you don’t know.”

“
What are you talking about?” Paige
frowned, more than annoyed at this point. Bad habits? What did that
even mean?

“
I’m just saying be careful with
that one. He’s known for being with a different girl every night
and sometimes more than one. That’s the kind of fun you’ll have to
clean up after him.”

Please, he can’t be that bad. He’s grown man and the
face of the hockey league, not to mention the Renegades. She must
be exaggerating. I hope.

CHAPTER 3

Tyler dried his hair and got his bag out of his
locker. The sounds of the players leaving the ice filled the locker
room.
Shit, I wanted to be out of here by now.
The last
thing he wanted to see right now was Patrick.

Patrick scowled at him as he entered the room. “Ty, I
know you have your issues with me, but you need to get over it.”
Pat flung his things into his locker. “I’m not going anywhere, so
figure out how to work with me, dude. Gia has done her best to stay
out of your way, plus I thought you two were okay? Maybe you just
need to grow the hell up; we’re all adults here.”

“
Grow up? Fuck you.” Tyler growled.
Standing up to meet Patrick’s glare, he pulled his arm back to hit
him.

“
Whoa.” Ben appeared out of
nowhere, cupping his hand over Tyler’s fist. “Pat, please excuse
us.” The team owner, Ben, rarely made an appearance in the locker
room.

“
Whatever,” Pat mumbled. He tossed
a towel over his shoulder and headed to the shower
stall.

“
Didn’t Coach Walker just tell you
that if you can’t stop this stupid shit, you’ll be sitting the next
game?”

“
But I—”

“
I don’t want to hear it. You were
warned. You have to obey the rules, too. You’re sitting the next
game.”

“
But Ben, I’m the
captain
.
You can’t do that.”

“
I can, and I just did. This is not
up for discussion, Tyler. This feud between you and Pat needs to
end. Now.”

The accent he put on the word
now
made Tyler’s
stomach flop and his jaw tighten. “But, I—”

“
I don’t care. It needs to end.
Period.”

Tyler grabbed his bag and rushed out of the arena. He
threw the bag in the back seat of his Aston Martin, and gunned the
engine. The roar of the sports car echoed off the cement walls as
he sped out of the parking garage.

“
Who the fuck do they think they
are? Sitting
me
?”

The tires squealed as he took a turn too tight.

The hockey player part of him knew Ben and Coach were
right. This needed to stop. But the damaged part of him, the one
hurt by Gia’s betrayal wasn’t so levelheaded. Coach Walker had kept
them separated until today. Tyler was never on the ice with Pat and
it worked beautifully. But today, staring him in the face, it was
too much and he lost it. Now this.

Fuck.

The bright orange OPEN sign outside of Mannie’s Bar
grabbed his attention and he pulled his sports car into the parking
lot.

“
Tyler, you’re early today.” The
barkeep called.

“
Yeah, I guess. Been one of those
days, Marco.” He looked around the empty bar. “Pretty quiet in
here?”

“
For now. It’ll start picking up in
about an hour or two. Guinness?”

“
Yep. Keep ‘em coming.”

By the time the bar started to fill up with people,
empty bottles sat in front of him and Tyler wasn’t seeing very
clearly. His head was heavy and the room blurred as he turned. The
horrible day pushed out of his mind, his body was numb to the whole
stressful situation.

“
Well if it isn’t Tyler Kidd.” A
blonde with large breasts and luscious red lips approached him.
“You wanna buy me a drink, handsome?” She cooed into his
ear.

“
Marco! Get the lady whatever she
wants.” He spoke slowly to get the words out.
What I really want
is to see those red lips around my dick.

“
And you are?” He arched his brow
and his lip curved. She would do for the night.

“
Veronica.” She purred.

Veronica waved to another girl. A brunette with even
larger breasts approached. She molded to Tyler’s side, pressing her
fun bags against his arm.