Page 73 of Thoroughly Pucked

33

THE GODDESS

Dev

Does he have a camera in the room? My pulse spikes faster than before a fight on the ice.

Then my brain takes over. Of course there aren’t any fucking cameras in the room. That’d be illegal. Maybe the elevator though? That’s possible, and if so, damn, Garrett moves fast.

But I’m a sloth as I grab the phone from my pocket in slow motion then angle the screen away from my face, like it’s an X-ray and Garrett can see inside my soul and read my filthy mind as he rings and rings.

Aubrey eyes the screen.

“What do I do?” I ask, flabbergasted. I mean, I’ve answered calls before. I should know how to do this.

“Um, answer it?” Aubrey suggests, but the look in her eyes says she’s freaking out too.

I swing my gaze to Ledger. He’s not the wise oldveteran now. He’s got his hands up in the air, as flummoxed as I am. But then he snaps his fingers. “Maybe we need to…talk about this first. What to say to him. Hit ignore.”

“Yes! That’s brilliant. Talking. That’s what we’ll do. Communication. Right, right.” I send my agent to voicemail then rub my palms together. “What do we tell him?” I shift my focus to Aubrey. “Last night you said he’s not the kind of guy who would saydon’t touch my sister, but?—”

My phone cuts me off when it buzzes with a text. I scan it so fast.Hey, remember that time you saved a kid?

I blink. “What the…?”

Then the rest—give me a call.

I’m too intrigued not to call back, but I also don’t have to since he’s ringing again. I answer it with a casual, “Hey, G-man.”

At least I hope I sound casual—not like I was just caught stealing. I head to the couch, Ledger and Aubrey right behind me.

“The Dev Save is going viral, and I think we need to get in front of this right now,” Garrett says, businesslike.

“The Dev Save?” I ask as I sink down onto the cushions, but I’ve got a hunch I know what that must be.

“Or was that some other goalie on McDoodle Island who looks like you and is on a vacation with my client and my sister?” His tone is playful, and that’s such a relief.

I breathe easily, my pulse steadying. I stab the speaker button right as Aubrey whips out her phone. Ledger’s fast at the draw too, grabbing his mobile likehe’s a gunslinger in the old west. They’re likely searchingThe Dev Save.

“The mom called me anice man. She didn’t ask for my autograph or anything,” I point out. “How does she know it was me?”

Garrett chuckles. “It’s seriously hilarious that you think hockey players aren’t recognizable. They’re not recognizable to non-hockey fans. But, guess what? Travis’s other momisa hockey fan. She was in the store when it all went down, and when she came out and saw the videoanotherfamily had taken, evidently, she lost her mind over the goalie saving her kid. Life imitating art. The art of hockey. Damn, I love it.”

Aubrey’s shoulders relax. “She posted the video then? One of Travis’s moms?”

“And it went viral in no time. Everyone’s calling it The Dev Save. You’re a fucking hero meme,” Garrett says, and I can picture him with his feet up on his desk. “Also, I need to apologize.”

We all look at each other likewhat’s Garrett talking about now?

“Why?” Ledger asks carefully.

“I should have had you three do this sooner, what I’m about to ask you,” Garrett says apologetically. “But now’s as good a time as any. Remember when I said if any fans spotted you on this trip it’d be a good thing that the three of you are friends?”

I wince a little from the reminder. He said that during golf. We were friends with Aubrey then. Now we’re a little more.

“Right,” I say tentatively, letting Garrett steer this convo.

“So, what do you want us to do?” Ledger asks, and I can hear the hesitation in his voice too.