The team had never left a bar so fast, or so alone. His bros took the party back to Mikah’s place. They stumbled into his kitchen and took seats at the marble island. Mikah tossed each player a can of beer and a bottle of water. All were drunk enough to make the catch look like a news reel-worthy feat. Million-dollar reflexes shot to hell by a few twelve-proof pints. Lots of tumbles and fumbles, but not one drink hit the ground.
“Thanks, man.” Liam rubbed his forehead with the can. “No Snow Puck last call. No Mer-bar. Not a good night.”
Parts had been good, until dumb-ass Zee had shown up. Classic Zee and Francesca to ruin a good time. Then he’d opened his own damn mouth to tease Piper. He needed to take the advice he’d been shoveling to Rookie and shut the hell up.
Kiernan gestured to the case of beer on the counter. “My drink doesn’t taste as good without a puck bunny by my side.”
Liam punched the air, and his beer spewed down his arm. “We need control back.”
Mikah shoved onto the end seat and uncapped his water. “Delete the app.”
Heads shook, and each guy muttered out a form of, “Ah, no can do, man.”
* * *
Piper used her first paycheck to buy her sister an expensive jersey with the team captain’s number on the front. Captain Ronan Stromkin. Calista’s favorite player.
Not much made Calista look up from her laptop these days, as she was studying for her second PhD despite being the younger sibling at twenty-three. Piper covered the screen with the light blue fabric.
Calista’s green eyes brightened, and she examined the jersey carefully. “Thank you.” Pleased relish sounded in her voice, and she smiled. For Calista, that was the equivalent of Dahlia doing a happy dance.
“You’re welcome.” Yep, yanking a hundred from her first Purity Minder paycheck had been worth that smile.
“Ronan wasn’t at the purity pledge.” Calista smoothed the fabric. “Have you met Ronan?”
She’d no doubt seen him with the group, but she’d only had eyes for number sixty-five. “Not yet.”
Calista’s expression dimmed.
“I met a few of the others. Sixty-five is superhot, but he hasn’t asked me out.” Not exactly anyway.
“His stats are good.”
Piper examined Calista’s unpolished fingernails. Calista worked hard and could use some pampering. “I’m meeting Dahlia for a mani-pedi. Want to go?”
Calista tucked her fingernails under her thighs. “No thanks. Working on something.”
“Okay.” Piper left her to her studies and drove to the salon. Dahlia was already seated at one of the stations in the ancient Rome-inspired interior. Piper spoke with the receptionist, selected a pretty pink polish, and then took a seat they’d saved for her beside her cousin.
Dahlia smiled over at her with her hands extended for pampering. “Get anything you want. This is your bonus. Dodo loves your idea of away game gift bags. Boosting morale on the road is important. Thanks so much for that idea.”
Aww. “Good.” She’d spent a fair bit of time last week researching where each player was from originally and finding local treats for them, nice to hear that had worked out. Would Mikah like his?
Dahlia smiled innocently. “I need to ask you something, though.”
Did she?
“A few of my sorority sisters were hurt they didn’t get to hang out with any of the hockey players at the ceremony like I’d promised.” Dahlia shrugged in a helpless motion and put her fingers in the soaking solution. “How could I ask the guys to stay? They were not…company-ready.”
That was incredibly delicate phrasing for the wacky state the guys had been in on purity vow Wednesday. Ugh, block the images. They flooded her brain anyway. Piper giggled and did her best to hold her hands still so the clippers didn’t remove the tip of her finger.
Dahlia met her gaze and broke into laughter. “Right?”
The manicurist held up Piper’s index finger to show her the oval shape. Piper nodded in agreement, but her words were to Dahlia. “Hit me with your idea.”
“You know about Warren Applebaum and Willow Ghurridge’s wedding.” Dahlia spoke carefully.
Blech, Piper stilled. Everyone who’d known she’d gone out with Warren had made a point of letting her know he was getting married. “I dumped him.” Because he had cheated on her with Willow. She had spared Dahlia that story when the fallout happened, because she didn’t want Dahlia to feel bad about working for an organization owned by the Applebaum family.