Offside: Chapter 26

I’d never been proven wrong about so many things in such a short period of time. Or been so happy to be wrong in the first place.

After kissing outside the truck at his place, inside the truck, and outside it again, Chase walked me to my front door and wrapped me in a big hug. I inhaled his scent, relaxing against the warmth of his embrace. Everything was easy with him in a way I’d never thought possible.

He pulled back, broad hands sliding down to my waist, holding my gaze for a beat, and he gave me a smile that made my knees go weak. “I’ll call you tonight, okay?”

“Okay,” I said. “And good luck this weekend.”

We lingered, looking at each other on the front step. Mostly because I didn’t want him to leave, but also partly because I didn’t want to go inside.

He frowned, expression clouding over. “You can stay at my place while I’m gone if you want.”

“Without you?”

“Yeah,” he said. “To get a break from your roommates, I mean. Shiv will be there alone, so…” He shrugged. “She would probably like the company.”

“Actually, we did make plans to get together for dinner.”

He raised his eyebrows. “For apartment hunting? That’s awesome.”

“To talk about it more, at least. Maybe make a list of places to check out.”

The idea of moving out was such a relief that I fantasized about it all the time lately. Right now, I was all but relegated to my bedroom when Jillian and Amelia were home. I had eaten more meals at my tiny desk than I could count. Though after our confrontation the other day, they had given me a wide berth. If I was in a room, they wouldn’t even enter. But I practically needed a coat and gloves to weather the chilly atmosphere.

In Jillian’s case, she was probably treading carefully because she didn’t want me to tell everyone what I knew. Maybe that was the case with Amelia too. Seemed like everyone was complicit in their little web of lies.

“See?” His face brightened, a smile peeking through. “You could stick around on Sunday until I get back. It shouldn’t be too late. Probably shortly after lunch.”

“That was your angle all along, wasn’t it?”

“Sure was.” He glanced at his watch, smile fading. “Oh shit. I really do have to go, or I’ll be late for practice.” Tipping forward, he gave me a quick peck on the lips and released my waist. “We can talk tonight. I’ll text you the door code too.”

As he jogged down the steps, I unlocked the door and pushed it open. Please don’t let anyone else be home.

No such luck.

Jillian was standing in the entryway, putting on her coat as I walked in. I slid off my shoes and brushed by her, ignoring her presence completely.

“Bailey,” she said, voice tight. “Can we talk for a minute?”

My entire body tensed. I was a pretty level-headed person overall, more prone to sweeping things under the rug and forgiving too easily than fighting. I rarely lost my temper, rarely even raised my voice, but this moment was incredibly close to becoming an exception.

Turning to face her, I made every effort to keep my voice level.

“Why?”

She straightened her shoulders, throat bobbing. “About what you said the other day. You’re not—you’re not going to tell anyone, are you?” She scanned my face nervously.

I shrugged. “You mean, besides Chase? Because he knows all about it.”

Keys in her hand, she froze on the spot, and the color drained from her skin. The look on her face was so horrified it was almost comedic. Someone she hated knew one of her darkest secrets. Poetic justice.

“But your brother…the team.” Jill gestured vaguely.

As if I would care about the team at this point.

“Yes, Derek is my brother, which is why I’m so upset. Otherwise, I wouldn’t really care about what sorts of shady things you got up to, Jill.”

She chewed on her bottom lip, expression turning guilty, but said nothing.

“Imagine how you would feel in my shoes,” I said. “This isn’t fair to him. To either of them.”

“It’s complicated.”

“So I’m told.” I hung my bag on the hook and turned, heading for the staircase. “As for telling anyone, I haven’t decided yet. Maybe you should make things easier on both of us. If you put an end to this messed-up situation, then I won’t have to make that call.”

It was an empty threat. I could never do that to Derek. But she didn’t need to know that.

By the time I got to the Callingwood Daily office after lunch, my annoyance with Jill had faded, and I was back to cloud nine over Chase. It really was a wild experience. I’d never felt this way before. Ever.

With Luke, I thought I should like him because everyone did. He was good on paper—or so I thought—and had tons of girls eager to date him. Naively, I had been wowed that he was even interested in me.

But I’d never been giddy about him or filled with that intense, inescapable infatuation. It had almost been one of those you don’t know what you don’t know situations.

But I knew now, and it was amazing.

I pushed open the door, making my way over to join Zara and Noelle at the oversized round table. I could feel their eyes on me as I set my bag down and pulled out my laptop and notebook.

Zara tilted her head, examining me. “Well, isn’t someone in a good mood?”

“You practically skipped in here,” Noelle added in a sing-song voice.

“I would say danced,” Zara volleyed. “Or maybe pranced?”

I shrugged, but I couldn’t keep the dopey look off my face. Words eluded me. My brain was hormone and happiness soup.

“Wait.” Her jaw dropped. “You saw Chase again last night, didn’t you? Did you guys finally…?”

I bit my lip. “Maybe.”

They both squealed.

“Well, no.” I held up a hand. “No sex. We just fooled around a little.”

Or, you know, a lot.

Zara raised her eyebrows. “Must have been some fooling around if you’re this giddy.”

A rush ran through me at the memory. “Oh, it was.”

“That’s awesome.” Noelle swatted me playfully. “Especially after what you said about Luke.”

Oh my god, how many people had I told? I’m never doing shots again.

“Aw, B. I’m so happy for you.” Zara bounced in her seat.

Noelle nodded. “Me too.”

We fell quiet for a while, working on homework and newspaper tasks.

“Speaking of good news,” Zara said, squinting at her computer screen. “I have some more for you. Well, some partial good news.”

“What’s that?” Could it be?

She nodded at her laptop. “I got an email from Liam. He wants to give up part of the sports beat. Says he’ll split it with you. If you’re willing, that is.”

Okay, so I was partially right. I thought maybe he was throwing in the towel altogether, but I guess I could only get so lucky. I should have been excited about this, but now I would probably have to actually work with him.

Ugh. And there would be strings.

I sighed. “What’s the catch?”

Did he want me to pay him for the honor? Take credit under his name for the stories I wrote? Nothing would surprise me.

“He wants to keep covering hockey exclusively.”

Oh, even better. Jerk. Why was Liam so attached to covering hockey specifically when he was a casual fan at best?

“Of course he does.” I huffed. “You should ask him what our record is right now. I bet he couldn’t even tell you without pulling out his phone.”

Conversely, I could list the stats for the top ten teams off the top of my head. Who was leading in each metric, who was living up to expectations, and who was disappointing this season.

Zara shrugged, giving me a sympathetic look. She knew I was right. “Is that a yes or a no?”

“You know it’s a yes,” I said grudgingly. “Maybe he’ll lose interest in hockey eventually too.”

“Did you see that list of spring internships?” Noelle asked, poking me with the end of her pen. “They’re all remote. There’s, like, ten of them. I saw something sports-related on the list and thought of you.”

My ears perked up. “No, where was this posted?”

“On the career portal.” She nodded at my laptop. “Went up this morning. You should check.”

Hope thrumming, I reopened my browser, navigated to the Callingwood career website, and logged in with my credentials. Scrolling through the listings, I scanned the descriptions. There was one for a fashion website I’d never heard of, a food website I was vaguely familiar with, a local news station, a national fitness brand…and Penalty Box Online.

You know, only the foremost source for hockey news.

Oh my god.

Lightning fast, I double-clicked the listing.

Penalty Box Online

Hockey Content Writer – Paid Internship

Unblinking, I stared at the screen. This was it. Exactly what I needed. The perfect resume boost.

Then I snapped back to reality and caught sight of the clock behind Zara. I bolted out of my chair, gathering up my things.

“Sorry, I have to run. Shiv is picking me up soon.”

Noelle raised her eyebrows. “Shiv?”

“Uh, Chase’s roommate’s girlfriend,” I said. “We’re apartment hunting. Long story.”

An hour later, we were camped out in the living room with takeout Mexican food and homemade margaritas. Plus a plan to watch every rom-com on Netflix we could find. It was nice to have a girls’ night in again; I hadn’t done it since things went sideways with Amelia and Jill.

“Chase told me about the fire,” I said, taking a sip of my strawberry margarita. “That’s terrible. I’m glad no one was hurt.”

“Yeah.” Siobhan pulled her legs under her on the sofa and turned to face me. “Except most of my stuff was ruined because the smoke damage was so extensive. Rental insurance is covering it, but it’s still a pain to replace it all. Especially when I’m trying to live out of a suitcase in Dallas’s room.”

“I bet he doesn’t mind that part.” I picked up my chicken taco and bit into it. Heavenly. Between dinner out with Chase and takeout tonight, I was getting totally spoiled. It was a nice change from my usual broke college student fare.

She laughed, tucking a lock of dark hair behind her ear. “All three of them have been good about it, actually. I think Ty is probably the least thrilled to have a girl around all the time, but he’s managing. Either way, I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”

“Have you had the chance to look at any two-bedroom places yet?”

“I’ve got a list of potentials I thought we could look at.” She hesitated. “I hope I’m not getting ahead of myself. If you have anything in mind, we can totally go look at those too.”

I cringed. “Honestly, I haven’t even had the chance to look. I was pretty swamped this past week.”

Shiv gave me a look, the corners of her mouth quirking. “So I heard.”

“What did you hear?”

“Oh, Chase said you guys hung out twice. And he told me about your little skating date. I have to say, that’s pretty adorable.”

“It was fun,” I said, cheeks warming. “Until we got busted by the custodian in the middle of making out.” Sharing this tidbit was probably the margarita talking.

Her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth, giggling. “Shut up. You did not.”

“Well, almost. More like a close call, I guess.” I shrugged. “Has Dallas ever taken you skating?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m a Florida girl through and through. I don’t think I could even stand up in skates, let alone use them. Ice is a spectator-only surface for me.”

“Florida? Wow, you’re pretty far from home, huh?”

“By design,” she said. “The ex and all that. I wanted a buffer several states wide.”

Jeez. “Does he still try to contact you?” I pried, but she’d brought it up, so it seemed safe to broach the subject.

“Sometimes.” She took a bite of her enchilada. After she swallowed, she expanded. “My social media is on total lockdown, which helps to some degree. But a while ago, he got my phone number from a mutual friend. He called over and over again in the middle of the night. You should have heard Dallas when he answered. I changed my number the next day.”

Siobhan pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I guess that’s why I’ve kept Dallas at arm’s length.” Then she gestured to the living room. “Obviously that hasn’t worked very well. I mean, I’m crazy about him. But I’m still a little gun-shy.”

“I get that,” I said. “Your ex almost makes Luke look good.”

Luke was an asshole, to be sure. And inexplicably hell-bent on messing with my life now that I had moved on. But her ex sounded next-level, like the kind that could be dangerous. The damage Luke could inflict was likely limited to spreading ridiculous lies and trying to annoy Chase to death. If anything, Chase was the bigger threat to him.

“I dunno. Luke sounds terrible.” Siobhan dipped a tortilla chip in guacamole. “I heard about that text message thing.”

“Right? Who does that?” I hummed. “Actually, it’s pretty on-brand for Luke. I think he was trying to cause trouble between Chase and me.”

She grinned. “Oh, I don’t think Chase is going anywhere. Not to sell him out or anything but…” She paused. “Okay, I’m selling him out a little, but he’s cute about you.”

I couldn’t fight back my goofy smile. “I can’t believe I used to hate him.”

“You did?” Shiv tilted her head questioningly.

“I thought I did, anyway.” I frowned. So much had changed recently that it felt like up was down.

“In your defense, he can be a total pain in the ass on the ice.” She laughed. “Dallas says he’s one of those players you love if they’re on your team and hate if they’re on anyone else’s.”

“Sounds about right,” I said, standing to put my empty plate in the kitchen. “Should we watch Love in Summer first or Accidentally Engaged?”

Siobhan shrugged. “Let’s work through the list alphabetically.”

“Binge-watching all of these under Dallas’s profile is going to mess with his Netflix suggestions,” I pointed out. Right now, his home screen was full of John Wick, stand-up comedy, and horror movies.

She giggled, taking another sip of her margarita. “That’s the best part. They’ll be notifying him about upcoming chick flicks till the end of time.”