Hockey Hearts: Puck, Secrets $ Rivalries

Damage Control

The chat wasn't Jason's. It was the Hockey group chat. The one she had been added to during internship orientation and completely forgotten about.

"f**k. f**k. Fuck."

Callie quickly pressed the photo down hard, hit the menu button and tapped on "Delete for Everyone" without stopping to rethink her action. She refused to check those who might have seen it already. All she wanted now was for the photo to be gone.

The screen refreshed and the photo disappeared. Callie squeezed her eyes shut and leaned both hands against the cool marble of the bathroom counter before letting out a a long breath.

"You are such an idiot."

She slapped her own forehead.

"Ow."

She rubbed the spot immediately before she glared at her reflection like it had been the one who hit her. "You deserved that."

Callie's thoughts drifted back to the photo and the three read receipts. She thought she didn't care to know who saw the photo but then she wished she had just checked.

Her brain immediately started supplying names. Theo? If Theo had seen it, she would never hear the end of it. The guy had spent the last three weeks finding creative ways to embarrass her. Accidentally sending a half-revealing selfie into the team group chat would become his favorite story for the next ten years.

Ryan...No

She stopped herself before the thought could go any further. It was deleted and that was what mattered. Maybe the read receipts didn't mean they'd actually opened the picture or the app had glitched. Also it was possible , nobody had even looked closely at it.

She decided that was the truth. It had to be.

Her pulse was still racing as she reached for her phone again. This time she opened her anonymous blog, mostly because she needed something else to focus on before she completely lost her mind.

The numbers made her blink.

Two hundred and forty-three views?? She frowned.That couldn't be right.

She refreshed the page and it became three hundred and ninety-eight views. She refreshed it again.

Four hundred and sixty-one.

The comments kept increasing almost every few seconds. Some people agreed with what she had written while others argued with her.

A few shared their own stories about first love and heartbreak. In fact, someone had even reposted the article.

Her post had somehow escaped her tiny corner of the internet and found its way into the hockey community. It wasn't exactly viral but it was close enough to surprise her.

She stared at the screen for another moment. Nobody knew the blog belonged to her, yet she felt so exposed. She was happy that people somehow understood exactly how she had been feeling and she gave a small smile.

Tonight might have been a complete disaster but at least something good had come out of it. Her writing had reached people.

She slipped her phone back into her purse.

"Okay." she nodded to herself.

"Time to go home."

---

Her alarm exploded through the room the next morning. Callie groaned into her pillow and blindly reached for her phone.

Her head pounded and her mouth felt dry. Every part of her body reminded her that the drinks had been at least two too many.

She silenced the alarm. Then she stilled.

[Hockey Boys (300 unread messages)]

Her eyes widened. "What..."

Her heart immediately began pounding again as she stared at the number for several long seconds without opening the chat.

Then her imagination immediately spiraled. Why were there so many messages? Were they talking about her picture? Had someone taken a screenshot before she deleted it? Had someone reposted it?

She swallowed hard.

"Okay." she drew in a slow breath.

"You have to look eventually."

Her thumb hovered over the screen and she almost chickened out twice but eventually, she tapped the chat open. She closed one eye on instinct before forcing herself to look.

She scrolled, then frowned but kept scrolling. Another few seconds passed before she finally understood what she was reading.

Theo had apparently spent half the night bullying one of the rookie defensemen for missing an open net during practice and the rest of the team had happily joined in. There were memes, GIFs and voice notes.

Someone had even created three different nicknames for the poor guy but not one single message mentioned Callie or a photograph. She blinked and blinked again.

"Seriously?"

She let out the biggest sigh of relief she'd breathed all week. The world hadn't ended.

The Hockey Boys had simply been too busy destroying somebody else's confidence to notice she'd accidentally flashed half a shoulder in the group chat. She dropped her phone onto the bed.

"I'll take that miracle."

----

Callie was three minutes late and still fixing her hair in the visor mirror when a sleek black Jeep pulled up outside and the passenger window rolled down.

"You look like you slept in a ditch," Ryan said, playfully with his sunglasses pushed up into his hair.

"Good morning to you too." She grabbed her bag and climbed into the passenger seat.

Ryan Maverick had played professional hockey with her father years ago. After retiring, he'd gone into business and somehow ended up owning a large share of the very team she was now working for. Even after three weeks as an intern, Callie still wasn't used to the way everyone straightened up whenever he walked into a room. The door closed behind her and the car pulled away from the curb. The car smelled faintly of fresh coffee.

Ryan glanced at her briefly before returning his attention to the road.

"So..."

She looked at him cautiously.

"So?"

"Rough night?"

She laughed weakly.

"Depends on your definition."

Ryan gave a small smile. " Callie?"

"Yes?"

"Is there's anything currently circulating online that we're going to need to have quietly scrubbed before it becomes my problem."

Her stomach lurched. He couldn't mean that... There was no way he meant that.

"No," she said, too quickly, and immediately hated how it sounded. "No. Nothing like that."

Ryan looked at her for a second before looking back at the road.

"Relax."

"I'm relaxed."

"You answered that question like somebody being questioned by the police."

Callie laughed nervously.

"I promise there's nothing."

"I ask every new intern the same thing."

"Oh..ókayyy but why?"

"Because every summer at least one of them manages to create a social media disaster."

She winced.

"I'd rather not be that person."

"I'd like that."

He smiled. "Are you ready for the Away game today? There'll be sponsors, reporters, photographers and more people than you'll remember by the end of the day."

"I think so."

"Alright."

He pointed toward the arena as it came into view. "Stay close to me until you learn who's who."

"I will. Thank you.." The last of her anxiety slowly began fading. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.

They pulled up at the venue already swarming with staff, equipment bags and people barking instructions through headsets. Ryan came around to open her door as usual and Callie stepped out, smoothing down her blazer, trying to look like someone who belonged here.

She was still adjusting her bag on her shoulder when she looked up and locked eyes with the last person on earth she wanted to see.