9. BILSON

NINE

BILSON

The rest of the road trip is a bit of a disaster. And by a bit, I mean a lot. Who knew it would be so difficult to hide a dog?

Between me and Miles barking to cover up Killer’s yaps and leaving the poor boy in the hotel room while I’m at the arena, it’s been easy to lose focus.

After our win in Edmonton, everything goes to hell. Calgary, we lose, Vancouver, lose.

I’m not saying the whole team relies on Miles and me, but when you’re down a star forward and your goalie, the team’s game is going to suffer.

Not to mention, I can’t get Miles’s offer for a threesome out of my head. Threesome with two women? My only concern would be being able to satisfy them both. Threesome with a woman and another man?

When I picture Miles kissing Hadley and my reaction to it, I can safely say not one part of me was into it, but if he were to kiss someone who wasn’t my ex-wife? Watch him have sex with another woman like my very own live-porn kind of situation? Yeah, I could be down for that.

Joining in, getting off, having him send our hookup on her merry way …

Fuck, I am way too horny to be thinking about this.

When there’s a knock on my hotel room door, I automatically think it’s Miles, but then I remember the shithead keeps stealing keys to my room, so it wouldn’t be him.

We’re not due to leave the hotel for another hour, so it’s not going to be a checkout reminder.

Which means I need to hide Killer.

I get off the bed, where he’s been snuggling on my chest, and reluctantly hide him in the bathroom, where I have food and water for him.

Then I put on my easygoing smile and open the door. It fades when I’m staring at Lucia Martin, our team’s PR rep.

She’s a gorgeous woman, even with the scowl on her face.

“Hey, Chia.” My voice squeaks. “What can I help you with?”

“Cut the crap, Bilson.”

Uh-oh. “Umm, okay?”

“Where’s the dog?”

My eyes shoot wide. “What dog?”

As if on cue, Killer barks.

Lucia cocks her head. “That one.”

I try to laugh it off, but it comes out nervously. “That’s Miles. Ever since the pregame ritual of barking became a thing, he just does it now.”

“Ah-huh. Why don’t you let Miles out of your bathroom, then?”

“He likes it in there. It’s cozy. Did you know that he’s only twenty-four and still lives with his parents? He doesn’t like to sleep alone, you see. So he asks to sleep in my bathtub whenever we have a hotel that gives us one.” Fuck, does this hotel have a bathtub? I can’t remember.

Just when I think Lucia might believe me, Miles appears. “Ooh, fun PR meeting! What are we talking about?”

I close my eyes, and Lucia sighs.

“Let’s have this talk inside, shall we?” she says, and I step aside to let her and Miles in.

“Am I in trouble?” Miles whispers as he passes me.

“We’re both screwed.”

We turn to Lucia, who is trying to look intimidating, but we both know she’s too sweet for that. It’s hard to be scared of a five-foot-nothing woman, but then again, she is Italian, so she’s got an edge.

“The dog?”

“What dog?” Miles asks.

She stares him down. “I have to say, you two have the dumb jock part down pat.” She crosses the room and opens the bathroom door.

Killer tries to escape, but Lucia grabs him and picks him up. The traitor loves everyone and immediately tries to lick her face.

She gives him a pat. “This adorable man is all over the hockey sites.”

“H-he is?” Miles croaks.

We should’ve expected this. I’m surprised Hadley hasn’t been blowing up my phone, asking where he is. Or at least telling me he was doggy-napped.

“He’s my dog,” I say. “We were …”

“Liberating him from the clutches of a cougar,” Miles finishes for me. Not what I was going to say at all, but anyway.

“That cougar being your twenty-eight-year-old ex-wife? And choose your words wisely, boys. If twenty-eight is old, I’m⁠—”

“Why, you don’t look a day over twenty-two, Chia,” Miles says.

“Flirting is not going to get you out of this.”

“Okay, fine. I asked Miles to go steal my dog back for me.”

Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Miles’s mouth drop, but he got my dog back for me; I’m not going to throw him under the bus and say it was all his idea.

“You didn’t think to maybe ask Hadley first?”

I rub the back of my neck. “We didn’t exactly end things on good terms, and I haven’t spoken to her in six months.”

“So you thought stealing her dog⁠—”

“My dog. I had him before we got married.”

“My point is,” she continues, “that you didn’t think to ask before you took him? It didn’t take her long to figure out who Miles was, though you’d think as an ex-hockey wife, she would’ve known immediately.”

“She never was into hockey,” I mumble.

“Anyway, she’s gone to the press, and now this big custody battle for the dog is all over your socials and those gossipy websites that always post photos of you with women and those tacky headlines about them being the next Mrs. Bilson.”

“I don’t want to give him back,” I say.

“Then I’m really sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you’re going to have to talk to Hadley. Get this shit fixed before I have to step in and fix it for you.”

“Couldn’t you just … fix it for us?” Miles gives her the most bashful smile I’ve ever seen.

“Nice try, newbie, but I’m not here to babysit grown-ass men.”

I would argue that is exactly her job, but I don’t. I’m smarter than that. Surprisingly, so is Miles.

“Keep me updated,” Lucia sings as she glides toward the door, handing Killer over to me in the process. “And for fuck’s sake, stop barking before every game. The commentators are going crazy with speculation.”

“Easy done. It’s not like it’s worked the last few games anyway,” Miles says.

Lucia walks away, but I swear I see the twitch of her lips before she turns her head.

Once she’s gone, the door closed behind her, Miles turns to me. “I think I’m in love with her.”

“Jesus, you really do have a thing for dominance. All she did was chew us out.”

Miles shrugs. “What can I say? It’s hot.”

The flashing images of Miles and Lucia hooking up are uninvited, but they happen anyway, and while I would never cross those lines with someone who worked for the franchise, I think I have my answer to whether or not I’d be into it.

But could I seriously contemplate it? How does one go about asking their new best friend if he’d fuck someone with me? Then again, he brought it up so casually he probably wouldn’t even blink. Just be shocked that someone “as old as me” would want to.

I almost want to do it now to prove him wrong.

But first … I need to make a call.

“You could have asked me,”Hadley says.

“No, I couldn’t. When I left, you said you wouldn’t let me take Killer.”

“Because I was angry.”

“So, you didn’t want him?”

“I do. I love Killer as much as you do, but … I wanted to punish you at the same time.”

“What are you saying?” Hope blooms in my gut.

She hesitates a moment. “He’s your dog. You should get to keep him. But I want updates, and you need to hire a dog-sitter for when you’re away, and⁠—”

“Done. Done, done, done. I’ll do anything.”

“Yeah, I think you’ve already proven that by sending your goalie to hit on me. A goalie, Cody? Even I know not to trust a goalie.”

I burst into laughter as I glance over at Miles, who’s sitting on the edge of my bed and watching me intensely. “The dog-napping was actually his idea.”

“Ah. Everything makes sense now.”

“Thank you, Had. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Contrary to what all those puck bunny sites say, I’m not a monster.”

“I know. But … we didn’t exactly leave things on the best of terms, and⁠—”

“Breakups are hard. I’m over it.”

I wish I could say the same. While I’m over her and not in love with her anymore, and I’ve fallen for other women since her … all of my divorces remind me of how broken I really am deep down.

“Good,” I say. “You deserve happiness.”

“So do you.”

We end the call, and I turn to Miles.

He bounces his ass on my bed. “What did she say?”

“She said you’re weird.”

“Pfft. Tell me something the world doesn’t already know.”

Even though his cockiness over his talent is a front, I can tell that when he agrees with stuff like that—that he’s weird—he’s being genuine. How can a twenty-four-year-old be so damn confident in his own skin?

Miles knows what he wants, knows what he likes, and even though he has his quirks, his need to be accepted, his search to fit in, never changes who he is.

He’s loyal, empathetic, and doesn’t cloud his emotions with toxic masculinity crap like a lot of hockey players do.

“Do we get to keep our baby?” Miles picks up Killer, who’s been chewing on a pig’s ear I bought him.

Killer immediately turns his attention to Miles, licking his face instead.

“Ugh. Our baby has bad breath.”

“I’m sorry, our baby?”

“I stole him. I figure I should at least get some parental rights.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s how kidnapping works.”

“Come on. He loves Daddy Two.”

“Killer loves everyone.”

“Aww, he’s taking after Daddy One. Hey, how many wives has Killer had?”

I shake my head. “You’re such a little shit.”

“You need a new insult, old man.”

“So do you. And if you really want to share custody of Killer, he’s due to go outside to do his business.”

I expect him to hand the dog back immediately, but instead, he jumps up, says, “I’m on it,” and disappears with Killer and the leash I bought him.

When will this kid stop surprising me?