9. Jolie

nine

Jolie

C ooper, Sam, and Tate look so handsome in their matching black suits with matching teal-blue ties, the same color as the team jerseys, as they pace the bench area, yelling out plays and substituting players during the game. It's so hot that my damn clit decides to throb at their dominant behavior.

It's been five days since they started with the team. And for five days, I've been avoiding them. They haven't tried to approach me since that first day, which I thought I was grateful for, but in all reality I wish they would pursue me.

I gaze away from them and try to concentrate on the hockey game—making sure I'm ready for any emergency that comes my way now that I'm the acting head trainer for the team since Hank is home sick with food poisoning.

Damn him and his love for chicken wings. And damn, the fast food restaurant that served him undercooked chicken. I'm not really mad at Hank—I'm mad at the situation that has thrown me into such close quarters as the three men I can't stop obsessing about.

It's not long before I have something else to do besides obsessing about the team's coaches. One of the Hayes triplets limps off the ice with a possible sprained ankle, but after a quick palpation of his foot and ankle, I determined he just tweaked it a little and can return to the ice after I wrap his foot and ankle for support.

I would have thought Cooper, Sam, and Tate would have been happy that I was able to clear one of their star players to return to the ice. But instead, they seemed to be glaring at me the whole time. The Hayes triplet must have noticed it, too, as he teased me about territorial men and the woman they love. He skated back onto the ice with me still denying his observation.

The action on the ice heats up as the other team, the Indiana Freeze, starts taking cheap shots at our guys. It's not the normal referees who work the Norse home games tonight, so instead of making sure it's a clean game, they let the cheap shots go unpunished.

Cooper looks like he's about to blow a gasket when Fin Baxter is blindsided by two of the Freeze players. One takes out his feet, and the other knocks him in the shoulder, causing him to land head-first on the ice.

The refs finally blow their whistles to stop play, allowing me to skate onto the ice with my medical bag to check on Fin. "Is he going to be okay?" Teagan Hayes, the first female pro hockey player on a men's team and Fin's girlfriend is the first to speak as she positions herself next to his body.

"I'm fine, baby." He says with a wince.

"Try not to move until I clear you." I place my hands on his neck and work my way down his body, feeling for injuries, "Can you wiggle your feet?" He follows my command, making me sigh in relief. "Okay, now I'm going to shine this light in your eyes, and I want you to follow it." He does a decent job of tracking the light, and his pupils react the way I want them to, but I'm not ready to clear him to play. "Royal. Coulter." I call to Teagan's other two boyfriends, "Can you help him back to the bench? I want to run a few more tests on him."

They nod and help him to his feet, but not before Teagan plants a big kiss on his lips. "Listen to whatever Doc tells you to do, " she says, nodding at me.

I was speechless for a moment. She just gave me the highest compliment possible by calling me Doc instead of Jolie or trainer, giving me the respect normally reserved for the head trainer.

"I'll take good care of him," I say before skating off the ice to tend to my patient.

The rest of the night went as expected, with Teagen spending more of it in the penalty box from avenging Fin than on the ice as Fin cheered her on from the sidelines. "That's my girl!" He yelled more times than I could count when she body-checked the other team's players.

It wasn't until after the game, when the Norse actually won, that I decided it was time to face my fears and talk with Cooper, Sam, and Tate. The arena had cleared out of all the players and fans. The only people left are the four of us and the Zamboni driver getting the ice ready for tomorrow's practice.

"Thanks for meeting me this late." Nervous energy takes over, and I pause to take a deep breath before continuing, "I love being part of the team. I really felt like I made a difference tonight." I wring my hands, hating to say the next part, but I have to. "That's why we can't pick up where we left off six months ago. I earned the respect of the team, and it felt good. Colt, Jensen, and Beck offered me a job on the team after I graduate and pass my boards. I don't want them to have to choose between their coaches and the team trainer when whatever this is between us ends. Besides, you know they won't choose against their coaches. You're the reason they win games. I'm not that important."

"Is that what you think—that we'll throw you away once we get bored?" Tate's hurt expression guts me.

Damn it, I barely know these three guys, yet I feel such a strong connection to them. But if the morning after my birthday taught me anything, it taught me I want to find true love, get married, and have a bunch of children. And I can't do that when I'm just fooling around with three guys at the same time.

"Isn't that what happened the morning after when I woke up alone with no note or way to contact you? I deserve someone who wants to be with me for more than just one night or because I'm convenient." I can't hold back the tears as they stream down my face or the begging. "It's going to be hard enough working for the same team as it is—please don't drag out something that will never be anything more than your dirty little secret."

I don't add that once they each find that special woman who completes them and they settle down, living out the real fantasy I want from them, I'll be long gone because there is no way I could watch my men with other women.

Tate and Sam look like they want to say something, but Cooper cuts them off, "If that's what you really want, we won't stop you."

Unable to speak, I nod and leave the arena and my heart behind.