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“Space? What the hell are you talking about? Shit!” Caleb blurts out, all wide-eyed. “You two really are banging, aren’t you?!”
“No, we’re not banging, asshole,” I grumble. “Piper’s not my type.”
“First of all, Piper Lee is every guy’s type. And second, if you lay down words like a girl giving you space to think shit over, then don’t act all surprised if my mind immediately goes to fuck buddies. It’s just how my noggin works,” Caleb jokes, tapping the center of his forehead with his finger. “But okay, if you two aren’t fucking, then why the hell would your sports agent want to give you any type of space? Isn’t being up your ass part of her job description?” he teases before taking a sip of his beer.
“She wants me to see a matchmaker.” The words are out of my mouth before I have the good sense of stopping them.
Caleb almost chokes on his beer beside me while Jack and Erin stop their canoodling just to stare at me.
“You have got to be fucking kidding?!” Caleb spits out once he’s recovered. “A matchmaker? Why?”
“I… um… Piper thinks that the press will ease up on me if… you know… I’m with someone.” I shrug, embarrassed by the confession.
Fuck.
I really have hit rock bottom.
Just saying the words out loud seems all sorts of pathetic.
“The press are idiots,” Erin comes quickly to my defense, trying to lessen my embarrassment. “Anyone who knows you, knows that you are a good guy. If you hit some douchebag at a bar, it’s because he deserved it. We all know that.”
Jack and Caleb nod in agreement, making the knot in my chest ease up a bit.
“They’ll get tired of this story sooner or later, Nate. You just have to wait it out and prove your worth on the ice,” Jack adds with utter conviction.
I just shrug.
I’m not as optimistic.
“Hold up. I think you two are missing the full impact of the bombshell Nate just dropped on us. Piper wants him to see a matchmaker. l repeat—a fucking matchmaker! Dude, I didn’t even know that shit was a thing,” Caleb continues to rant in amazement. “Like, isn’t that for desperate, lonely people who just gave up on life? Or uggos?”
“Caleb!” Jack and Erin reprimand in unison.
“What are you yelling at me for?” Caleb retorts.
“You really are one vain fuck, you know that?” Jack grunts, shaking his head, disappointed in his brother.
“Whatever,” Caleb grumbles with a deep-rooted frown stitched on his lips. “It still feels pretty desperate.”
Desperate.
That’s me, alright.
I’m fucking desperate to keep my spot on my team.
So desperate that I’m actually considering Piper’s suggestion.
How’s that for pathetic?
“Well, I, for one, am all for it. I think Nate would benefit from having someone in his life. A companion. Someone who will appreciate you,” Erin chimes in, her kind eyes searching mine. “But at the end of the day, only you know what is best for you. Do you think you’re ready to be in a committed relationship? Is that something you even want?”
I take a minute to think about it and really give her question the consideration it deserves.
Piper and Coach Byrne want me to have someone hanging on my arm for the optics of it, but if I say yes to seeing amatchmaker, then the person they set me up with is looking for an actual connection, not just being part of a PR stunt. Real feelings would be at play here, not just my spot on the team. That’s a lot of pressure on a guy who already feels like he’s being backed into a corner.
But as my gaze bounces off Jack and Erin, my chest tightens with a realization I hadn’t even considered until now.
“I want what you two have,” I mumble honestly. “Something real.”
