Page 40 of Center Ice

She sniffed and dropped her head. “No, this is a disaster!”

“What’s wrong?” I stepped closer.

“Mr. Hernandez fired Dani this morning.”

I winced. “What? What are you talking about? Why would he fire her?”

She dropped her head into her hands again. “I don’t know.”

Her shoulders shook, and I sat next to her, putting my arm around her.

“I got to the office and there was a note saying she’d been let go and that I had to take over the wedding today and the rest of the season.”

How could this have happened? Dani was so on top of everything. There was no way she’d done anything to deserve this.

Except maybe me. Was it not allowed for employees to hang out with guests? I didn’t think it was a problem, but maybe that's why she got in trouble.

“We’re going to fix this.” I squeezed her arm and jogged to Dani’s room. How had things gone from so great last night to an absolute disaster?

I knocked on her door and waited until she opened it. Her eyes were puffy and red, and she was wrapped in a robe. “Jake, I don’t––”

“Maggie told me what happened, Dani. How do we fix this?”

She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean? How would you be able to fix any of this?”

“You didn’t get in trouble for hanging out with me?”

She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t that.”

“Then what?”

She stepped back and let me into her room. Other than a few personal items and photographs, it was pretty similar to the one I shared with the guys, but with only one door, instead of three, for the bedrooms.

She plopped onto the couch and leaned her head back. “I’m not sure how it happened. None of it makes sense, but I messed up.”

“What happened?” I sat next to her.

“Mr. Hernandez, my boss, wasn’t happy with the surprise wedding the other night. He thinks I pulled strings and called in favors for Wyatt and Kendall and basically gave them free services even though I told him earlier that it was taken care of. He didn’t care about my expectations. Then this morning when I went into my office, he was waiting. He said he received a complaint about me, and that was the last straw. I have until the end of the weekend to clear out.”

She had two days to move? Where would she go?

“What was the complaint?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He said it was a private matter.”

“You deserve to know if it was the cause of your termination.”

“That’s what I said, but there was no changing his mind.” She sighed and met my eyes. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Jake.”

We were going to fix this. My friends and I would figure it out. Once I got Chloe involved, she would find a way to undo this mess. Wyatt would happily pay for whatever Mr. Hernandez thought he got for free. We could clean this up.

“Come with me.” I stood and offered my hand.

She stared at it. “No, Jake. I don’t feel like going anywhere.”

“We’re going to find the Pride.”

She closed her eyes then sighed again. “Let me change.”