The Rookie

The days went by and I still was not jobless. Although I always got a little jumpy when some of the high ups unexpectedly came in to my office, not once had anyone mentioned the security cameras.

It was 4th of July weekend, and it was also the first event that Millie and I would be working. There was always a big celebration downtown and the whole Penguin’s crew would be present. We had arranged for them to do a meet and greet with fans and then a couple select guys would be doing interviews with some of the various television stations. I had to make sure that the boys were all present and behaved themselves; any troubles with the press and I would be getting fired. Not that I thought this would be a problem or anything. As far as I could tell, the guys all handled being in the public eye with much ease.

“So am I like not allowed to talk to you or anything while we’re down here?” Beau asked in a pathetic tone.

I shook my head.

“Sorry, babe. It’s only for a couple of hours.”

He frowned.

Beau was getting kind of restless about hiding the whole thing and I couldn’t blame him. It felt like I was lying to everyone around me and I knew that it was hard for him to lie to his teammates. Several times they had unexpectedly showed up at his apartment and I had been forced to sneak out. We were both taking extreme measures to keep our relationship a secret. The thought that someone could see proof of it via the security footage also was eating away at my conscience.

BUT…

As much as I was falling for Beau, the one thing that I had grown to love more since I had moved to Pittsburgh was my job. I was still trying to figure out a way to have them both in my life.

Beau parked the Range Rover and we both exited the car. He gave me a kiss before he walked the complete opposite direction as me. I waited a couple of moments before I made my way towards the team’s designated meeting area.

“Where the hell have you been?” Mille questioned as I walked up. I glanced at my watch and noticed that I was still fifteen minutes early. She always had to bitch about something…

I rolled my eyes and went to find Janet.

“Hey, kid. Got a job for you already.” She said in her thick Boston accent. I liked Janet. She was only about two years older then me and we had a lot in common. She also despised Millie, always a plus.

She led me over to the team.

“Crosby, Malkin, Bennett.” She called and the three guys came before us. I was having difficulty not making eye contact with Beau.

“You three will be talking to the television guys. Sage here is gonna prep you with the questions and make sure you don’t give any bull shit answers.”

Janet was also pretty intimidating. The guys just nodded their heads. She handed a clipboard to me as she walked away.

Great.

“Alright, uhm. Who wants to go first?” I asked.

Crosby and Malkin eyed each other and began to fight for my attention, while Beau took a step back. I appreciated the gesture, but in a way it annoyed me. I wanted him to tell the two guys to knock it off because I was taken, but I knew he couldn’t.

Finally, Crosby pulled the “I’m captain” card and was the first victim. The other two stood within earshot as I read off the questions to him. He was an old pro at how to do interviews and breezed through it with no problems. I gave him my approval and he went back towards the larger group of Penguin’s players.

Next came Malkin.

“So how is Independence Day in America different from where you are from?” I asked.

“Well, they not have hot girl like you.” He winked as he answered the question. I nervously laughed and caught a glance of Beau out of the corner of my eye. He was transfixed on his teammate. Fuck.

“Okay, let’s not say that in the interview.” I scolded him.

“Why not? You no have boyfriend, right? I tease.” The Russian continued. I knew he was just trying to flirt with me, he wasn’t trying to be a pig, but I also knew that my actual boyfriend was grinding his teeth ready to pounce on the guy.

“I buy you drink at Rugger tonight? Yes?”

And that was it.
Beau’s POV

Watching Geno sit there and put the moves on Sage was torture. I understood that he had no idea of our relationship, but still. I had thrown the idea out to her a couple of times about at least letting some of the guys on the team know about us, but she had refused. I was really regretting not pushing the subject further. At Evgeni’s last remark though, I couldn’t stop myself.

“Knock it off Geno. She doesn’t want to go out with you.” I said as I took a step closer to where him and Sage stood.

“What? She not your property? You had your chance.” I had forgotten that he was there the day James had informed me of his run in with Sage at Starbucks.

“Actually she is!” I said and immediately wished I could have taken it back. The commotion had drawn everyone’s attention to us and now it was silent.

Everyone standing in the area had heard our spat and everyone had just heard me declare Sage as my girlfriend. The cat was out of the bag now…

I turned my gaze back towards Sage, who’s face was now drained of all color. She had raised the clipboard over her opened mouth. I took a step towards her but she instantly threw the board to the ground and stormed off.

I knew better then to chase after her.

Sage’s POV

Reality had not fully sunk in. Had Beau really just said that?

I couldn’t even stop the tears from falling as I made my way back towards where the pop up tent was. I sat down on the ice chest and knew people were staring. Of course, the first one to actually speak was my favorite red head.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” Millie screamed as she rushed towards me. I was prepared to grab the girl by her hair and beat the shit out of her. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Janet come up here and abruptly fired me. Mine as well go out with a bang, right?

I took up ready to fight.

“Shut it Millie.” I heard a voice from behind me say.

It was Janet. Damn it.

“Sage, come take a walk with me.” She said in a very calm voice. Not one I would expect, but maybe she planned on letting me go in a nice manner.

I sighed, but walked over in her direction.

She lead me away from all of the chaos in complete silence.

“So you and the rookie, eh?” Janet finally said. Once again. Not what I was expecting.

“Look Janet, if you’re going to fire me… just get it over with. Don’t string me along.” I said kind of harshly.

She laughed slightly.

“I’m not going to fire you kid. I like you too much for that.” I stopped dead in my tracks. Had I just heard her correctly?

“You’re… You mean you’re not taking me out her to get rid of me?” I struggled to asked.

“Look kid. I know what you’re going through. Couple of years ago when I just started working for the Pengs, guess who caught my attention? Crosby. Guess who I tried to keep a secret relationship with? Crosby. But dipshit couldn’t keep his trap shut and word got out. Luckily, I had a boss who was pretty understanding and just told me to keep it professional. That’s exactly what I’m gonna tell you to do.”

I was too shocked the respond.

“And by professional, I mean no more fucking porno’s on the security cameras.”

I wanted to throw up at that last comment but at the same time rejoice at the fact that it was no longer a secret.

“You mean, you knew?”

“Yeah, and don’t worry. I had it all taken care of.”

Words could not even describe how I was feeling right now. I wasn’t one for hugs either, but I quickly took Janet in a big embrace.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I screamed in her ear.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I’m the best boss ever.”