THIAGO
I felt Anastasia’s head land on my shoulder and immediately froze.
My chest tightened, and I kept my eyes fixed straight ahead. At first, I seriously considered waking her up right away because having the player’s sister sleeping on me went against all my rules about my discipline, but after looking around and seeing that half the team was completely asleep as well, I decided against it.
Kier was snoring softly a few rows behind us, and the coach was resting his eyes at the front of the bus, so I figured it was better to avoid making a big scene in the middle of the quiet ride.
Unfortunately, Cassian noticed what was happening almost immediately. The rookie walked past our row on his way back from the small restroom at the back of the bus, and he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Anastasia sleeping deeply on my arm. The wide grin on his face instantly annoyed me, and I felt my jaw tighten as he leaned down slightly to look closer at us.
"Well, look at this," Cassian whispered, keeping his voice low so the others wouldn’t wake up. "Things are getting interesting a lot quicker than I expected, Captain."
"Keep walking, Brooks," I said, and my voice came out in a low, dangerous growl. "Keep walking before you find yourself running solo laps at the next practice facility."
Cassian just chuckled softly, but he raised his hands in surrender and continued walking down, back to his own seat. I let out a slow breath and tried to relax, but my shoulder felt incredibly stiff for the rest of the long drive.
By the time the bus finally arrived at the private airport terminal, the driver slammed the brakes slightly and the sudden movement shook the vehicle.
Anastasia woke up instantly, and she blinked her eyes a few times before she realized exactly what had happened. She jumped away from me so quickly that her shoulder hit the window frame, and the sudden commotion caused a few nearby players to look over and start laughing out loud.
Her entire face turned completely red within seconds, and she immediately started adjusting her camera bag and apologizing to me.
"I am so sorry, Thiago, I didn’t mean to do that," she muttered, looking down at her shoes. "I was just so tired from editing files all night, and I completely lost track of where I was."
"Relax, Anastasia, it isn’t a big deal," I said, standing up to grab my travel bag from the overhead compartment. "Everyone was asleep on the ride anyway."
My words didn’t seem to help her at all, and she looked deeply embarrassed for the rest of the walk to the airport terminal. She kept her head down and walked a few steps behind the main group, refusing to look at me or any of the other players who were still joking around.
During the actual flight, things only became worse for her. We boarded the private team plane, and Anastasia discovered that her assigned seat was located directly across from mine. She stopped in the middle of the row and stared down at her ticket with a look of pure frustration.
"Someone clearly hates me," she muttered to herself, but she said it loud enough for the staff member to hear.
"I am sorry, Anastasia, but the seating assignments are completely random for the media crew on this trip," the staff member simply reminded her, checking his clipboard and moving past her. "There are no other open seats left on this flight, so you need to sit down so we can take off."
She let out a quiet sigh and slid into her seat, pulling her portfolio binder tight on her lap. For the entire duration of the flight, she avoided looking in my direction, and she kept her eyes glued to her computer screen while I spent my time reviewing the team playbooks for the Boston game.
A few hours later, the plane landed safely and the team finally arrived at their destination city. The luxury travel buses brought us straight to the team hotel, and everyone carried their bags into the lobby to check into their rooms, but another major logistical problem appeared right away.
The hotel manager came out of the back office looking completely stressed, and he explained to our team coordinator that there was a massive booking issue with the system. Due to a double-booking issue with another group, several of our reserved rooms needed to be completely rearranged and changed before anyone could get their keys.
While the administrative staff tried their best to fix the problem, all the players and coaches gathered in the center of the lobby, sitting on the couches and waiting for the keys.
Anastasia was standing near a large pillar, checking the messages on her phone to pass the time, when her facial expression suddenly changed.
All the color drained out of her face, and her hands started shaking visibly as she stared down at the screen. I was standing right next to her by the pillar, and because she looked like she was about to fall over, I couldn’t help but glance down at her phone screen to see what was wrong.
A contact named Bellamy had sent her a text message along with a large screenshot from a public social media platform.
> Bellamy:Ana, you need to see this right now. Someone just posted this on the main hockey forum, and it is spreading fast.
I looked closer at the attached screenshot, and I read the text that was typed.
> HockeyInsider_NY: Hearing rumors that the New York Titans just hired Anastasia Bian as their new official photographer. Isn’t she the same freelance photographer who got blacklisted lately for stealing private athlete photos and leaking them to rival blogs? Bold move for a team in a championship run.
The online post was gaining a massive amount of attention and likes within minutes, and people in the comments were already starting to mention her full name and tag the official Titans account.
I looked up from the screen and saw that Anastasia’s breathing had become shallow, and her eyes were wide with a sudden wave of panic as she stared at the phone.