“So, you and Patrick Kane, eh?” Duncan stopped next to Haley’s desk and looked down at her. Seeing her together with that guy hadn’t been a pleasant view and he’d wanted to talk to her more, but the chance to share a beer with a couple of guys from the Blackhawks had been too tempting.
“Yeah. Me and Patrick.” Slowly Haley raised her eyes to look at him. She didn’t want to talk about this, but she had to someday. Better to get it over with now. After all, there wasn’t that much to tell right now.
“How did you two meet?”
“We know each other because of Jonathan. We’ve been friends for ages and he introduced us.”
“So, that concert wasn’t your first date?”
“How do you…” She trailed off because she already knew the answer. There were photos of them on the internet and news traveled fast in this building. It was surprising that he only asked her now. “Well, the first official date, but we’ve met at Jonathan’s place or Patrick’s place before.”
“You were a little surprised to see him here, weren’t you?” Duncan looked at her, confusion written all over his face, but he quickly covered it up with a smile. He still wanted her to go out with him. And he’d find a way to do that. But therefore he’d have to get rid of Patrick Kane first. He might be a hockey player, but Duncan knew a thing or two about getting rid of someone to get what you wanted.
“I was, yes.” Of course she’d been surprised, because this hadn’t been planned, but she could hardly go ahead and tell Duncan that. “I’d thought that I’d only see him after the game, so seeing him here was completely out of the blue.” Haley put on a smile before she continued. “He loves to tease and irritate me, though and he’d achieved that by appearing here. And I had wanted to tell at least you about this relationship myself and not like this. Sorry, Duncan. I really planned on telling you.”
“Don’t worry, sweetcheeks.” He winked at her and put his hands in his pockets. “Does he make you happy? Because if he doesn’t, I’ll go and talk to him.”
Sweetcheeks? Had he really just called her that? She had to admit, it sounded kind of cute, but it wasn’t appropriate for him to call her that. If Jonathan did something like that, it would be different.
“Yes, he makes me happy, but thank you for offering.” She had to smile at that. If anything ever happened, Jonathan would be the first one to be there and make Patrick regret what he’d done. Luckily none of that would ever happen, since it was a fake relationship.
“Anytime.” Duncan looked at her for a moment longer, before he turned around to get to his own desk. He still had work to do, but he’d needed to talk to her.
Haley was able to concentrate on her work for about half an hour before the next person approached her. It was a girl around her own age, whose name was Jillian. She’d been with the newspaper for half a year when Haley joined them.
Jillian was a really nice girl and not to brisk with her questions. She seemed genuinely interested in Haley and what she had to say. Jillian herself was a huge hockey fan, so she was surprised to see someone at her place of work in a relationship with one of the Blackhawks. But Haley’s and Patrick’s relationship was only the topic for the first few minutes. They moved on to spend their lunch break together and talked about all kinds of things.

When Patrick looked around the locker room after he’d put down his bag, most of the guys were already busy getting their stuff ready, but Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp entered the room, dressed casually and looking worried. Something was definitely wrong and they’d find out in a minute what it was. To be fair, Jonathan had already taken off his coat, but Patrick looked like he was ready to leave the room any minute.
“Guys, can I get your attention for a moment?” Jonathan’s voice boomed through the room, making everyone drop what they’d had in their hands. They turned around to him and realized what Patrick had already realized before them. “Thanks. I have to tell you some unpleasant news.” Jonathan obviously had trouble finding the right words, so Patrick Sharp stepped in for him.
“I got a call from the hospital. Viktor got into a car accident and since I’m his emergency contact they called me.” Some guys gasped, others stayed completely silent. Oh, fuck. “He’s okay as far as I know. I’m heading to the hospital now. I already talked to everyone else and I’ll let you know what I find out when I get there.”
Patrick nodded at Jonathan before he left the room again. He probably wanted to get to the hospital as fast as possible. Good, someone had to be there for Viktor.
“I know this is bad news, but we still have to get through this training. And leave for Nashville tomorrow.” Jonathan made sure that everyone got back to work, before he left the room for a moment again. Patrick followed him.
“You okay?” he asked his friend.
“Yeah, fine. Just a bit shocked.”
“Who wouldn’t be? But I’m sure he’ll be fine. Especially when Patrick goes to visit him right now.”
“I know, I know.” Jonathan smiled at his teammate and nodded towards the locker room. “And you better get back in there. I’ll join you guys on the ice a bit later. I have something to talk to the coach about first.”

Notes

So, I got another spin-off from this story, centering around Viktor Stalberg, called "I'm With You (Don't Tell Me)"
Just to let you know