Chapter 3 Archangel
THREE
ARCHANGEL
There is something about speaking to my family that completely drains me.
It doesn’t matter if we just talk about the weather or the hat Granny wore to church, my body instantly goes into fight or flight.
So I’m still processing the call after dinner when Wolfe finds me sitting in the living room staring at the wall.
“What’s wrong?” Wolfe doesn’t even try to start with small talk. It’s one of the reasons I love him.
“How do you know anything’s wrong?” I toss my phone aside and lean back, sliding my hands behind my head.
“Because you’ve been glaring at your phone, feverishly texting while making that face you do when you talk to your parents.” He gives me a knowing look.
“Sometimes I hate that you’re one of the only straight men who actually pays attention.”
“Do you want me to be a bad friend or no?” He crosses his arms, and I feel like he knows the figure it cuts and what it does to people. If he doesn’t, maybe that’s better. He shouldn’t be able to use that against the unsuspecting public.
“My sister is getting married,” I say unceremoniously but hold my breath.
I’ve been putting off telling him all day. It’s going to hurt him, and I don’t want to be the cause. I also don’t want to witness the devastation. Something inside me feels like it will be the last nail in the coffin of my crush. I’m not ready to let it go. But I can’t keep it from him.
“She finally found someone to fall for her bullshit?” Wolfe rolls his eyes. The reaction is better than I could have hoped, but I hope it’s not performative. He’s soft inside, and I hate that he ever hid it to make her happy.
“She did. Are you upset?”
He shakes his head. “I’m great.”
I don’t know if I believe him, so I decide to test the waters. “I’m honestly just shocked she settled down. She seemed like she was going to make ‘puck bunny’ her whole personality.”
“Me too, and so young. She’s barely twenty-two. I expected her to move into the big leagues with the NHL.”
I laugh, but it hits me in the chest. “Don’t let it get to you.”
“She can’t hurt me.” Wolfe’s voice is bitter, and I know he’s lying about not being hurt. He still hasn’t dated anyone in all this time.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to tell you because I don’t want you hurt.” I step closer and open my arms to hug him.
“I’m not. I just don’t like her,” Wolfe says, but I know he’s lying.
He hasn’t been the same since she cheated.
He accepts my hug, and I melt into his arms. We stay like that for longer than I probably should allow, but when he pulls back, he asks me the last thing I want him to. “Who’s she marrying?”
“You don’t want to know.”
He growls, and I bite back a laugh. He’s huge and would be terrifying if I didn’t know him so well. His growl is more like a dog that I know is going to bound around and lick my face later. I just can’t take it seriously.
“Just fucking tell me.”
“He’s a goalie.” I close one eye, bracing for the freak out.
“For who, Wilder?” Wolfe used my first name, making me cringe.
“Don’t call me that.” I rub my forehead, not sure how to tell him.
“Spit it out. Or I’ll do it again.” He’s serious, too.
“I warned you.” On the next exhale, I say, “The Monsters.”
Betrayal colors his expression. The knife cuts deep.
They are our biggest rivals and real fucking bastards.
She couldn’t have planned hurting him better if she tried.
They’d even talked about her going to his rival school.
If only I’d known she’d always planned on getting an MRS degree with the aim of securing a hockey player.
I just wish I’d known that before she’d had a chance to hurt my best friend.
His lip curls in a snarl. “She’s marrying Ace?”
I nod. Of course my sister would pick a guy like Mark Ace.
“How long have you been keeping this from me?”
I hold up my hands. “My mom just called me.”
“You know what I mean. How long have they been together?”
“A year and a half,” I mutter, not making eye contact.
He grabs his coat and heads for the door.
I walk after him. “Where are you going? Don’t be mad at me, please. I didn’t think she’d fucking marry him. I figured she’d fuck him over too…” I trail off when Wolfe turns, and he’s…laughing. “What?”
He’s finally lost it.
“We’re going to go celebrate. She’s going to make his life fucking miserable.” He lifts my coat off the hook, holding it out for me.
“I told you, I’m going to the gay club tonight.”
“I know I already said I was coming.” He shakes my coat at me. “We can pregame at the bar first.”
“Fine.” I take it reluctantly, feeling like this is a trap. “You’re not upset?”
“Nope.” He’s got that damn look on his face. The smug one that means something is going to go down. “It couldn’t happen to a better person. I love this for him.”
“I don’t like that look.”
“Why not?” He’s too cheerful.
“Because I know what it means.”
Wolfe opens the door. “What does it mean, Angel baby?”
I groan and drag my feet at the nickname. “It means you identify as a problem, so it’s going to be a long night.”
“Maybe I’m going to identify as a problem until we play them again and I can tell him I fucked her first before the game.” He strolls down the street like he’s lighter than air, and I’m happy he’s taking this well.
My mouth drops open. “Oh, he’s gonna fight you.”
“He’s going to want to murder me. I can’t wait.” He’s giddy, and it makes me happy. As long as I don’t think about it too hard, and what it means in the long term.
“You know most people wouldn’t think that’s getting over someone, but for you, this is good.” I feel so much lighter.
“Can you imagine his face? Please do not let him find out before.” He opens the door for me, and we walk into the crisp air.
I glance over. “My sister won’t tell him.”
She’s too prideful.
“We are going to kick their ass this season with their goalie that mad. Please tell me the wedding is before the Frozen Four.”
I shake my head. “It’s not.”
“Still. I’m going to enjoy saying it to his face.”
“I can’t even be mad if it wins us the game.” I hate the Monsters.
We all do.
“When’s the wedding?” he asks as we settle into a booth at our favorite sports bar.
“In May.” I pick up my beer, relaxing some.
“That’s fast to plan a wedding. Is she pregnant?” How does he know all this? Straight men don’t know about planning weddings.
“I don’t think so. It’s not that fast—” I cut myself off, realizing what I’m giving away.
He pops a brow, and I know I fucked up. “So they’ve been engaged a little while.”
“Since the end of the summer.” It’s only been a couple of months.
Wolfe doesn’t touch his beer. He leans forward with his elbows on the table. “So you’ve known a while.”
“No, not really. You know I don’t speak to my family a lot.
You know how they’ve been with everything.
I had no idea when they were having the wedding.
” I down my shot and then pick up my beer, shuddering.
“That’s why my mom called, she was basically telling me I had to come to the wedding or else. ”
“They still being dicks?” Wolfe’s entire mood changes. He turns into the big teddy bear I love.
“Yep. That’s why I don’t want to go. Especially if they expect me not to be myself.”
“You can’t do that to your grandfather. He’ll want to see you.” Wolfe’s right.
My grandfather is the only reason I still go back and I don’t go back and see him enough.
“That’s what my mother said too.” I sat back, drinking half my glass. “I’d be a real jackass if I didn’t show up, but I can’t deal with all those assholes.” I sink lower in the booth.
“What are they going to do at a wedding?” He comes with me when I go home sometimes, because he never had anywhere else to go, but I know he doesn’t like to be there.
My family treats him like a son, even if he and my sister didn’t end up together.
“They don’t behave themselves at Thanksgiving. You’ve seen it. They get drunk and stupid. What do you think a wedding in Georgia is going to be like?”
“What will they do?” Wolfe is thinking about my words too hard.
“The same stuff they’ve been doing for years. Calling me a fucking sissy. A fem boy. Whispering and laughing any time I’m near. Asking me if I’m the girl in the relationship. They think all gay guys are feminine.”
“Feminine?” He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “How do they figure? You’ve got more muscle than all of them combined and play the manliest sport ever.”
I lift my shoulders. “They just see me differently.”
But I know what it is. It’s how I dress and act. Even my fucking voice.
He rolls his neck, and I see his mind working.
“Stop doing that.”
“What?” he asks with a smirk.
“You’re thinking. I don’t like when you think. Nothing good comes from it.”
“I think you’ll like this one.”
My blood runs cold. “Maybe we should just drink.”
“Take me as your date.” His words go off like a bomb in my head. “Let them call me any of those names.”
I sputter. “They know you’re straight. You literally dated my sister whose wedding we are talking about!”
He lifts his shoulders. “And? They won’t believe I can be bisexual and fuck both their son and their daughter?”
I laugh because I can’t believe he’s being serious right now. Wolfe is the straightest guy I know. “You seriously want to go to Georgia and act gay for a weekend?”
“I’d do anything for you, and to piss off your sister, her fiancé, and make my grandfather smile.”
“Fuck. This is a bad idea.”
“But you’re going to enjoy it.”