Chapter 14
Fourteen
Rhodes
I watch Finn disappear down the hall before heading for the locker room.
Only to find Shep standing in my path, smirking.
“Someone have a crush?” he quips.
“You know, just because I didn’t kick your ass over the summer doesn’t mean I won’t do it now.”
He just grins and waves. “See you at the next game, Calder.”
Asshole.
I start for the locker room again. I need to shower, stretch, do my recovery exercises.
Then I need to get on the bus that will take us to the team’s plane.
“You know,” Shep calls. “We’re staying in town to play the Grizzlies. If you need me to check in on your girl—”
“I’m going to kill him,” I mutter, turning back—
King’s standing between me and the annoying fuck.
“Breathe,” he orders quietly.
“I’d rather stop him from breathing,” I grind out.
King chuckles but doesn’t release me.
Which is probably for the best.
“He’s an asshole.”
“That’s true enough,” King says. “But I heard some things through the grapevine.”
I open my mouth to ask—
But don’t get the chance.
Because then King is calling, “What’s this I hear about you and Cedar Hollow’s favorite florist?”
I still, my gaze going down the hall…
And then I’m grinning.
Because Shep’s not smiling.
Nope. He looks like he’s seen a ghost.
“What have you heard?” he demands, taking a step toward us.
“Nothing important, Hall,” King says. “Just that she might be down with finding a hockey player to fu—”
Shep lurches toward him. “Don’t you fucking talk about Clover like—”
King stops him with a hand on his chest. “Then don’t fuck with Rhodes’s woman, yeah?”
A long, tense silence.
Then Shep inclines his head toward me. “I didn’t realize she was yours.”
Rhodes’s woman.
Mine.
No.
Absolutely not.
Finn can’t be mine.
Except…the want clawing at my insides, the need, the yearning…
They don’t seem to care about that.
“We clear now?” King asks.
Shep’s eyes clash with mine.
Then he nods tersely and walks away, leaving King and I and…
Christ.
An entire hallway’s worth of my teammates.
All of whom are smirking.
“The nanny,” Wilder says.
Then ducks when Huddy goes to smack him on the back of the head.
West opens his mouth, his eyes dancing, and…it’s not murder if it’s my teammates, right?
Like there’s a special commendation or something for acts of violence committed against annoying assholes?
Yeah.
Probably more jail time.
I scrub a hand over my face, blow out a breath.
“I mean, it is cliché,” Cam mutters. “His nanny?”
“More cliché than falling for your brother’s girl?” I snap.
His mouth presses flat.
“Exactly,” I growl. “Now shut up about Finn.”
“But we’ve had so few things to give you shit about,” he says, undeterred like the typical younger brother he is.
“Exactly,” King adds, like the typical older brother he is.
“Hey,” West chimes in. “I’m just glad he’s not moping around here anymore. I’ll take him being interested in anyone of any gender. Hell, I’d even take him being interested in a Hawk.” He says the last like it’s the most disgusting prospect on the planet.
And maybe it is, fucking assholes that they are.
“This is my nightmare,” I grit out.
“Nah, what’s a nightmare is you being grumpy and blue-balled because you have a crush on your nanny but don’t want to admit it,” Hudson says. “Just let the love in, my friend.”
“And how’s that going for you?” I counter.
He scowls, rubs at his injured leg.
Because him being in love with Coach Dee is common knowledge by now.
And fucking complicated as hell.
“Exactly,” I mutter.
“But what if the nanny doesn’t want him?” Wilder asks. “We don’t want our Rhodsie boy to get his heart broken.”
Fuck it, I’ll take whatever jail time they decide to give me.
I whip back around, but Rome is suddenly in front of me. “Leave it,” he says.
To me. To Wilder.
To the rest of them.
I grind my teeth together.
But I listen to my captain.
So, I just shake my head, ignore the assholes who are my teammates, and start for the locker room to get undressed.
“Don’t worry, Rook,” I hear as I step inside, King’s voice carrying—probably deliberately—down the hall. “If he were self-aware enough to see how she looked at him then you’d know the Rhodes is at no risk of heartbreak.”
I halt, but only for a millisecond, those words hitting me with enough force to wound.
She looks at me? How?
And what does he mean about me not being at risk of a broken heart?
That all swirls around me, leaving me in earshot for long enough to hear King add dryly, “Blue balls though?” A pause. “Yeah, he’s at definite risk of those.”
The hall fills with laughter.
Fucking assholes.
My phone buzzes as I walk down the plane’s aisle toward my seat and I stifle the blip of panic that slices through me.
Then the next when I see Finn’s name on the screen.
I drop down, shove my bag under the seat.
Then open her text.
FINN: She’s asleep. For real this time.
The picture she’s attached shows Chloe passed out in bed, Olive and Pear curled against her.
Fuck, my daughter’s adorable.
And the damned cats are too.
RHODES: Don’t worry. I’m sure that trio will find some way to create trouble.
FINN: Probably. But I don’t mind.
RHODES: Because you’re likely to join in?
FINN: Is that judgement I hear?
RHODES: Nope. Just truth.
FINN: Rude.
I chuckle, and I should probably pocket my phone, lest I give the guys any more fodder to give me shit about.
But I can’t just yet.
RHODES: The drive home was okay?
FINN: If you’re asking if any rogue attractive hockey players tried to lure us off course then the answer is no.
RHODES: How about unattractive ones?
FINN: Is there such a thing?
I laugh, despite the bolt of jealousy the ricochets through my insides.
Does she think Shep is attractive? Does she think I am?
RHODES: I don’t know. Is there?
FINN: Oh, I’m sure there are. But I’d probably just tell them to keep their helmets on and all would be good.
Now I laugh loud enough to draw the attention of my teammates.
And I can’t find a fuck to give.
RHODES: I’ll keep that in mind.
FINN: See that you do.
The conversation lulls and I wonder what to say next—or if there even is anything to say.
FINN: I’m going to head to bed.
I start typing out a reply, but another text comes through.
FINN: Thanks for letting me come to the game tonight. It was really fun.
I delete, start typing again.
FINN: Safe flight and good luck on the road trip.
Shaking my head, I say the only thing I can.
RHODES: Goodnight, Finn.
She doesn’t reply.
Which is probably for the best.