Chapter Thirty-Four #2
“Oh God. You came on to her, didn’t you?” I guess, my face scrunching in disgust.
“Of course I did, she is a smokeshow,” he laughs, and Aiden’s shoulders shake next to me, clearly knowing where this story is going. “But before she could fall in love with me your dear husband here threw a puck at my head. Well, he tried to, didn’t you?”
“What does that mean?” I ask, looking up at him.
“I missed.” He closes his eyes while he admits it.
Rook laughs loudly, struggling to catch his breath. “He didn’t just miss, he hit Coach Mitch!” he yells, throwing back the rest of his drink. Aiden drops his head to my shoulder but I burst into giggles myself. Everyone jeers and laughs as they move on to the next thing.
Seeing them like this, so open with each other, I know what Ellis means when she says the guys are a family.
They all see Aiden as the team dad who they can depend on.
Edge is the grumpy uncle. They all have their roles.
It makes me miss the idea of family. We were never like this but I wonder if we were ever happy.
If all my bad memories are overshadowing all the good.
I know my mom loves me, even if she has a hard time showing it. My dad, I’m not so sure.
Still, it makes me wistful. I don’t know if it is the alcohol clouding my judgement but I pull my phone out of my purse to fire a message off to my dad.
He is proud – even if he has come around on my sexuality, I doubt he would reach out.
I want to take that step. If Lyndsey Stone can end up married to an ice hockey player, I guess anything is possible.
Hey, I hope you’re good. Can we get together one day, talk. I think
it would be good.
I type quickly and hit send before I can regret it. It’s only a few minutes later that I get a reply. It’s not the one I want.
Who is this?
Instantly tears spring to my eyes, but I blink them away.
I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess having so many loving people around me confused me.
Made me realise that I’m loveable, so my parents must love me deep down.
I’m wrong. How can he not have his only daughter’s number saved?
How soon after I left did he delete me from his life?
Sensing my distress, Aiden hooks a finger under my chin, pulling my attention from my phone to him. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asks, his eyes suddenly blazing. He looks down at my phone but the screen has turned dark.
“My family hates me, nothing new,” I tell him around the lump in my throat. I see pity in his eyes but he quickly replaces it with burning determination. Keeping his finger under my chin, he nudges my head so I can see the laughing guys all talking and joking together.
“You have a new family now,” he tells me, his lips close to my ears, his words just for me.
“I have a story.” Edge’s voice splits across the room, shocking me.
My eyes fly to him and his eyes shift between me, Aiden and my phone.
I think he sees my distress because he puts his own drink down in front of me, offering it to me.
Picking it up with a soft smile I sip the room-temperature beer.
“Did you know I have an A tattooed on my ankle because of your husband?” he tells me, and clearly Rook didn’t know this nugget of information because his head snaps to Edge with wide eyes.
“What?” Rook and I say at the same time, both with the same level of excitement.
“Oh yeah, we were both drunk and playing pool. He said if I won he would get a J tattoo but if he won I had to get an A.” He nods like it is the most normal thing in the world and I shake my head at their antics.
“And you lost?” I laugh, thinking that is the whole story. I’m wrong though because Edge glares at Aiden and shakes his head.
“Yeah, but only because he cheated,” he accuses, and I look up at my husband to see him smirking. Oh God. What did he do?
“How?” I ask, swinging my attention back to Edge. Rook is on the edge of his seat and everyone else is starting to pay attention now too. Looking at their captain in confusion.
“It was only while I was halfway through the tattoo that he dropped the act, the fucker wasn’t drunk.” My jaw all but hits the floor but Edge is smiling, if he was mad about it, I guess that has passed by now. “He hustled me because I was the new kid on the team.”
“Holy shit! Let me see!” Rook says, jumping up and lifting Edge’s pants leg. Shaking him off, Edge rolls up his other pants leg and pulls down his sock and right there, just above his ankle, is an intricate A permanently etched in his skin.
Even though I’m laughing, I turn to Aiden and slap him on his broad chest. “That was mean!”
“Yeah, it was also fucking hilarious,” he tells me, laughing and pulling me even closer to him, laying a kiss on my head.
I know why Edge did what he did and I’m so thankful. As Edge demands a rematch I put a lock on thoughts of my family. They have blocked me out of their minds and I guess it is time I do the same. At least now I’m not facing that daunting task alone. I doubt I’ll ever be alone again.