Chapter Eleven
“How have you been, June Bug?”
I stare at my brother’s smiling face on Connectivity Video Connect and roll my eyes. “I keep thinking one day you won’t call me that, yet here we are.”
Jamie flashes me a huge grin. “It’s not my fault you tripped over my hockey gear, landed on your back, and curled up like a dead June bug when we were in high school.”
“If you and Ethan would ever pick up your shit, I never would have tripped and landed like a June bug,” I counter, referring to my other hockey-playing brother.
We both laugh. It’s Wednesday night, and I’m catching up with Jamie before the Manatees play Orlando. It’s eleven at night in Zurich, but only five o’clock in Miami, and we try to talk to each other at least once a week.
“Don’t worry, not only will I not forget this nickname, but I’ll also be sure to share it with your next boyfriend,” Jamie threatens.
I feel a blush heat my cheeks as I imagine him telling Aiden my nickname. Aiden would love this story. I can just pict—
“Whoa. Is there a boyfriend?”
I blink. Jamie’s blue eyes—exactly like mine—are staring at me inquisitively.
“What? No,” I lie. And I immediately hate myself for it. I’ve never lied to Jamie. Or Ethan. We’ve always been close.
But for now? I have to protect Aiden. Even if that means lying to my brothers.
“You’re lying,” Jamie says, his stare growing more intense.
“No, I’m not,” I say, pretending to laugh.
God, now I’m reduced to fake laughing for my brother? I hate this.
Yet I’m willing to do it for a chance to date Aiden.
Now Jamie laughs. “Oh my God, that’s the fakest laugh I’ve ever heard. You ARE dating someone!”
I remain silent.
“Are you dating a soccer player?” he asks suspiciously.
“What? Date where I work? No, thank you!”
I can tell he’s biting the inside of his cheek, something Jamie has always done when he is thinking. “You’re not dating a hockey player, are you? Christ, please tell me you aren’t seeing someone on Dad’s team!”
“No!” I cry.
He stares at me. “You’re hooking up with a dude on the team, aren’t you?”
“No, I am not!”
“Who is it? What kind of player hooks up with the coach’s daughter? I can tell you what kind. A complete as—”
“I’m not hooking up with anyone,” I interrupt.
“And this is exactly why I keep things private. I’m an adult.
It’s about time you and Ethan recognized that.
I can make my own decisions about my life.
I don’t need lectures. If I wanted your advice, I’d ask for it.
And the last thing I want is you two running off to Dad and setting him off. No thank you.”
“So it is a Manatee,” Jamie says, his eyes narrowing.
Suddenly I lose my cool. I thought in a moment like this—when someone stumbled onto the truth—I’d panic. Continue to try and lie my way out of it, with my heart racing in my chest and a sick feeling in my stomach.
But right now?
I’m freaking pissed off.
And I decide it’s time to tell Jamie exactly how I feel.
“You know, Jamie, you and Ethan have run interference for my entire dating life, and I’m sick of it.
I know you had teammates in the past who wanted to ask me out, and you two scared the shit out of anyone who came close to me.
I thought it would end when you started your professional careers, yet here we are.
I know I can’t stop you from telling Ethan or Dad, but that would piss me off.
I know how this looks. Believe me, I know.
I know the implications for Dad and the player involved.
You asked what kind of player would date the coach’s daughter? Well, I’m going to tell you.
“The player who made this choice is not an asshole, like you think he is. Or looking for a forbidden hookup,” I continue, my voice shaking angrily.
“We both tried to be just friends. But we couldn’t because there’s something between us.
Something so much more than a hookup. We know the consequences of what we’re doing, but because we have found something special in each other, we’re willing to risk it.
He is risking everything just for a chance to get to know me. Everything.”
Jamie stares at me, looking absolutely shocked. As if he doesn’t know who I’ve become. And all it does is fuel me to keep going.
“He is the kind of man who listens when I speak,” I say, my voice shaking with anger.
“Who makes me laugh. Who has spent hours with me, and we haven’t even come close to having sex.
The last time I saw him? He was happy to sit on the floor and play with Mochi and Matcha and hang out with me.
So if this is the quote-unquote dangerous player you’re worried about, you can just stop it.
I have not told Dad because we want to get to know each other.
If we get serious, then we will go to him—and not ask permission, but to inform him we’re dating.
Now, you can go off and tell Mom and Dad if you feel the need to freaking tattle on me.
Do it if you don’t want to treat me like an adult.
But know if you do, you’re going to change the relationship between us, and that’s on you. ”
The words have all come out in a rush, and I have to take a big breath after speaking. My heart is slamming angrily against my ribs, and I’m shaking with anger.
Yes, I’ve played my hand here, and it’s a dangerous one. If Jamie goes to Dad, it will ruin everything between me and Aiden. Aiden might be furious that I’ve told Jamie this much, let alone having my dad find out.
But I’ve still concealed his identity.
I glare at Jamie, who is still staring at me in shock. “Well?” I snap.
“Are you done? You kind of had a monologue going.”
“Yes.”
He nods. “Okay. Well, you’ve made your point.”
Hm. Better response than I thought I’d get, but still disappointing that he hasn’t come over to my side.
“Is it Aiden Wentworth?” Jamie asks quietly.
I suck in a shocked breath. How did he know? How?
I don’t say anything. I can’t. I won’t.
“Scar, if you had to date a player on Dad’s team, that’s the guy I’d want you to date,” he finally says.
What?
“Why?” I ask, curious.
“You’re right. We’re not all assholes. Or players off the ice.
I mean, if you told me you were dating Beckham Bailey, I’d recite a monologue to you right back on all the reasons you should run from that guy.
He’s freaking trouble. Or Wyatt Wentworth.
That dude is hookup only, and I do NOT need to know if that’s your thing.
I’m your brother,” he says with pure disgust.
Despite myself, I laugh at that, and Jamie gives me a small smile.
“I could name other guys on that team that you should run from. But Aiden? Dad has always talked highly of him. How dedicated he is, that he seems to have a good head on his shoulders, that he’s one of the guys he never has to worry about. He seems like your type. Am I right?”
“I’m not going to say. I can’t tell you that without talking to him first.”
“It’s Aiden. I know it is.”
I don’t say anything.
He rakes a hand through his jet-black hair and exhales. “You’re right, though.”
I quirk a brow. “Do you mean that?”
He smiles sheepishly at me. “Yeah.” Jamie’s expression grows serious.
“I’m sorry, Scarlett. My instinct has always been to protect my baby sister.
I don’t apologize for that. But I do apologize for stepping over the line tonight.
You’re the smartest woman I know. You wouldn’t risk all of this if the guy weren’t a good guy.
You know what you’re doing, and I trust you.
Especially after hearing all of that. You grew up while I’ve been off playing in Switzerland. I just missed the memo.”
“I promise you, he’s a great guy.”
“Yeah, Aiden is,” Jamie says knowingly.
I refuse to comment.
He grins. “It’s definitely Aiden.”
“I’m not telling you, Jamie. Not yet.”
His expression shifts from teasing to serious again. “I won’t say anything to Ethan or Mom and Dad. This is your business. You’re right about that.”
Inside, I heave a huge sigh of relief. Jamie has always been true to his word, and if he tells me it’s my business, he means it.
“If the guy I’m seeing is okay with it, I’ll tell you who it is,” I promise. “But I have to ask him first. We talk about everything together.”
“Shit, this is an adult relationship, isn’t it?”
I giggle at that. “You might want to try one.”
He shakes his head. “No thank you. I’m busy trying to get my game perfected so I can get a crack at the NHL again. A relationship is asking for drama, which I can’t stand.”
“Why do you think all relationships are drama?”
He lifts one shoulder in a lazy shrug. “Aren’t they?”
“No!”
“Whatever. I don’t have time to seriously commit to a girl.”
I study him carefully. My oldest brother is handsome, with his dark hair and inked body. Funny. Protective. Hardworking. Honest. Loyal. He has a lot of the traits I admire in Aiden. I have no doubt he’ll be an excellent boyfriend someday.
When he chooses to be one, I think slyly.
“What?” Jamie asks, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Why do I think some girl is going to come along and make you change your mind about everything you just said?” I tease.
“If she’s super-hot, I might consider it.”
I roll my eyes, and he laughs.
Our conversation shifts to hockey, talking about his schedule for the upcoming week in the National League, which is the top-tier league in Switzerland. Then we talk about Real Miami and my job before we finally get off the phone just as Aiden’s game is about to begin.
Aiden’s game.
Not Dad’s game, not the Manatees game, but Aiden’s game.
I sit down on the sofa, lifting my gaze to the TV screen. Aiden has been in my life for a short period of time, but he’s already become my focus. That’s how different this relationship is—and how much this man means to me.
The announcers are going over some of the things to look for in tonight’s game, and I patiently wait to see if they discuss Aiden. Or show me Aiden. That would be preferable. I love seeing him on the ice, playing the sport he loves, and looking impossibly hot while doing it.
I think about our last date—joking about my in-house Mexican food restaurant, playing with Mochi and Matcha, then making out so much my lips were swollen by the time he left.
Because we talk a lot, I already feel as if I know him almost better than I do anyone else.
Aiden gets me on a whole new level, in a way nobody else ever has.
I’m crushing so hard on him, and it’s exhilarating.
Yet terrifying.
Because I am also falling a little bit in love with him, too.
When the game begins and I finally see Aiden on the ice, I get butterflies.
He looks so sexy in his black uniform, so big and imposing and physical with the way he plays defense.
Aiden skates backward, quickly turning with the change in possession, and fights the Orlando player against the boards to get possession of the puck, sending it back up the ice.
“Yes, Aiden!” I call out, as if he can hear me.
Then I frown. I wonder what he would think if he heard my conversation with Jamie.
I didn’t reveal him, but Jamie knows.
Will Aiden be upset I didn’t conceal it? Will he be pissed?
I’ll have to talk to him about it tomorrow, when he’s home.
And all I can do is hope that Aiden isn’t upset that I didn’t hide our relationship like I should have.