3. Aiden
3
AIDEN
L iv might have left my life quietly but she certainly came back into it with a bang.
When the penthouse elevator dings, we all stand up to greet them. I hear Mrs. Winters start to sniffle behind me. As soon as the doors open, she steps forward with outstretched arms to greet her daughter.
“…My panties are none of your business.” Liv seethes, backing out of the elevator.
Mrs. Winters drops her arms and shares a long-suffering look with her husband. I don’t blame her, Max and Liv are always like this—either best friends or bitter enemies.
I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to recognize a happy medium even if it danced a naked jig in front of them. You’d think after five years of living in different states—nine, if you don’t count summer breaks—they’d have worked out whatever beef they have between them but that’s obviously not the case.
Why Max wanted her to come back is beyond me because she clearly still has some unresolved resentment toward him.
Then again, maybe them living together is a good thing. Constantly being in the same space might finally give her an opportunity to work through whatever she’s upset about or resentful of.
Even though I’ve known her, well, both of them really, since we were practically toddlers, I still can’t figure out what the issue is.
Sure, Max can be overprotective and annoying, but that’s basic brother stuff and to be honest, he kind of had to be.
From the second the five of us stepped into Foxcroft Prep, every single head turned her way. After hearing the talk in the locker rooms after our respective games—Max was the only freshman on varsity while Connor, Dimitri, and I were slumming it on JV—he set up a schedule so someone would always be available to walk her to every class.
So, for the first few weeks of school, she went from class to class with her nose in a book, completely oblivious to the herd of guys trying to “accidentally” bump into her.
Shit really hit the fan once the Foxes won three games in a row. Max was always three deep in a crowd of girls after that, and he could never manage to walk her to class. As a result, some creeps were able to slip through our net.
She couldn’t still be upset about that, could she? I mean, he tried his best, we all did.
On second thought, that would explain why she hasn’t gone out of her way to reach out to Dimitri, Connor, or me.
Talk about denial… don't tell me you actually believe that the reason she stopped talking to you when she went off to college was solely because some creeps hit on her in high school and not anything to do with…
Liv turns around, probably to find somewhere to stomp off to, and my mind immediately goes right into sketch mode. My hands twitch in search of a pencil that isn’t there as I take her in.
She’s always been beautiful, but now she’s a force to be reckoned with. The girlish roundness of her face has transformed into a near-perfect heart shape. Her outburst of temper has colored her cheeks pink, her eyes blazing.
I’d draw her—fierce, vibrant and powerful—with a spear or maybe a bow in her hands, I can’t decide.
Her arms are all lean muscle which would be perfect for an archer but then again, she’s also got legs like a ballerina, perfect for someone bracing themselves to throw a spear.
Maybe I’d do two drawings—one with the spear and a second with the bow.
I think about how I'd position her in the sketch, what expression I'd give her, and who or what else might be in it.
In my head, I force myself to list out all the names of the muscles, every single groove and nodule on the bones that make up how the human leg is formed. I cocoon myself in the technical knowledge so I can stay on my best behavior.
All I have to do is continue focusing on her from an artist’s distance. That way, I’ll be able to keep at bay the thoughts of those long legs wrapped around my head, tensing as I eat her like my last fucking meal.
I’m not sure how much time I’ve spent lost in my own head but the room is dead quiet.
Oh god, did I say any of that out loud?
No. No way. Max would have punched me already if I had.
Still, I feel the pressure of needing to break the tension and get everyone laughing again settling heavily on my shoulders. So, I blurt out the first G-rated thing I can think of.
“Uh, welcome home?”
Truly a masterstroke of conversational genius, Aiden. Why don’t you ask her about the drive over here next? That’ll definitely break the tension.
I clear my throat and try again. “You look nice. Did you have a good flight?”
She just stares at me. Thankfully, her mom saves me from any further embarrassment.
“How about Max and I show you where your room is while the guys start setting the table for dinner?” She glances back over her shoulder at us. “You boys don’t mind, do you?”
Like soldiers deferring to our commanding officer, Connor, Dimitri, and I all look to Max for the answer. If he needs us for support, we’re there no matter what his mom might want.
He clasps his hands in an exaggerated begging gesture and mouths the word “please.”
We can’t get a message any clearer than that so the three of us murmur our assent to Mrs. Winters and head toward the kitchen.
“What the hell was that out there?” Dimitri asks as we’re setting out the plates.
I plop down on one of the dining room chairs and drop my head into my hands. “I have no idea.”
“You choked hard on that one.” Connor agrees.
My head snaps up. “Like the two of you did any better?”
“You’re right.” He sighs. “Seeing her again is…”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Look, we were all thrown by seeing her again, but I don’t think this is the best place to be doing this,” Dimitri says.
“Drinks at my place after?” I ask.
“Yeah, that’ll work.”
Eventually the family files into the dining room. Everyone appears to be a little more relaxed, but it’s clear by the lingering air of tension that the peace is tentative.
The guys and I offer to help Mrs. Winters with the dishes she’s carrying over but she shoos us away.
“You boys are sweet but all I have to do is pop all this into the microwave. Go back into the dining room and sit.”
Things relax even more when all the food is on the table and everyone has something to do with their hands and mouths.
Unfortunately for me, though, I’m right across the table from Liv. I can’t keep my eyes off her. I can feel Max’s eyes boring into the side of my head so either I need to look away, or come up with something to say, and quickly.
“How do you feel about working for us after all that talk of how we weren’t the boss of you in high school?” I tease.
She laughs. “Well, actually I work for Pro Rink, not you. I’m just attached to your team. So, technically, you’re still not the boss of me.”
“Max is.”
“He is not.”
“Well, he is older than you.”
“Not you too,” she groans. “Six minutes. He’s only six minutes older than me. That's practically no time at all.”
“I don’t know. I can get an awful lot accomplished in six minutes. Hell, I can charm a woman into going home with me in half that time.”
“Watch it,” Max warns.
“Oh, don’t be such a buzzkill, Max.” Liv rolls her eyes then turns back to me. “That only works because you’re a pro hockey player.”
“That and they don’t know you,” Connor chimes in. Jealousy prickles across the back of my neck when she laughs at his joke.
“Exactly. Anyone who knows you would take a lot more convincing to get them to sit down at the same table as you, much less let you take them home.”
“Like whom?”
I know I’m on thin ice from the way Max is glaring at me, but I’m too enchanted by the mischief in Liv’s eyes to care all that much.
“I don’t know,” she says coyly. “Someone like me, for example.”
I know I shouldn’t say it but it slips out anyway. “I’m always up for a challenge.”
“Are you fucking serious, man? That’s my sister. She’s beyond off limits, and even if she wasn’t, my parents are right here,” Max growls.
Mr. Winters nods in agreement but an odd little smile plays on his mother’s face.
“I don’t know, Max,” she says. “You and your father are always going on and on about how there’s no one out there good enough for Olivia, but I see three excellent young men at our table right here.
“And if you boys don’t mind me saying so, quite good-looking ones to boot. I know these three almost as well as their parents do and?—”
Apparently, there is something that Max and Liv can agree on because at the exact same moment they cut her off with, “Seriously, Mom?”
She holds her hands up. “I’m not saying you should get married right this instant. I want to do a good bit of traveling before the two of you settle down and start having babies. A lot of hockey players retire in their early thirties.” She makes a point of staring each of us down. “All of you boys should be out there looking for a nice girl before you get your noses broken so many times that no one will want you. You’re young, you go out all the time. I’m sure you’ve met at least one nice girl that you could take home to your parents.”
Liv snickers, then immediately pales when her mother fixes the full force of her attention on her. I might have even felt a little bad for her if I wasn’t overwhelmed with relief that the spotlight wasn’t on me anymore.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, Missy,” she says sternly. “I’m giving you more time because I know you won't rest until you’re at the top of your field, but seeing that you’re finally covering the pro games, there’s not too much higher for you to go.”
“Mom.”
“Don’t you Mom me. There’s no reason why you can’t start looking for someone to settle down with and what’s wrong with starting with one of these three? You’ve known each other long enough that if you start dating now you can be engaged by the time your father and I get back from our trip.”
Before Max can open his mouth, I jump in. “Okay, well this sounds like an excellent time to bring out dessert. Max, how about you help me find that chocolate mousse pie I know you’ve got squirreled away in the freezer somewhere?”
As Max and I slip out of the room, Liv shoots me a grateful look before taking over the conversation to prevent her mother from hopping back on the baby train. The second the kitchen door shuts, Max is clapping me on the back.
“I owe you one, man. I never know how to stop her once she goes racing off on that horse.”
“My mom is just as bad, trust me. All I did was do for you what you would’ve done for me.” I shrug. “Besides, we all had a rough start to the evening. No sense in having a rocky ending, too.”
Even though the pie is in plain sight, Max still rummages around in the freezer for a few moments.
“How long do you think we can drag this out?” he asks.
“I think you’re already pushing it. I saw her look in your freezer earlier so she knows where that pie is.”
“Damn.”
He opens the box and starts slicing the pie while I grab another round of plates and forks for everyone.
As I’m heading for the door, Max stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
“What did you mean by all of that with my sister?” he asks. “Is there something you need to tell me?”
I should have known he wouldn’t let this go. Just last week, he clocked one of the new guys because he whistled when he saw her picture in Max’s locker.
“Look, when we were kids, she was like one of the guys. Hell, half the time she told filthier jokes than you did. Having her back here just had me falling back into old patterns. I wasn’t trying to cause any trouble with you. I’ll scale back on it a bit since it bothers you, okay? But you’ve got to remember, she was my friend, too.”
“You’re right.” He nods. “It’s just now that she’s back my protective instinct is on fucking steroids. I know you’d never mess with her like that.”
The relief I feel when he lets me head back into the dining room nearly has me buckling at the knees.
Liv’s homecoming has everyone spinning in circles, especially me. Seeing her again has me forgetting which way is up.
The only thing I really know for sure is that my margin for error is even smaller than the one set for the ladies who sewed the first space suits.