30. Scott
CHAPTER 30
Scott
JANUARY 30TH
I ’m walking on air.
There’s something about Athena’s love that makes everything else just… not feel as shitty. My grades are barely where they need to be, my family’s full of thugs and felons, but my Bright Eyes makes me feel like nothing else matters. She makes me feel strong, competent, and my feet are light with each step I take up the path to the hockey house.
I don’t know how anyone hasn’t noticed a shift in my attitude. Maybe because I’m holding my own on the ice, no one has picked up on the fact that my insides are lit up with the love of an amazing woman.
I open the door, two of the guys are hanging around in the living room. I give them a salute and head toward the stairs. It’s unusually quiet here for a Thursday night. I’d have stayed with Athena again tonight except we have a game tomorrow, and I can’t have sex on a game day. And if I stay with her, I won’t be able to keep my hands off her body.
I mean, if she says no, obviously I wouldn’t. But if she’s up for it… I’m helpless in the face of her alluring pussy.
Upstairs is every bit as quiet as downstairs, everyone must have gone somewhere. Shit. My stomach falls. Did I miss a group something?
Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I check the group chat, zilch. Must be coincidence.
My stomach begins to untangle, I turn the handle of my bedroom door, and as it opens, the light being on is my first sign that something’s off.
Muscles tense, breathing quickens, and I tuck my phone away, just in case I need to swing my fists at whoever the fuck has let themselves into my room.
Ares is lying on my bed reading this month’s book club book, Apollo is spinning in my desk chair, head tipped back like he’s bored out of his mind, and Artemis is sitting on the floor facing the door crammed into my beanbag.
Their heads all turn to look at me, faces impassive, eyes serious. I swallow, hard.
This can’t be good.
Fight or flight kicks in. Part of me wants to run, the other feels ridiculous. So what? My best friends are hanging out in my room waiting for me to come back. No big deal, right?
Sweat prickles at the base of my neck under the bill of my ball cap.
“Uh… hi?” If none of them are going to break the tense silence hung around my room, I will. Let’s get whatever this is over with. “What’s up?”
Artemis clears his throat. Shit. Shit. I know I’m close to all of them, but Arte, he’s my wingman, my linemate, he’s been with me since day one. Usually, I can tell what he’s thinking but right now I see nothing. No indicators to help me figure out what the hell is going on behind those eyes.
“We just need to know what your intentions are with our sister, Scottie.”
My stomach drops through the floor into the kitchen downstairs, heart ricochets around my entire body, landing in my fucking ass. Shit. I hold up one finger, drop my bag on the floor, grab the door handle, and step back out of the room, closing the door.
The phone comes back out.
Scott: You still nearby?
She told me she was going to Bitches Brew to see Savannah. Hopefully she hasn’t made it there yet.
Bright Eyes: I am. What’s wrong?
Scott: Your brothers are all in my bedroom asking what my intentions are with you.
Bright Eyes: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Scott: Helpful, Athena.
Bright Eyes: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Scott: What do I tell them?
I work my jaw while I wait for whatever has possessed my girlfriend to pass.
Bright Eyes: Athena can’t come to the phone right now, she’s died laughing.
This is not helpful. I lift my ball cap and smooth out my hair, my blood pressure rising to unnatural levels in my arteries.
I can’t go back in there until I hear the party line from her. If I go in and lie, they’ll fillet me and serve me to our friendly, feral, and really fucking hungry neighborhood raccoons.
Shit. Shit.
My phone buzzes again.
Bright Eyes: Okay, I’ve stopped laughing. Gimme five. OMW.
Double shit. This is all I need, for the boys to think I summoned their sister to hide behind.
Scott: You don’t need to come over. I just need to know what to tell them. I don’t want to lie, but I won’t want to tell them something you’re not comfortable with them knowing.
There’s a knock from the inside of my door.
“Yeah?” My voice breaks.
“You doing okay out there, man?” Apollo’s voice isn’t just laced with amusement, it’s steeped in it.
I clear my throat before I try again. “Yeah. Just…” What the fuck do I even say?
“Checking in with the old ball and chain to make sure you don’t land yourself in the shit?” Ares is clearly enjoying this. A lot. “It’s okay. Take your time. Regroup.”
There’s a snort, and to be honest I’m not sure which one of the three of them it came from.
It’s a few more minutes before Athena sprints up the stairs two at a time. When she gets to the top, she holds up a finger before she doubles over, clutching her shins. Her chest heaves, probably burning with the activity of running here from halfway across campus.
She’s fit, don’t get me wrong. She’s definitely a faster runner than I am, but that run would have killed even the fastest skater on the team.
When she stands, her hair is disheveled, and she has beads of sweat across her forehead, but she still looks highly amused.
She holds her side, her chest still rising and falling heavily. “I’m tickled they went for you instead of me.”
I roll my eyes. They all like having their balls attached which is why they cornered me instead of her.
She doesn’t miss another beat; she’s already turning the handle to my bedroom. She walks in ahead of me, plops herself on the bed facing me, her hands folded in her lap. And with a smirk on her face she says, “So, tell us, Scott. Just what are your intentions with me?”
This eye roll comes with a groan as her brothers share an amused look between them before turning their attention back to me.
“We’re really doing this?”
They all nod in unison, like some synchronized interrogation.
“Fine.” I shove my terror aside at facing not one, not two, but all fucking four de la Pena siblings in one go and steel my spine. If I’m going to be dismembered by this family for loving their sister with my whole being, then I’ll do it looking them square in the face, shoulders back, and laying it all out there to Athena, not her brothers.
“My intention is to marry you someday, Bright Eyes.” I hold her stare.
Her smirk falters, and her eyes shift from amusement to something else, something deeper, something emotional.
“Not right now. I need to make something of myself first. Prove to you I can take care of both of us without you having to be so strong all the time.”
Her jaw drops. I can’t tell if she wants to speak, or if she’s in shock from what I’ve said. Dunno why she’s surprised, I’ve made no secret of the fact I’m in this for the long haul.
She twists her hands in her lap.
I kneel in front of her, taking her hands into mine. “I’m just a guy, kneeling in front of a woman, asking her to let him love her. Forever.” Is it cheesy to rework a quote from Notting Hill? Yeah. But I’m hoping it buys me at least a smile.
“I’m not here for the short term, Athena. There’s nothing you can say, or do, that’s going to make me not love you. I’ve loved you since we first met. I’ve been afraid. Of your brothers, of my friendship with them, of ruining my friendship with you, of never being enough. But these last couple months of being with you, you’ve made me feel like maybe someday I could be enough for you.”
Tears well in her eyes, but she’ll never cry in front of her brothers if she can help it. She blinks them back. “Why do you think you’re not good enough for me now?” She shakes her head. “You have no idea how amazing you are as a person, Scottie.”
She cups my face with her soft and kinda clammy palm. “I wouldn’t give my heart to someone who wasn’t worthy of it.” Her eyes convey something I’ve never seen before, a vulnerability deep inside her that she’s probably terrified of showing to me. Or to anyone.
I’m not sure she wants her brothers here for this moment. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say, or if I was supposed to keep this whole situation funny and lighthearted. Except, nothing about my relationship with Athena is funny to me. She’s always been special to me, important, but over these past few months, she’s become so much more.
Regardless, here we are.
“If you’re so in love with her, why’d you keep it from us? From everyone?” Ares has placed his book on the bed next to him and has rolled onto his side to face us. He’s propping his head up on his hand.
I shake my head like he has the luxury of being able to pay off anyone he clobbers around the head. “Dude. Do you know how much ammunition the away teams would have if someone found out? The chirping they’d do? About your fucking sister?” I take my cap off and run my fingers through my hair. “I’d end up in jail for murdering someone.”
Artemis’s face stays serious, but Apollo nods.
“Plus, when she realizes I’m a useless piece of shit and breaks up with me, I don’t want everyone at the house to drown me in pity.” I shrug. If I’m laying it out, I’m laying it all out. “Or make fun of me.” I rub my chest at the thought. I’d kill those fuckers too.
She slaps my arm. “Would you knock that off before it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy? None of us think you’re a useless piece of shit. Not at all.” Her voice has that steely edge to it that serves as a warning, if you don’t slow your roll, that steely edge will get lodged in your throat, or eyeball, or chest.
“She’s right, hermano.” It’s Artemis who speaks this time. “You’re always so hard on yourself, and with no reason. You aren’t your family.”
I hate when he brings logic into the situation.
Ares laughs. “Ay. You have met me, right? I’ve done everything ‘awful’ you can think of, and they all still love me.”
Apollo grunts. “For now.”
Ares waves a hand. “If you were going to get rid of me, you’d have done so by now. They stayed by my side through the worst of it, through the scandals, the news stories, and the rehab. You’re family, hermano. Whether things work out with Hen or not. We don’t get rid of family just because we don’t like them.”
Athena clears her throat, and Artemis shifts in his seat.
“Ay, díos. Some family members, sí. But not you. You’re one of us.”
I survey the three guys. No one looks vaguely homicidal, no one’s got white knuckles or is inching toward me with a hockey stick. I stand up. “You’re all just… fine with it?”
They all stare at me.
I turn to Ares. “Did you tell them?”
“Tell them what?” Athena’s head jolts up so she can look at me.
“He’s known I liked you for a while. He’s had, ‘suspicions.’” I make bunny ears with my fingers around the last word.
She looks at Ares who shrugs. “He’s easy to read once you know what to look for. And every time you looked at him it was like he was staring at the sun.” He gets a distant look in his eyes that makes me want to puke and throw a pillow at his face. “It’s just so romantic. And no, I didn’t tell them anything. Probably didn’t have to.”
Apollo holds his hands up. “I had an inkling. Didn’t think you’d grow the balls to act on it, though.”
Artemis nods. “I thought that’s why you befriended us at first, to get in with her.”
Athena’s mouth hangs open. “What? No. That’s girls’ MO for being my friend, not guys being yours.”
Apollo slaps his face with an open palm. “Are you fucking kidding me? Do you know how many jocks have tried to ask us for a hook up over the years?”
“Even the away team players.” Ares groans like there’d be nothing worse than his sister falling for someone in an opponent’s shirt.
Artemis points at me. “It took you long enough.”
Ares nods. “It’s about damn fucking time.”
Apollo pinches the bridge of his nose. “I won’t pick sides if there’s a divorce. I love you both. You’ll just have to put up with each other for holidays.”
“We’ll work out a custody agreement.” Ares laughs. “Won’t be necessary though.” He points his book, page marked by his thumb, in our direction. “What they have is a romance novel kind of love. Better even. No one farts in front of people in romance novels.” He nods like he’s some sage, old kind of wizard.
“No one’s going to try to kill me? Or challenge me to a duel?”
Apollo’s shoulders bounce with laughter. “Who she dates is none of our business, hermano. Her body, her choice.” His words echo what Ares said to me in the past, as though they’ve all established firm rules about their sister’s body and what she chooses to do with it.
“And to be honest, I’d rather she’s with you instead of some cabrón who treats her like shit.” Artemis’s face turns dark.
“That’s what I said!” Ares points at me. “See? Tonto.”
Fool. Even I know that one. At least he didn’t call me an asshole, I suppose.
“You should have listened to me mamagüevo.”
Cocksucker.
Ha. I can only translate maybe one in every ten words they say when they’re in full flow, but the swear words I have down pat.
“Is that it? You’re all just going to call me a dumbass for not acting sooner? No warnings about hurting her? No threats to my life? Seriously?” I stare around the room at four amused faces, any lingering trace of apprehension leaving my body because I feel like a damn idiot.
Ares raises his hand. “I have a question.” He looks from me to Athena and back again. “When’s the wedding?”