Chapter 45
LET’S MAKE A DEAL
Hayes
Kana swings open the door. Her expression is unreadable for a few seconds, then curious as she roams her inquisitive eyes over the three of us, taking in our body language.
Casual, flirty, comfortable. Theoretically, we could be husband and wife and buddy. But it’s not likely, the way Ivy runs a hand down my arm, then Stefan’s.
Just so it’s clear, I take the lead and say, “Stefan’s with us. With us. As in, the three of us.”
Fuck, did that sound weird? Why did I think it’d be smart for me to go first? I’m not the smooth talker. Stefan is.
Ivy must sense I need her so she jumps in. “What Hayes is saying is…” She casts her affectionate gaze toward me. “This is my husband.” Then she looks at Stefan with equal warmth. “And this is my boyfriend.”
Calm spreads through me, chased with happiness, with potential.
Kana’s lips twitch for a few seconds. Behind her, the guests in the sunken living room have gone starkly silent. My teammates on the couch take a beat, along with their partners. But not for too long. Dev shoots a hand up in the air. “Called it. Pay up, bros.”
Brady hangs his head, letting out a long groan. “Damn. I really thought you were all just friends.”
I laugh. Stefan laughs harder, breaking the tension. Dev rubs his fingers together. “A hundred bucks from you,” he says to Brady, who raises his head and reaches for his wallet.
Trina, Chase, and Ryker are hanging out on the couch. Ryker holds up a hand in surrender. Chase does the same. “I didn’t bet. I abstained,” Chase puts in. “I already knew it was going on.”
Tom whips his gaze to Chase, his deep voice chiding. “Well, thanks a lot for telling me.”
“Family secret,” Chase scoffs. “Like I’m gonna give it up. Also, you play for our rivals. No way.”
“You dated her with a rival,” Tom fires back.
“And now he’s a teammate.” Chase nods to the two of us and Trina, smirking. “It’s a thing. Deal with it.”
In the foyer, Kana just grins knowingly. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out. In Vegas you all looked like you wanted to fuck each other.”
Ivy covers her face with her hand, cracking up.
On that note, we head inside and settle on the couch, Ivy between Stefan and me.
Kana sits on Brady’s lap, roping her arms around his neck. “I guess this means I’m going to have to take a boyfriend, too, just to keep up with everybody. You don’t mind, do you?”
Brady growls. “I don’t share.”
Eva turns to Dev. “Hmm. What about you?”
Dev drapes an arm around her, tugging her close. “You never know.”
Eva’s eyes widen. I steal a glance at Stefan, asking silently do you know something I don’t know? Stefan just shrugs, though he looks intrigued.
But the goalie kisses his girlfriend like she’s the center of the world, then Tom grab’s Gilberto’s hand and declares, “You’re all mine.”
Gilberto smacks Tom’s cheek in a kiss. “Same.”
When Dev lets go of Eva, he grabs his beer bottle and lifts it up. “Whatever works for you, right?”
We all lift our proverbial glasses to that.
The three of us get to work on destroying everyone here at game night. As we take them on, I soak in the camaraderie. I figured that if I ever felt like a part of a team, it’d be on the ice.
Instead, I found one off it.
There’s one little problem though. The expiration date.
* * *
Later that night, after Ivy falls asleep, I slip out of bed and catch Stefan’s attention on the other side of the Alaskan king. He’s still awake and sets down his e-reader. He’s reading something in Danish. Figures.
He swings his legs from the bed but so does Roxy, scurrying out from under the covers, checking us out like the policewoman she is. “Shh,” I whisper and then scoop her up and carry her, shutting the door and setting her on my lap in the living room.
I point to the bedroom. “Ivy thinks this is going to end at the awards ceremony,” I say.
Which is fucking ridiculous.
“Yeah, that’s kind of a problem,” Stefan says dryly as he sinks onto the couch.
“It’s a big problem,” I second.
With some amusement in his eyes, he asks, “And why do you say that?”
I flash back to that night in Chicago when Stefan took me out for a drink and asked me hard questions. I didn’t know what I wanted then. At the time, he did. He knew he wanted her. He wanted more.
I flash him a grin and admit another truth. “Seems I’ve caught up to you.”
With a grateful sigh, he says, “Yes, and now that you’re an official member of the club, we have one rule.”
“What’s that?”
Stefan leans forward on the couch, eyes sparkling with a plan. Always a plan. “You don’t want this to end, do you?”
I scoff like that’s the craziest thing ever. “No fucking way.”
“That’s what I thought. So here’s what we’ll do,” he says, practically rubbing his palms together. “Let’s make her fall in love with both of us.”
“I’m all in.” I offer a fist for knocking.
Operation Win Our Woman begins tomorrow. First, though, Stefan writes back to Xander and asks him to meet us in the morning. And bring several loaves of bread.
* * *
In the morning, Stefan takes me to the duck pond in the park. He’s carrying a grocery bag. The name Henry is written on the side. The mallards quack plaintively as we near them. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Henry will be here soon,” he says to the waterfowl.
“Who’s Henry? The duck whisperer? Or is that you?”
He tells me about a guy named Henry who lives in the park, then adds, “So I’m not really a duck whisperer. I’d say I’m more of a…throuple engineer. I got you to come on board, didn’t I?”
“You’re such a puppeteer.”
“And you love it because now you’re in love with her too.”
He’s not wrong. “What’s it going to be next? You going to convince the team to sign me?”
“That’s up to you, my friend. But I’d really like you to work hard on it,” he says sincerely.
“We’re on the same page,” I say, then shut up as footsteps crunch across the fallen leaves.
I turn to see the fuckface who tried to mess with my captain and my wife. No one does that.
Xander’s carrying a bag, with a few loaves of bread sticking out, and wearing a smile, like we’ve delivered him the bike he’s always wanted on Christmas morning. “You brought along another investor?” he asks Stefan, sounding delighted.
“Oh, he’s definitely invested,” Stefan says.
Fuckface turns to me, adjusting his bow tie, then offering a hand. I don’t take it, so he stuffs it awkwardly in his pocket. “You’re Ivy’s husband. How fantastic. I hope you’ll reconsider coming to our wedding. We’d love to have you two as guests,” he says, trying to recover from the slight.
Like I care about niceties or his clout chasing. “Actually, I’d like to introduce you to Ivy’s boyfriend.”
Xander jerks his head to the side. “Wait. What?” He points at me. “I thought you were married to Ivy?”
I hold up my hand, show him the ring. “I am. And Stefan’s her boyfriend. We’re both with her, we both take care of her, and no one’s cheating. You’ve got nothing.”
Stefan steps forward, stalking closer to Xander, using his size to crowd him to the edge of the duck pond. “And guess what? We’re taking her together to the awards ceremony where I’ll receive the Sportsman of the Year award.”
Xander’s lips part in shock.
I step closer too.
He takes another step back.
“You have no leverage for your Dough and Duds.” Stefan rips the bag of bread out of Xander’s hand and The Dapper Man stumbles. Then, oops.
I, maybe, possibly, body-check him.
Shame.
He falls ass-first into the shallow duck pond. Flat on his back. “Buddy, you’re in the way of the ducks. Can you move a little to the right?” Stefan asks politely, as he removes the loaves from Xander’s bag and puts them in the bag he brought.
The ducks descend on Xander as he flails to stand up. “You ruined my suit,” he cries out, mud dripping over the sky-blue jacket, a piece of weed stuck in his bow tie.
“Too bad. But you can get a new one at Dough and Duds,” Stefan offers helpfully while sorting the bread into his own bag.
Once Xander manages to stand, sopping wet, with ducks squawking at him, Stefan looms above him at the edge of the pond, stripping away the sarcasm. “Here’s the deal we wanted to make you.” Stefan takes a beat to make his point. “Never bother us again. Never go near our girl again.”
He stops to let out a breath, and it’s my turn. “And never try to fuck with our lives again. Because if you do, the suit won’t be the only thing that’s ruined.”
On that parting shot, we leave, Stefan stopping at a nearby bench to set down the bag. “That’s a lot of bread,” I say.
“Yeah, it is. But maybe he has friends,” Stefan says, then claps me on the shoulder.
Friends. Yes. I hope he does. Not sure what I’d do without mine.