Chapter 9 #2
“You sure?” His eyes searched mine. “They’re loud. And nosy. And… kind of a lot.”
“So are you,” I teased.
He let out a laugh. “Touché.”
I pulled the blanket tighter around me and sat up beside him, our knees touching. “Do I need a jersey? War paint? A sign that says, ‘Go Ben!’ or something?”
He grinned, a real one, the kind that crinkled his eyes. “Nah. Just show up. That’s enough.”
I smiled, but part of me already felt the fluttering nerves settling in. Meeting a guy’s family was no small thing. “I’ll survive,” I said lightly.
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “You’ll do more than that. They’ll love you.”
“And if they don’t?”
“They’re wrong.” His tone was gentle but firm.
My chest warmed. Nick stood, stretching again. “Get dressed. I’ll make us coffee.”
* * *
Nick gave me the rundown in the car, rattling off names and relationships like he was preparing me for battle.
Tyler was the oldest. He had cancer years ago.
Nick said he was the reason he stopped drinking, and just hearing that made my stomach flutter in a way that wasn’t entirely nerves.
It was something deeper. He’s the calm one who always handles everything.
He’s engaged to Ava, and according to Nick, I was “absolutely going to love her.” No pressure there.
Connor was next. Second oldest, ran a construction company.
Apparently he was quiet and moody but had a good heart underneath it all.
He was with Emma, who Nick said was “tough as nails and kind of his female counterpart,” whatever that meant.
I tried to imagine someone with Nick’s energy in a smaller, sassier body and immediately got intimidated.
Then came Sean. The doctor. ICU floor, which already made me nervous.
I never really knew what to say around people who saved lives for a living.
Lilly came in holding on for dear life. They fell in love, and that was that.
Nick talked about them differently. Not like he admired him exactly, though he clearly did, but like there was some kind of unspoken bond there.
Something about the way he said Lilly’s name made me pay attention.
He told me Lilly had come into the hospital barely hanging on, and Sean fell for her during her recovery.
That should’ve sounded like something out of a movie.
Unreal. But the way Nick said it, low and even, with this slight smile tugging at his mouth…
it didn’t sound dramatic. It just sounded honest. He also told me she was the one who found him the day he almost bought a bottle of whiskey.
I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t need to. I was more curious than anything else. About her. About all of them.
His mom sounded like she had a heart of gold, soft but strong. His dad? Quiet, according to Nick, unless the moment called for sarcasm. A smartass in disguise. I’d already decided I’d probably love him.
And then there was Ben. The baby. The hockey star. The loudmouth. The “I-think-I’m-Him” golden boy who still lived in the frat-house corner of his brain, according to Nick. But goofy. Harmless. The kind of chaos that makes everything more fun.
Nick looked damn good driving. His hand on the wheel, his jaw set, music low. He was calm and easy, like none of this was a big deal. Meanwhile, my brain was running at maximum chaos settings.
What if they didn’t like me? What if I said something weird? What if I couldn’t sit still long enough? What if I blurted out some random fact about snail mating habits like I did in high school once when I got too nervous during an icebreaker?
“Hey,” Nick said, pulling me out of my spiral as he parked. “You’re bouncing your leg like it owes you money.”
I stopped immediately, feeling flushed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he said, shutting off the car and turning to face me. “Just breathe. They’re gonna love you.”
“You say that with a lot of confidence for someone with four brothers who probably haven’t met a lot of women you’ve brought around.”
He smiled crookedly. “You’re the first one I’ve actually wanted to introduce.”
Oh. Well now I was blushing and speechless. He leaned in and kissed me, slow and soft, and for a second, everything went still. I wasn’t sure how he did that, but he was so good at calming down what was in my brain. “C’mon, Sunshine,” he whispered. “Let’s go survive Ben’s ego.”
The arena was loud. Shouting, horns, the sound of blades cutting into ice. I stayed close to Nick as he wove through the crowd, one hand on my back, the other carrying two overpriced waters.
He led me to a row near the front where the rest of the family was already gathered like a sitcom ensemble.
“Hey, look who showed up!” A tall guy with warm brown eyes and a beard called out. He was sitting with his arm slung around a woman with dark curls and kind eyes. That had to be Tyler and Ava.
“Late and underdressed,” another guy added, smirking. “And… with a woman?” He sounded confused, and everyone else whipped their heads to stare at me. Of course Nick didn’t warn anyone I was coming. No one probably knew I even existed. Nick went down the line and told me everyone’s name.
“Wow,” Sean said, from a few seats down. He looked exactly how I pictured him. Sitting beside him was a woman I knew had to be Lilly without Nick even telling me. She had this quiet energy about her, but her eyes were bright. She smiled at me like she already knew me.
“This is Mya,” Nick said, reaching for my hand. “Everyone, play nice.”
“You’re brave,” Ava said immediately, reaching across the seats to shake my hand. “And I say that with love.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m kind of used to chaos. My brain never shuts up anyway, so this actually feels kind of normal.”
That earned a round of laughter and even a high-five from Emma, who grinned and said, “You and I are going to get along great.”
I sat between Nick and Lilly, trying not to bounce too much in my seat. The arena was overstimulating in every way… Lights, noise, voices, but for some reason, I didn’t want to miss a second of it.
Ben skated onto the ice, and the entire section erupted. Nick’s mom clapped enthusiastically while his dad let out a whistle that echoed above the crowd.
“That’s him?” I asked, watching the confident, smug-as-hell kid do a dramatic turn like he owned the place.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Nick groaned. “You’re about to witness the Ben Show in full effect.”
“I’m ready.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The game started, and I tried my best to follow along, though I couldn’t stop my thoughts from pinballing to Tyler’s voice when he leaned over to check if I needed anything or Lilly’s small, knowing smile.
Nick’s hand casually brushed against mine every few minutes, like he was reminding me he was there. I felt weirdly at home, and that… scared the hell out of me.
The buzzer blared, and the period ended with Ben scoring a goal and doing a ridiculous celebration that earned him a penalty. Of course.
As the noise died down, I leaned closer to Nick and whispered, “Okay… I kind of get the hype now.”
He smirked. “Don’t let him hear you say that.”
* * *
We were back in the concourse, the arena slowly draining of people.
Everyone had split into little clusters.
Tyler and Ava chatted with the parents near the concessions, Sean ribbed Ben about his penalty like an older brother with too much ammo, and Nick was deep in a conversation with Connor, both looking half-serious, half like they were plotting something stupid.
I was doing my best to blend in. To smile in the right places.
Nod. Laugh. Be normal. Whatever that meant.
I was starting to feel the drain, though.
Like my social battery had been put through a blender and then set on fire.
That’s when Lilly appeared beside me, her soft voice cutting through the background noise. “Want to walk with me for a minute?”
I blinked. “Yeah. Yes. Please.”
She led me away from the group, out through a quieter exit near the back.
The air outside was sharp and cool, a welcome contrast to the stuffy, overstimulating den inside.
We didn’t go far, just down a side path lined with small trees and stadium floodlights, but already I could feel my muscles unclenching.
Lilly walked in silence for a moment, and I appreciated that. She wasn’t trying to fill the air or pull me out of my head. She just… let me breathe.
“I used to get really overwhelmed by his family,” she said after a few beats, her voice warm but even. “It’s a lot. They love hard. Talk loud. Interrogate gently, but with intensity.”
I let out a breathy laugh. “So I’m not crazy for thinking that was a lot?”
“No. You’re not. And you handled it really well.”
I slowed my steps a little. “I didn’t know if I should say yes to tonight. I overthink things, like, bad. And new places, new people? Usually sends me into overdrive.”
“You did say something about your brain not shutting up earlier,” Lilly smiled.
“That was… not an exaggeration,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s just kind of always been that way. Too many thoughts. Too much noise. I worry I come off like I’m either trying too hard or like I’m not trying at all.”
She nodded, like she understood more than she let on. “I think Nick gets that. The way he watches you, I don’t think he’s overwhelmed by any of it. If anything, it’s like it steadies him.”
That made something twist low in my stomach. “He’s really different from what I expected,” I admitted. “He’s dark, but not in a scary way. Just… like he holds a lot. But he’s also the only person who’s ever made me feel like my chaos wasn’t too much.”
“That’s how I felt with Sean,” Lilly said, softly. “He saw all the pieces. The broken ones, the scared ones. Never tried to fix me other than physically. He just made room for them.”
“Exactly,” I said, almost whispering.
We paused at a railing that overlooked part of the parking lot, dimly lit and mostly empty. The hum of the city felt distant, like background static.