7. Cody
Cody
Scooping more protein into the blender, I turn it on high and watch the ingredients mix together. I need this protein shake before I go to work today. I’m beat and I don’t have it in me for another long day after barely sleeping last night.
Thoughts of Sloan kept running through my head and no matter how hard I tried to go to sleep, I just couldn’t.
I thought about how in love we were when she moved away.
About how destroyed we both were and how I missed her so much…
Then my thoughts turned to why she didn’t contact me when she moved back?
Why did she have to have a boyfriend? Why did she seem like she wasn’t in love with Jude? Why was she even dating him?
Then my thoughts took an even worse turn…
Will she dump Jude if I ask her out?
Would she pick me over him?
I shake my head and turn off the blender. I glance at the clock and groan. I barely have thirty minutes before I have to leave for work.
Jax moseys into the kitchen in a pair of sweatpants and no shirt.
He scratches his chest as he takes a long swig out of the orange juice container.
I grimace as I stare down at the cup of orange juice next to my protein shake.
I literally just used that… How often does he drink straight out of the container?
“Morning,” he grunts as he grabs the other blender and makes an identical protein shake as I just did.
“Morning… Why are you so exhausted? When did you get home last night?” My brows furrow as Jax stretches and lets out a long yawn. He’s normally wide awake in the morning, I'm the one who takes longer to wake up.
“Ugh, I don’t even know what time I got home. Stupid Jude didn’t want to leave the pub until all of the guys left. You know how Griffin is a total night owl. That guy never wants to leave.” Jax rolls his eyes.
“Jeez, I thought Sloan would be trying to leave earlier.”
“Oh, she was. She was ready to leave the second you walked out the door. Jude wasn’t having it though… They have an interesting dynamic.” A slow smile spreads across Jax’s face.
“As much as I’d love to do this… I actually don’t want to.” I push off of the counter and head into the living room.
“What are you talking about?” Jax isn’t bothered in the slightest. He follows me, completely forgetting about the protein shake he was making.
“I’m not scheming with you to come up with a plan to make them break up.” I roll my eyes as I step onto the back deck and take a seat on one of the loungers set up next to the pool.
“Why not?” He stares at me with his jaw hanging like he’s shocked at what I just said.
“Because we’re not in high school anymore, Jax. If she’s dating Jude, then she wants to be with him. Nothing you say or do is going to change her mind.”
“Sure, it could! All we have to do is remind her how much you two love each other and how amazing you were together.” He stares at me like I'm the crazy one in this scenario.
“She didn’t contact me when she came back, bro. There’s a reason for that. She didn’t want to see me.”
“You don’t know that!”
“You’re right, I don’t. But I can tell you she didn’t expect to see me last night. She was genuinely shocked when Barry smashed me into the glass in front of her. So, she didn’t come to a game hoping to see me.”
“Jude made a comment about her not even knowing the Pythons were a hockey team… How would she not know?”
“She didn’t care about sports, you know that. Sure, she’d come to our games in high school, but I don’t think she even knew what team we were on then.” I chuckle, thinking about how adorably oblivious she can be. It never frustrated me. If anything, I think I enjoyed it.
“She told Jude they weren’t coming on Sunday and he said it was rude to not come… I have a feeling Jude is fan-girling a little too hard for Sloan’s liking.” Jax winces.
“You think? He practically ignored her all night. It was like he was trying to date you instead.” I roll my eyes and take a long sip of my shake.
“Do you think she’s mad at me?” Jax frowns at the water like the thought just occurred to him. I blow out a long breath and think about it.
“No, I don’t think she’d get mad at you. You didn’t do anything that would be uncharacteristically you. You were just the Jax Robinson she remembers.” I wave off his concerns. I’d know if Sloan was upset with my brother. She definitely expected everything he threw her way last night.
“Good… You know I’ve always loved her like a sister.”
“I know. She’s always loved you too.”
“I think she still has a thing for you.” Jax nudges my shoulder with his knee.
“It doesn’t matter, man. She made it clear she thinks we’re different people now.”
“What did you do?” I groan as I glance towards the stands and see Jude and Sloan sitting in the same spot they were two nights ago.
Jude waves energetically and Sloan rolls her eyes at him. I feel bad for her. If she doesn’t want to be at a hockey game, she shouldn’t be here.
“What? What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything.” Jax follows my line of sight and his eyes widen. He’s definitely telling the truth, he wasn’t behind this. “Well, jeez. I think we have a new stalker… I wasn’t expecting that.” He scratches his jaw.
“She’s going to think you had something to do with this,” I mutter.
“Well, I didn’t!” Jax scowls at me. It would kill him if Sloan got mad at him. “Are we supposed to go say hi? We’ve clearly seen him wave like a crazy person.”
“I don’t know! I’ve never exactly dealt with my ex-girlfriend’s crazy fan of a boyfriend before.” I roll my eyes.
“Wait! Sophia and Pecker are sitting next to them. We can go say hi to her and then politely nod in his direction.”
Before I can stop him, Jax takes off skating as quickly as he can. He slams into the wall right in front of Sophia and makes her scream. She pounds on the glass and I can tell she’s yelling at him from here.
I skate over at a much slower pace and grin at Sophia. Her eyes soften as they land on me and she blows me a kiss. I love my baby sister, I just wish Charlie and Wyatt were here too. They rarely come to our games since Carter was born.
No sooner is the thought in my head do I see my big sister making her way down the steps with Wyatt behind her.
They wave as soon as they see us and I can’t help the massive grin taking over my face.
I can’t wait until our houses are finished being built.
I want to live close to both of my sisters again.
“Where’s the wee one?” Jax calls loud enough for Charlie to hear.
“Mom and Dad took her so we could come to the game!” Charlie calls back. I can’t really hear her, but after years of playing hockey, I’ve learned to read lips so I could figure out what Sophia was screaming at people.
“Are you staying after the game to see us?” I ask her. She nods her head and my smile widens even more.
The whistle is blown for us to get off the ice so we can start the game. I wave goodbye to my family and my eyes stray to Sloan. She’s already watching me and I don’t know how to feel about that.
I want to think she’s here to see me, but I know that isn’t true. She’s only here because Jude asked her to be.