Chapter 33
FEE
“So, uh…I know you and Lexi are close, but how close exactly?” Mac’s fingers drum on his right thigh as we pull into the underground at my sister’s.
We’re taking a break from hockey and working on my gallery piece to attend fajita night.
Every time I think I’m done, I have another idea.
I’m excited and nervous to finally share my work with people, and to finally claim my work publicly so the copycat, who is still lurking out there, will stop pretending to be me.
“She’s my sister, but sort of mom-ish, but not?” I don’t quite know why or where he’s going with this question.
“You talk often,” he notes.
“Most days of the week, yeah.”
His throat bobs. “Do you share private stuff with her?”
“Yeah.” I pull into a visitor’s spot and shift the car into park so I can give him my full attention. “What are you worried about?”
“Did you tell her about us?” His voice pitches up.
“I didn’t really have to. She’s known for a while.” We’ve been dating since January; it doesn’t take much of a sleuth to figure that out.
His eyes go wide and his face turns white. “How did she know? Does Roman know?”
I don’t understand his panic. “I feel like maybe we’re talking about two separate things. She knows you’re my boyfriend and we’re serious about each other.”
His shoulders come down from his ears, and the green tinge to his skin fades with his relieved sigh. “So you didn’t tell her we had sex?”
I bark out a laugh. “Oh my God, I love you.” Another burst of laughter comes out of me, and then I can’t stop, and I’m laughing so hard a tear rolls down my cheek. “Mac, baby.” I shake my head.
“It’s not funny.” Mac sits in the passenger seat with his arms crossed, face red, wearing the most adorable put-out expression.
“I mean it kind of is.” I wipe away the single tear.
“Roman would murder me if he knew,” he grumbles. “He can never know.”
“Mac, we’re adults. Fully and completely.
Sure, we’re still in university but we’re capable of making adult decisions.
Besides, he’s my brother-in-law, not my dad.
Roman cannot tell me what I can or can’t do with my body, or what you can or can’t do with yours.
But to be clear, and for your peace of mind, I have not told my sister that you made me come the first time we had sex, nor have I shared that you’ve made me come every single time, or that you seem to really like it when I leave my socks on, or that you’re addicted to eating my pussy.
And I certainly won’t be telling her that you bent me over your bed and whispered dirty things in my ear about the pretty sounds I make just before we got in the car to come here. ”
Now his face is red for an entirely different reason.
“Which, by the way, I really love, both being bent over your bed and the whispering dirty things in my ear, as well as the incredible orgasms. But what we do behind closed doors is no one’s business but ours.
Roman definitely doesn’t need to know about my sex life, nor does my sister except maybe to make sure I’m being safe and to offer any support, if I ask for it, which I don’t feel I need because you’re an excellent, very attentive, and very considerate boyfriend. ”
“I try to be,” he says quietly.
“You get ten stars. I’m wildly lucky and every girl should be jealous.
” I lean over and kiss his cheek. “Roman is welcome to pull his dad card on Callie and Ariel, and I’ll be the sister-aunt they can come to when they need to complain about his overprotectiveness, or talk about boyfriends or partners, or whatever.
Now, we should head up because the guac is my favorite thing about fajita night and it’s usually the first thing to disappear. ”
I hop out of the car and Mac is slow to follow because he needs to do some rearranging. We bring our contribution, which is a nacho dip that we threw together an hour before we left, but we tried it and it tastes pretty good.
We take the elevator to the penthouse floor, and I use my key to let myself in.
“Why are there so many shoes?” Mac asks as we toe ours off and leave them in the front hall.
I round my eyes to appear innocent. “Didn’t I mention that fajita night is like a team thing?”
“What?” Mac’s eyes go wide and once again the color drains from his face.
“Not the whole team. Just Roman and Lexi’s close friends. Rix and Tristan host a lot, but sometimes they switch it up so Ariel can pass out in her own bed since she goes to bed at seven.”
“I thought I heard you come in!” Lexi throws her arms around me. “How you doing, Big Pheels?”
“Good. Great!” I hug her back.
“Mac looks scared,” she whispers.
“He just found out that dinner includes more than my family.”
“You didn’t want him to be nervous?”
“Basically.”
She releases me and flashes Mac a wide smile. “We’re so thrilled you could make it. The guys can’t wait to meet you.”
“Thanks so much for inviting me.” Mac’s smile is only slightly manic.
I take his hand and lead him down the hall. “They’re regular guys and they used to be just like you and Chase and Brody and Gage,” I assure him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I also didn’t want you to stress.”
“It was the right move, even though I wish it wasn’t.” His grip on my hand tightens as the noise level increases and we round the corner. Mac mutters a quiet expletive.
The girls rush over to hug me, and I introduce Mac to them first, their gentle excitement a buffer for Mac’s anxiety, before he meets the rest of the guys.
It doesn’t matter that Roman has been retired from the league for several years, they still have monthly dinners.
We’re suddenly surrounded by hockey royalty, and I introduce Mac to Dallas Bright, Hollis Hendrix, and Ashish Palaniappa.
“You’ve met Connor, Quinn, and Tristan before. ”
Apparently Flip Madden had a meeting he couldn’t get out of, and Tally has dance practice, otherwise they’d be here, too. Tristan’s middle brother Nate, and Cammie’s older sister Essie often join, but Essie’s on set tonight.
Mac is his typical polite self, shaking hands and trying to play it cool.
Roman comes out carrying a freshly woken Ariel from her nap. Her head rests on his shoulder, one hand gripping his shirt, the other hugging her stuffed Terror Goose to her chest.
“How’s my favorite niece!” I open my arms and she gives me a dopey smile and lets me take her from Roman.
“It’s taco night,” she informs me, then points to her shirt. “I ready!”
"You sure are. Did your daddy get you that shirt?”
She grins and nods. “We matches!”
I glance at Roman, who is indeed wearing the same shirt in a much larger size. “You sure do.”
“Daddy!” Ariel realizes he’s more than two feet away and wants to be back in his arms.
I pass her over. “Where’s Callie?”
“On the phone, talking to a boy in her class,” Roman mutters darkly.
“Oh. Is this a thing now?” I ask while I snuggle my niece.
“Not if Roman has anything to say about it.” Lexi pats Roman on the chest.
Mac is already deep in conversation with the guys, so I follow Lexi and the girls to the kitchen to help with the apps. Fajita night is a lengthy affair and usually consists of three courses and a decadent dessert.
Rix, Tristan’s wife, nudges me with her elbow. “He’s cute.”
“And exceptionally polite,” Hemi, the head of team PR and Dallas’s wife, adds.
“Dad said he plays hockey for Tilton,” Hammer says.
“Brody is one of his roommates. We’ve been friends for a while, but we started dating this semester, and yeah.”
“Is this his final year, then?” Shilpa asks.
“He applied for the summer program at the Hockey Academy, but obviously he’s hoping to get called up after graduation.” I push down the worry that always follows when I think about what will happen when the semester ends.
“He has the skill set,” Lexi assures me.
“He’s worked really hard this year to improve his game.
” He could be anywhere in the fall, across the country, even in a different one.
What will that be like? Would we try to make it work if he ended up somewhere like Utah or Vancouver?
Would he want to date someone who was still in university when he’s just starting his career?
The girls must read the sudden panic on my face.
Lexi wraps her arm around my shoulder. “We can’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet, Big Pheels. Just enjoy the ride, and we’ll deal with everything as it comes.”
“And you have lots of people in your circle who know what this life is like, so no matter what, you have support, and so will he,” Hammer adds.
“If anyone can deal with life’s curveballs, it’s you,” Lexi promises.
I would love it if he ended up playing locally in the fall, but the odds are slim.
Most of the time I can roll with things, but I know how quickly life can change course.
Mac already has my heart. What if he has to move across the country and he takes it with him?