Chapter Three
Hale
“Motherfucker, that’s Fiona?” I breathed as we drove away from the train station. The car smelled faintly of peppermint candy, making my dick hard and my mouth water.
Carlos’ face got a dreamy look. “Yeah. She’s something special.”
“Oh, she is. You lucky asshole.” I hadn’t been very serious about dating; I mostly just fucked around. My work and classes kept me busy. Also, for the longest time the parents hadn’t allowed me to date, and I just didn’t have the patience to date secretly.
“She’s so amazing that sometimes I wonder why she’s even with me. That’s why I haven’t introduced her to people yet. I don’t want them to get attached to her and then she comes to her senses and leaves me.” Carlos’ chocolate scent went salty with sadness as he looked out the window.
“Um, Carlos? You’re a professional hockey player and an actor. You’re good with kids and can cook. I’m not sure how that makes you not worthy?” My eyebrows rose as I drove off.
“Her family is super fucking rich. While I haven’t met her dads, I did some research and Finn Gallagher is a business mogul and a little scary. Also, she’s smart, beautiful, and amazing.” His shoulders slumped. “And an omega.”
Damn, he had it bad.
“Carlos, you’re a catch.” And hot. Hockey players were ripped.
He was also just a genuinely nice, loyal person. The kind that would do anything for his friends and family.
We’d only met about a year ago. But I felt like I’d known him forever.
He didn’t remember us getting totally fucked up and making out at one of Dimitri’s parties. But I did.
If we got fucked up and made out again, I wouldn’t mind. And if she wanted to join us?
I’d be okay with that, too.
Yes, she was my friend’s omega. But I wanted to hold onto those thick thighs of hers and fuck her… preferably while Carlos joined in.
“Am I? Sometimes I feel like a hot mess who barely has it together.” Carlos checked his phone as we pulled into the garage of the fancy building, where my sister’s pack had a giant-ass penthouse.
“We’re in our twenties. Are we supposed to have it together? I mean, Verity does, but she’s an overachiever.” I laughed as I parked in Verity’s spot next to her mate’s sports car.
“Well, yeah. Everyone has that sister.” Carlos snorted.
“You won’t fuck it up,” I promised.
If Carlos was a hot mess, I was a national disaster.
We got out of the car, and I checked it over to make sure we hadn’t left anything in it, then sprayed it with de-scenter. There. My sister would never know I’d taken it.
Now I had lots of money to party with.
I grabbed my suitcase and snowboard, which I’d stored in their SUV. We left the building and I followed Carlos.
“Are we getting a car? We’re going right to the airport?” I shivered in the night air. It was a lot colder here than in Research Circle.
“My place. We have time to have a beer, and I need to grab my shit. We’re taking the subway. It’s faster, especially with the Merry-thon road closures,” he told me, getting my suitcase.
“Sounds good.” I hadn’t been to his place yet. But the two homes of hockey players I’d been to had been amazing. He probably had a tricked-out place to suit his carefree image.
“Dusty caught your race online and thought it looked really fun,” Carlos said as he looked up from his phone.
I followed Carlos as we took the subway, then walked down the street in an area I’d never been to.
Shiny high-rises had been replaced with lots of brick buildings with cozy shops on the bottom and apartments on top.
It had a very different feel from where Verity was–and the university town in the South where I’d lived most of my life.
Finally, we stopped in front of a building that had a print shop and a little store at the bottom, and went to a door right between them. Carlos keyed in a code and we went inside.
“This is your place? It’s kinda far from practice and the arena.” I frowned. It was neat and well kept, but not where I’d expect a hockey player to live.
“Yeah. But this is where my family lives. That print shop? It’s run by my sister Beatriz’ husband. They live on the third floor. Anita? She and her pack live on the second. Mamá and Dulce live on the fourth,” he said as we went up the stairs. “I live on the sixth. Other people live here, too.”
I took that in. “Oh. Wow. I sorta like that. You’re close if you need something, but you can go home to your own place.”
“Exactly. It makes it easy for my mamá to help Beatriz and Anita with their kids.” His brows furrowed a little.
“And easy for a sister to bang on your door when you fuck up?” I added. That would be a downside.
“Yes.” He nodded. “We also grew up in this building. We lived on the third floor where Beatriz lives now, though this whole building has been renovated.”
We arrived at the top floor and he unlocked a door.
It looked like a normal, nice apartment. There was a small kitchen, a four-seater wooden table, a couch, and a really nice TV. But nothing opulent.
He set the suitcase in the living room. “Beer?”
“Sure.” I followed him into the kitchen, and he handed me a beer from his fridge. “Thanks. Your place is nice, but not what I expected.”
Carlos leaned against the counter. “Lots of hockey players live in ordinary apartments. Especially ones that don’t have ties to the city they’re playing in and go to their actual homes during the off-season. I mean, this job is unpredictable–you could be sent anywhere at any time.”
“I can see that. Would you ever move out? I mean, I can see so many advantages to living upstairs from your mom. Like food. But I can also see disadvantages. Like it being hard to bring people home,” I replied.
His look grew conflicted. Had I hit a sore spot?
“Um, actually, yeah. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I love being close to them. But I kinda want my own place.” He took a long drink of beer.
“I get that,” I replied.
Carlos’ dad died a couple of years back and he felt like he had to take care of everyone.
“Anita and her pack are moving out, so I might need to hold off. That’s why they took Mamá on a cruise for Christmas.
It’s not just because they wanted her to have a vacation; they’re going to break the news that they bought a house in the suburbs.
They want her to move with them. Not sure how Beatriz will feel about it, considering how much childcare Mamá provides.
Mamá also likes her job. We’ll see.” Carlos sighed.
I nodded. “Change is hard. When my parents dissolved their pack, it was a struggle. A year and a half later, and I’m still learning how to be an adult on my own.”
One of my moms went to jail. After that, the parents kicked her out of the pack, my omega dad un-bonded her, they sold the house, and then went their separate ways.
The littlest ones went with various parents.
The rest of us were left to our universities and careers.
I moved in with some friends and stayed behind in Research Circle to finish my degree.
“Did you hear from Rock Tech? Did you get in?” Carlo moved over to the couch and I joined him.
“Not yet.” I sighed.
“It’s only December. I’m sure you’ll get into all your top PhD programs.”
“Me, too.” Probably not. While I could get good grades when I applied myself, I hadn’t been doing as much of that as I should have, especially after the pack broke up.
My pile of rejection letters reflected that.
I’d be lucky if I got into Rock Tech, and that would be with my sister’s pack’s influence.
While that wouldn’t be a bad thing, I’d sort of hoped to get into some great program on my own–even if I didn’t go there.
Just so that next time I visited Mom in jail she might be proud of me. Like she used to be.
“Hey, is the hockey drug scandal impacting your side business?” he added.
A massive scandal involving a past junior hockey team had players blaming their poor behavior on a performance-enhancing drug that got past collegiate sports drug tests.
Not only were some of these players now members of the Professional Hockey League, the PHL, but the drug use was pretty wide-spread among young players.
Verity had told me all about it and it was fascinating from a chemistry perspective. I sort of wanted to analyze it and see if I could improve it.
“Yeah. Someone told–not on me, but on my party drug. They’re looking for other drugs that might slip through their tests so they can re-do it. I only found out because I have friends on the rugby team.” I made a face.
I liked solving problems with chemistry. My friends on the rugby team wanted to party harder than legal recreationals, but didn’t want to run afoul of the collegiate drug tests and lose their eligibility–and scholarships.
So, to fix that dilemma, I’d created a party drug that didn’t show up on the tests.
It also wasn’t entirely illegal, just grey-area, especially because it wasn’t like anything anyone had ever seen.
While my university had caught on and banned me from selling it, and my siblings didn’t like that I did it, I still sold it other places–and traded it.
My parents were chemists and proud of my problem-solving, but even they said they wouldn't protect me if I got caught.
“Shit. Sorry about that. A lot of PHL teams are really scrambling for players because they canceled contracts over this–and the free agent window closes at the end of the month. We even lost a forward because he was using it. One of our emergency backup goalies was already signed to a different pro team. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of our other EBUGs gets a contract, too. ” He finished his beer.
“Fuck. Yeah, if they’re re-doing the test, maybe I should try to sell the formula while I can. It might be useful legitimately?” I thought for a moment. That was a good idea. Selling the drug made for a fun side-hustle, but if they took my market I should cut my losses.
“Yeah, that’s probably for the better. If you sell it to some company, won’t that make you seem fancy for potential PhD programs?” he asked.
“It wouldn’t hurt.” And much better than being busted for it. I could always sell it to someone else if Compass BioTek wouldn’t buy it. The moonshine mafia might want it. They were one of my big clients. Not sure who all they sold it to.
Carlos stood and threw his beer bottle in the recycling. “I’m going to take a quick shower and get a few things I need from my mamá’s. Do you want a shower?”
“I’m good.” I finished my own beer.
He disappeared.
I texted my sister Grace, aka rich big sister.
Me
Would Compass BioTek have a use for my party drug? Looking to go legit and sell it.
Grace
You are? That’s great. I’ll see what I can do. Why aren’t you coming for Christmas? I thought you were. I even got extra Christmas dragons, so we could fill them with helium, release them, and have the dragon rapture.
She added a picture of her looking sad while holding a plate of cookies. Not sure what she meant by dragon rapture, but I was all for filling inflatable Christmas dragons with helium and releasing them.
Wait, I hadn’t told Grace? Whoops.
Me
Aww, I’m sad to miss that. I’m going to Switzerland to snowboard with some friends.
Grace
Oh, have fun. We’ll miss you.
Me
I’ll miss you, too. Go to bed. It’s late.
Grace
Don’t be bossy. I have mates for that.
Grace, the oldest of us ten, didn’t grow up with us. We only met her a couple of years ago. But she loved us with her whole heart, and we loved her back. While she was a bit of a weirdo, she was the glue that kept us older siblings together after the pack dissolved.
She sent me a picture of some of her chickens dressed in holiday outfits. My phone lit up with a bank transfer. The memo read, For your trip. Eat lots of cheese.
Me
I will eat all the cheese. Thanks. I’ll try to meet up with you before classes start. I want to try skijoring.
Grace
I’d like that. I’ll look and see when the next skijoring event is.
I checked my email, because I hadn’t all day. Oooh, I got a reply from Rock Tech. What a way to start my vacation.
A frown tugged at my lips as my heart fell. I didn’t get in? I thought for sure…
Fuck.
Yeah, I was a national disaster who couldn’t even get into a PhD program based on nepotism. What was I going to do now?
But that was future Hale’s problem. I hadn't heard from all the programs yet–and there were some that hadn’t closed yet that I could apply for. People did get in off waitlists.
I’d think of something. Also, I had a whole fucking semester before graduation. If not? I’d just get a job working with my sister and figure my shit out.
After all, it’s not like I had anyone to be responsible for but myself.