I’m so glad the noise level in this place is pretty loud, so the chances of the people sitting around us hearing the details of my relationship is low.
Okay, lower.
Artemis must take pity on me because mercifully, he changes the subject. Or maybe my cheeks are making the entire coffee shop too warm, and he needed a break. “Do you like hockey, Eloise?” He gestures to my sweater. I groan.
Ares cracks up laughing. “She hates sports. Her friend gave it to her as a joke. Isn’t it the best fucking thing ever?”
I take a drink of my hot chocolate. “I’ve been to a hockey game with my dad. Uh. Since we’re on the subject, I was thinking of going to one of your games this weekend.”
I’m not lying, I have been. I wanted to mention it to him this morning. I was fascinated watching him play, the focus and concentration behind his mask, diving and moving so fluidly, so gracefully. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again.
I don’t miss Ares’s brows shooting up his forehead as he chokes on a mouthful of coffee.
“I just… I don’t really want to go alone.”
Athena’s stare is hot on the side of my face before she speaks, I move in my chair again.
“None of your friends like hockey?” She’s not criticizing me, in fact, she sounds pretty impressed. Hockey’sthesport here at UCR. Most schools are all up in their football or other sportsball things, but UCR is the place to be for hockey, so it’s unusual to find someone who doesn’t at least have a finger on the hockey pulse. I guess the commonly held belief that Athena doesn’t like hockey is true, too.
I grip my palms together in my lap, fighting the urge to twist them, tug on my shirt, or pull my hair out from behind my ear. I don’t cower, though. I meet her eyes and shake my head. “So far I’ve only made one friend here at college, and she’d rather set herself on fire than step into the stadium.”
Apollo chokes on the parfait he’s now eating. “Arena,” he coughs out. “It’s not a stadium. It’s a rink or an arena. Or simply the Trash Can if you’d like.”
I giggle. Raccoons playing in the trash can—it’s cute. I shrug. “I know nothing about sports. In fact, my first game with Dad, I thought it was a ball you were chasing across the ice.”
Everyone laughs, even Athena, and we draw some bemused looks from those around us.
“Anyway,” I try again, once they’ve managed to stop guffawing at my ignorance. “My high school friends all fell away after my accident.” I swallow, but no one says anything. “And my boyfriend plays on the team, so it’s just me.”
I survey the serious faces around the group. Ares’s face shows no pity—to be honest he looks thrilled I called him my boyfriend to his siblings. The others are hard to read. They might feel sorry for me, but it’s not obvious.
“Is it okay to go alone to a hockey game?” I deliberately avoid looking at Ares when I ask. He’s protective, and I already know from the way his leg tensed under the table that he doesn’t like the idea of me being out by myself at night. “I’d like to support him, even if I don’t understand any of what’s going on down on the ice.”
Athena’s face softens, and a smile teases the edges of her mouth. “You know you’re adorable, right?”
And now I want the ground to open up and swallow me whole.
“It’s very sweet of you to want to support your boyfriend. Even if he is mypendejobrother. And for that reason, I’ll come to a game with you this weekend. I’ll bring my friend Savannah, introduce you to her, and you’ll have made three friends in college.”
Artemis nods. “She dates a player on the team, too. So, I’m sure she’ll be happy to sit with you at games. And if you’re interested in learning, she can help too.”
Apollo pauses his spoon on the way to his mouth. “And if you’rereallyinterested in learning… Well, the three of us play, and while Hen does a great job at pretending she hates the sport, she’s actually pretty savvy. We’ve got you.” He jerks his chin at me before eating a heaped spoon of parfait sprinkled with granola.
I look at Ares, wondering what he was so concerned about me meeting his siblings for, and smile. Is this what it feels like to be adopted by a family? They talked to me for a matter of seconds, and now I’m suddenly part of their group. Maybe it’s skin deep and they’d be like this with anyone Ares brought home, but maybe it’s the start of connecting with people on a level I’ve craved for a while.
Ares’s mouth moves, silently asking if I’m okay, and I nod. What would he do if I said I wasn’t? It’s hard not to be okay right now. Despite their intimidating presence, the de la Peñas seem like pretty nice people. They spend the next hour with us, hanging out, asking questions, about me, my life, the things I like to do.
I’m sure they want to ask about my face, my accident, my family. Everyone does. Curiosity is completely normal, but I can’t say I’m not grateful that they don’t bring it up, not even once. In fairness, they spend most of their time mocking their brother. Turns out, him having a partner he sees more than once is a pretty big deal, and they’re not letting him forget it.
He mouthssorryat me for the three hundredth time, and I shake my head. “I know you had a life before me. It’s okay.”
No one says out loud that they don’t believe he can stay committed to one person for any length of time, but there are undertones of accusation, jibes about his revolving door sex life. I expect each veiled barb to bother me, to make me jealous, or insecure, but they don’t.
I believe him when he says things are different with me. I’m not sure what that says about me, or him, or us, but I do.
When they all stand up to leave, a pang of sadness strikes in my chest. Being an only child, having a small circle of friends, this… this feels nice. As though she senses my sadness, Athena curls her arms around me, pulling me awkwardly against her and squeezing.
She picks my phone up from the table and offers it to me. “I’ll give you my number and we can talk about going to a game. Does tonight work better for you or tomorrow?”
