“Either.” I shrug, trying to contain my joy that she wants to hang out with me again as I unlock my phone.
“I’ll check with Vannah to see what works for her and get back to you. It’s been truly a pleasure, Eloise. When Ares told me he’d found someone to settle down with I thought wonders would never cease.” She pauses and shakes her head. “In fact, I thought he’d mail ordered you from some far-off land. Or bought himself a blow-up doll from the sex shop on 66th. But I’m very glad to have been wrong. You’re an absolute delight, and I’m thrilled you gave him a chance.”
She turns to Ares, thumps his shoulder. “Don’t fuck it up.”
I roll my lips to smother a laugh, but it comes out as a squeak.
Ares rubs where she struck him. “You’re really coming to watch us play?” Hope and incredulity are layered through his words. I guess coming to a game really is a big deal for her. It makes me warm and fuzzy that it’s me that’s getting her in the door, but what’s the personal cost to her? She doesn’t go for a reason, right?
“Yeah. Don’t fuck that up either.”
I can’t help but laugh out loud. It feels good, too. The twins say their goodbyes and the three of them leave. Just when I think I might have my boyfriend to myself for a hot minute, a chair squeaks across the floor from the table next to ours.
A blond guy with boy-next-door vibes and broad shoulders nudges Ares. “Does this mean you’re joining my romance book club, Casanova?”
He turns to me and winks. “Hi, Eloise. I’m Justin. I play on the team with Ares. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I shake his hand, and the warmth the de la Peñas made bloom in my chest flares again. It seems as though dating Ares has opened a door to something I wasn’t expecting, cementing another piece of my heart.
Ares hitches a brow to me, tipping his head to Justin, silently asking me if I want him to make him leave. An unspoken conversation with only a look.
I shake my head, taking the last, cold sip of my drink. It’s all good. It’s better than good. And despite the fact I have to sit, clueless, through a hockey game this weekend, I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of his friends, and maybe even making some more of my own.
CHAPTER21
Ares
The music vibrates through my veins, booming around the rink as I wait to take the ice for warmups. My girl is in the stands, not for the first time ever, but she’s there for me and only me. I have to admit, that feels fucking incredible.
Athena and Savannah picked her up earlier and the three of them went out for dinner. As concerned as I am that Hen may have told her all my childhood secrets and produced embarrassing baby pictures, Eloise’s texts before I got to the arena seemed happy.
She was a little anxious about hanging out with my sister again, especially without me as a buffer. I get it—Athena is a fucking force of nature, but under that armor of hers, she’s a pretty cool chick. I even think there might be a heart in her chest somewhere—though I’d never tell her that out loud.
I saw the way mytesorolaughed when my brothers and sister invaded our space at the coffee house. She seemed so joyous to be surrounded by people who accepted her on the spot, no questions asked. My siblings and I might bicker and fight sometimes, but underneath it all, we’re solid. They’ve stood by me through so much, and at this point they’re probably relieved I’ve found someone to tame my wild ways.
I snort. Like that’ll ever happen.
But we rally hard around each other. Athena and Apollo are both single at the minute. Athena chooses to stay single, but Apollo seems to be having a drought. It’s self-imposed, since his last fling took pictures of them naked in bed and shared them all over the internet. And we all despise Artemis’s prissy, entitled mouthpiece of a girlfriend so we hardly ever see her. But I have a good feeling about bringing Eloise into the family fold, even if when and how it happened wasn’t what I planned.
The Raccoons skate out onto the ice and my brothers follow me to my net. Warmups follow the same pattern every time, and if my brothers don’t put me through my paces before every game, well, I’m not sure what would happen, but it wouldn’t be good.
Before I can even scratch up the ice in my crease with the blades of my skates, Apollo points to something behind the plexi. I follow his line of sight and my gaze lands on my girl. She’s grinning at me as she waves then does a slow spin, arms out by her sides. She has UCR colors painted on both cheeks, she’s wearing my high school jersey with my name across her shoulders and my number on her back and biceps, and she has UCR colored ribbons holding back part of her hair from her face.
Up from her face. Her hair isn’t all down around her cheeks. I don’t even know what to do with that.
So many things hit me at once. Her huge smile, the sparkle in her eyes, the fact that Athena, or my brothers, went to the trouble of digging out my old high school shirt. I don’t even know where they’d have gotten it from. My girl is showing off her scars. Okay, so face paint covers most of them, but this is the most exposed I’ve ever seen her before, and it shoots a thrill of something through my body. I’ve never felt such a surge of emotions before and it’s making me a little unsteady on my skates.
My sister and my girl in the stands to cheer me on in a game? I feel like I’ve won the Stanley fucking Cup.
Tesoroblows me a kiss, and before I know what I’m doing I’m catching it in my glove and pretending to tuck it into my pants.
Fuck. I’m never living this down.
I spin to face my brothers who, surprisingly, aren’t doubled over laughing. Instead, they are looking at me as though they’ve never seen me before. I don’t blame them. I’ve never seen these pieces of myself before, either. It’s new for all of us.
We warm up as usual: stretches, my brothers putting me through my paces shooting a few dozen pucks at my face. Hayes and I are the last two to leave the ice.
When the lights dim and we take to the ice twenty minutes later, I’m focused and ready. I’m ready to impress my girl and my sister, I’m ready to remind Coach Bales that he didn’t make a mistake when he signed me to the team, and I’m ready to absolutely destroy the fucking Wolves.
