june
CHAPTER ONE
boston
I don’t havethe patience for this shit.
I’m a patient guy. Had to be patient my whole life. Patiently waiting for my parents to show up at the farm again. Patiently waiting for them to pay the bills so I could shower. Patiently waiting for them to decide to be parents.
I’ve developed the longest temper on planet earth, but for this? No patience at all.
“Sorry, darling,” I grumble, nudging her off my lap for the tenth time. There are five perfectly sittable laps at this table. She can find another. “Not tonight.”
I love women. I appreciate women. I respect women. But when I kindly ask you to stop touching me, sitting on me, and putting your hand that close to my fucking dick, and you don’t, that’swhen I have a problem. I’m on request four with her, and she still isn’t getting it.
“Hey, Goldie,” Carter Forkerro says, reaching down to take her hand. He pulls the girl in the gold dress off my lap and passes her across the booth in one smooth movement. “Have you met Reno?”
I catch his eye and dip my chin in thanks. He flashes me a token, Forker wink and drops that girl right into Reno Rossi’s eager arms. Rossi’s baby face lights up like it’s the fourth of July, hand immediately on her leg, hers around the back of his neck.
I let out a breath of relief. Reno will give her all the attention she wants. I would have just let her down anyway when I went home within the hour.
“Move over,” Forker orders, gesturing into the booth.
We’re atIcebox, the team’s favourite bar. Usually, time with the guys is something I enjoy. Something I do to let off a little steam. Not tonight. Goldie, over there, made my mood turn sour quicker than I’d like to admit. I hate the attention we get just because we’re professional athletes. I don’t trust anyone who shows any interest in me anymore.
I shove over and Forker slides in next to me. He cradles his Jäger and redbull in his hand, shooting me a look of sympathy. “Harder for them to accost you when you’re not on the edge of the table.”
I cock a brow. “You up for being accosted tonight?”
The answer better be no.
He lets out a breathy laugh, shaking his head. Good. No. Not since he met Arden. “Nah, but I have a higher tolerance for pushy girls who think I’m pretty.”
I snort, bringing my whiskey to my mouth.
My tolerance for anything besides my career and my farm is next to nothing. The boys are good, too, if I’m in the mood for their shit. The reason I don’t date, the reason I rarely take anyone home anymore, is because I don’t want to. It’s that simple. I don’t feel the need to bring someone home who I’m never going to settle down with, who I’m never going to marry. Women want that shit. They look at me with hope in their eyes, like they’ll be the ones to change me, but they fail to realize it’s impossible.
I’ve only ever let one woman change who I am. Her name was Mom. I won’t let that shit happen again.
Since I pride myself on not being a total piece of shit, I never let it get very far. Sure, some company would be nice every so often, and I’m not a monk—I’ll take a girl home once in a while. But I’m not a dude who will play with their feelings. It’s clear what it is, from start to finish, and I don’t see them again. Ever. There is one exception to that rule, but that’s an entirely different situation.
Iceboxis a hockey bar. It’sthePittsburgh hockey bar. More often than not, girls like Goldie are here because they came looking for us. I can’t do that shit. It’s not organic. It’s not natural. Makes me feel like a pawn in someone else’s game, and that’s not something I’ll let myself be.
“Hey, Thirty-Three!” Oscar calls out from the middle of the booth. All heads snap up to Declan Lowes, waltzing in looking sharp and sober. He buries his hands in the pockets of his black pants, taking a quick glance at the girls situated on various laps. “Where’s Penny?”
“Penny is at home with the kids,” Declan says. He grabs a chair from one of the nearby tables and brings it to the edge of the booth, dropping himself onto it.
The kids. In Lowesy and Penny’s language, that means their dogs. They’re on number three now. It’s a full house, but I still beat them by a mile on that front. Knowing Sweeten, she is still planning to adopt more. She should really take the farm off my hands and bring in all the little homeless guys she wants.
I’d miss it, but I would trust her with it.
“I’m here for one beer,” he announces, pattering his fingers against the table, “and one beer only.”
“Come on,” Forker whines. “One?”
“Where’s Arden?” Dec asks. He says it with a bit of an edge. Proving a point.
“Hospital,” Forker says in a similar tone, mocking him as he smiles wide. “Night shift. So, I want a boys’ night.”
