Before we could respond, Aubree came to the back door, yelling through the screen, “I need help!”
Millie rolled her eyes in a loving manner that suggested she wasn’t annoyed, and went to help Aubree with picking something new.
“What else are you guys doing with the time off?” Jake asked.
“Hadn’t planned anything out,” I replied.
“You sticking around town for the weekend?”
“No, heading back today,” April jumped in.
Jake glanced between us; I saw April’s cheeks flush. “I’ve got to set up some new regiments for Carlsen and Gordons since they got hurt last week.”
“Right, how are they doing?”
“Okay. I suppose. More bruised egos than anything.”
I scoffed. “Gordons slid right into Carlsen, tearing his hamstring!”
“He said he didn’t hear him yell he had it.”
“Typical.” I snorted. It was no secret Carlsen and I had beef. He likes to show off and he’s caused more injuries to his own team, then said they were “accidents”, than we could stand. I was pissed he hadn’t been traded yet, but no one wanted him. Too much of a liability, if I had to guess.
“Anyways…” April squeezed my leg as she caught the tension in my voice. “I’ll have him fixed in no time.”
“Of course you will, you’re one of the best physios this team has had.” I meant it. She was talented. I ignored Jake’s glance at me, but I didn’t care. It was true. April was one of the best in the league and everyone knew it.
As we drove out of Beachers Bay, I noted the grin on April’s face. Her and Millie had had some sort of private conversation in the yard while Jake was distracting me with some nonsense story about his crazy cousin, Jax, and his latest shenanigans. They vowed to keep our secret.
I could only shake my head, because I was far too occupied watching Millie and April’s interaction. For some reason, my nerves were set off, worried for April. They had gotten off on the wrong foot a couple years ago, and although we’ve had a few team events since then that they both had been to, I noticed how April stayed away from her.
Reaching over, I gripped her hand in mine, leaving a blush on her cheeks. I cleared my throat and my nerves started to light up. “I—uh, I want to apologize for being an ass to you since that night.”
She tucked her chin to her chest and nodded. “It’s okay.”
“No. No, it isn’t. I didn’t know how to handle the day after, but pretending it was nothing but a drunken encounter was childish and stupid. Truth was, I wanted more, but because of the work issue, I played it off.”
She stared out the window, not saying anything for what felt like ten minutes, before she finally spoke. “Yeah, that sucked. But I also knew of your reputation.”
My ears heated up. “I–”
She put her hand up to stop me. “I made my choice, Josh, and deep down, I knew about the work rules. It might havebeen what was best at the time, but after all of this...” She twirled her finger in the air between us, “I don’t want to go back to that.”
My stomach churned listening to her and the sadness in her voice. “April, no matter what happens from here on out, we’re not going back to that. Ever.”
I meant it and I hoped she understood that I was serious. Things were different then. I stupidly let my shield get in the way of being decent to her and that was probably the shittiest thing I did. All the fucking locker-room talk, and shit between the guys and I, I knew she’d heard it.
I dunno, maybe some sick part of me wanted to see a spark of jealousy or something, but it was childish, and she didn’t deserve it. Even when she started dating that weasel, Wes, I should have been happy for her and yet, seeing her with him made my skin crawl in a way that’s never happened before. It did things, like make me act juvenile, poke fun at him and his stupid overpriced suit, Fluevog loafers, and a plastered on fake smile, as if he gave a shit about her. It made me wonder why she didn’t see what I did. She deserved way better than him.
She bit her cheek, turning her head away from me. “I hope you’re right. I will say, it was nice not to lie to them.”
“Does it bother you to lie about us?”
“To my family? No. The team, I guess we’ll see.”
Knowing there wasn’t much I could say, I wound our fingers together and gently squeezed them, hoping to reassure her, even if just a little bit. My only real worry, was what to do if the team found out. There was a balance we needed to pull off for the bet with the guys, but not enough to trip the alarm wires and get in shit with management. Could we do it? Not sure, but this was the first step in testing it out.
CHAPTER 28
