Page 39 of Body Check

“What happened?” I ask Logan, who’s slumped on my couch.

“I’m in love with her.”

His feelings for his best friend’s little sister were always clear as day. Everyone knows—except MacGregor. The idiot’s rather oblivious.

“No, shit.”

His head snaps up, and he glares at me. “Fuck off.”

“Hey, you’re the one on my sofa. What happened now?”

He sighs. “Our high school reunion is coming up in a few months. I got a call from the organizing committee. They want me to come, and will work with our schedule to make sure I’m available.”

“And you want to ask her to go with you?”

“I don’t want to show up to the reunion alone like a loser. Like I’m still a twenty-eight year old vir—” He clamps his lips together. “I want to go with Hailey. I want to be with Hailey. And she has no interest in me.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

MacGregor’s sister hangs out with the team. She comes to almost all of our home games, and volunteers with the Grizzlies Foundation. Decent person. Hell, she’s her brother’s date to our formal functions.

But it’s not a weird thing. They lost their parents young, and she’s disabled and depends on him for a lot of things.

Logan slots into their dynamic seamlessly. He grew up with the MacGregor siblings. I don’t know all the details, but everyone knows they’re a tightly knit trio.

… which might be part of the problem, come to think about it.

“Have you talked to MacGregor? Asked for his blessing?”

Logan flinches. “I shouldn’t have to ask his permission. She’s a grown ass adult.”

“Yeah, but he’s your best friend.” I shake my head. “And it’s not asking for his permission, it’s his approval. Because if he doesn’t want you to date his sister…”

“I don’t care what he thinks,” Logan says. “I love her.”

Hiding my wince, I clear my throat. “I know you do. But my job as your captain is to tell you that it can’t happen.”

His face falls.

“Not without MacGregor’s blessing. You two are best friends. He’s your teammate. We can’t have discord in the locker room.” I blow out a breath. “For what it’s worth, I think you and Hailey would be good together. But if it comes down to it, who are you going to pick—her, or your teammate?”

“Her,” he says without hesitation.

“And see, that’s why, as your captain, I have to tell you it’s a bad idea.”

I don’t want to. It isn’t my place to keep him from the woman he loves. But at the end of the day, my role is to guide this team, and I can’t do that effectively if the players aren’t focused on the goal.

“Until you get to the point of putting a ring on her finger, you have to focus on your career first,” I tell him. “Right now, she’s a wish you want to come true. It’s not reality. And the reality is, you have to work with him all day, every day. Can you really look him in the eye on the ice and then go behind his back with his little sister?”

Logan sighs, sinking into the couch. “No. I can’t.”

“I’m not saying it can never happen. But maybe not for this reunion.”

“You know we grew up together? I wanted to ask her to prom.” He shakes his head. “Chickened out. I didn’t have the courage to do it. And I’ve kicked myself for the last ten years. I thought when I signed here that we might be able to start something, but…”

“But MacGregor is in the way,” I finish.

“Yeah. And he’s my best friend. I love him like a brother. I wouldn’t trade our relationship for the world…” He scrubs a hand over his face. “But I can see a future with Hailey. An honest future. And she’s not interested in that life, not with me.” Letting out a sigh, he shakes his head. “I just don’t know how to move on from that. I’ve loved her since we were fifteen. Ever since I knew how to want a girl, it’s always been her. It’s only been her.”