Page 9 of Code Violation

At this point, I should probably hang up and take my rage out on the ice. But making good decisions has never been my strong suit, especially not when it comes to Vesper.

The tone sounds, and I take a second before speaking.

“Hey, Ves. It’s me, Si. Listen …” I pause, praying that my brother was right when he said that she was truly done with him this time. “Kane just told me that you guys are finished. He said that you two hooked up a week ago and things didn’t end well.” I swallow hard, trying to summon the right words. “I know I sound like a broken record, but I want you to know I’m here if you need to talk. I know you have Drew and your sister, but … don’t shut me out, okay? I care about you.”

My clenched fist finds the wall, the impact soft enough so I won’t cause any damage but hard enough so the pain drowns out the feelings I should never have developed for my brother’s girl.

“I don’t want Kane to be the reason why you cut contact with me completely because I’m on your side. And I always have been.”

When my teammate and fellow defenseman Mason James appears at the end of the hallway, I know I need to wrap this up fast. Aside from Will, who probably knows more about my feelings for his fiancée’s best friend than he actually lets on, no one else has any idea what’s going on in my head.

And that’s probably for the best.

“I know the last thing you need is another guy blowing up your phone when you don’t want to speak to him, so I’m going to put this out into the universe one last time: he doesn’t deserve you, and you know that. Just …” I wave at Mason when all I want to do is headbutt the wall. “Just call me back and tell me that you’re okay and you’re really fucking done with him this time.”

3

. . .

Vesper

“Note to self.” June, Will’s twin sister, spins around from the players’ bar, holding two glasses of Pinot Grigio. “Remember not to schedule big interviews with hot hockey players while on your period.”

She sets one glass of wine in front of me and keeps the other for herself as she takes a seat next to Drew on the opposite side of the table.

“Have you seen this zit?” She points to her chin, and I have to squint my eyes because, honestly, I can’t see anything, other than how beautiful she is.

June Jones has sleek, dark hair that reaches her lower back. She’s athletic, super smart, and an incredibly successful sports journalist, having set up her own blog on social media last year, which has already accumulated in excess of a million subscribers across multiple platforms.

“I really cannot see a thing, June,” Drew answers on behalf of us both.

Soon-to-be sisters-in-law, my two friends couldn’t be more different in personality, even if they have known each other since birth. Both of them are from hockey-mad families and have enjoyed privileged upbringings, unlike me.

I’m slowly getting to know June better since she’s spending more time in Seattle now that her brother lives and plays here. That and the media contract she recently signed with the Rogues, allowing her exclusive access to players postgame, where she can grill them on their performance. Over the past few months, I’ve been attending more hockey games with Drew, and my friendship with June has definitely grown.

And, boy, do I need friends in this city.

My sister, Naomi, lives all the way in Cincinnati, and my parents have basically been absent from my life since I was eighteen and moved to Seattle for a job in the corporate world that didn’t work out before I took a bartender job and met Kane. When I was a kid, Mom moved from boyfriend to boyfriend after Dad left, leaving my sister and me responsible for our own upbringing. I never got the big, happy family I yearned for when I was a child.

In fact, I haven’t had the easiest start in life, and when you’re younger, many opportunities are dependent on your parents actually giving a shit about your future. Mine prioritized their dating lives, and all we get is the odd phone call here and there. I don’t think I’ve seen my dad for at least five years, and neither parent met Kane.

“And don’t think I missed your reference to hot hockey players.” I wink at June. “Who did you have the pleasure of getting up close and personal with?”

She flicks her hair over one shoulder. “Mason James. He’s a nice guy, really warm and friendly too. So much better than the previous Rogues player I interviewed last season.”

“Tristan Vaughn?” I ask, fully aware of who she’s talking about.

June scoffs and takes a sip of wine, blue eyes darting around the players’ bar to make sure the guys haven’t started filing in from the locker rooms.

Tonight, they got the win over the Colorado Kings, which usually means they take longer with press responsibilities.

“All cards on the table? Tristan is kind of a dick, although I wouldn’t tell Will that because it’d just make their rivalry worse.”

Drew cocks her head to one side, turning her water glass around slowly on the dark wooden table. “How so?”

June shrugs. “He has a chip on his shoulder. The interview was a total flop, and I wonder if it was because my last name is Jones. Most of the questions I asked he refused to answer, and they were just standard questions I’d ask any other athlete. It was so boring; I couldn’t justify uploading it.”

I screw my face up. “What an asshole.”