Page 90 of Risky Play

She shook her head. “He’s overprotective, but he won’t do that.”

I didn’t know about that.

We chatted for the next hour, catching up on everything. I was planning on going home for Christmas, so we talked about potential plans. That reminded me I needed to call my mom. I hadn’t talked to her in a while. She had texted me, yelling at me about Noah fighting Jaime, but I told her I didn’t control him. Mom hated hockey fights. Probably why Noah usually behaved himself.

After I hung up with Ally, I sat down to study before Matt would come over for dinner. He had texted me while I was video chatting with Ally that he went to do weight training and asked if I could handle a late dinner. I was good with that, but I was glad he checked in with me.

Matt was the nicest guy I’d ever dated. I kept thinking back to what Ally said. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad when we told my brother about us. It would be worse the longer I waited to tell Noah. But I kept thinking about how he disapproved of everyone, and I didn’t want to jeopardize Matt’s career or their friendship.

Maybe Matt was right to resist me. What had I gotten myself into?

Chapter Twenty-Four

MATT

Maddie was quiet tonight. She sipped on her beer pensively as we had dinner at Local Hangout.

“What’s wrong?” I asked between bites of my burger. I shouldn’t have been bad about my diet, but I did a fuckton of weight training with Benny today, and I deserved it.

She rested her cheek on her hand. “I think Dinah knows.”

I swallowed my food. Oh, yeah, that. I was pretty sure she knew, too. Especially since she cornered me when I was on the way out the door. Noah told her to lay off me, but her questions about my girlfriend were oddly specific.

I didn’t want to sneak around anymore. I wanted to sit Noah down and tell him I loved his sister, that I’d never do anything to hurt her, but there were a couple of things wrong with that. One, I hadn’t said those three little words to the woman in question. And two, she wasn’t ready to tell him yet. I didn’t want to keep pushing her on it. The puck was on her stick about this.

“Is it bad if she knows?” I asked.

“She tells Noah everything.”

I took a sip of my beer and thought carefully about my words. “But Dinah likes me, so she’ll help us.”

“Okay, fair…”

I reached out and grabbed her hand. “I want to be with you, no matter what that looks like. I’d rather not have to continue to lie to your brother, but if you need more time, that’s what we’ll do.”

Her eyes softened. “I’m sorry. I’m so scared about what he’ll think. He never likes any of my boyfriends.”

“Well, he already likes me. And so does D. Maybe if we tell her, she can help us warm him up to the idea of us?”

She seemed to ponder that for a moment as she took another sip of her beer and a bite of her sandwich. “Maybe,” she whispered after a few seconds had gone past. It was so loud in the bar, I barely heard her.

“Sweet pea…”

She pulled her hand away from me. “I don’t want to think about it tonight. I missed you so much.”

I grinned. “I missed you too.”

“I didn’t realize how much it sucked to be a WAG.”

I laughed.

I changed the subject to ask her how work with Dinah was going. I smiled as her eyes lit up and she told me about the secret project Dinah was working on. I loved the look of excitement in her eyes when she talked about her passions. I worried I was taking up too much of her time, but I wanted to savor every moment I had with her.

When the check came, we fought over it, and I let her win. This time.

“What now?” she asked.

Before I could answer, I heard my name being called. Then, like the whirlwind he was, Ty ran over to us and slid into the booth next to Maddie. She had whiplash from his movement while he stole one of her last fries and gave me a grin.