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Cal laughs. “Collin will definitely do it. I’m not. If you have to get a date for the girl, that’s bad news.”
“She doe
sn’t need my help,” I argue. “I just want her go out and have some fun.” I focus on Collin since he may be my only hope. “Only once. No obligations other than to make sure she has fun.”
“You don’t have to do it, Collin,” Cal tells him.
He seems on the fence, so I pull out my phone and show him a picture of her. “Just one fun date,” I repeat.
“Yeah, okay. Fine. But only because she’s hot.”
It takes a lot not to frown at his comment. “Thanks.” I spot Brayden walking in, so I say goodbye, get up, and join him at the table he claims. “Hey.”
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Just setting Raelynn up on a date.”
He eyes me with mild surprise as he picks up the menu and the waiter comes over to take our drink order. We get waters and when the waiter walks away, Brayden asks, “Why are you setting her up?”
I shrug, not sure if I should reveal the real reason. However, my shrug makes him suspicious.
“EJ, is something going on with your nanny?”
“No.” Which may or may not be the problem. Brayden watches me for a moment longer before switching his focus to the menu, deciding to let it go. “If you had a nanny, you wouldn’t fuck her, right?” I blurt out.
Brayden laughs, but doesn’t look up from the menu. “Depends on if it’s worth the risk, especially for you considering how long it took you to find a nanny you liked. You sleep with her and it goes sour, she leaves and your mom has to come back.”
That’s the thing. My gut feeling? It’s totally on board with this. I don’t think it would turn out badly, but Raelynn is a loose cannon and that’s where all of my hesitation comes in. Who the hell knows where that girl’s head is? I’ll stick with my game plan of sending her on a date with Collin and then reevaluate after that.
Later that night, we’re getting our asses kicked just a little. The first period ended with a three to zero score and not in our favor. The second period? Well, it starts by a sleazy bastard scoring thirty seconds in. Savage’s expression is completely blank, almost stony. He reminds me a lot of Brayden right now.
It’s Serge and the Kessy twins who get us rolling shortly after Bruiser has a go with a player. Serge plants himself right in front of the goalie, who looks around him, expecting the shot to clearly come from Thing One or Thing Two. But Collin shoots wide, the puck bounces off the boards toward Serge, and he redirects it to the net. We all stand because the goalie tries, but fails to keep the puck out.
Throughout the rest of the game, we try. We’re relentless. We do our best to take advantage of their turnovers, of every time we have possession of the puck, of every shot, but their goalie shuts us down every fucking time. That’s the only goal we Rebels manage to score.
This game is almost like how my life is going with Raelynn. Things are happening, we’re both doing our best, but it’s not going quite as expected. Hopefully, things turn out better when it comes to my life and the slight issue of me wanting to be with my nanny.
“Go shower and get dressed.”
I frown at Elias. He’s been anxious all day and now, he’s giving me orders? “Why?”
“You have a date tonight.”
Jaw, meet floor. “What? No, I don’t.” I haven’t been on a date since high school! No way in hell am I going on a date today!
“Yes, you do. I set you up with a teammate.” Elias stands, takes my hand, and pulls me to stand as well. “Go upstairs, shower, and get ready. He’ll be here in an hour.”
My head shakes back and forth in protest. “No, Elias. No. No. No.” He glances at Bree in her pack ?n play and Jackson, who watches TV, and then pulls me up the stairs since I won’t move. “No! I don’t want to go.” Yet, I follow along helplessly anyway. “Why would you do this?”
“Because I thought you could use some fun.”
“But my last date was with Henry!”
Elias pauses outside of my bedroom with concern finally filling his features. “I didn’t think about that. Look, it’s nothing serious, okay? Just two people going out for some fun. That’s it. You can do that, right?”
With one of his teammates who I don’t even know? “Why can’t you take me out for fun or I can go out for fun by myself?”
His eyes widen a little with surprise. “I’m watching Jackson for you and because we both know you wouldn’t go out by yourself.” His thumb brushes over my knuckles. “You’ll be okay, Raelynn. I wouldn’t put you in a bad situation.”
