AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I silently groaned, knowing this was on me. I’d encouraged him. Now I’d never get free of him, and we were just starting the thirty-minute bus ride to our Las Vegas hotel.
Beau had quickly transformed from carefree playboy to devoted husband and father. He and his wife had met in a very unconventional way when she’d asked him to be a sperm donor so she could have a baby. Their son Charlie had been born the day the arena exploded, leading to an entire collapse of the building, making him eight months old now. As soon as Beau was able to get that kid into a pair of hockey skates, I was sure we’d be seeing a lot of him on the ice.
“Huh, I guess that’s all I took in the last few days,” he said after showing me no less than a dozen photos of his family.
He was sitting next to me on the bus, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t feel like talking. I was wound tight over our game against Vegas. We had to win this one. I was fucking sick of all the TV pundits and analysts getting all earnest when they talked about our 0–3 record.
Every reporter out there could talk for hours about why we hadn’t won yet, but none of them said the same thing. It was because we’d lost Kirby Teller in the arena explosion. Because too many players who had survived that day were traumatized. Because our coach couldn’t figure out how to turn this new group of players into a cohesive unit. And my personal favorite—because we were all too rusty after eight months without games. I just wanted them to stop talking about it.
“Hey, what’s up with you and Dom helping Eleanor Lawrence move?” Beau asked.
“We didn’t know it was her until we were done.”
He furrowed his brow skeptically. “Really? You’d never seen her before?”
I shook my head. “I just moved here eight months ago, and you know I keep my head down.”
“Yeah, I get that. But now that we’re back, you’ll have to do all that captain bullshit. Fundraisers, cocktail parties, meet and greets. You’ll meet all the local celebrities.”
“Fantastic,” I deadpanned. “Thanks again for handing off the captain duties.”
He laughed. “I’m not meant to be a captain, man. I hate the politics.”
“Plus, the captain has to be the guy with the biggest dick, so…that’s obviously me.”
Beau lowered his brows, grinning. “What’s this? I haven’t heard you crack a joke in…” He turned to the seat behind us. “Colby, has Ford ever cracked a joke?”
“Nope,” Colby said.
Beau sat back down and looked at me. “I’m honored, man.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, it wasn’t really a joke. I do have the biggest dick. And you should be the one at the fundraisers. Bring your kid and show him off to everyone. They’d love it.”
“I’m not letting all those people expose my son to their germs. You do the captain shit.”
“What did you mean about Elle being a local celebrity?” I asked him.
“Her parents raised her in Denver, but they also have a killer place in Breckenridge. Her mom’s family is ultra-rich, like yachts and trust funds. And they gave Eleanor’s mom money to start her own business and it did really well, too. Her grandparents built a place in Breck for when they visited and it’s crazy. Everyone knows who they are because her grandpa always makes the Forbes list of richest people.”
“Shit,” I said, surprised.
Elle didn’t strike me as being wealthy. The things we’d moved into her apartment were ordinary. But then again, my rent was $10,000 a month, which meant hers probably was, too. Lots of square footage with the best mountain views, underground parking, cleaning, and laundry service didn’t come cheap. Newspaper columnists probably didn’t make that kind of money.
“Funny thing is, her dad’s an ordinary guy,” Beau said. “He actually played minor league hockey before he married his wife. I think she passed away a while back. Eleanor has a brother. He played hockey, too. My brother Asher played in a youth league with him for a while. His grandparents built a new arena for the league.”
I scrunched my face in confusion. “Seriously? How did Elle end up so anti-hockey if her dad and brother played, and her grandparents were involved enough to build a new arena?”
Beau shrugged. “No idea. I used to know her brother’s name, but I can’t remember it.”
Suddenly, I was more intrigued by Elle than ever. I’d been thinking about her a lot since our conversation the other night. It sounded like her brother was in a downward spiral, and her heart was clearly broken about it.
Seeing her vulnerable side had left me wondering if maybe I was approaching her the wrong way. Before meeting her, I’d assumed she was an unreasonable shrew. But maybe I could get through to her by getting to know her. Instead of telling her she was being unfair toward her hometown hockey team, I could show her. And get closer to her in the process.
Alotcloser. She’d looked so sexy the other night, sipping her wine and sliding her teeth over her lower lip. It was her nervous habit. I’d spent more time than I cared to admit observing her doing it.
“Hey, I’m checking out for a few,” I said to Beau as I put my headphones on.
He nodded. We’d be at the arena in fifteen minutes, and I wanted to enjoy the last stretch of quiet I’d get for a while. I leaned against the side of the bus and turned my phone screen so only I could see it before googling Elle’s name.
