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After one more check of the living room to make sure no one was breaking our shit, I decided the guys could handle the rest of the party. I’d waited long enough.
“Make sure this gets cleaned up.” My mind was already upstairs, but Cole’s next words stopped me in my tracks.
“She’s not alone.” When I turned on him, he held up his hands. “I wasn’t involved. Danny’s up there with her.”
I remembered Danny’s grin at the exhibition game and my stupid insistence from the first week.I have no interest in Eva. If you like having your balls handed to you, feel free to try.
Fuck, no. I wasnotletting my asshole brother disappear into Eva’s room with her. I took the stairs two at a time.
21
Ihadn’t planned on hosting a lowkey hockey party, but I accepted it as a repercussion of living with a bunch of them. Henry was safely sleeping in Cole’s room from before the game, and I was holed up in mine putting away clothes, trying to come to terms with my feelings for a certain hockey player who’d looked right at me and tapped his chest after he made the game winning shot.
The ass.
When he’d asked me if I trusted him the other day at the rink, I’d responded without thinking. I hadn’t expected to, but Ididtrust him. He knew parts of me even Stephen didn’t get to see, and I was struggling. Not with feeling exposed—I knew he’d keep those parts safe—but with the urge to give him everything.
He’d brought up the night we slept together in his bed, and the part I remembered the most was his question when I’d tried to knock him down.
You going to give me access, Princess?
I’d thought he was needling me, trying to get a response because nothing else had worked, but I’d fallen for it anyway.Whether I liked it or not, he had access. What was I going to do about it?
A knock came on my door before I could pin down a response. My heart kicked into high gear, but it wouldn’t be Gavin. He didn’t knock.
“Yes?”
The door eased open, and for a split second, excitement stole my breath as a dark head peeked through. Then Danny grinned at me, and the anticipation crashed.
“Can I come in?”
My pulse slowed as I tossed the last stack of yoga pants into my dresser. “Why are you up here?”
Danny entered the room, closing the door behind him. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’m up here because Gavin is going to be downstairs celebrating his win soon, and I want to ruin his night a little bit.”
I raised a brow. “Not much of a brother.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I never claimed to be much of a brother. We all have our issues. Gavin is mine.”
The protective part of me roared to life, but I sat neatly on my bed and gestured at my desk chair. “Have a seat. We’re talking about this.”
When he moved toward the bed, I held up a hand. “Nope. I accept your misguided attempt to irritate Gavin, but I’m not going to be the reason.”
“Fair enough.” He sat in the chair and swiveled back and forth.
“Why are you such a shit to him?”
Danny laughed quietly. “I thought we were on the same team, Shortcake. Gavin gets everything he wants, everyone else be damned.”
I frowned. “You don’t believe that, do you?”
He crossed his arms and leaned back, his smile fading. “Why wouldn’t I? He got the college he wanted, the hockey team aimed for the championship, the house, the friends… you.”
There was a lot to unpack in his list, but two things stood out. “The house?”
“This is his house. He sold the one our parents left us and used his half to buy this one.”
No wonder he hadn’t been worried about the landlord. Did the others know? Did it change anything between us? My mind jumped from one question to another while Danny watched me with a little too much pleasure in his gaze.
