“Better get out there.” Coach gave us one last nod and headed towards the ice. I moved to follow him, but Andy placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m gonna keep working to give you the team you need,” he said. “The rest is up to you. Keep scoring me goals, O’Conner, and we’ll get there.”
“I can do that.” I suddenly felt a lot lighter than I had since I first stepped foot in this rink. Levi Newton might be young, but he was going to be good for us, I could feel it. At the very least, he wasn’t going to be holding back some of our best players for petty bullshit reasons. And losing the toxic negativity of guys like Dillion and Ryan Cane was priceless.
“Thanks, Andy,” I said sincerely. “I think you made the right moves here.”
He studied me for a long moment, his eyes narrowed and appraising. Finally, he nodded. “As far as his comment about breaking up fights between us…” He shot me a rare grin. “I guess that just depends on how well you treat my sister.”
A laugh burst from me. “Fair enough. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”
“About Grace?” I saw the warning in his eyes. I ignored it. There was no going back for me now.
“Yeah. I need your help with something.”
His assessing glare made me realize exactly how he’d managed to be so successful at such a young age. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be the one to cross this guy in the boardroom. “To be clear,” he said, seeming to control his tone carefully. “You want my help in smoothing things over with my sister?”
“I want your help in doing something that I think will make her happy,” I corrected. I held his gaze, wanting him to see how serious I was. How committed.
Finally, he nodded with a heavy sigh. “Come and see me after practice.”
Somehow, I managed not to bust out laughing again—the sour, resigned look on his face was just too good. Instead, I slapped his shoulder. “Thanks, buddy. You know, I always wanted a brother.”
His features hardened. “I can still trade you, asshole.”
I just grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
CHAPTER 31
Never in my life had I been more tempted to cancel on my brother. Over the years he’d dragged me along to hundreds of these charity events. Standing around in a stuffy ballroom while billionaires yammered on endlessly about stock prices wasn’t my idea of a good time, but Andy had told me more than once that without me there he would likely perish of boredom. I figured the least I could do was put on a pretty dress once in a while and show up for my brother.
Besides, he always took me out for greasy fast food at the end of the night. Fancy rich people portion sizes and I did not get along.
Tonight was going to be a struggle, though, and no amount of McDonalds fries was going to make it any easier.
I wanted to see Liam with an intensity that made me ache. I had so much to apologize for, so much to get off my chest. Everything between us seemed chaotic and unsettled and I hated that feeling. It made it difficult to concentrate at work, difficult to sleep.
God, I had so many regrets. There were a million things I wished I had done differently. If I had just been a damn grownup, if I had just been honest about how I felt, so much of the heartache of the last week could have been avoided.
Tomorrow,I reminded myself as I finished applying my eye make-up.You’ll talk it all out tomorrow.And this time, I was going to be strong enough to tell him the truth about my feelings.
“Ace?” my brother’s booming voice called from downstairs. I frowned at my bedside clock. He wasn’t due to pick me up for another fifteen minutes, and Andy was far too busy to ever be early.
“Up here,” I called, cinching my robe at the waist before he came barreling in.
“Oh, good. You’re not dressed yet.”
I felt a surge of hope—was he backing out of the event?—but it diminished when he held out a black garment bag, replaced by confusion. “What’s that?”
“I bought you a dress,” he said, thrusting the bag forward. “For the event.”
I frowned. It wasn’t unusual for my brother to gift me black tie garments for these occasions—he would never expect me to waste my paltry teacher’s salary on designer labels—but his gifts usually consisted of sending me to a boutique with his credit card. I didn’t think he’d ever picked something out for me before.
“What’s going on?” I asked, immediately suspicious.
He rolled his eyes. “I can’t buy my favorite sister a gift?”
“Andy,” I warned.
