I nod, guilt hitting me hard. She spins in my arms and cups my face.
“Hey, I grew up with my dad playing hockey. I know what I’m getting into. There has never been a moment I don't feel loved enough, okay?”
“I just… don’t like the idea of missing anything. My father wasn’t a terrible man, but he wasn’t always present.”
She grabs my hand and holds it against her face.
“I’ll believe in you enough for the both of us. Okay?”
“Okay,” I tell her because that’s all I have for now.
My whole team, including Max and Ethan, are waiting in the lobby as I approach Coach with my arm tossed over Sloane’s shoulder.
He looks down at his daughter with affection and immediately clocks her two bond marks.
“Sloane? What are you doing here?”
Her cheeks heat, and she shrugs her shoulders and looks away.
“I can’t fly back with the team. I need to fly back with Sloane.”
“Okay,” he says easily, and Coach glances down at her. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
She nods and walks off with her dad. I try not to eavesdrop, but I keep tabs on her emotions throughout the conversation. They don’t appear to be arguing, so that’s something.
Max and Ethan both approach me, and we try to act natural as Sloane speaks with her father.
“Good or bad?” Ethan says, nudging his thumb in their direction.
“I’m going good for them, bad for us,” Max says.
“What does that even mean?” the Beta asks.
“That means it’s time to really meet the parents.”
This should definitely be interesting.
The Applegates’ home is clean, large, and opulent in a New England waspy kind of way.
“Well, fuck. I knew Sloane was out of your league, but I didn’t know you were marrying into a whole new tax bracket,” Dave, Ethan’s foster dad, says in panted breaths.
My Beta mate helps his ailing father through the house.
“Jesus, Dad, be normal.”
“Right, let me just go home and put my fancy house pants on,” the old man says, and Sloane grins, coming to his side and walking next to him.
“You don’t have to change a thing about yourself, Dave,” she tells him.
“See, she gets it. I bet you have all three of these bastards wrapped around your finger. If you need a fourth, let me know,” he breathes through his mouth heavily as Sloane leads us to the dining room.
I pull the old man’s chair out, and he sits down.
“I don’t know, Dave. Do you think you could keep up?”
“I would sure as fuck try,” he says with a laugh, and Ethan groans.
“Please, Dad. Coach is already pissed. Please don’t give him another reason.”
