Then again, she’s a princess who grew up on this ranch and has nice people raising her who don’t beat the shit out of her. Of course she’s happy. I’d be fucking thrilled.
“Hey,” she says as she joins me where I’m standing not far from the house, looking at the mountains. “You don’t look too happy to be here yet, but don’t worry, you will be. I know—it’s an adjustment.”
“That’s all life is,” Gideon says from the other side of her, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Freaking adjustments.”
“That’s deep,” Willow says, but she’s nodding in agreement. “Who gave you the black eye?”
“Him,” Gideon says, gesturing to me.
“And what did he do to you?” Willow asks me.
“Punched me in the dick.”
Her eyes widen, and she looks back and forth between us. “So you’re not friends.”
“Hell no,” I reply.
“Not even close,” Gideon agrees.
“But what if I want to be friends with both of you?”
“It’s a free country,” I reply. “Doesn’t matter.”
Gideon just shrugs.
“You guys are going to be a lot of work,” she says with a sigh as she pats us each on a shoulder and shakes her head. “It’s a good thing I’m up for the challenge. We’ll be the Three Amigos by the end of next week. Mark my words.”
She’s so pretty. Sobright. Life hasn’t sucker punched her.
I glance at Gideon. I hate that guy. But maybe for her, I can chill.
As long as he keeps his hands to himself and doesn’t mouth off.
“Come on,” she says. “Let’s go get dinner. Deb’s chicken is todiefor.”
“I think you’re going to be nothing but trouble,” I tell her as we stalk off toward the huge house for dinner.
“Who, me?” She bats her big baby blues at me. “Never.”
Chapter One
Ryker
“That’s right, motherfucker! Try that shit again, and I’ll pound your ugly face into the boards!”
I laugh at Mac, my enforcer, and shake my head at him. Mac’s an animal, which is good, given that it’s his whole job to either pick fights or end them.
He’s damn good at his job.
“Come on, Cap, we got this,” Mac says to me as we skate to the bench. “One more period, and we can win this. We’re only down by two.”
We’re not gonna win this.
It’s the last game for us in this season. I know it. Coach knows it. Fuck, even the fans know it.
We’ve won the last two Stanley Cups in a row, but this year has been a rebuilding year since we lost some players after the last season and recruited some rookies, and frankly, I’m surprised we made it this far into the playoffs.
It was a mediocre season.
