I know who I want it to be.
When I swing the door open, Alli’s eyes are bright. My eyes greedily roam her from head to toe. She’s in her running attire, just a light jacket and leggings, but damn do they show off her perfect curves.
“Hey!” Her voice comes out breathlessly, probably from her morning run.
“Hey, want some coffee?” I open the door wider. She seems to hesitate, but eventually steps in. Presley leaned on her stool, her neck stretched to watch the interaction. I close the door behind Alli and glare at my sister over her shoulder. A clear signal to not pull her shit and embarrass me.
I make quick work of pouring Alli some coffee into a cup as they catch up. I love how easily she chatters and giggles with my sister. I reach into the fridge and get the creamer I bought just for her, seeing as I drink mine black. It was hopeful on my part. Her face lights up.
“Oh, that’s my favourite!”
“Really?” She takes it from me with two hands, her smaller ones touching mine as she does. Itake a sip from my own mug, ignoring Presley's shit eating grin.
“I was just bringing Hudson his phone. I like him to have it all the time after...” She trails off and waves a hand in an air circle, “The whole TJ thing.”
“How’s that going anyway?” I leaned a hip against the counter. Alli tucked her hair behind her ear and shifted her weight to her other foot.
“Well, my lawyer, Blake Ashford, said that it’s likely he’ll only be allowed supervised visits.” She sets her mug down on the counter, "There's a no-contact order until our lawyers go before the judge in a few weeks.”
“This way he doesn’t have to go with him in the meantime.”
“Yeah, exactly. Anyways, I gotta go get ready. I’m hosting the book club today.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the door, "If I know my brother, he’ll be early.”
I walk her to the door. We both linger awkwardly in the doorway. She opens her mouth to say something but closes it again. Pink flushes her cheeks as she ducks her head. I reach for her, just as she turns to head down the drive. I run my hand through my hair and shut the door.
“Oof. That was painful to watch.” Presley says and slurps her drink.
“Yeah, well. What the hell am I supposed to do? She ended it.” I gestured to the door as I plop down next to her. “I can’t very well ask her to risk her job. Even if I would take care of them and she wouldn’t ever have to work if she didn’t want to.”
“Yeah, but did you tell her that?”
“I’m not trying to be pushy. She has a terrible fucking ex. I don’t want to make her feel like I'm anything like him.” I twiddle with the phone Alli dropped off for Hudson, flipping it over in my hands.
“You know what you need?” Her eyes narrow on me. “You need to stop being so fucking nice.”
My mouth dropped open. I scoffed. “I’m notnice.”
“No, you’re right. Not nice. Stop being... such a gentleman, you know?” She rolled her eyes at my confused expression.
“I’m a respectful person and I don’t see how abandoning that is going to help me. Your advice is shit.”
“It is not. I’m telling you, some women just need a man to put themselves out there. Risk complete and utter humiliation bybegging.Are you really content to just be the neighbour, watching her whole life happen and not being a part of it?”
When she put it like that, no. I wasn’t fucking content with that. I twiddled my thumbs as I rolled that over in my mind. My salary wasn’t the top in the league, but I had invested and had passive income from different sources like real estate. My agent had recommended to me a financial advisor that had me set up to retire long before my Dallas contact was up, if I wanted.
Hockey had been my life. A once in a lifetime ticket to not only play in the NHL but provide a decent life for Matty. Maybe it was time for a change. Hockey wasn’t everything, and I’d be damned if I let it hold me back from what I really wanted.
Chapter 34- Tate
After playing the worst hockey of my life for the past few weeks, I’m finally showing New York why they paid such good money for me. The air is cold against my cheeks while I skate past the boards.
Matty and Hudson are cheering and screaming their little heads off behind the glass. They’re next to the team bench today. My sister accompanied them. She always chose to be babysat by Scotty rather than come to all my games growing up, but I still made sure she knew the basics. Like not to wear the opposing team's jersey behind the home side bench. All because she ‘liked the colours better’.
Ronan was on fire tonight. Well on the way to a shutout. Alli was rink side with her reporters and Emalyn tonight. She was a dream in her team colours and long blonde hair. I had a mild obsession with its silky length. My eyes found her on every break and line change.
I glanced at where the boys were. I did a double take when I saw the look of disdain on my sister's face. That’s when I noticed TJ tossing the pucks over the glass. Hudson was avoiding eye contact and Matty stepping in front of him. My feet were moving before my head even registered. Presleythrew the puck over the glass as hard as she could and flipped TJ the middle finger. He hit a fist against the glass— hard— right as I drove my shoulder into his back.
Everything detonated.
