“Are you kidding? Reed will be thrilled.”
The teams aren’t on the field yet, but I doubt it’ll take those boys long to notice the hockey players in their midst.
“Guys, have you met Bryson and Adrienne?” I motion to my coworker and his girlfriend. “Bryse works for the team, and Ade is amazing.”
“I just work for the team, huh? Ouch,” Bryse quips, grinning. “And here I thought we were friends.”
“Oh, shut it.” I elbow him, and Adrienne laughs.
“Hi, so nice to meet you all,” she says, extending her hand as everyone introduces themselves. I can already tell that she’ll get along perfectly with Isla, Mira, and Lexi. Though, somethingtells me Ade could get along with a corpse. She’s that charming and outgoing.
“The guy at the gate gave us a funny look,” Griffin says. “I thought we did a pretty good job of going incognito, but I don’t know.”
“You hip checked Ryder into the chain-link fence. That’s your idea of incognito?” Sebastian asks with a wry grin and an exasperated shake of his head.
“Don’t bust my balls, Bashy. Handsome was talking shit.”
“All I said was that there’s no way you’d win in a football game against a whole team of eighth graders.” Ryder rolls his eyes, his arm wrapped around his girlfriend. Lexi giggles and shoots me a look that says,why are guys like this?
Hell if I know.
“They’re fuckin’ small,” Griffin says a little too loudly.
A little girl who can’t be more than six turns to her mom with wide eyes and shouts, “Mommy, that man said a bad word.”
Griffin has the good sense to grimace and mutter an apology to the irritated mother. He clears his throat. “They’re really small. I’m really big. One of me is more than equal to eleven little pipsqueaks.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Mira mutters.
“Whatever, wifey. You know you love it.”
“I do,” she sighs. “God help me, but I do.”
“I know concussions are common with athletes, but are you sure you’ve never had a bad one?” Logan asks Mira, a teasing lilt to his tone. “It would explain why you decided to stay married to this moron.”
“Dude. Harsh.” Griffin clutches his chest, and I can’t help it. I giggle.
Pleased with my smile, Logan grins down at me, presses a kiss to my forehead, and wraps an arm around me, pulling my body flush against his side. The warmth he radiates is heavenly.
“Someday you’ll get married, and I’m gonna give you so much shi—” Griffin’s gaze cuts to the frowning mom of the sharp-eared little girl. “Crap.”
“Keep dreaming, Wright.”
Logan says it so casually. None of the guys seem to notice the way my spine stiffens, but Mira does. I give her a tight smile when I catch her watching me.
It’s fine. I’m fine. The odds of our relationship lasting more than a few months are slim to none, anyway. I’m Logan’s first girlfriend. Of course, he’s not thinking about marrying me.
I’m not thinking about marrying him, either.
Luckily, a cheer rises from the crowd as Southwest Junior High’s football team runs out onto the field, along with the opposing team. Forgetting that they were trying to keep a low profile, all five of the massive hockey players and their partners get to their feet and cheer loudly. They clap, call Reed’s name, and hoot and holler like they’re cheering for a professional team during the playoffs, not a kids’ team.
It doesn’t take long for Reed to spot his cheering squad, and the look on his face is priceless. It’s almost enough to wipe away my discomfort from Logan’s quick dismissal. My little brother’s mouth hangs open for a moment before he gets ahold of himself and gives the guys a casual head tilt. Like it’s perfectly normal to have a gaggle of hockey players cheering you on in the stands in below-freezing temperatures.
Soon, the rest of his team, and their opponents, notice the pro athletes in their midst, and any hope I’d been holding on to about going unnoticed vanishes. Hockey doesn’t share the same mainstream popularity as football or even basketball, but this is Minnesota. There are enough fans in the stands to get tongues wagging.
I try not to flinch when people pull out their phones and take photos.
Logan, noticing my growing stiffness beside him, squeezes me tighter and kisses my temple.
