“Did you hear that?” I whipped my neck around to Ali. “Tell me you heard that.” I shook my head. “Where’s Andersson? I think I need to talk to him about his evil spawn.”
Ali just giggled.
“I really hope we’re having a girl,” I muttered.
Ali blinked, like something just occurred to her, but I couldn’t quite decipher her emotions.
“Hey, you okay?”
A sweet smile grew on her face as her eyes slightly watered.
“I’m sorry,” I automatically blurted out, because I’d been saying all the wrong things lately. Actually, I’d been saying the wrong things ever since that last day of the cruise.
Still smiling, she gave a little shake of her head and cleared a tear from the corner of her eye. “How are you feeling? That was quite the fight. Is your jaw okay?” Her hand darted out like she was going to touch me, but she changed her mind at the last second and dropped it, making my heart drop a little.
I rolled my shoulders back. “It wasn’t bad. I’m fine. I think Piper just hurt me worse with her stupid heel. Who wears those to a hockey game anyway?” I shifted my weight off my injured foot. “She called me a fuck boy.”
Ali let out a little laugh. Noticing my furrowed eyebrows, she rolled her lips together. “I don’t know,” she mused. “She kinda has a point.”
My eyes flashed to hers in horror. “You don’t really think that, do you?”
The little kids all erupted in loud cheers, distracting us. Turning, it was clear the cheers were for the rookies. They burst into the room like rambunctious puppies and started playing a round of suey with the kids. Zukes picked up one of Andersson’s kids and held him under his arm as he kicked the soccer ball. Nilsson had another little tyke on his shoulders as he passed the ball back. Niko kicked the ball to Lucy. When she returned it, he gave her a high-five, and I suddenly felt a little betrayed.
“So, Mer said they were having a bonfire at their house after this.” Ali tucked the front strands of her hair back. “Can you drive me there? All my stuff is still at their house,” she explained. “And I was planning on sleeping there.”
“Oh, okay.” My voice came out too high and I had to cough to clear it. “Sure,” I said, while my heart splattered on the floor. “Just for tonight?”
“Or for… the time being.” Her eyes darted around my face, trying to read me. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad, JP. I just need some space to think about things.”
I racked my brain, trying to come up with a way to convince her to stay with me. I just needed time to show her that I was here to stay, that I wasn’t some fuck boy, that I wasn’t—
Someone came up from behind me and slapped my shoulder,making me wince. “McQuaid,” Niko said, giving me a tight smile, then he turned to Ali and paused. “Howdy, ma’am.” He gave her a bright grin.
Ali’s eyes bounced from mine to his, sensing the awkwardness. Her lips quirked up into an amused smile. “Hi?”
Niko smoothed back his flowy dark hair back and his face went serious. “I don’t think you’re right for him.”
I reeled back to face him. “What’d you just say?”
“You don’t?” Ali laughed, her eyebrows shooting up in amusement. “Why not?”
Niko gave her a wicked grin. “Because I’m here now, sweetheart.” He took her hand and kissed it, his loverboy eyes never leaving her face.
Ali looked flustered.And was that… was that a blush on her face?
“Okay, enough.” I shoved Niko away from Ali, making him laugh. “I apologized, you got me back. We’re even, now get lost.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Niko waved me off, then focused back on Ali. “I’m serious about this. Can I get your number?”
Ali laughed again as she reached for her phone in her jacket pocket.
“Ali?” I choked out, shocked this was happening. “You’re not actually serious about this? His birth year starts with a two.” My eyes darted back to him. “How old are you anyway?”
“Twenty-five, plenty old enough.” He wagged his eyebrows at me, making my anger boil over.
I ran my tongue over my teeth and turned on him, ready to—
“All right,” Colt interrupted, pulling Niko away from me before I could do anything stupid. “Settle down or daddy’s gonna get mad,” he told the rookie.
