Nevertheless, it was still funny as shit, watching his irreverent, always-in-trouble buddy suddenly trying to stay in the coach’s good graces.
“So Pip’s spending the whole summer with you?” Rook asked.
Victor nodded, his amusement fading. Not because he wasn’t looking forward to spending time with Pip. That kid was his favorite person on the whole planet and pretty much the love of his life. He was there in the delivery room when she was born, and Victor had been the second person to hold her. Right after his sister, Vivian.
He could still recall her red, wrinkled little face. The poor thing looked like she’d been through a war immediately following delivery. But she didn’t cry a bit. Instead, she looked up at him with those wide, bright, inquisitive eyes, and he was a goner.
Pip, whose full name was Phillipa Briana Kelly, had owned his soul since that day, much in the same way his sister, Vivian, had claimed it whenshewas born.
He’d been six years old when his kid sister had come into the world, and Victor could still recall the day his parents brought her home from the hospital, sat him down on the couch, and placed her in his arms. Dad had told him he was a big brother now, which meant Vivian was his to protect and care for.
Victor had taken those words to heart, never wavering in his duty because, like Pip, Vivian was so damn easy to love. Shewasn’t just his sister, she was his best friend, and there wasn’t a single fucking thing he wouldn’t do for her.
Which was why he was taking care of Pip for the entire summer during the postseason.
Three long months.
Which would be great if not for one thing…
Rook ran a comb through his hair, still wet from the shower. “I thought Pip had a nanny. Belle, right?”
And there was the one thing.
Belle.
It made sense this teammate knew about her. Vivian, Belle, and Pip were regular faces in the team box during home games—at least through the first period, after which they usually took Pip home to put her to bed. Occasionally, Vivian would send Pip home with Belle so that she could join him and his friends for post-game celebrations.
For the last five or six years, Victor and Vivian had also played host at the holidays to his teammates who couldn’t get home to celebrate with their own families, so all the Stingrays who celebrated Christmas Day with him knew his sister and niece well. Rook had been one of the takers this past holiday, and he’d secured his place in Pip’s heart when he’d suggested they hold a Nerf Gun battle after dinner.
Despite the fact it had been six months since the holidays, Pip still asked Tank—everyfucking time she came over—if they could have another Nerf Gun war. And nearly every other day, he found yet another stray Nerf bullet in his house…behind the couch, in a potted plant, behind the books on his shelves, under the furniture. He figured at this rate, he’d be picking the fucking things up untilnextChristmas.
“Yeah, Belle is Pip’s nanny, and she’s coming to stay too,” Victor grumbled.
“Won’t she do the lion’s share of the work, then, when it comes to Pip?” Rook asked.
“She will. It’s just…” Victor ran a hand through his hair, brushing it off his face. He’d worn his hair long since high school. It had started as a bit of teen rebellion, a way to annoy his former-military dad, but after a while, he realized he liked it long. Between that, his beard, and his killer attitude on the ice, he’d earned his own nickname with the Stingrays.
The Beast.
It fit him well, because in addition to his looks and playing, he was perfectly aware of the fact he didn’t have the most genial, jovial disposition. While his teammates Tank, Blake, and Rook were all smiles and jokes, Victor’s resting bitch face was a permanent feature.
“Do you not like Belle?” Rook frowned.
Belle had also been at the holiday party this year, and Victor had suspected that if Rook hadn’t already been smitten with another woman, he probably would have asked her out. Once he realized that, he’d made it clear amongst his teammates that his sister—andthe nanny—were off-limits. The last thing he needed was one of his friends hitting on them and mucking up the water.
“She’s fine,” Victor snapped, in a way that made the wordfinesound distinctly un-fine.
“She seemed nice at Christmas. Friendly, easygoing,” Rook observed. “Not hard to look at,” he added with a twinkle in his eye.
“Told younotto look,” Victor growled.
Rook laughed. “You’re too easy to mess with, man. But seriously, what’s the issue? Belle’s great.”
“She’s very nice. It’s just…” Victor sank down on the bench. “The woman is a nuisance, always smiling and humming and being fucking cheerful and shit. It’ll be like living with goddamned Mary Poppins or…” Victor looked across the lockerroom to where Tank was regaling Dean and Blake Mills with some outlandish story. “Or goddamnedTankfor three months. I like my solitude. I like my fucking peace and quiet.”
Rook shook his head, a complete lack of sympathy in his expression. Instead, the asshole looked amused. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad. You love spending time with Pip, and Belle will be there to do all the annoying kid stuff, like bath time and cutting the crust off the bread. You think maybe you’re getting pissed off about nothing.”
Victor had told himself those same things, ever since Viv hit him with the request to keep Pip a few weeks earlier. But no amount of self-reassurance was calming him down. “I’malwaysfucking pissed off,” he muttered. “Why should this be any different?”
