Chapter 2
Austin
If Austin didn’t already know the de la Peña brothers to be good guys, he might have worried that the rookie’s face was about to get smeared all over the colorful walls of the restaurant they were sitting in.
As aggressive as the Terror Twins could be on the ice, they were still good people. Their father, Alonso de la Peña, was a cutthroat billionaire whose path unfortunately crossed with Austin’s own family business on more than one occasion. His father described it as doing business with the devil. Though in some instances, better the devil you knew, than the devil you didn’t.
How the kids were cut from the same cloth as their asshole father, Austin would never know. But the twins were solid, he’d played against them for a year. From the matching dark hair and facial features, he’d guess that the shorter, slimmer, guy standing to Artemis’s left was their younger brother, or a cousin.
Definitely the same bloodline.
Alonso de la Peña’s genes were seemingly as stubborn as his business acumen.
“Artemis.” If Austin was a betting man, he’d wager that Theo’s balls had shriveled to the size of raisins. The kid was green. It took everything Austin had not to laugh out loud.
The arrival of the opposing team had brought an arctic chill to the table. Even Queen of defrosting awkward situations with even more awkward humor, Molly Morrison, had gone taut beside him. Instead of her usual upbeat bravado, she’d shrunk into her seat and dipped her head.
What the fuck was going on?
Mackenzie’s eyes bugged out of her head. Linc and Russ were failing miserably at trying to hide their obvious amusement that the rookie was about to get his ass handed to him. And Claudia, the poor waitress, had seemingly turned mute at the arrival of the Raccoons.
Interesting.
So much to unpack, so little time.
“Austin.” Artemis gave a short nod of his head while Apollo leaned forward, hand outstretched, reaching for Mackenzie’s chip bowl.
In the name of Buddha, the man was brave. Not even Austin would dare attempt to steal a chip from a hangry Mackenzie. She’d already let Molly get away with it.
That was her freebie. A reluctant freebie at that.
Best case? Apollo was going to die.
Without missing a beat, Mackenzie spanked the intruding hand and growled “Get your own,” before sweeping the bowl and the guac off the table and cradling it against her chest like a precious infant.
All things considered, he’d gotten off lightly. She probably didn’t want to cause a diplomatic incident by murdering one of the players on the team they’d be playing the following day.
As much as he’d have enjoyed seeing Mackenzie school Apollo, his girl was smart and he loved her for it.
Apollo snorted. “We heard we were in for an ass kicking.” He paused and stared directly at the back of Theo’s unmoving head. “So we thought we’d come by and see what we were up against.”
Artemis’s usually stoic face twitched at the corners of his mouth. They were going to get a lot of mileage at the poor rookie’s expense. Austin was here for it. Sometimes it took a lesson in humility for the rookies to get their heads out of their asses and get their shit together.
Artemis’s eyebrow quirked, and Austin returned the silent question with a slight tilt of his head. If they wanted to fuck with the rookie, who was he to stop the hazing?
The rest of their party – Justin Ashe, and Scott… someone… his last name tickled the edges of Austin’s memory – stood silently, seemingly not knowing whether to scowl and square up, or laugh.
Seb’s head ricocheted back and forth between everyone as though he was having a hard time figuring out what the hell was unfolding in front of him as well.
Apollo threw a wink at Austin, which had Linc covering his face behind his fist. Russ brought his game face, which just made things even funnier. Or at least it would have if Molly wasn’t squeezing herself against Austin’s bicep, twisting the hem of her shirt in her fingers.
Every now and then, her head bobbed up, and dipped back down. Was she looking at one of the Raccoons? She had to know there was no harm in what was transpiring but he patted her arm all the same. Hopefully she’d take comfort in the gesture and unglue herself from his side.
“Wanna tell us how…exactlyyou plan on kicking our asses, rookie?” Apollo didn’t touch Theo, but he towered over him. The twins had to be at least six feet four, maybe even six-five, and at times they even intimidated Austin. Theo had to be crapping his superhero undies.
To his credit, aside from his ashen face, the kid did well to keep it together as he rose from his seat and turned to face the fearsome fivesome.
The shorter, definitely a de la Peña, took a step forward, coming level with Apollo’s shoulder. His chest puffed out and his face was stern, suggesting he hadn’t gotten the memo that the whole scene was for shits and giggles.
