Page 96 of Against The Boards

ROXANNE

This was a disaster. After awesome birthday sex with my boyfriend, after he told me he loved me for the first time, this had to happen. I swear the hockey gods had it out for me. I wanted to sit Tristan down and tell him that Benny and I were together; I didn’t want him to come home and hear us having sex.

Why didn’t he tell me he was coming home?

“Are you sure that’s why he said, ‘what the fuck?’ Maybe he’s just annoyed having to hear you have sex?” I asked.

Benny shook his head. “Nah, I’m pretty sure he knows you’re here. Your phone’s in the living room.”

I dropped my head into his chest and groaned. “This is so fucked. What do we do?”

He sighed but wrapped his arms around me and held me to his chest to comfort me. “I think we just have to deal with it.”

The TV was on in the living room, with the volume turned all the way up. Shit, how loud had we been? I rolled onto my back and out of bed. I went into Benny’s dresser drawer to pull out a clean pair of underwear I had stored in there. Since we got back from Canada, I hadn’t been sleeping in Tristan’s bed. I didn’t bother with a bra but threw on Benny’s sweatshirt and a pair of pajama pants. He pulled on his jeans and t-shirt. We both looked nervous, like two teenagers caught in the act.

He reached out a hand to smooth down my hair and kissed me softly. “It’s gonna be okay,” he reassured me.

I bit my lip. “I didn’t want him to find out this way.”

He caressed my cheek with his thumb. “Hey. I love you, okay?”

I lifted my face up, and he met me in a gentle kiss. “I love you too.”

If anyone had told me months ago that I would be standing in front of this mountain of a man and confessing my love to him, I would have laughed in their face. Probably would have thrown a drink at them too.

“I’m not afraid of your brother.”

“Why not?”

He smirked. “Because you’re scarier, and because I’m never going back to the way things were before. I told you: I’m always gonna fight for you, angel. For us.”

Seriously, how did I hate this man for so long? How?

I wound my hair on top of my head and found a hair tie on top of the dresser to tie it back in. A messy bun was probably better than wild sex hair. I ran to the bathroom and swiped a make-up remover wipe across my face. My lipstick was smeared across my lips from when I went down on Benny. Definitely didn’t need my brother to see me like that. I splashed water on my face. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do.

Benny gripped my hand in his when I came out, and he swung open his bedroom door. I pulled away from him and went into the kitchen to grab Tristan a beer. He needed a drink to handle this conversation.

My twin brother sat on the couch and fumed.

“Here, you douche,” I said and offered the beer to him. I sat on the arm of the couch next to him.

He took the beer from me, but he looked pissed. Benny stood in the kitchen, apparently unsure if he should stay there or join us in the living room. It was probably safer if he stayed several feet away from my brother.

Tristan looked between me and Benny. “What — and I cannot stress this enough — the fuck?” he asked.

“What do you want from me?” I asked and threw my hands up.

“For you to not fuck my teammates!” my brother seethed.

“This is the first one I’ve ever shown any interest in.”

“I thought you hated his guts.”

“I fucked it out of her,” Benny snapped.

“BENNY! Not helping!” I sneered at him, then touched my brother’s hand. “I didn’t want you to find out like this. We wanted to wait until you got home to tell you in person.”

Tristan stared at me like I had three heads. “How long has this been going on?”