“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?” I demand as I come through the apartment door.
I know that Crew got Dani out of the arena immediately after the game and that Nathan left directly after they did. They both texted me. I, of course, had already seen the social media shit storm. But I had to stay and do my usual post-game check-ups. And act like I had no idea that Crew and Nathan might be seeing the same woman. Or that I had anything to do with her myself.
But I finally got home and stormed into the living room to find my three…roommates? Lovers? My girlfriend and my two…best friends? Yeah, that last one fits. But we, of course, can’t say that in public. And it’s starting to be a problem. I never even noticed anyone around us and yet clearly someone snapped a pic of me and Dani kissing. Along with her and Nathan in his box.
Dani is on the couch, between them. The guys have their arms stretched across the back of the couch behind her, and they’re sitting close to her, sandwiching her between them, but they’re not holding her. No one’s holding hands. No one’s talking.
She’s obviously been crying. Nathan looks like he’s ready to murder someone. Crew looks like someone punched him in the gut.
Obviously, they’re all handling it really well.
I take a deep breath. Then another. And then do what I do. I pull it together. For all of us.
“So…first step,” I say. “Come here.”
They all look over at me. Dani gets up immediately. Which is great. But I look at the guys. “You too.”
Crew gets up without question, but Nathan frowns.
“Get your ass off the couch and get over here,” I tell him.
I stretch out my arms. Dani gets to me first. She wraps her arms around my waist and buries her face in my chest. I feel her shake as she takes a big breath. “Oh my God, Michael.”
I pet her head with one hand. “I know. Shh. We’ll take care of it.” But I look at Crew and beckon him forward with my other hand. “Come on.”
He takes a step forward. Then another. Then he lets out a long breath and wraps himself around Dani from behind, reaching his arms around me too, squishing her between us. He rests his chin on her head. “Fuck,” he mutters.
I pat his back. “I know, buddy. Great game, by the way. Well, great third period.”
He doesn’t respond. So I know this is serious.
Finally I meet Nathan’s eyes. “You’re part of this too.”
He shoves a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I’m the one who messed it all up.”
I shake my head. “Not what I meant. Get over here.”
He takes a step forward but he looks like he’s in pain. “I need to fix it.”
“How?” I ask him, knowing he doesn’t know how or he would have already done it.
“I…” He swallows. “I don’t know.”
“Come. Here,” I say firmly.
I’m still hugging Dani and Crew. Nathan looks at them, then back at me. We share something when our gazes meet. I can’t explain it or even put words to it. But I think there’s a shared understanding that, because we’re the oldest of the group, the ones with “real” jobs–if you can call being a billionaire a real job, which we all know you can’t–the ones with more life experience, the ones with a better grip on our emotions, we’re supposed to be the ones in charge.
But we’re not perfect.
But there are two of us.
If he doesn’t know what to do, then that’s where I come in.
I know he feels like he’s supposed to be able to fix everything, all the time. He’s got power, money, influence. Before now, that’s all it took.
But he wasn’t in love before. He didn’t have a family. He didn’t have people that depended on him emotionally. His grandfather was able to take care of himself before he got sick. Now Nathan takes care of him as best he can, but Stanford is slipping and any emotional support Nathan is willing to give doesn’t register.
We’re his family now. We’re the ones that need him. We’re the ones he feels responsible for.
We’re the ones he thinks he failed.
Finally he takes two more steps and wraps his arms around us. He’s at my side, half-hugging me, half-hugging Crew, Dani still in the center. Of course. Right where she belongs.
I settle my hand on his shoulder. I feel Crew’s hand move to Nathan’s back.
And we just stand there, holding each other, breathing for several minutes. Everyone still feeling kind of like shit, but at least acknowledging that we’re all in this together.
Dani finally wiggles. “I’m hot,” she says, her voice muffled against my shirt.
“Yeah you are,” Crew says. He nuzzles her neck, then pulls back.
They’re both smiling. Not the big, life-is-great grins they usually wear around one another, but at least they’re smiling.
Nathan steps back and pulls in a long breath. “I’m sorry.” He’s clearly addressing all of us.
Dani reaches out and grabs his hand. “It’s not your fault.”
“The fucking guy with the fucking zoom lens fucking being a fucking creeper is at fault,” Crew says angrily, his brows slamming together.
I, of course, agree. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have kissed you in public.” Even though it’s starting to piss me off that I can’t. “Can you find out who took the photos? Is there any recourse?”
“Possibly,” Nathan says. “But it doesn’t really matter. The damage is done.”
“People finding out that I’m with all of you is not damage,” Dani says.
“Cookie,” I say softly.
She turns to face me.
“I don’t think you realize what this is going to mean. For you.”
“I don’t care. I’m in love with all of you. Nathan and I talked about me being Crew’s girlfriend publicly and that you two didn’t care. And sure, that sounded like fun. But it also sounded strange. I love you all. I want to date you all. I don’t care what people think.”
“You might not feel that way when you actually find out what they think,” I say.
“I will. No one matters more than you three.”
“Dani–” Crew starts.
“I mean it,” she says. “They don’t understand. And that’s fine. They don’t have to.”
“What about your mom and dad?” I ask.
“I planned to tell them eventually anyway,” she says. “I mean, I can’t be in love with you all forever and never tell my parents.” Her gaze darts around at the three of us, landing on each of us one at a time. Then she frowns. “Unless…you don’t think this is forever.”
“That’s not what we’re saying,” I tell her quickly.
She puts her hands on her hips and faces Crew. “What about you? Were you going to tell your mom and dad? About Nathan and Michael?”
He takes a breath. “Yeah. I didn’t think they’d find out like this, but I hadn’t really thought through how they would hear it.”
“And you?” she asks me. “What will your family think?”
My family is pretty open-minded actually. “They’ll be fine as long as I’m happy.” I bend my knees so I can look directly into her eyes. “And I am happy. This is just fast and now out of our hands.”
She nods. “I know. But I don’t care.”
“They’re already calling you a slut,” Crew says bluntly, holding up his phone. “And not in the hot sexy way we do. In the insulting, trashy way.”
She flinches. “I’m sure they are.”
“And they’re calling Nathan a creeper,” Crew goes on. He sighs. “They’re assuming he somehow tricked you into coming up to his box and preyed on you. Some are saying he paid you. Some are saying we’ve both paid you, like you’re a call girl or something. They’re taking sides, Dani. They’re also wondering who the hell Michael is.”
Dani’s face is getting whiter, and I step close, wrapping an arm around her. I hate that this is freaking her out, but fuck, she probably needs to hear this.
“And everyone likes Crew better than me,” Nathan fills in. “He’s the star. He’s the one they know best–or think they know. He’s in the media. He’s the star of the team and the one who’s probably getting us the Cup this year.” He actually gives Crew a half grin. “He’s their darling. They saw you together. They know he’s crazy about you. So they’re pissed that I would try to steal you from him. Hell, even the ones saying he paid you are turning your story with him into some kind of Pretty Woman remake. As for Michael, they seem to be assuming he is actually your boyfriend and now you’re cheating on him with Crew. Which makes sense, because Hughes is boyfriend material.”
Damn. It’s worse than I thought. Now they have her not just a victim, but a cheater as well.
She looks completely bewildered. “Already?” is her first word. “All of that is out there already?”
“That’s social media for you.” Crew turns and heaves his phone against the wall. It’s drywall so it leaves a dent in the wall and only cracks his screen.
I think he would have rather shattered something.
We’re all quiet for a moment.
“It’s okay,” Nathan finally says.
We all turn to face him.
He nods. “It’s okay. I’ll take the blame. Let’s go with the story that I made a move on her, but she’s Crew’s girlfriend. She felt like she couldn’t say no because it might jeopardize Crew’s position with the team.”
“No,” Dani and I protest at the same time.
“Don’t be a dumbass,” Crew tells him.
Nathan raises a brow. At all of us. “Let’s not forget that I employ two of you.” He looks directly at Dani. “And I love you.”
She sucks in a little breath. I’m aware that Nathan hasn’t actually said those words to her out loud until now.
“I will fire you two if you fight me on this,” he says. “And there is no way in hell people are going to label Danielle as anything she’s not.”
She steps away from me and moves to stand directly in front of Nathan. “They’re saying I’m a victim. Of yours. That is absolutely not true and I forbid you to let anyone believe that.”
I’m shocked, but the corner of Nathan’s mouth twitches. “You forbid it?”
She crosses her arms. “I do.”
Crew moves to stand next to her. “You won’t have to fire me. I’ll quit.”
Nathan’s brows rise even higher. “You’ll quit? I have you locked down in a contract Mr. McNeill. You’re not going anywhere.”
“I won’t let you throw yourself under the bus,” Crew argues. “You can’t lie for us.”
“Nothing can touch me,” Nathan says, lifting a shoulder. “I own the team. No one’s going to fire me. Thanks to you, fans are going to keep filling the seats, even if they hate me. Actually, with you madly in love and all over Dani on the jumbotron every damned game, we’ll probably have sell-outs for the rest of the season. All you have to do to save her reputation is stand up and make a big sappy, public statement about how much you love her and that she’s been your sister’s best friend since they were in college and you’ve been slowly falling for her for years. You will also say that you and the team will refuse interview requests from any publication that prints even a hint of scandal about her anywhere, including online. Your teammates will have your back on that.” He finally stops and takes a deep breath. Then he focuses on Dani. “And you’ll probably need to spend the night at Crew’s place for the next couple of months, in case anyone follows you. Just until this story dies down.”
She frowns. “You’ll spend the night there too?”
“I’ll need to buy more forks. And towels,” Crew says. “And pillows. And are you guys cool with paper towels or do I need to get cloth napkins like Nathan has? That seems like overkill to me, but I’ll do it for you pampered old rich guys.”
But Nathan is shaking his head. Just as I expected. “No. Michael and I need to keep a very low profile,” he says to Dani. “People will be watching you and Crew. You need to date just him, make it seem like you broke things off with Michael. At least until this blows over and people start finding you two boring.”
I roll my eyes. Even if Crew McNeill were to be in a regular relationship with just a woman and no other men, I very much doubt that it would ever be boring. The guy was born to live in the spotlight and social media loves him. He gets splashed all over even when he just combs his hair a new way or wears new shoes.
“I’ll quit,” Crew declares again, suddenly.
“You. Have. A. Contract,” Nathan grits out.
“I mean hockey. I’ll quit it all. I’ll get into a fight next game, and I’ll let the guy clock me, then Doc here will declare me unfit to play the rest of the season. I’ll quit playing and get a coaching job somewhere.”
Normally, if Crew was going off like this about some crazy idea, I’d think he’d already been hit too hard. But I realize that what I’m witnessing is Crew McNeill being in love and standing up for his family. Our family.
Nathan sighs. “Hughes will never do that.”
I move to stand closer to Crew. And I pull Dani in, wrapping my arms around her from behind. “I will do that. And I’ll quit too. We can all go somewhere new. I’m not having people assume the worst about Dani.”
Crew gives me a surprised, but pleased look. “Yeah,” he tells Nathan. “Fuck these fans if they’re going to treat us like this. We’ll go somewhere else. Be crazy fucking in love out loud. Take our fucking charm, and goddamned talent somewhere else where they’ll appreciate us.”
Nathan shoves a hand through his hair. “You are not disrupting your lives and turning everything upside down because of this. Just do this my way.”
“Listen, Armstrong,” Crew tells him. “There is a time and a place for your bossiness. And it’s right down there, past that one doorway.” He points down the hall toward Nathan’s bedroom. “Also, a time and a place for your power and money. And that’s basically whenever the mortgage on this penthouse is due and whenever I need a pizza delivery. Otherwise,” Crew continues, pinning Nathan with a serious stare. “We’re all making these decisions together.”
“Nathan,” I say, using my best calm, but serious tone. “Crew’s right. You can’t take this whole thing on yourself, and you can’t decide for us how we handle it. We’re doing this together. Stop being a stubborn ass and let us help figure this out.”
He’s looking at the three of us with a hard to read expression. There are a mix of emotions there. He clearly thinks we’re a little nuts. And for a guy who has never experienced people willing to sacrifice for him, willing to stand up next to him even when shit hits the fan, who has basically been going it alone for a long damned time, he probably doesn’t quite know what to do with all of this.
But the other things I see in his face are hope—hope that we mean all of this, hope that we won’t regret any of this tomorrow, or the next day, hope that he’s really worth it—and love.
And it’s not just love for Dani. It’s love for Crew and me too. Love for what the four of us have found together and built.
Finally, he pulls in a long breath.
“Fine. We can talk about options.”
I feel Dani sag with relief in my arms and I hear Crew let out a breath.
I nod. “Great.” Then I say, “Tomorrow.”
Nathan frowns.
“Tomorrow,” I repeat. “We all need to think it through, let some of the dust settle, get the adrenaline out of our systems.” I kiss the top of Dani’s head, then bend and lift her into my arms. “This girl needs a bubble bath and then bed. You both need a drink, and then bed.”
I don’t wait to see what the guys do. I turn with Dani, who gives zero protest to the idea of a bath or to being carried—I can tell how exhausted she is—and start for the bathroom.
But as I head down the hallway, I hear Crew say to Nathan, “How’s it feel to have finally met a guy who is as used to getting his way as you are?”
And Nathan replies, “Let’s just be clear about something– I’m the boss in the bedroom and at the arena as long as you are under contract.”
And then Crew laughs.
I grin.
We’re going to be okay.
