“WHY DO you look like you got laid last night?” War elbows me in the ribs as we step into the locker room. His next words are spoken in his native French Canadian and under his breath.
When I get a look at Aiden, I don’t need to understand them to get his meaning. My brother is standing by his locker, naked as the day he was born, chin tucked to his chest, staring at his dick.
What the hell is he doing?
McGreevey claps me on the back, forcing my eyes off my brother’s dick. Thank God. “Sar probably kept him up all night again, War.”
At the mention of Sara, a smile splits my face. She was absurd this morning. In a good way. “Maybe if the two of you focused on your own sex lives, you’d be smiling too.”
Aiden spins. Now he’s got his dick in his hand. “Is it possible for a woman to run out of orgasms in her lifetime?”
“What the fuck are you going on about?” I turn to my locker to avoid getting another eyeful of my brother’s junk.
“Jill said—”
“That’s problem number one,” War mutters. “Listening to anything that woman says.”
McGreevey scowls at War, then turns back to Aiden and takes on a kinder tone. “Jill said what?”
“That because of the piercing, I give her too many orgasms. Said she needs an entire month off from sex to recover.”
He steps closer to me, dick still in hand. “What do you think?”
Channeling Beckett, I give him my best what the fuck? glower and stare him down. “I think you should put your dick away.”
Aiden, unfazed, merely turns his attention to his next target. “War, you use your dick a lot. Have any of the women you’ve hooked up with ever told you it’s too much?”
It’s three solid seconds of silence before all three of us start laughing so hard tears stream down our faces.
“Did you just ask War if a woman has ever told him his dick is too much?” I choke out between heavy breaths.
War wipes away his tears of laughter. “Only every one.”
“Saint, see me after you get changed!” my uncle barks.
Instantly, my good mood vanishes, my stomach twisting in knots.
“Fuck,” War mutters. “Someone is in a mood again. What the hell does he care who you screw, anyway? He’s got an unhealthy obsession with your sex life, Saint.” He roughs a hand through his hair and looks over my shoulder.
“Aiden, what the fuck are you looking at on your dick? Put that thing away!” Coach adds.
Without a word, my brother snags a pair of boxers from his locker and tugs them on, thank God.
War looks back at me, his head tilted like he’s still waiting for me to explain my uncle’s mood.
I duck and rub at the back of my neck. War is well aware that I have no sex life, so this is all just shit talk. Regardless, I don’t like the insinuation.
“I didn’t mean it to come out like that before. I’m not sleeping with Sara. We’re just friends.”
Finally clothed, Aiden bounces on his toes and spins in our direction. “Brooks doesn’t even look at women during the season. He’s definitely not screwing around with Sara.”
McGreevey shakes his head and grunts. “Season is long as fuck. I have no idea how you do it.”
“Easy when the woman he wants is taken,” Aiden says, rifling through his practice gear.
I shoot him a glare, silently telling him to shut the fuck up, but my brother just smirks and pulls on his jersey.
No, it’s not a secret that I have a crush on my best friend. The entire team knows it. But I’m trying to keep it from being obvious to her. And after her confession about things being rocky with her boyfriend—the stupid asshole who makes her keep their relationship a secret—I’m feeling a little less certain about how to handle things tonight.
Should I flirt with her? We’ve always been affectionate with one another, so last night’s cuddling wasn’t out of the ordinary. Though we’ve never fallen asleep together. That was obvious by the way she acted when she woke up in my lap. I have to cover my mouth to hide the smile that sneaks through at the memory of her insanity.
And then I remember how it felt to wake up with her hand wrapped around my dick. It’s like my brain stopped working from that moment forward.
Screeching about how I’d poked her in the eye—please, it’s not like my cock has a mind of its own. With her, maybe it does, and I’ll admit that it’s large enough to stab her and do some damage, but that’s not what happened.
What happened was that Sara did what she always does when she’s feeling vulnerable. After her confession last night, she woke up in my lap and decided to act like a lunatic rather than owning up to her feelings.
Or maybe I really did just poke her in the eye with my massive dick.
But the way she kept talking about my cock? And the feel of her fingers wrapped around it? Let’s just say she thoroughly fucked with my head.
“If you’re done gossiping,” Coach gripes as I all but plow into him on my way out of the locker room.
“Shit.” I grasp his shoulders and right him.
I’ve got a good three inches on him and at least forty pounds of additional muscle. My uncle isn’t small, but more often than not, I’m the biggest guy around.
“What the hell was Sara doing coming out of your apartment this morning?”
My head snaps up, and I have to keep myself from staggering back in surprise. The better question is, how the hell does he know that? Did he say something to her? Shit, I hope not. It was bad enough that he acted how he did yesterday.
“We’re friends. We fell asleep while watching TV.” I sidestep him and head for the ice. The conversation is getting me heated, so it’s best that I walk away.
He grips my shoulder and pulls, halting my movements completely. “You can’t give her what she deserves.”
With my eyes closed, I take a deep breath to steady myself and to keep from lashing out. My uncle means well. He’s been open with me about the regrets he has when it comes to his career. But I’m not him.
When I know I can control my tone, I respond. “We’re just friends.”
“Look at me,” he says, his voice quieter.
Pressing my tongue to the inside of my cheek, I huff and finally turn to face him. “Yeah?”
“Your father never had time for you kids because he was busy with work. I was happy to step in and help you become the player you are.” He roughs a hand down his face. “You can’t do this and have a family. Not when you’re playing at the level you’re playing. She deserves better than that. You know you can’t give it to her, so don’t lead the girl on.”
Grinding my teeth, I give a single nod. He’s not wrong about how difficult it would be to live this life and have a family. It’s why I didn’t make a move on Sara when she started working with us last year. Yes, she’s amazing. And could I see a future with her? Yeah, she’s the only person who’s ever made me question the damn pact I made with myself when I went pro.
But I grew up coming in third to my father’s other responsibilities. I won’t make that mistake. This life isn’t easy, and in order to give it my all, hockey has to be my primary focus. That means a family will have to wait until after I retire. Coach is also right about Sara. She deserves the undivided attention of the man she’s with. She deserves someone who will put her first. I can’t be that person.
As much as I hate this lecture, Coach is saying all the things I need to hear. Sara’s relationship status at this moment doesn’t matter. Neither does how she feels about me. If, by some miracle, she ever sees me in the way I see her, I couldn’t be with her. Not while I’m still playing. And I’d never ask her to wait for me.
“Now get on the ice and give me a hundred. I told you to stay away from that girl. You went against my instructions, and now you have to deal with the consequences.”
His words are like a damn slap. One minute, he’s talking to me like he cares, and the next he’s playing stupid games. I storm toward the ice, pissed off again.
The man may be able to force me to listen to him while I’m on the ice, but tonight, I’ll be walking into the party with her on my arm. And I’ll gladly pay for it with another hundred push-ups tomorrow.
