Page 5 of Accidentally Joining His Cult

“How much money for a one-on-one lesson?”

Startled, I glance up to see my coffee buddy. He’s a few inches shorter than my six four, and I can tell he’s into fitness with his broad shoulders and trim waist. He’s got dark hair with an expensive-looking style, longer on top and faded on the sides. Shockingly blue eyes. Blue eyes always fascinate me. No one in my family has them and I find myself staring at people a little too long to study the endless shades of blue that are out there. I think that he was clean-shaven this morning, but a hint of a five o’clock shadow is already evident on his sharp jawline.

“The programs are designed for group participation,” I finally answer. “But, I’m always happy to talk more about it with people individually, free of charge.”

I know that other coaches would probably insist they only talk about it in the structured class environment, but I’m passionate about my job and am happy to talk about it whenever someone will listen.

“I’m Beckett,” he says as he holds out his hand for me to shake. “Is it too forward if I ask you out to dinner and drinks tonight?” His gaze drops to my mouth, and I feel my cheeks heat.Do I have something in my teeth?That would be embarrassing.

“Cody,” I say, laughing a little because he probably gathered that during the presentation. “Sadly, I have plans tonight.” I really would love to spend more time talking with him about the Kyla programs. But I already promised the guys from the gym this morning that I’d grab dinner with them at our hotel. “Maybe we could go out Saturday, hook up after my class?” I offer, perking up at the idea. “Were you planning to attend?”

He grins back at me. “Absolutely.”

CHAPTERTHREE

Beckett

The horn blares, and Adrian and Jordan are out of their seats on either side of me, clapping and cheering along with the rest of the Caldwell Center. My friends glance down at me with mirrored looks of concern as they realize that I’m still sitting, and I belatedly lift my gaze to the giant scoreboard above center ice to watch the replay of the goal I just missed.

Our captain, Hudson Roy, streaks down the ice, faking a shot before passing the puck around a defenseman to our star rookie on the far side of the net. He sends it clean past their goalie, who’s still focused on Hudson. It’s a perfect setup and an even better finish. Beautiful play.Damn, I can’t believe I missed it.

That ties the score 2–2 in the third period, with just over six minutes left in regulation time. The energy in the arena is electric, but I can’t seem to focus.

When everyone settles down, Jordan is the first to question my behavior. “Seriously, what’s wrong with you? Are you sick or something?” He’s been my best friend since middle school when we were paired up for a class project and he boldly asked the teacher if he could be partners with “someone less spoiled than a Caldwell”. I was so used to our classmates fighting for my attention for the same reason that he didn’t want to talk to me, I thought it was hilarious. Thankfully, our teacher didn’t grant his request, and I was able to win him over with my sarcastic remarks about the other kids as we did the assignment together. We’ve been best friends ever since.

Adrian leans around me to answer before I get a chance to come up with an excuse. “He’s been like this all day.” Then he shifts his gaze to me. “Can you tell me what a single one of our meetings was about today?”

When I give him an unamused blank stare in response, he dramatically rolls his eyes and turns his attention back to Jordan. “I should have gotten him to agree to a raise or more vacation time or something while he was so distracted.”

That finally gets me to speak. “Do you need a raise or more vacation time? What’s going on?”Why wouldn’t Adrian tell me if something was wrong?

“Calm down, you already pay me way more than any of your siblings’ assistants make. I’m fine,” he reassures me with a wave of his hand, but they have my full attention now.

“Beck, did something happen?” Jordan clearly won’t let up. As an on-screen reporter for Chicago’s largest news network, he shifts into full investigation mode anytime he thinks I’m hiding something. There’s no chance he’ll drop it.

Jordan originally applied for a journalist position—he’d be excellent at it, with his knack for getting people to open up—but his boss took one look at him and put him on camera instead.

Now, he’s stuck doing fluff pieces. With his tall, athletic build, light brown skin, and gorgeous eyes, it’s obvious why. He pulls in views just by being on-screen. They don’t want him off-camera long enough to dig into anything serious. Whenever I point that out though, he just shrugs and says his big break will come eventually.

“Nothing bad happened,” I admit, looking around to make sure that none of my family members are close enough to overhear. Our private seats are above the one hundred level at center ice, connected to the owner's suite behind us.

Oakley and his best friend, Parker, are on the opposite end of the second row. They’re usually so absorbed in each other that I doubt they’ll hear anything I say, but I wouldn’t actually care. The five of us hang out all the time. Oak and I have always been close, and Parker is like his shadow.

The rest of my family must all be watching from inside the suite or networking in other ones by now. Although we all love the Werewolves, I’m by far the biggest actual hockey fan, so they're usually content to let us take the seats out here while they stay inside with the bar and food. “I have a date tomorrow, and I’m a little distracted by the whole thing. I don’t think I’ve been on a real date since high school,” I attempt to say casually and not like I’m kind of freaking out.

You’d think that I just admitted to a secret marriage with a woman by how shocked they both look.

Adrian grabs my arm, his voice coming out in a much higher pitch and volume than I think he intends. “You have a date, andthisis the first I’m hearing of it?” His grip tightens as he goes on. “Who is it with? I thought that I knew every detail of your life! I feel so betrayed.”

Shaking him off, I laugh at his theatrics. “His name is Cody, and he ran the seminar yesterday at work. You really should have come, A. He’s very hot.”

“What was the seminar about?” Jordan asks. He must finally be over his own shock.

“I couldn’t tell you. I was too distracted by the man giving the presentation to care about the content. I don’t think I’ve ever been more attracted to someone. All that I really remember was him flirting with me in front of everyone after asking us to stand on our chairs. Then he did a backflip off of his own chair before straddling it like he was starring in some kind of fully clothed Magic Mike show.”

“Did he also ask you out in front of everyone? Is that why you agreed to a real date?” Jordan asks, continuing to look confused.

“Nope, believe it or not, I asked him out. After the day was over, he hung around to answer questions and talk to people about some class that he’s hosting tomorrow. You’d think that he was a celebrity with how excited people were to talk to him. When everyone finally left him alone, we chatted and I tried to get him to go out with me to dinner, but he already had plans and suggested we go out and hookup after his class tomorrow.”

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