Page 135 of Off-Ice Misconduct
“I’m dying to know what you-know-who thinks about you-know-what.”
Translation: what Luke thinks about this alliance with Beta Sigma.
I wince. “Um, haven’t exactly told him yet.” Pretty sure Luke still wants all their heads on pikes.
“Oooooh, boy. Can I be a fly on the wall? Please?”
I whack him upside the head—not hard! But Shep’s head snaps in our direction.
“Let’s just go win this fucking game, eh?”
And I’ll worry about Luke later. Much later. After sex later. He’s always in a good mood after sex.
31
Luke
Idon’t watch Ace’s games from the bench, but from the stands instead—which is only marginally better. No one’s questioned my presence. I’m Coach’s brother. They assume we’re close. I guess we are in a lot of ways, but in other ways, I feel like I don’t know him at all.
Something … happened to Tate along the way. Our upbringing affected him. I did everything I could to prevent it, shielding him from the darker things I had to do. But the darkness bled into him anyway. I saw it in his eyes, heard it in his voice.
Down below—way down—Ace skates like a warhorse charging into battle—elegant, brutal, unstoppable. The puck moves like it’s dancing with him, and that goalie doesn’t stand a chance.
The crowd roars when the puck sinks sweetly into the corner, sliding under the crossbar with as much confidence as the man who put it there. His arms go up as his teammates crash into himwith the same force as they would an opponent. Do they have to celebrate every goal by smashing into him like that?
Yeah, yeah, hockey.
Whatever.
Tonight, I have a distraction.Tate.I drum my fingers on my thigh. Fingers that have finally begun to heal from pounding the shit out of them less and wearing the gloves more.
“I need your help again, Luke,” Tate said. “I fuckinghatethat I do.”
“Does this have something to do with Ryan?” I asked. It was something in his expression. He gets a look in his eye when he talks about the guy. Don’t think he knows.
“Yes.He’s the one. I want to marry him.” His jaw was clenched so hard, I waited for his teeth to break. His body language didn’t match the utter resignation in his voice. A war was raging inside him—I’d bet money—and he wanted, with all his being, to retreat, but he was forcing himself to fight.
“You seem thrilled.”
“I’m not, but it doesn’t matter. Married is married, right? That’s the requirement. Unless there’s anything else you want to share with me?”
Did he know? He doesn’t have to stay married. It sounded like he knew something. But whether he did wasn’t an issue for me anymore. I finally let it out.
“It was just a stupid test, Tate. I’m sorry. Yeah, let’s arrange the marriage—that is, if you still want the fortune—and then you can divorce him after an appropriate amount of time.”
It would have been better if he’d yelled at me, but there was nothing except for bone-chilling silence. We swam in that silence for an eternity before he spoke, a hand clawing the desk like it was the only thing keeping him anchored.
I’d never seen him like that.
“I’m not like you, Luke,” he said quietly. “I try to be, Iwantto be, but I’m not good like you are.”
He thought I was good, and he wasn’t? I shook my head. “What do you mean? You’re so much better than?—”
“I don’t love Ryan,” he said, eyes flat. “I need toownhim. I know you’re not supposed to own people, Luke, and I don’t give a fuck.”
That’s not true. He triednotto love Ryan. If I could rip him open, I’d see the battle scars from the fight he had with himself over it.
“I have to have him,” he rasped.
