Page 108 of Forecheck
Brent had gone behind my back and done this. Any normal woman would be thrilled at the prospect of our families joining, at everyone I loved being in the same room. Instead, I fumed.
It was one thing to shower me in expensive gifts and trips, and to bring Lexie into the mix on occasion. It was entirely different—and wholly inappropriate—to pull the same shit with myfamily.
Especially when I’d expressly warned him never to pull this shit with me again.
“You’re mad,” Logan said. It wasn’t a question.
“Extremely,” I said through gritted teeth.
“You can chew him a new ass later,” her brother said, cupping a hand around the ball of my shoulder and squeezing. The touch grounded me, forced me to take a few slow, deep breaths. In for five, hold for four, out for five. Just like years of yoga had taught me. “For now,” Logan continued, “be happy we’re all together. It’s been too long, little sis.”
I craned my neck to meet his gaze. “You’re right,” I agreed, snaking an arm around his waist and tucking myself under his arm, exactly like I’d done thousands of times over the years. “I’m happy to see you guys, really. I’m just…”
“Mad at Brent,” Logan supplied. “I get it. If it makes you feel better, I told him this was a bad idea, but he wouldn’t listen to me. Not when Mom got all excited about coming to visit.”
I knew he meant it. My brother understood me better than anyone. Growing up as close as we had meant we had some sort of twin sense about what the other was thinking and feeling, despite the fact that we weren’t actually twins.
As my heart rate came down from cardiac arrest levels, Sandra approached our group.
“I didn’t know Brent had invited more people,” she said skeptically. “Berkley, do you know them?”
I nodded and swallowed. “They’re my family.”
Sandra’s eyes widened as she gasped, and I quickly made introductions. By the time we headed out to the arena-style seats outside the suite, Sandra and my mom had become fast friends, chattering excitedly about all their common interests and things the ten of us could do now that Brent and I had brought our families together.
I took my seat, Lexie on one side and Kenzie on the other, as a local country singer belted out the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“This is a fucking nightmare,” I whispered to Lexie.
“I gotta say, Brent has done some stupid shit, but this absolutely takes the cake.”
“Logically, I know I shouldn’t even be mad. It’s sweet that he wanted my family here. But the way he went about it…Did he just conveniently forget our entire conversation after he surprised us with the Vegas trip? Had he heard a word of that? I swear we were both there. I wasn’t just talking to myself.”
Then again, we’d concluded the discussion by jumping into bed, and I’d never been able to think straight or remember my own name with Brent’s mouth between my legs. I imagined it was the same for him.
“The way he went about it was fucked up,” Lexie agreed. “Just…when you inevitably go after him about it later, try to take it easy on him. You know he was coming from a place of love.”
I exhaled deeply, trying to ease the tension in my shoulders. Leave it to Lexie to make me see reason when all I wanted to do was fly off the handle, because of course she was right. Brent did these things because he loved me. There was no ulterior motive here. He wasn’t trying to buy my love or use his wealth to guilt me into sticking around. It just rubbed me the wrong way, likehe’d heard every word I said all those months ago, agreed with me only to get me off his back, and decided not to make a single concession for me.
I was getting tired of being the only one sacrificing in this relationship.
Crowd noise rose to a near-deafening pitch as the starters for the Warriors and their opponents, the Buffalo Regents, gathered at center ice.
I barely heard it over the sound of my warring thoughts.
Once the puck dropped, I got even more keyed up. Lexie, sensing my anxiety, settled a reassuring hand on my knee, and I offered her a tight but grateful smile.
The game pace was fast, and the Regents quickly put up two goals, making the score 2-0 after twenty minutes. Near the end of the first period, despite the fact that there was still a lot of game left to play, fans had taken to loudly booing the Warriors every time they touched the puck. I heaved a sigh of relief when they finally went down the tunnel for intermission.
Midway through the middle frame, the Warriors went on the power play. I had moved on from my first nervous habit of bouncing my knee to my second, and was all but chewing a hole through my lower lip. The power play included Mitch and Cole at the points, Brent near the faceoff circle to the left of the Regent’s goalie, Rat to the right, and Grey parked right in front of the net. After forty-five seconds into the man advantage, Mitch and Cole were playing keep-away with a Regents player. They finally passed it down to Rat, who kicked it out to Brent. Brent made a beautiful cross-ice pass that landed perfectly on Grey’s stick, who slapped it home, beating the goalie on his glove side.
But that single goal wasn’t enough. As the final seconds of the game ticked off the clock, the 2-1 score held up for the Regents, affording them a 1-0 series lead.
“It’s okay,” Ron said diplomatically. “Still plenty of chances to get it back. They’ll get them next time.”
I remained seated as Lexie, the Jeans, and my family made their way inside the suite for more refreshments.
Sometime later, Lexie came out and tapped me on the shoulder. “Your boy is here.”
