Page 136 of My Brother's Enemy
“You did what?”
He lifted his head, a primal glaze over his eyes and he blinked it away before he could respond. “I thought after an hour of skating, we’d be hungry. I wanted it to be all date-like and what’s more like a date than dinner and a movie? But I hate watching movies with strangers so I booked a whole theater. There’s supposed to be wine and flowers waiting for you.”
I was almost afraid to ask. “What movie?”
“Fuck if I know. It looked like killer zombie nuns or something.”
He brushed a kiss to my forehead just as we heard a nervous, “Uh, Mr. Griffin? Could I get your autograph?” And our little moment was officially invaded, but by a boy who looked fourteen years old. Not killer zombie nuns.
I pulled away, giving Tyler some space as a few more people came over for autographs. Some wanted pictures with him. A few just wanted to ask who he was and to talk to him. Tyler was kind to each person until we were able to make our way out of there, heading for the theater.
He was right. The wine and flowers were romantic. There was a whole bouquet of lilacs and where he was able to order lilacs on such short notice, I had no idea. I was impressed. They smelled wonderfully.
The dinner was amazing.
The movie… The movie was actually romantic. They were fighting to live and they needed to sacrifice for the other a dozen times and in the end, there were tears. The dad chose to hold off the zombie nuns so his family could escape.
Tyler was sniffling next to me.
When the credits rolled across the screen and the theater lights turned on, I patted Tyler’s hand. “You okay?”
“Yep.” He cleared his throat, blinking as if there hadn’t been any tears on his face at all. He stood. “All good. You? You good?”
I took the moment just to appreciate him. “I think you cried more when the family horse died.”
“Oh, God.” He had to turn away before he was composed again. He held up a finger. “She was their family member. She was good. All animals are good and don’t tell me they aren’t.”
My chest filled with tenderness. Well, if I hadn’t known before now, I knew for an absolute certainty now. We’d started for the door where some of the staff members were waiting to come in and clean.
I paused half way there. “Tyler?” My voice was hoarse.
“Yeah?” He threw me a glance, but catching the expression on my face, he wheeled all the way around. “What is it?”
“Ask me again.” Still hoarse.
“Ask you what…” But he stared at me before comprehension flared and his eyes got big. Real big. “Will you marry me?”
My heart was stuck in my throat but I was able to whisper, “Yes.”
78
TYLER
April
The team’s goal was to get into the playoffs when I joined, and tonight, we were going to cement those points to ensure our first place standing for the wild card spot. We were going against St. Louis for that spot. I wanted it. They were playing against Los Angeles tonight and we were playing against Boston, in Boston.
As we filed out on the ice and took up our spots on the line for the national anthem, I stared at the back of Dane’s jersey. Maybe it was karmic that it was his team we were going against. In the months since we last saw him, he and Rain exchanged a few texts. His wife reached out and it was planned after the game to go to his house so Rain could meet her nieces for the first time, officially. I had mixed emotions centering around him. Daniel was a piece of shit. He was never going to change, but Dane was… I didn’t know anymore. He was still an asshole, but he was trying. The jury would be out until after the meeting later tonight. It had to be tonight because we were flying back in the morning. Rain would be on the plane with the team. I floated theidea if she wanted to do the meeting in the morning, take her time, fly back herself or at the very least if Mal would wait and bring her back in his jet but she said no. She wanted me there and since we were so close to playoffs, I needed to be with the team as much as possible.
“You ready for this?” Sunny asked under his breath once the anthem was done and we were in our places.
I met his gaze and held up my glove. “Fuck yeah.”
“We need more points than what St. Louis gets tonight.”
“We’ll get it.”
“Damn right we will.” He hit my glove and moved back for his spot as Dane glided to his spot. The referee moved in and held up the puck. He was looking between us. “You boys ready? No dirty shit, either of you.”
