Page 77 of Hot Puck
I’ll sit up with her while she eats, then go to bed.
I doubt I’ll sleep, there’s too many thoughts swirling in my head for that, but I’ll at least lie down and pretend. Gem doesn’t need to be worrying about me too.
Nat
After what happened to Cami three weeks ago, everyone is walking on eggshells. No one knows if there will be another attack—and at this point, that’s how I’m referring to the incidents plaguing my best friend.
Even with the beefed-up security measures, no one is taking any chances.
Especially with the children.
It’s causing tension, on and off the ice, and with another tough game coming up, we need the players to focus on their game, not the dangerous antics of a scandal monger reporter.
The other thing on my mind constantly is the very real possibility of something happening to one of the girls. Or Chase. And how powerless I’d be if it did.
Those thoughts are why I’m currently waiting for Eli to call me. I need to have a legal way of looking after Chase and his sisters and the fastest, easiest way to do that is to marry Chase.
He’s been distant since Cami’s attack, and I put it down to fear of something happening to one of his sisters.
He’s not the only one feeling it. I need to talk to him about it, about how scared for my friend I was when I saw her pass out and how that fear has transferred to him and the girls.
When my phone finally rings, it scares the shit out of me, and I fumble it trying to bring the damn thing to my ear. “Hello.”
“Natalie. What the hell is sitting on my desk?”
“You know what it is. Can you get everything worked out this week?”
“You want to marry your star goalie this week?”
“Yes.”
“Why? You’ve gotten what you want already. Chase is playing for the Rogues, and he and his sisters are living in your house.”
“I’ve got no say if something happens to any of them. What if one of the girls is hurt and needs medical attention, serious medical attention, and Chase isn’t here, and because I’m nothing to them but a roommate, I can’t authorize anything?” Even I can hear the fear strangling my voice. It chokes my throat just thinking about the possibilities.
“Is this about what happened to Cami?”
“Yes. No. Maybe.” I sigh and lean back in my chair. “They’ve lost so much.”
“Nat.”
I hear the sympathy in Eli’s voice, the love he’s given me my whole life. Even before my parents were killed in a boating accident, Eli was part of my life. He was Dad’s best friend. Mom’s stepbrother.
There’s no blood connection but blood means nothing to me. I shared blood with my grandfather, and he was an asshole. A vindictive, manipulative, mean asshole. Without Eli there to look out for me, my teenage years would have been far worse than they were.
“I know it doesn’t make sense. I know it’s probably not necessary. But I want to take care of the girls, and I want the connection to their brother beyond having his signature on a contract for the Rogues.”
“Are you worried he’ll take them away from you once he’s on his feet?”
“What? No. He’d never do that. To me or them.”
“Then what is it?”
It takes me a minute, but finally I whisper, “I’ve got no one. If something happens to me, everything goes to Oakley, Cami, and Blake.”
“I know.” And he does. He helped me draw up my first will at twenty-one, and every amended one since.
“I want them to have it.”
