Page 3

JORDAN

“ I t was so nice seeing you girls.” Logan’s mom pulled me into a hug as we stood near the front entrance.

She smelled like vanilla and gingerbread, and her hug felt like a blanket.

She had the aura of someone who made you smile when you were sad and would go to war for you when you were mad.

I hugged her back, breathing in the smell of Logan’s house, and was completely content for five seconds.

“Thank you for having me. I never want to be a burden here.” I adjusted my sweater and smiled at her. “I love your family.”

“Vanderfleet. You’re never a bother.” Her dad joined us at the front and gave me a side hug. “Who told you that you were?”

“Not me!” Carly Jean, almost six years old, ran to me and hugged my legs. “You sure you don’t want to stay and play? We can play on my new carpet.”

“Sorry, girly.” I kissed the top of her head before she moved to Logan. “Log and I are heading out for the weekend.”

“Your first weekend away with the boys.” Her mom sighed and put a hand over her heart. “I’m excited and nervous.”

“They’ll be fine. Our girls are smart and have great heads on their shoulders. Plus, Jordan takes crap from no one.” Her dad winked, and it was pathetic how that compliment made me warm.

My mom never said anything nice about me, that I was smart or protected my friends. I met his gaze and winked back. “You damn well know it.”

We all laughed as I looped my arm with Logan’s. “I’ll take care of our girl as we cheer on her boyfriend.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this. It feels weird,” she mumbled, her gaze meeting mine. I could almost read her mind. Should we do this? I don’t want to leave my family.

I nodded. Yes, girl. Adventure awaits.

“Logan, sweetie. We can celebrate together any weekend. This tournament is huge for Quentin and Preston. It’ll mean so much to have you there. Plus, all of you can visit after. Yeah, let’s do that!”

“I love that idea!” I almost shouted. Preston’s confession about his parents divorcing had bothered me the last few days.

He wouldn’t talk about why, but he let me be clingy.

I did that when I worried. I smothered, and as my dear mom told me, it was hardcore annoying and a bit of a damper.

He wouldn’t have to worry about going home anymore if we came here. “I’ll RSVP for me and Preston!”

“Perfect!” Logan’s mom grinned at us. “We can do a silly gift swap. We have to find a ten-dollar gift and bring it to trade.”

“That sounds fun.” Logan leaned into me, relief evident on her face. “We’ll come here next week then.”

“Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t have done in college.” Mr. Hart spoke to me when he said that. “Or just a little bit of it.”

I chuckled and held out a fist, which he bumped. “We’ll have the right amount of fun. Bye, Carly Jean!”

With another round of hugs and a holiday party plan, we left the Harts’ house and were en route to the Great Lakes tournament hours away.

They played a few games this weekend, day one being the semi-finals.

Day two was either the consolation game or the championship.

They started at five, and we’d get there after the game began.

I loved watching Preston and the guys play, but it felt different this weekend.

I worried about him and wanted to make sure he was happy.

A sad Preston was the worst, and it made me inexplicably upset to see him not happy, so I needed to be around him to ensure he was fine.

“Let’s go, Log. I want to get there soon.”

“Eager to party?” she teased, loading a bag into the back. “Or eager to see Preston?”

“Preston.” I jumped in the driver’s seat and started the truck. “I’m concerned about him.”

“Or in love with him?”

“Not that again.” I snorted. “You damn well know I love him as a best guy friend. He’s hot and amazing but not for me.”

“May I ask why?”

“Uh, because he’s too good for this world? Because he’s my best guy friend? Plus, not a huge fan of committed relationships to be honest. Don’t want any part of them. You’ve seen how miserable my mom was after my dad peaced out. Why commit to anything like that?”

“I see your point, but counterpoint. You’ve also seen my parents.”

“Yeah, they are a fluke though. Well, so are you and Quentin.” I waved my hand in the air. “Plus, let’s say Preston and I did date—it’d have to end in marriage because I love him too much to not have him in my life. And I’m never getting married.”

“You beautiful maniac.” Logan laughed, and it made me smile. “You jumped real fast into marriage when I said you have feelings for Preston.”

“Because that’s the only way it’d have to end since I can’t fathom not having him in my life.

When I picture us in twenty years, I see you, me, and him still going on adventures.

You’ll probably have cute babies, and he’ll have a wholesome wife, and I’ll be in between lovers traveling around the world, but it’ll be the three of us. That’s the future I want.”

“I do like the sound of us all being close.”

“Not to sound too wild, but I’m hoping to have a one bedroom in whatever town you end up in. I don’t plan to have a home, so I’m gonna move mine to be near you.”

I meant it. I wanted to be around the people I loved who brought me joy.

I experienced too much loneliness growing up, and I’d inserted myself into the Harts and Logan’s family.

Preston was a part of that too, and so I had to stop this feelings chat, since having deep feelings for anyone wasn’t an option.

This was getting too serious for me, and I needed to keep shit at surface level.

I’d learned the hard way about giving myself to people who used my love to hurt me.

It started with my dear mother, and she never stopped.

“Son of a bitch!” I slammed the wheel with my fist. Traffic was horrendous, and the game had just entered the third period. The game played on the radio, Liam and Quentin having a great game, but it was close. Tied 2-2 and Preston wasn’t playing great. He didn’t have any assists or goals.

“The guys will understand us being late. I bet they’re just excited we’ll be here tonight and tomorrow.” Logan’s voice was calm and nothing like my inner turmoil.

The radio crackled with the announcers’ voices. “Charming had a great scoring chance there, but he couldn't capitalize. Honestly Tim, it’s been that kind of night for him.”

“Agreed, he just isn’t connecting like he usually does. ”

“He’s battling out there, you can see the frustration, but he’s having an off night. Hopefully the rest of the Wolves pick up the slack to get the win.”

“What a dick.” Logan scoffed, making my lips twitch. “The slack? Please. Preston is the soul of the team. You can’t measure that with a stat, but we all know it.”

“I like feisty Logan.”

There were ten minutes left by the time we parked the car. The ticket booth was closed, so we couldn’t even get the tickets he left for us at will-call. “Guess we’ll listen to the game out here and wait?”

“All we can do, really. Unless we want to wait at the hotel?” Logan chewed her lip, her brow furrowing. “That might be easier. Coach will make them take the bus to the hotel.”

“Good call.”

By the time we pulled into the team hotel, the Wolves won in the final minute.

Liam passed to Quentin, who scored the winning shot, but my heart hurt for Preston.

He was always in the action. His stats were insane, and while Quentin needed to have the season of his life to get his shot with the NHL team, the Acorns, Preston also wanted the stats.

“Hi, reservation for…what name did you use, Jordan?” Logan asked as we approached the hotel front desk.

“Vanderfleet.” I set my bag down. “I made it for two.”

The woman clicked her keyboard for a full two minutes in silence. Each swiped finger over the keys was painful. “I can’t seem to find the reservation. Do you have a confirmation email?”

Shit. I blinked before swiping my phone. “Here, yes, I do.” Thank god. I showed her my phone, but she winced.

“The dates are for another weekend, I’m afraid.” She pointed to the numbers on the top right. “You have them for next weekend, not tonight. I’m sorry. We don’t have any rooms available. With the tournament, we sold out.”

My stomach sank. “A-are you sure?”

“Yes. I can give you a list of nearby hotels if you’d like?”

“Shit. Shit.”

“Hey, it’s alright. We can stay with the guys.” Logan smiled and placed her hand on my arm. “We’ll make an adventure of it.”

“Look at you embracing chaos.” I almost smiled, but the shame of messing this up was overtaking me. I wanted to be an event planner, for fuck’s sake, and I missed a major detail like the date. The reminder of my mom telling me I wasn’t cut out for this career sliced harder.

I hated letting people down, and this was a fuck-up. Whenever I messed up as a kid, my mom wouldn’t talk to me for like two days. I swallowed, reassuring myself Logan wouldn’t end our friendship. “Usually I’m the one who’s chaotic.”

“Yeah, it’s nice trying it on.” Logan winked. “Preston and Quentin will be totally cool with it. I guarantee it.”

I believed it. I had to.

An hour later, Quentin and Preston worked their magic. Usually, the two of them roomed together, but they somehow swapped with their teammates and came up with the idea that Logan and Quentin would get one room and then Preston and I would share a room—because those rooms somehow had one bed.

“What in the ever-loving rom-com hell is this?” I whispered mainly to myself, but Logan snorted. “One bed, seriously?”

“It’s kinda funny. You’ll be okay with Preston, right?”

“If we go out and party, I can’t exactly bring someone back with me then.” I had this nervous energy, the flutters of anxiety that grew from being late, the mix-up and everything. “We’re gonna celebrate the win, yeah? ”

“Not sure. They play tomorrow for the championship, so it won’t be a late night.

” Logan scanned the front entrance and grinned when Quentin walked in.

She couldn’t stop herself from running to him, and he hoisted her up, burying his face in her neck.

It was a private, cute welcome, and that flicker of envy hit me again. Which was stupid.

I didn’t want a relationship, but it would be great to feel a love like that from someone.

I had it with my friends, duh, but I’d never had what Logan had with Quentin.

Maybe someday, in the distant future, when I wasn’t totally messed up from my childhood, I’d be open to finding that too.

Quentin picked up her bag, and Logan mouthed I’ll text you, and I waved them off, searching for a familiar head of brown, curly hair.

My pulse raced as the team walked in, Tyler and Liam, Matt and Felix.

I smiled at them, but Preston still wasn’t there.

It wasn’t like him to ditch the team, so I knew he would be there, but when the coaches walked through and he still hadn’t, my stomach twisted.

I was about to ask the coaches where he was when my tall best friend entered.

His brown hair was messy, curly, slightly damp, and his shoulders were slumped.

His gaze found me, and while I swore something like relief crossed his face, it didn’t last long.

His jaw tightened, and that had me faltering.

He might be pissed about me crashing with him.

Unless he wanted me to sleep in the truck, I didn’t have a choice, so I pushed the worry to the side.

He walked toward me, his gaze sliding up and down my body before landing on the bag. “Let’s drop our stuff off in the room.”

“Not even a little hello?”

“Hello, Jordan,” he said, no emotion in his voice.

“Are we pouting or frustrated?” I knew the way to get him out of his head was to rile him up.

My guess was he was pissed at his playing and blamed himself for making the game as close as it was.

He’d celebrate the win with the team but beat himself up, so I had to pull him from his funk.

I’d done it before, and I’d do it again.

This was the guy who’d hung out at a bar to protect me. It was the least I could do.

“Leave me be,” he said, sounding super tired. He pushed the elevator button, and we walked in, just the two of us, and he hit the fourth floor. “I’m tired. I played like shit. And?—”

“That’s a lot of I in there when it was a team win, buddy.”

He flexed his jaw. “You can have the bed. I’ll take the couch.”

“It’s eight pm. We’re not discussing sleeping right now. You’re in Detroit, you won, and you play in the championship tomorrow. We’re celebrating.”

“Some guys have family in town and will see them, but the team will be tame tonight. Nothing like the party you want.” He opened the door for us and ushered me in first. “My guess is you’ll head out since I’m not gonna be the fun you need, so I’ll ask that you crash with whoever you end up fucking. ”

“Preston Charming.” I kicked the door shut and glared at him. “I came up here for you. ”

“You came to party and hook up with athletes.” He pinched his nose, facing away from me as his shoulders stiffened.

“Quentin is so fucking happy I had to do the room swap so he could have a nice night, but I’m not in a good headspace.

I’d rather be alone, and I really don’t want to have to worry about you. I want to pout, and it’s not fun.”

“Are you done?”

“Done… what?” He faced me, mouth set in a hard line.

I walked up to him, pointing a finger at his chest and poking. “Being an asshole. Your team won. We drove up to celebrate the team. I came up for you. Instead of being a little dick about it, we could have fun or take your mind off whatever crawled up your ass.”

“My parents were at the game and sat on different sides. They both texted that they wanted to talk separately to me about the divorce and that I shouldn’t believe the other one.

It fucked with my head, and I played like shit.

” He gripped the back of his neck and stared at the ceiling.

“I want to get out of my fucking head and forget about them.”

“I think…I think I have an idea.” I licked the side of my lip, a slow, witchy smile crossing my face. “Do you trust me?”