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COLE

NOAH: Family dinner after the game. FYI. Ollie and Kas’ treat. Or is it date night? Zoe is coming on the road. Serious moment. I think Eden should come.

I ’d filled in Noah about Eden’s stalker before practice, and the goalie had demons flying from him. Blocked every shot during the scrimmage, and after, broke his stick on the crossbar he’d been so pissed.

Good. It meant he’d keep an eye out for her, too. If I ever let her out of my sight, that was.

I trudged up the stairs, fighting the urge to break down her door and take Eden in the shower, hard and fast, and then wash her body and worship her the way she deserved.

Fuck, this being at war with myself messed with my head.

I wanted to protect Eden, not just from the asshole creep stalking her, but from my father and his judgment. I’d be lying if the thought of being with her and seeing the look on his face hadn’t entered into my thoughts. But I refused to put Izzy or Eden between us, and the issues we had.

In the middle of the night, I heard footsteps outside my door. Eden, creeping down the hallway, and down the stairs. Fuck, it took all my will power not to follow her, chase her, and take her mercilessly, face to face. I fisted my cock, jerking off until I came all over my bare chest to the fantasy and woman living in my house.

My stepsister.

The next morning, I left long before she woke up after staying up most of the night, but I left her note with her car keys in case she wanted to go to the bookstore praying she wouldn’t and asked her to text me if she did.

Along with an off the shoulder Triumph sweatshirt Lanie helped find for me.

The police didn’t have any leads, and so far Eden’s old phone had gone silent. Eden planned on attending the season home opener tonight with Zoe, and Noah asked to have extra security stationed by them and Izzy, who’d somehow wrangled my father into joining her.

Talk about fucking family time. But, I made Noah promise not to tell anyone, even if Zoe knew now. If my father found out, he’d be relentless and make Eden move home with him.

No. Fucking. Way. Eden was mine to take care of, no matter how fucked up that might be.

EDEN: Staying home. I’ll work from here. Zoe is coming over and I’m telling her.

Eden decided that her roommate wouldn’t believe any bullshit story we could come up with, so she was going to tell her the police suggested she relocate while they looked into the matter. I had a feeling that Noah and Eden’s best friend would see straight through it. No matter that they both knew about Eden being pressured into moving back home. Moving in with a step brother she just met was suspicious as fuck.

Never mind the elephant in the room when I confessed how I’d wanted to take care of her after using her the way I had at the haunted house. We hadn’t discussed it since, or really then, but it didn’t change the reality of the situation we found ourselves in.

Home.

She called it home.

Fuck. This was getting bad.

I tossed my phone on the shelf in my locker and finished lacing up. Jaxon sat down across from me and shook his head.

“How the hell does LeCav fit hockey in with all the damn texts he sends,” the former Chicago player complained. “He’s worse than my ex-girlfriend ever did. And her phone was attached to her hand.”

“Bet you wished it was your dick,” Shaw said as he left the room.

“Fucking Shaw,” Theo Gerard, the other winger on my line muttered. “Too bad his fucking contract screwed us over.”

Zoe had been dating Liam Shaw in secret but then she hooked up with our new Coach who just so happened to be Noah’s big brother. The team had waived his contract, but there was a fucking loophole his agent found, and the organization decided to let things quiet down before deciding what to do about him. The whole situation had been a logistical nightmare and keeping it under the radar had taken Lanie’s entire PR expertise. With any luck, he’d be gone before the All Star break.

Too bad he was a great player. Still an asshole, though.

“Fellow Ghost Hockey Daddies,” Noah quipped as he entered the room, a huge smile on his face. “Just tell me I missed Shaw before I make the customary announcements.”

Jaxon snorted. “Elvis has left the fucking building.”

“Fucking Mason needs to cut him off. If I have to go home and see his face one more time because I want to hang out with my brother, I’ll lose my shit.” He sighed, then grinned again. “Morning skate on the day of our season home opener is not a day to be taken lightly. And, I know many of you have special guests coming, so I’ll make this quick. The playlist in the locker room is a sacred ceremony and there is no booing or leaving during anyone’s songs.”

“Tell me Shaw isn’t included.” Theo stood, and checked his phone for the third time in so many minutes.

“Absolutely not. No fucking bad juju permitted.” He took off the Montreal Triumph trucker cap, flipped it over, then handed the remaining guys slips of paper. “Name and song choice. The player order will rotate every game, but the song choice by said player is fluid. Keep in mind, whoever chooses first has the responsibility of setting the tone for the entire game. Singing is permitted along with air guitar. Appropriate celebrations or choreography choices are allowed, especially if there is a bridge involved.”

The veterans on the team chuckled, while the new guys, including me and Jaxon, exchanged glances. “Fucking goalies,” I muttered.

“Only after you wine and dine me.” Noah quipped. “I’ll draw the first name, then that person draws and so on and so on. Got it?”

A chorus of ‘got it’s’ rang through the room.

“And Coach always gets the final song. Or he’ll make us do suicides next practice.” Noah grinned again, obviously excited that his big brother, Brett LeCavalier, was the new Triumph head coach.

He closed his eyes and pulled out a slip. “And the first song goes to,” he opened his eyes and read the writing on the paper. “Sunders.”

Shit.

“No pressure.” Noah said. He shoved the hat in my direction with an expectant look.

The slip of paper I pulled that was so perfectly folded that it took extra effort to get the fucking thing opened. “Miles.”

Zoe’s brother gave off none of the energy his little sister did. From what Noah let slip, he and Zoe didn’t grow together because of the difference in their ages, and they had different mothers.

At 6’1”, I was a little taller than he was. Noah, the little shit, had a good four inches on me. As the defenseman reached in and grabbed the next victim, Noah added, “You have until we step foot in that doorway. And the red fruit app hooked up to the bluetooth.” He motioned at the Bose speaker on the table against the far wall. The pass the hat continued until all the guys, save Shaw, pulled a name. Optional morning skate. He left early.

Fucker was out of luck.

Out on the ice, we did drills for about 45 minutes, mostly to get into the rhythm of new lines and chemistry.

And, then, I headed home. To Eden.