Page 1 of Dumping the Puck (Men of Havoc #4)

Watching the love of my life get engaged to my brother is ranking in the top five worst days of my life.

Probably second only to the day I watched my brother shoot his shot, and make it. Wren has been in our lives since she and Cameron were in Kindergarten, and I was in first grade. She and I were inseparable. Sure, my brother would tag along, but Wren was my best friend from the day her family moved in down the dirt road from our farm.

My brother and I have never gotten along. His whole life he’s been the epitome of an entitled golden child. His charm tricks any girl he wants, only he cheats on any of his girlfriends that last more than a week. And I’m pretty sure he only asked Wren out to get under my skin. So the fact that now he’s proposing, is a bunch of bullshit.

The only reason I haven’t stepped in to beat the shit out of him is because, as far as I know, he’s kept his dick to himself.

I stand leaning on the rock wall in the park where he just proposed to my girl. My heart feels like it’s trying to claw its way out of my chest. Cringing, I try to find a way out as Cameron comes toward me. I’m only here for his engagement because my mother asked me to be here, to show a united family front to the rest of the world. She only wants the photos for her social media. We both know that Cameron is the only son they actually care about. But really, I’m here for Wren. Pretending to be the most supportive best friend ever.

“Brother. I won, huh?” He slaps me on the back.

“Won what?” I take a long sip of the beer in my hand.

“The girl obviously. I got her, not you.” He snickers, leaning his back on the wall next to me.

My fists clench, and I remind myself I can’t punch my own brother here in public. I just got out of the tabloids for being the angry bad boy at the urging of my coach and the PR guy for my team. Punching my brother definitely takes me a few steps back.

“Is that why you proposed? So you could win ? You’ve been dating her for six years just so I couldn’t?” My lips curl into a snarl. He better fucking think about his answer wisely.

Except he doesn’t answer, he just walks away after smirking at me and beelining it to the bar he hired for this event, where he casually excuses himself past the leggy blonde by touching the small of her back. A gesture that seems too familiar for her to be a stranger.

Goddammit.

Wren is standing with a group of their friends, showing off her engagement ring. But her smile…it isn’t real.

Her real smile lights up her whole face, causing the golden specks in her hazel eyes to sparkle. Her nose scrunches up, and it’s so big it reaches the apples of her cheeks. Accompanied by an infectious belly laugh that gets everyone around her to laugh too.

This one though, it’s polite. A closed lip smile that shows the demure attitude she’s taken on since Cameron got a promotion and trained her to be restrained and quiet. I refer to it as her Stepford wife training, but only in my own head. Sit quietly, look pretty, and turn a blind eye to the cheating.

She looks up catching a glimpse of me, and I get a small peek at the woman I once knew.

After excusing herself from the group she starts to make her way over to me.

“Can you believe it Johnny? I’m engaged! And we’re going to be a real, actual family!” She launches herself at me.

I wrap my arms around her in a hug. “Yea, June. You are. But you’ve always been my family.”

Daddy gave us our nicknames when we were in high school. He loved Johnny Cash. And when we were spending every minute of our time together, he dubbed us Johnny and June.

The day he died, he pulled me aside, sending my brother and mother out of the room. He told me, “ That girl is your true June, son. Don’t you let her go without tellin’ her how you feel. ”

He made me promise. But the problem is, Cameron overheard him. He was jealous and pissed that I had just gotten scouted by the Havoc. A week later he and Wren were going on a date. Now six years later, they’re engaged.

He never could stand that Daddy and I were as close as we were, while he was closer to Mama. And when Mama remarried a wealthy guy in finance, I was officially forced out of the family unless I was needed for an appearance.

“You’re gonna walk me down the aisle, right?”

Wren’s family disowned her the minute she turned eighteen and they could legally choose to not be parents anymore. Forcing her to move in with her grandparents. Unfortunately, Papaw passed away a couple of years ago.

“Absolutely, you know I’m always here for you.” I choke out. “Anything you need. You’re the little sister I never had.”

The words taste bitter on my tongue. It’s a lie I started spinning with her the day she moved in with Cameron. And every time I tell it, I hate myself a little bit more for choosing to keep the peace and let her be with Cameron, respecting her choice.

She kisses me on the cheek in thanks, bouncing off to find my brother.

Chugging the rest of my beer, I stalk off to find someone I can bury my dick in for the night, trying to erase my feelings for Wren. A little like an alcoholic searching for the answers in the bottom of a bottle.

It never works, though.