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FIFTY

RILEY

“This month’s book sucked,” Grant groans. “A third act breakup? Miscommunication? Read the fucking room, bro. No one wants to read that shit.”

“I don’t mind miscommunication,” Connor says. “It’s realistic. People miscommunicate all the time.”

“It’s not hard to just open your fucking mouth and say what you’re feeling,” Maverick argues.

“Look who’s a relationship guru now,” Liam draws out. “As if you didn’t keep your mouth closed after all your one-night stands then make Hayes do your cleanup work.”

“There was a lot of cleanup work,” Hudson agrees.

“Hey. Don’t talk about my past. I’m a changed man these days. A one-woman-for-the-rest-of-my-life married asshole who’s never been happier.” Maverick snaps his fingers in front of my face, and I blink. “Earth to Mitchy. You haven’t contributed to our conversation all night. It’s like talking to a wall.”

“Because he hated the book too,” Ethan says. “That ending was fucking horrible.”

“I didn’t hate it.” I put my paperback on Liam and Piper’s coffee table and take a sip of my beer. “I have a lot on my mind.”

“Ah, pensive Riley.” Grant nods. “Heavy is the head that wears a crown.”

“What does that even mean?” Ethan asks.

“Like, responsibility? A heavy burden? I don’t fucking know. That’s not important. What is important is what happened. You okay, Mitchy?” Grant asks.

“I...” I trail off and take another sip from the bottle. “I don’t know.”

It’s been a week since I spilled my guts to Lexi. She’s dodged me on the team plane on our flights to and from Detroit, and I can’t find her in the tunnel during games. I keep checking my phone, hoping there will be a message from her, but it’s been silent.

I’m starting to think I fucked up.

Majorly.

I’m pretty sure I came on way too strong with that whole I love you speech, but I do. I do love her, and I’m not going to let her push me away without a fight.

Unless that’s what she wants.

And the more days that pass where I don’t hear from her, the more I’m starting to think I read this entire situation wrong.

“You can tell us anything,” Hudson says.

“Is it about your leg?” Maverick asks, and I shake my head.

“Does it have to do with skating?” Ethan chimes in. “Those videos the team posted of you are fucking sick.”

“No. It’s, ah, more personal than that.”

“A girl,” Liam rumbles out, and I jerk my head up in surprise. “ The girl.”

There’s a chorus of ohhh s from around the room. Grant jumps up and runs to the kitchen, returning with half a dozen beers he sets on the table. Ethan grabs the bowl of popcorn and puts it in his lap after shoving a fistful in his mouth. Hudson leans back on the couch and drapes his arms across the cushions, and everyone stares at me.

“You all know?” I ask.

“That you’re in love with Lexi? Uh, yeah.” Maverick snorts. “Keep up, Mitchy.”

“Why don’t you tell us the whole story?” Hudson asks, and I do.

I launch into what I was working on in my rehab and the time we kissed in my hotel room. The second time we kissed, then the third. How we’ve been spending day after day together and going on dates without anyone knowing. Grant screams when I mention the skinny dipping. Ethan throws the bowl of popcorn in the air when I give them the play-by-play of my confession after the job offer, and Maverick gasps when I share the real meaning of my constellation tattoo.

“Oh, shit. You’re so fucked,” my captain murmurs.

“Yup.” I down the rest of my beer. “Thoroughly.”

“And you haven’t heard from her in a week?” Grant confirms, and I nod.

“Seven days. She won’t look at me when I get on the plane. When I go to the training room, she’s not there. She’s avoiding me, and I know what that means. She’s trying to find a way to let me down easy without disrupting the entire dynamic of our team.” I scrub a hand over my face and sigh. “Maybe I should go to Minnesota. The last thing I want is for her to be uncomfortable.”

“We need a diagram.” Maverick snaps and points at Liam. “Where’s that whiteboard of yours, Sully? The one we used for our fantasy football draft?”

“In my office,” he answers.

Grant sprints down the hall and returns with a three-by-five whiteboard on wheels, proudly rolling it to the center of the room.

“We don’t need to do this,” I say. “It’s going to make me feel worse.”

“Let’s analyze this like we would a romance book.” Maverick snatches my glasses off my face and slides them up his own nose. “Hell, Mitchy. How do you see with these things?”

“I can’t see anything since you stole them, bastard.”

He waves me off and scribbles out a handful of words on the board, using a candlestick as a pointer. “Lexi doesn’t date, but she’s spending all her time with you. We all know she’s never been shy about expressing her feelings, yet when you dropped the I love you bomb on her, she’s gone quiet.”

“I don’t see how any of that helps,” I say.

“I see where Maverick is going.” Hudson joins him at the board, and I have to squint to read what he writes. “If she didn’t love you too, she would’ve already told you. She wouldn’t care about your feelings.”

“She’s exactly like Emmy,” Maverick adds. “Rough around the edges. A hard exterior to crack. Using sarcasm as a method to hide what she’s really feeling so it looks like she doesn’t care. And, as someone who finally learned how to get under her skin, I can tell you it takes women like them a lot longer to come around to the idea of giving up their independence. Men in their past have treated them like shit,” he says, his grip on the candlestick tightening. I know he’s thinking about Emmy’s ex and all the horrible things he said to her. “They’re strong and capable on their own, so they don’t see why they should rely on a man.”

“Women like Piper love easily,” Liam says, and I stare at him, flabbergasted that he’s actively participating. “And they love everyone. Even the people who don’t deserve their love. They’ll share their feelings with you any chance they can get, and that’s different from how Lexi’s been conditioned to act. She doesn’t think she is lovable, because no one’s loved her before.”

“Which is why it’s so hard for her to admit she loves you ,” Grant summarizes.

“Are you… is this some fucking PhD class on women’s emotional intelligence?” I ask. “When the fuck did you all get so deep and insightful?”

“My mama raised me right,” Hudson says. “Women are complicated creatures. They’re not as easy to read, but they’re the only reason any of us are on the paths we’re on right now.”

There’s a murmur of agreement, and I stand. I walk to the board and tap the points they made. “Wait. She loves me?”

“Of course she fucking loves you!” Maverick exclaims. “I know you’ve been looking at her for years, but now she’s looking at you.”

“What the fuck do I do? Do I bust down her door? Do I buy her flowers or chocolates or jewelry?” My skin is itchy. My cheeks are hot. I fan my face and have to do a lap around the living room. “Someone help me.”

“No, you idiot. You don’t do any of that. Haven’t you heard anything these saps have told you?” Ethan scoffs. “You wait. You wait until it’s time for her to come to you. Then, and only then, do you repeat to her how you feel. That’s when she’ll say it back.”

“The earth is officially ending. Ethan is doling out advice,” I say, and he flips me off.

“I read books. I know a thing or two about women besides how to get them off.”

“I said I would be patient, but it’s killing me not to do anything. I just want her to know everything is okay.”

“She knows that,” Hudson reassures me. “You’ve done plenty over the last few months to show her that.”

“Uh, not to diminish this whole big revelation, but can we talk about the elephant in the room? What are you going to do about the scouting job?” Grant asks.

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I see the pros and cons to both sides, and I’m not sure which way I’m leaning. I love DC. I love you guys and being here. You’re my family. The brothers I never had, and leaving what we’ve built together would break my fucking heart. I don’t know what’s best for me, and that’s what I’m struggling with.”

“Do you want to play? Or do you want to have an active role in a player’s development and journey to the NHL?” Maverick asks. “That’s what it comes down to.”

“My heart tells me I want to play. But I don’t know if my body can take it. This sport is ruthless when you have all of your limbs. It’s even more excruciating when you’re missing one, and I don’t know if I can justify throwing away a once-in-a-lifetime shot on the possibility of a maybe.” I sigh and take my glasses back from Maverick. “It’s a tough decision to make.”

“Coaching and scouting will always be there,” Hudson says. “Playing might not be. You’re young right now. You’re the healthiest you’re ever going to be, and it’s only going to get harder the more years that pass.”

“True.” I nod. “I might go out there and just talk with them. Maybe that will tell me everything I need to know.”

“You’re always going to have a home here,” Maverick says. “On the team. In the stands. We are brothers. And brothers stick together until the end.”

“Fucking hell.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “We really need to stop letting book club get so deep. You’re going to make the waterworks start, Cap.”

“Group hug,” he yells, and I laugh when they all tackle me.

We fall on the floor and Ethan yells about my foot being in his ass. Liam tries to pull away, but Grant climbs on his back and keeps him there. It’s chaotic and insane but also exactly what I need.

“You just have to be patient a little longer, man,” Hudson says. “The best things are always worth the wait.”

“Yeah.” I grin. I think about Lexi and me ten years down the road. The smirk she’s tossing me and the way she’ll still have my heart. She’s still taping up ankles and I’m there, happy to just be around her. “They are.”