Page 42 of Love Me (Charlotte Monarchs Hockey #1)

Luke

B ree swings the door open after the first knock.

She greets me with a smile, wearing a black tank top, tight yoga pants in the same color, and her hair pulled into a sloppy knot on top of her head.

The only time she looks sexier is when she’s got her leg swung over my hip and is cuddling up to me in bed, sweaty and completely naked.

Without hesitation, I take a step forward, wrap my arms around her waist, and press my mouth to hers. She responds by lacing her fingers into my hair. I know she loves my hair, which makes me never want to get it cut.

Our lips are still locked when I begin walking her backward into her apartment. Her body stiffens, and I remove my mouth from hers in confusion.

Over her shoulder, I see a familiar face in her living room, though I can’t quite place where I know the guy from. He’s holding a phone up to his ear and staring at us. Maybe he’s her neighbor?

“Who’s that?” I ask, releasing her and taking a step back out the door.

My mood plummets, and I’m a few seconds from freaking out.

A nanosecond, actually. We’ve never had a conversation about exclusivity.

I didn’t think we had to since we seemed to be on the same page about seeing only each other the last few weeks.

“That’s Mason, my brother. He flew in for a surprise visit,” Bree explains with a twisted smile.

Her brother? This dude can’t be her brother. The reason he seems so familiar hits me like a bolt of lightning. He looks just like the guy who got carried off the ice in a stretcher after I nailed him at center ice during a game in Juniors.

In Spokane.

Which is the team Bree said her brother played for when he was in the WHL.

No. No. No. No. No!

This cannot be happening.

Mason lifts the phone off his ear, nods slightly, and says, “Hey.”

“Hey,” I respond. My heart hammers in my ear.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

How the fuck is this my life? What did I do to make the universe hate me so much?

“Come on in.” Bree moves aside, giving me room to enter.

Honesty. Honesty. Honesty.

“I can’t,” I lie. “That’s what I came over for. I wanted to tell you that I have, uh, a last-minute trip up north. One of our guys is having some trouble. I gotta go straighten things out.”

The words flow smoothly, though I have no clue what I’m talking about. I’m making it up as I go. There are no problems. I don’t have a trip scheduled. I just have to stay away from Bree while her brother is in town.

“Aw. That sucks. I really wanted you and Mason to hang out and talk.” Bree looks at her brother, but he’s still on the phone. She’s frowning when she turns back to me.

“Maybe we still can. When does he leave?” I ask, watching as Mason looks at me then disappears into the spare bedroom.

“Saturday morning.”

“Shit. I’m back on Sunday afternoon.” The lies keep coming and though I feel bad, I’m not ready to have this confrontation right now.

I don’t even know if the kid recognizes me or not, but if we start shooting the shit about hockey, it’s going to jog his memory.

“I wanted to tell you in person so I could give you a hug and kiss and—” I trail off because I don’t want to say what else I wanted to do while her brother is still in the apartment. That’s tacky as shit.

“When do you have to leave?” she asks. Her eyelids drop, and her lips lose the curve of her smile. I feel like shit for being such a coward and lying to her face. The last thing I ever thought I would do is break this angel’s heart or spirit.

“I’m on my way to the airport now. Flying out tonight so I can catch up with him after the game.”

Bree nods then moves closer to hug me. I return the embrace and hope like hell she’ll forgive me when I have the guts to come clean.

“See you on Sunday?” she asks when she pulls away. There’s a sparkle of hope in her beautiful eyes.

“Absolutely.” I bend down and kiss her. “Why didn’t you tell me he was coming to town?”

“I didn’t know. I mean, my dad mentioned it a few weeks ago, but I said no. They sent him anyway.” Bree sighs and glances back.

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugs. “It’s been all right. We’ve had some good discussions about life.”

I want to ask her what she means and make sure everything is okay, but I backed myself into a lie, and now I have to keep up the charade. I glance at my watch. “I gotta go, babe.”

I know I have to tell her the truth, and I will. After her brother leaves. I hate being dishonest. I feel like my mother, giving excuses to try to convince me that she wasn’t leaving the house to find her next high.

Bree grabs my arms to brace herself and stands on her toes to kiss me again. “Have a safe trip.”

I nod and walk backward to the elevators until she closes the door.

It’s at that particular moment that I realize that Bree and I can never be together. The perfect conditions for a brutal storm are all coming together at once.

It’s my fault her brother’s career is over. It’s my fault her parents have made her life miserable over the last few years. It’s my fault I fell in love with a girl that is so far out of my league that I can’t even pretend we could ever have a normal life together.

It’s not my fault my dad died suddenly and screwed up our normal, middle-class life. It’s not my fault I grew up a poor kid in a shitty neighborhood because my mom turned to drugs instead of giving a fuck about me. But I have to deal with the complications and ramifications of it all the same.

I don’t deserve her. I can’t afford her. I can’t keep lying to her.

Once I’m outside, I stuff my hands in my pockets and walk home. Guess I’m booking a road trip.