Page 18

CAM

I felt a little weird wearing a suit to a hockey game.

I mean, weren’t people supposed to wear like jerseys and team hoodies and stuff? It was a sporting event, not a business meeting.

But since I was here as a family member of a player—or, well, an employee supervising the family members of a player—I was asked to adhere to the League dress code.

Which was fine. I liked wearing suits and I thought I looked damn good in them.

Plus, was I really going to argue with a dress code that required Trev to wear suits?

Because that tailored medium-gray three-piece he’d worn out the door this afternoon was just…

oh my God. I envied the fabric on his body as much as I envied the person who’d been tasked with measuring and fitting him. Goddamn.

So yeah, the League’s dress code was a thousand percent fine by me.

It was just kind of surreal to be walking into a stadium dressed like this. Then again, it was also surreal to be going in through one of the Authorized Personnel entrances. Everything about this was definitely a new experience.

The boys didn’t have to wear anything specific, and they both wore custom jerseys with their jeans.

It had their dad’s number, forty-seven, and instead of Allen across the shoulders, it read Daddy .

Several of the other players’ kids were wearing similar jerseys, including two infants who couldn’t be more than four or five months old.

They were all seriously adorable, especially Trev’s boys, though I may have been slightly biased.

A woman in a maroon pantsuit came up to me. “Hi, you must be Trev’s new nanny.” She held out her hand. “Err, um, is that what you like to be called?”

I laughed as I accepted the handshake. “It’s accurate, so… meh. My name is Cam, though.”

“Cam. I’ll remember that. I’m Kristina. My husband is Trev’s linemate, Jackson.” She paused. “Well, the guys all call him Hoes.”

I blinked. “Hoes? Really?”

She rolled her eyes. “Our last name is Houghtaling.”

“Ah, got it.”

“Anyway, I just wanted to say hi.” Kristina smiled at Zach and Zane. “He has the sweetest boys, doesn’t he?”

“He really does. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, you know?”

“You’re not kidding. Trev is amazing. You know he even let us stay in his house for a little while when we first came to Pittsburgh?”

“Really? I mean, that does sound like him.”

“It does, doesn’t it? The team was happy to put us up in a hotel, but Trev and Bryan insisted on having us at their place until we moved into our apartment. It was only like two weeks, but it was so nice during that transition.”

“I bet. I don’t know how you all deal with uprooting every time a team makes a trade.”

She quirked her lips. “Well, the paycheck helps.”

“Okay, yeah, good point.”

She chuckled. “Anyway. I just wanted to introduce myself. Are you sitting up in the partners’ box?”

“Oh. Uh.” I fought the urge to glance at Bryan, who’d walked in a few minutes ago. “I… Trev got us seats in the owners’ box, so I think that’s where we’re sitting.”

“Okay, no problem. But if you want to join us, consider yourself invited.” She lowered her voice. “You’re not a spouse or partner, but you’re in charge of a player’s kids. As far as we’re all concerned”—she gestured at the others in the room—“you count.”

I smiled. “Good to know. Thanks! Maybe at the next game?”

“Sounds good. Enjoy the game!”

She went to chat with some of the ladies she knew, and I subtly released a breath. I appreciated the invite, but I still wasn’t sure if I should accept it. At this game, I had the excuse that Trev had already bought tickets in the other box. At future games… well, I wasn’t sure.

Mostly because of who else would be there.

And it wasn’t all in my head, either.

“If one of the spouses invites you up to the partners’ box,” Trev had told me this morning, “you’re more than welcome to go. But I’m about ninety-nine percent sure Bryan will be there, too. It’s your call.”

The fact that he didn’t say “Fuck him—go sit wherever you want” told me that maybe I wasn’t imagining the potential for discomfort.

And more than anything, I didn’t want to cause problems for Trev. Things were already messy and complicated with his co-parent dating his teammate. Since neither Bryan nor Chats seemed to be in any hurry to be adults and coexist with Trev, I didn’t want to push my luck.

Jenni, who was apparently married to Martin, the team captain, came up to me right then, her infant on her hip. With her free hand, she took me by the elbow. “Come on. All the kids like to watch warmups from the Zamboni gate.”

“Oh. Uh.” I looked around, ready to call Zach and Zane, but they were already joining the small herd of children heading down the hall.

Of course they knew the routine. Everyone here knew the routine except me and the babies.

Hell, one of them even looked at me like, Duh, it’s warmups—are you new or something?

At the Zamboni gate, the wives and girlfriends crowded against the glass, holding up the children who were too little to see over. Someone had wheeled over a small block, and the bigger kids—including the twins—stood on that, hands and faces pressed to the glass.

There was no one on the ice yet, but that didn’t last long. Not two minutes after the boys got situated, a train horn sounded. Players started pouring out beside one of the benches; the away team, judging by the booing from fans and the kids.

Then the announcer’s voice boomed: “Now taking the ice for warmups, please welcome your Pittsburgh Rebels!”

The crowd, thin as it was this early in the evening, went nuts, and the kids all started shouting and banging on the glass. Players in black and gold came out from beside their bench, and I could tell whenever a kid’s dad emerged because of the delighted squeals and “Mommy, there’s Daddy!”

After nine or ten players, it was Zach and Zane jumping up and down and shouting to both Bryan and me, “There’s Dad! There’s Dad!”

Oh yeah. There he was. Fuuuck.

Was there ever going to come a time when the sight of grownup Trev didn’t turn me into a quivering mess? Because if there was, it wasn’t going happening tonight.

Seeing him in a game jersey was nothing new, but this was a game jersey at this level. At the very top of the sport he loved. With a logo on his chest from a team he’d watched as a kid, back when he hadn’t known if he’d ever get into the League or what team he’d eventually land on.

Trev had made it. He was the hockey player he’d always dreamed of being.

Pride swelled in my chest, but I was also—I mean, who the fuck was I kidding? Trev was hot and I reacted accordingly. At some point, I’d have to get used to being around him at peak sexiness, especially since I lived with him.

But for now, hell—why not drool?

Not openly , though, if only because there were cameras around. And Bryan. I didn’t need jealousy drama with Trev’s ex-husband.

Throughout warmups, the kids all waved at their dads, and the various players came over to say hi.

That was super cute. Some of the guys’ faces were full of intense concentration while they skated and shot pucks, but the second they saw their babies, they turned into complete goo.

They came right up to the gate and waved at their kids or did fist bumps through the glass.

Some even pushed pucks through the hole that the photographers used, which had the littlest ones squealing with delight.

Martin was one of those “face of hockey” players—he was on the covers of magazines, the thumbnails for videos, and even a video game cover.

Always with a fierce expression, full of intense concentration and competitive fire.

But when he skated over and met his infant daughter’s eyes through the glass, he went all gooey-eyed.

He smiled and cooed to her even though she couldn’t hear him, and when she waved her arms at him and giggled, he melted .

And then… Trev showed up at the gate.

And I was the one who melted. He high-fived his boys through the glass, and he smiled at them like they made his whole night. They banged on the glass and bounced with excitement as if this was the first time they’d ever seen him play.

He glanced up, and his gaze landed on me.

Was it my imagination, or did he freeze for a beat? His eyes widened and his lips parted.

What? Had he not expected me to be here? Was I supposed to?—

He flashed me a smile and a sharp nod before shifting his attention back to his boys.

He held up a finger—as much as one could in a hockey glove—and I thought he mouthed “be right back.” Then he skated away, but he came back a moment later and handed a puck to the wife closest to the lens hole.

When she took it, he tapped the glass in front of Zach, and she gave the puck to Zach.

Zane didn’t protest at all. They both knew that whoever didn’t get a puck at one game would get it at the next one.

Then they each fist-bumped their dad through the glass, and he skated back out to join his team. He didn’t give me another look, and I was admittedly grateful for that. I was still jittery after that double take. What did it mean? Why had he looked at me like that?

And when had it started getting so hot in here? Would anyone mind if I went out and sprawled on the ice for a minute or two? Because goddamn.

“Take a picture,” Bryan gritted out, “it’ll last longer.”

I turned to him. “What?”

He rolled his eyes. “Dude, you’re not subtle.” He gestured at the ice. At the players.

At his ex-husband, who I’d been staring at for I had no idea how long.

I gulped and shook myself. “I’m sorry, I have no idea what you’re?—”

“Oh, fuck off,” he muttered, and stalked away. As he started chatting with some of the wives, acting like nothing had happened, I stood there like a dork, completely taken aback by his reaction.

On the other hand, he’d brought my temperature back down, so there was that.

I rolled my eyes, mentally gave him the finger, and shifted my attention back to the kids I was here to watch.

Jenni appeared beside me. “Warmups are almost over, so we’re all heading up to the suite. Do you want to come sit with us?” She smiled. “It’s usually reserved just for spouses, partners, and kids, but since you’re here with Trev’s kids, you’re welcome to join us. There’s plenty of room. ”

“Oh. Uh. Kristine already invited me, but… ” I glanced around, and my gaze snagged on Bryan. Any uncertainty I’d had about my decision was gone —no way in hell was I watching the game in the same space as him. Clearing my throat, I faced Jenni again. “I think… I think it might be less awkward if…”

Her eyes flicked toward Bryan, and she nodded as if she fully understood. Maybe she’d watched our exchange, or maybe she’d just picked up that everything in the orbit of the Bryan-and-Trev divorce was messy AF.

“Well,” she said, “the offer is always open. And we don’t let drama kick up, so if you have any problems with anyone”—she glanced pointedly at Bryan—“you just come to me.”

“I will. Thanks.” I smiled. “Maybe another night, I’ll come to the suite?”

“Of course. The offer is always open.”

“Thanks.”

She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

“I won’t lie, this is some uncharted territory for us.

I wasn’t crazy about someone’s ex still being in our suite, especially after they had such a contentious divorce.

” She sighed. “But he’s dating a player and he’s really close to one of the other wives, and she invited him in, so… ” Jenni waved her hand.

“Eww, that sounds… uncomfortable.”

“It was. But we’ve got your back, okay? Especially since you’re here for them”—she nodded to Zach and Zane—“not to stir up trouble.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that.”

I did. I really did.

But holy shit, was I grateful we wouldn’t be sitting in that box tonight.