Page 33 of No Rhyme or Roughing (The Golden Guardians Hockey Hearts #1)
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
SYDNEY
What do you do after having the best sex of your life with your brother’s best friend?
Go home to said brother, sit in the living room with him and said best friend, pretending everything is normal. Watch a movie and act like you comprehend anything happening on the screen while your body still hums from that locker room.
A locker room, I realized, that may not have been the cleanest.
I didn’t want to freak out about what happened; that wasn’t me. Instead, I spent all night fixating on my bare feet touching the shower stall floor. Thinking about how many sweaty, gross men had cleaned themselves there .
It was a coping mechanism.
I also locked my bedroom door. A preemptive move to keep away any hockey bros who might want to invade my space while I needed to think.
By the time I woke the next morning, I’d barely slept. The house was quiet as I moved through it, except for a piercing yip coming from Guardian’s crate. I opened it and gathered him into my arms before heading outside. “The guys already leave for morning skate?” I asked him, as if he could answer.
Instead, he just looked up at me with big brown eyes that saw through every ounce of strength I tried to project.
“Don’t,” I told him as I stepped onto the fake lawn in the backyard.
A warm tongue slid up my face, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re no different from the guys on the team, are you? Eager to please, not the brightest.”
I set him down, and he ran in circles before finding the perfect spot to squat.
The rest of the day was spent with Guardian, snuggling, staring at my emails, and ignoring calls from Angela. I heard the boys return, but since it was game day, I kept to myself and let them do the same.
A knock sounded on my door, and I mentally prepared myself to face the problem that was Ryder Cassidy. But it wasn’t him who stepped inside.
Teddy smiled down at me, where I was curled around a sleeping Guardian.
“I’m so glad I got you a dog,” he joked.
I shrugged, pressing a kiss to the dog’s soft fur. “Not my fault he prefers me. ”
“That’s a lie, and you know it. I’m his favorite.”
“Shows what you know.” I sat up carefully, not wanting to disturb my little nephew. “Did you need something?”
“We’re leaving for the game. You’re coming, right?”
“Of course.” I didn’t have a choice. Someone had to record them and make sure the music was perfect for their performance.
Teddy grinned. “Good. I have a surprise for you.”
“Why does that worry me?”
“It’s fine,” he said with a laugh. “It’s going to make our performance stand out even more. Imagine a second video going viral. We’ve got this.”
“I’m sure you do.” I wasn’t lying. I’d seen something in the team during practice—a determination. They cared. And that was half the battle with performances.
Teddy bent down, pressing a kiss to my forehead and then Guardian’s. “Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“Everything.” He paused in the doorway. “Oh, bring Guardian tonight. I’ve already cleared it with Sullivan. He’ll watch him while you’re recording us, but we think putting him in the video will help.”
“He isn’t a prop, Ted. Tell me this isn’t why you adopted him.”
“Of course not. But he’s our Guardian—the team’s. He’s part of us, of this.” Rapping his knuckles on the doorframe, he disappeared down the hall.
Well, I guessed I was going to a hockey game with a dog. The thought almost made me laugh, but my phone ringing stopped me. Assuming it was Angela, I glanced at the screen .
It wasn’t her.
Jameson’s name flashed across my screen. I hit ignore and lay back down beside Guardian, gathering him into my arms.
“Be glad you’re a dog, buddy,” I murmured. “You don’t have to feel things.”
Things that terrified me. Things I knew didn’t last.
Even if my feet fell off from some disease I picked up on that locker room floor, last night meant something. And I didn’t want it to.
Feelings were the true destroyer of worlds. Not me, but what could happen to me if I let anyone in.