Page 275 of Playing the Pucking Game

His eyes move between mine and his little sister behind me.

“I asked you two a question.”

68

PARKER

My heart races, my hands tremble, and dread like I’ve never felt before in my life sits heavy in my stomach as my big brother stands in the doorway to Linc’s home gym with his hands on his hips and a terrifying expression on his face.

Grown-ass men are scared of my big brother, and despite knowing him better than almost anyone, right now, I’m totally intimidated too.

Because you’ve been lying to him.

I banish that unhelpful thought and try to remember what question he just bellowed at us.

Linc shifts in front of me so he’s sitting on the table, but he also doesn’t say anything.

Is he waiting for me?

In the end, it’s Rett who speaks first.

“So I guess this explains why Mom told me to warn you that I was coming first.” He steps forward with his fists curled at his sides, and I panic.

I cannot bear to watch him wail on Linc.

We’ve done nothing wrong, not really.

Okay, yeah. We should have told him that we were living together. And we probably should have mentioned that things had progressed beyond that.

But also…he shouldn’t have just let himself into Linc’s apartment unannounced.

Linc could have been doing anything up here…

A shudder rips through me as I think about all the things he could have been doing.

I force that thought away. It’s not helpful, right?

I believed everything he said to me earlier about wanting this for years, about being serious about a future together. Hell, he called me his girlfriend.

Lincoln Storm’s girlfriend.

It’s a title I could only ever dream of. And now it’s mine.

My heart flutters wildly.

I am his, and he is mine.

I dart around the front of the table, getting between the two of them before Rett loses his shit.

He’s always had a short fuse, but thankfully, most of the time, I’m able to defuse the situation; hopefully, now is one of those times.

“I was just working out Linc’s shoulder. He took a hard hit the other night and?—”

“The fuck are you wearing?” Rett balks, staring at Linc’s old college T-shirt.

“Uh…” I hesitate. I don’t have any answer that’s going to make any of this better. I only have the truth, and I’m not willing to go there yet. Not until I can talk Rett down from the edge.

Rett’s eyes shift from mine to the man on the table behind me. “You’re the colleague,” he accuses. “You’re the one who took her in.” Silence. “Fucking hell,” Rett barks, his fingers twisting in his hair and pulling until it looks like it hurts. “You fucking asshole.”