Page 1 of Rebel Secrets (Devils Hockey #3)

Chapter One

Five months before the wedding

R ebel

“…so, to Rowdy and Tressy. Congrats on your engagement. Brother, you definitely don’t deserve this special woman. But you’re a lucky man because she agreed to marry you. And Tressy, when you get sick of him, I’ll be here to kick his a— ah, but back into line.”

From my left, I heard Krista, my soon-to-be niece, giggling.

Turning, I gave her a wink. At almost eight and practically a resident at the arena, she’d heard much worse.

But we were at my parents’ house for the engagement dinner of my brother, Rowdy, and Krista’s mom, Tressy.

I knew better than to use that kind of language with my mom present.

And in front of nearly half the town, including all of the women from my mom’s various volunteer groups.

And even though the entire Devils team was here, I knew “ass” was out of the question, and “fuck” would get me a smack upside the head from either my mom or my sister, Rain. Probably both.

Dressed in a new suit my sister Rain had insisted I needed and that I loved more than I’d ever admit—I raised my glass of champagne and nodded my head at the couple beaming in front of the roaring fireplace.

Mom had managed to pull together this way-too-fancy affair in an incredibly short amount of time, but then my mom was amazing like that.

Rowdy had proposed to Tressy two weeks ago, on fucking Valentine’s Day, if you can believe it.

At the fucking Tea Room, the local bar, which I guess made sense, considering that’s where they’d met a year and a half ago.

Tressy had wound up stranded in St. David after her car had gotten a flat, and Rowdy fell hard and fast. Lucky for him, Tressy fell, too.

Good for them. I gave Rowdy a lot of shit, but he was a great guy, and Tressy was an amazing woman. They were good to each other, and their marriage would last. Rowdy didn’t do shit half-assed.

Just the thought of getting married gave me the heebes. I barely had my own life figured out. How the hell was I supposed to deal with another person’s shit at the same time?

With my duties as future best man complete, I could enjoy the rest of the night…

as much as I enjoyed being forced to mingle with this many people.

Rowdy called me antisocial. Rain called me grumpy.

My younger brother, Rocky… well, he understood.

We never really talked about it, but he and I shared more than just our love of hockey.

The crowd converged on the happy couple, and I gladly shifted away to the corner where most of the Devils were hanging out.

“Reb, nice speech. Almost didn’t realize it was you. You actually sounded happy.”

With my back to the room, I could safely give Kaden Felix the finger. I couldn’t give him both because I couldn’t drop my beer glass. The Devil’s goalie laughed, raising his glass in a salute to me.

“Good to know the AHL hasn’t civilized you.”

Kaden and I had played together for years, at least until I’d gotten a contract with the Reading Redtails just a couple of months ago. This was the first time I’d been home since moving to a new league.

To say it’d been an adjustment was an understatement. But even as my anxiety rose, I throttled it back ruthlessly.

“Nothing’ll civilize Reb. You’re always going to be a pain in the ass, aren’t you?”

My sister suddenly stood beside me, sticking her elbow in my side as she smiled up at me. I had to smile back.

“Always, Rainbow Brite. You learned from the master, after all.”

She rolled her eyes at the childhood nickname, just like I knew she would, and shook her head. “You’re a menace.”

“You’re a brat.”

“And you’re both too old to fight like children.”

Our mom materialized at my side, wrapping her arm around my waist and giving me a little hug.

Raffi Lawrence barely reached my shoulder, dressed like a more sophisticated flower child of the seventies and didn’t look a day over forty.

And she ruled our family with love…and an occasional iron fist. Covered by a velvet glove, of course.

“We’re not fighting.” I shrugged. “We’re expressing our affection.”

I got a laugh out of the only two women in my life who mattered. Not bad for me. Usually I pissed everyone off. Of course, it was still early.

“I guess I should be glad you’re behaving as well as you are,” Mom glanced up at me. “Your speech was perfect, sweetheart.”

That came with a gentle pat on my back and a smile just for me. My mom knew how much I hate public speaking, or public anything, unless it’s playing hockey. After my family, hockey’s the only thing I care about.

“Thanks.”

“Now,” Mom said, looking around the circle of huge, brawny hockey players she treated as an extension of our family, “we’ve got all this food. I expect you boys to make sure there are no leftovers.”

Most of those “boys” had passed into adulthood several years ago, but, as if Mom had said the magic words, they said, “Yes, ma’am,” and moved like someone had lit their asses on fire.

Leaving my sister and I alone for the first time tonight.

She and her boyfriend, Brian, had been sticking close to Brian’s sister Lindsey and her daughter, Maddy, most of the night.

Lindsey, who’d moved to St. David with Maddy only a few weeks ago, was still getting acclimated to life in a small town.

And the scrutiny that brings with it for newcomers.

So far, though, she seemed to be doing well. She’d gotten a job at the local coffee shop and would work part-time at the arena, where Maddy would have a community to watch over her. Maddy seemed to have fit into life in St. David just fine.

“So,” Rain said, “Erin and I are coming to your game next week.”

My head snapped around to look at my sister like she’d grown another head. “What? Why?”

If there was one of my sister’s friends who I’d thought would never show up at one of my AHL games, it was Erin Wright.

Rain gave me a look that clearly expressed how ridiculous she considered that statement. My sister had definitely inherited that from Mom.

“I asked her to, and she’s one of my best friends, so she said yes. Caity would’ve come, too, but the Angels have a dance competition that weekend.”

I liked Caity. The mouthy redhead and I had once considered doing more than a casual thing, but I couldn’t bring myself to commit. I didn’t want to saddle anyone with my issues. And if I was honest, I didn’t want to have to deal with anyone else’s issues. I had enough of my own.

Erin… I winced just thinking about her. Perpetually cheerful.

Always looking on the “bright side,” whatever the fuck that was.

I’d overheard her talking about “manifesting big changes” one day when I’d had to go to her bakery for coffee because my machine had broken, and it was like she was selling timeshares to gullible seniors.

Everything about her rubbed me the fucking wrong way.

From her wavy red hair that she almost always had wrapped up in one of those messy buns on top of her head, and the chunky glasses she’d occasionally wore that made her eyes look even greener somehow.

She always had flour on her clothing somewhere and usually on her face, that, yeah, was pretty if you liked women who looked like they’d climbed out of a children’s fairytale.

And that wasn’t an exaggeration. She loved dressing up as a fairy to go to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair.

And I only knew that because she’d dragged Rain there every year since she’d moved to town.

Rain had tried to get me to go one year, said I’d fit right in as a jouster with my messy hair and grumpy attitude.

I took that as a compliment, but I’d never joined them, even though, yeah, I’d probably have fun. And I knew they made good beer there.

I’m pretty sure Erin felt the same about me. I’d overheard her ask Rain why I was so grumpy all the time, shortly after she’d moved here to help her granddad run the local newspaper and open her own bakery and coffeeshop.

When Rain had shrugged and said, “That’s just Rebel,” Erin had taken that as a personal challenge. She’d learned pretty quick she wasn’t going to be the person to change my attitude.

So we usually kept out of each other’s ways. But she was my sister’s best friend and now business partner, so I couldn’t just avoid her whenever I was home. Since I’d moved to Reading to play with the Redtails, that wasn’t much of a problem because I didn’t get home a lot.

And that was a whole other issue, wasn’t it?

“Hello, earth to Rebel. Did you hear me? Will you get us tickets or do I need to order them myself?”

My turn to roll my eyes. “Of course I’ll get you tickets, Rainy Day.” Which meant I should make a note now on my phone or I’d forget. But of course, my sister knew me well.

“I’ll text you Monday before you go to practice to remind you, and we’ll see you Friday.

” Then she smiled so big, my lips curved as well.

“I can’t wait to see you play, Reb. I know you’re still getting your feet under you in a new team, but you’ve already got a couple goals in just a few games. That’s amazing for any defenseman.”

I shored up my grin. My little sister could read people better than most people read books. And she especially could read her brothers like we were fucking billboards. It was annoying as all hell.

“Let’s just say there’s been a learning curve.”

“Well, you don’t have to learn how to play hockey. You were always great at that.”

Rain was also her brothers’ biggest cheerleader, as well as our biggest pest. And I loved her. I did. Sometimes, though…

“Erin’s looking forward to coming to the game.

She’s never been to one other than the Devils, so I told her to be prepared because they’re not as much fun.

” Her smile let me know she was kind of kidding.

Mostly. “And we plan to take you out afterward, just for an hour or so. I know you have another game the next night. And you need your rest at your advanced age.”