Page 53

Caleb

“She sounded worried.” I hang up the phone and lower my voice as I return my cell to my locker. We don’t have much of a break. Just thirty minutes, then it’s back on the ice for more drills.

I haven’t been able to look at Coach’s table the same way since I walked into the locker room. I wiped it down before I took Tobie back to her room and showed her I was paying attention to the book with the hot pink tabs.

Every time I glance at the table, I see Tobie on it, her skirt lifted, revealing her gorgeous ass, my cock buried in her pussy, and?—

“Because she thinks we might want to end things with her or because she wants to end things with us?” Reid asks, yanking me from thoughts I shouldn’t be having now.

I wasn’t being entirely truthful with Tobie when I said this was something we could only do face-to-face. The truth of the matter is, I’m delaying a conversation we should have days ago. That was when I’d decided I wasn’t letting Tobie go.

Few things scare me.

Tobie walking away is number one on that list.

“No, she wants us,” Javier says. “I’m sure of it.”

We all saw her smile as she answered the call in practice. We all saw her smile slip. And we all watched her rush from the arena.

Javier spoke about missed opportunities when he told us about his run-in with Marc outside the dorm.

None of us has had a relationship like the one we’re about to suggest to Tobie.

But the longer we don’t tell Tobie how we feel, the more chance we’re giving Marc to slip back into her life or for Tobie to decide she doesn’t want us at all.

And she’s applied to grad school.

Tobie is incredible. She’ll get into the University of Michigan. There’s no doubt in my mind.

My dream as always been to play hockey. It’s the same with Reid and Jay. But Tobie has dreams of her own, and I’m determined to make sure they come true for her.

“Do you think she told her dad, and he told her to end things?” I ask.

Reid shakes his head. “He wouldn’t.”

We look at him.

“And how would you know that?” I ask.

“Because he would want her to be happy. Everything she’s told me about her dad makes me think he wouldn’t care who she was with as long as they made her happy.”

I snort as I pick up my water bottle. “Sure thing, Pollyanna.”

“This isn’t just wishful thinking,” he says, surprisingly firmly.

As we return to the ice, I’m still thinking about it.

Yes, we had mind-blowing sex, but is that enough?

“Once we tell her how we feel, she’ll want us,” Reid says.

“Really living up to your name, huh, Pollyanna?” Javier bumps his shoulder.

It’s the middle of the afternoon, and there’s no practice, yet I’m leaning on the wall outside the arena in an empty parking lot, waiting.

A black truck pulls up, parks a few feet away, and the driver cuts the engine and swings open the door.

Christian is smiling as he slams the door shut and approaches, carrying a navy gym bag with Wisconsin Eagles stamped on the outside.

“Don’t you have that big party downtown, brother?” Christian calls out, green eyes sparkling.

Tonight is the party, and next week is spring break.

Tonight is also the night Reid, Javier, and I tell Tobie we want to end this fake-date agreement and make it permanent, before she goes home to see her dad.

Javier had been planning a week in Mexico before Tobie had said she was going home for spring break. If all goes well in the suite Javier booked at the hotel, we can do Mexico after graduation before we start our first NHL season and Tobie starts grad school in the fall.

We’ll have two full days to talk about the future, tell her how we feel about her, and see if she feels the same about us. We can plan the rest of our lives. No practice. No class. No distractions. Just time to figure out what forever will look like for us.

“I do.” The arena is empty today. Even the cleaners have a break. Everyone’s getting ready for the party tonight, as I should be. “How long do you have?”

My brother glances at his watch. “Maybe an hour. Then I have to get back on the road. Mom was disappointed you’re not coming home.”

Guilt spikes in my gut. “Yeah, I can come home after. There’s something I need to do first. You got your skates?”

The only reason Christian was able to swing by so last minute is because he was on his way home from college to see Mom.

He nods. “My coach will come down here and gut you himself if this ends in an injury before the big game.”

I smirk at him. “So will mine. Isn’t Cheryl with you?” There was no sign of her in his truck, but his long-term girlfriend could have followed in her car.

“Not this time,” he says vaguely as he rakes a hand through his blond hair.

I eye him curiously. “Everything good between you two?”

“Best it’s ever been.”

I’ve always gone home for the holidays. Spring breaks are up in the air. It’s fifty-fifty if I go home for those and catch up with my cousins and Christian or stay on campus with Jay. Chris usually stays on campus or goes away with his girlfriend.

I swipe my card to get back into the arena, and Chris follows me in.

“I thought you two did all the holidays together,” I say, leading the way to the perfectly smooth ice and the skates I left beside the entrance.

“We do. If you’re planning on taking me out so the Wolverines can snatch up their first championship…”

I snort a laugh and grab a seat on the bench to put on my skates. “No need to take you out. When we beat you, I want it to be as public as possible.”

He laughs as he pulls his skates from his bag.

We’ve been doing this since we were barely old enough to walk. The first time I got on the ice, I was a baby, and my dad carried me. I think I was three or even four when I got my first ice skates.

“What’s this all about?” he asks as I pass him a stick, and we step on the ice. “We haven’t played in years, and that was street hockey.”

I breathe in the cool, crisp air and, as always, take the first few minutes to appreciate the almost weightlessness and the speed of being on the ice.

“Just thought it was time.”

“Uh-huh.” He cocks his head. “You met someone.”

I frown at him. “What makes you think it’s a girl?”

“Because only girls have the power to upset our worldview so drastically.”

I don’t answer.

Christian doesn’t push. He knows better from having done it time and time again.

We spend the next few minutes just passing the puck back and forth.

“I played street hockey a couple of weeks ago with a group of kids,” I admit.

His head jerks toward me, visibly surprised. “How’d those old bones fare against younger, faster kids?” he asks with a grin.

“Fuck you.” Three years separate us, but it’s forever and always been a running joke to Chris that I’m the old man, and he’s at his prime. “It was fun.”

He gives me another probing look. “ Fun ?”

It’s been years since I talked about hockey being fun.

How did I not know that until now?

“Fun,” I say again, more firmly.

He looks around, taking in the empty stands and the banners covering the walls. “Just think. Two weeks from now, I’ll be lifting the trophy right here.”

I snort. “Course you will.”

We skate a bit, tussle a little more, and just enjoy the quiet.

“You’re right. I did meet a girl,” I eventually say.

Chris glances at me. “ And ?”

“She made me realize some things.”

“Like?”

I slam the puck into the goal. “I’ve been afraid I’d turn into Dad.”

“You’re the oldest. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.”

I glare at him.

He’s too busy whipping around the goal to notice. When he’s back beside me, his expression is thoughtful. “You’re nothing like Dad.”

“And you know this because…”

“You know what it’s like.” We both know what it’s like having a dad as obsessed about something as he was self-destructive.

“He was my hero.”

“He was both our heroes,” he says, looking down. “I guess all kids get to realize their parents are just regular people who fuck up and make mistakes eventually, right?”

“Right.”

We spend another twenty minutes on the ice. I asked him down here, thinking we’d play a quick game, but I’m not in the mood, and Chris is quiet. It’s not awkward or as uncomfortable as I thought, given it’s been weeks since we last talked.

“I gotta go if I want to dodge traffic,” Chris eventually says.

As we step off the ice and sit on the bench to remove our skates, he says, “I’m going to ask Cheryl to marry me.”

“The fuck you are.” I grin at him.

He drags a small black ring box out of his gym bag and flips it open. “See. Got the ring and everything. That’s why she’s not coming home with me for spring break. I want to tell Mom first.”

I look at the pink diamond ring, then I study my little brother and shake my head. “I’m happy for you.”

“She might say no.”

“She’ll say yes. You guys have been together forever.”

They met in the first year of high school, but her family moved away, though they kept in touch. When they went to the same college, they started dating again. I always suspected they’d eventually get married. I just didn’t think my nineteen-year-old brother would be ready to tie the knot so young.

He bends over, carefully tucking the box back in his bag. “I wasn’t going to ask because I thought I’d wind up like Dad, too, for a bit. Then I figure we both saw what it did to Mom, and there’s no way I could ever do that to someone or to my kid, you know?”

I suddenly miss my brother in a way I haven’t in so long. He’s matured much faster than I have over the years.

“Yeah, I think I do know.” I clap his arm. “Congrats, little brother. The engagement will help ease the sting of losing the champs.”

He chuckles as he gets to his feet. “Sure it will. You’ll be best man, right?”

I pull my brother into a bear hug. “Like a fucking champ. Just wait until your stag party. I’ll be tying you to the lamppost in the middle of town butt naked. Cheryl will hate me.”

His body shakes as he laughs. “When do I meet your girl?”

“Soon. We have a lot to talk about first, but soon.”

I wave my brother off, feeling positive about the future—not just about the big game but about Tobie as well.

In my bones, I feel that she wants us. Sure, a relationship with three guys might not be normal, whatever that’s supposed to mean. But it works. I don’t trust anyone else to take care of her or treat her as well as Reid, Javier, and I do. They feel the same way.

I return to the arena and spend the next several minutes taking a shower and putting on my suit for the party tonight.

It’s nearly six, and with the time it took Chris to get to Lamont, I wouldn’t have time to change for the party at the dorm.

Reid and Javier are picking me up from here so we can get to the hotel together.

Tobie is meeting us at the hotel since she wasn’t interested in having drinks at our dorm with the guys first. When she learned that pretty much the whole team would be there, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what put her off.

She’s not fond of big crowds or parties. Neither am I. I’m just better at hiding it. She was visibly uncomfortable when we went for food with the team after the street hockey game, though she was more relaxed as time went by.

I could have spoken with Chris after spring break or even on the phone, but I needed to do it now.

Tobie has opened my eyes to a lot of things I’ve been carrying around for months, if not years.

I needed to speak to my brother before the championships.

I wanted him to know I missed him. Missed just being hockey buddies before life got complicated, and I forgot the other things in my life that were important.

Like family.

Whatever happens, he’s my brother first, and I love him.

A sound reaches me as I wander the parking lot with my hands stuffed in my pockets, waiting for my ride. I’ve been deep in my thoughts about the future, Tobie, and my brother. Now that I’m paying attention, that sound has been there for a while, and it’s been getting louder.

I twist around, spot the car speeding toward me, and throw myself to the side.

Too late.

My world twists.

Pain floods my body, and tires squeal as I hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud.

I can’t see the driver.

My vision is turning black when, from a distance, I hear someone calling my name.

Reid.

Hands grip my shoulder, my head.

“Caleb? Shit… Jay, have you got your… where the fuck is… yeah. Outside the arena… a car… didn’t see… No. Caleb. Stay with me. Stay w?—”