Page 34

CHAPTER 33

ALEXEI

“Did you see that Tilman got fined for firing that puck at you in warm-ups?” Dodaj cackles as he strips off his suit jacket and drapes it over the empty seat in front of us.

We’re both early to get on the plane every road trip. Me, because I’m early for everything. Him, because he likes to strip down to his undershirt because he only has three nice shirts and needs some room to get sorted before everyone else piles on.

I shrug.

The asshole missed, so what do I care?

He stows his garment bag in the overhead bin, the slides in next to me and glances at my phone. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Looking at summer vacation rentals.”

“Ooh, nice.” He grabs my phone and starts scrolling. “God, you goalies are so fucking weird. There isn’t a beach in sight. What are you going to do, some marathon mountain hiking?”

I snatch it back. “Yeah. Me and your mom.”

He stares at me for a long, confused second, then dissolves into uncontrollable laughter. “Arty, no. Just…no.”

I shrug again.

“It’s not…that’s not how a your mom joke works, bud.”

“You’re laughing.”

“Because that makes no sense. If you want to make a your mom joke, it’s gotta be about sex. Not marathon hiking.”

“I didn’t say anything about hiking. You did. Why do you want me to make a sex joke about your mom?”

Ty Connor stops at the row beside us and takes his earbud out. “Smash wants you to fuck his mom?”

Dodaj flips him the bird, then looks back at me. “That’s how you do the your mom joke, though.”

“I’ll tell your mom when I call her tonight about our hiking trip.”

He groans. “She’s never going to Switzerland with you.”

Marsh slows down on his way to the back of the plane. “Who’s going to Switzerland?”

Up the aisle, Armstrong hears that, and his big Scottish head does a sideways tilt that tells me I’m fucked, secret-wise.

“Let’s sit here,” Rusty says to Marsh, indicating the row right behind us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kieran stop, swivel is attention between us, then shrug.

Yeah, I’m so fucked.

“Smash, you stupid puppy,” I mutter under my breath.

That sends him into another giggling fit. “What?”

I show him the latest Highlanders Instagram post, where one of Mabel’s interns has posted player comps to different dogs.

“Everyone knows you are a puppy,” I say. “I am a fierce guard dog, and you?—”

“I’m a fucking golden retriever, bud.” He grins at me. “It’s a meme.”

“You’re a meme.”

“You’re a German shepherd.”

“Shut up.” Since he’s looking at my phone, I switch to my text messages and start a new one, typing in smashsmom in the recipient line. It doesn’t matter that it won’t actually send.

Alexei

Your puppy son says you want to go on a hiking love trip with me, please confirm

“I hate you,” he says, closing his eyes with a giggling huff.

I grin, because he can’t see me with his eyes closed. “Don’t look at people’s phones.”

Then I switch text screens.

Alexei

Taking off soon, will call when I get to the hotel

Emery

Have a safe flight

The last few people file on, then our general manager says a few things before settling into the front row. The flight attendants come through and offer us drinks before takeoff, and then we’re taxiing down the runway.

As soon as the wheels are up, Armstrong leans forward, his big fist squeezing the top of my seat, compressing the cushion there. “How long are you going to Switzerland for, Arty?”

I sure hope counting backwards from five works to buy me some time and calm with overprotective teammates as well as with toddlers. Three, two, one… “I go to Europe every summer. This year, I’ll pick the country Emery is going to.”

“Did she invite you?” His big hand gestures over my head, to some of the single guys in front of us. “You might not be alone in wanting to follow her everywhere she goes. Half the team has a crush on her.”

I resist the frustrated frown pulling at my brow. More than just Malik?

Armstrong grabs Dodaj’s head. “Even Smash was all over her last summer.”

“Whoa,” Roan says, throwing his hands in the air. “What the fuck? Don’t throw me under the Arty bus. I’m not into your girl, bud. I swear. Stop fucking growling.”

I turn the frustrated rumble into a sharp grunt, instead.

The seat belt light turns off with a quiet ding, and I give Smash a quality elbow in the side as I unbuckle so I can turn around.

I look Armstrong straight in the eye. “Emery is important to me. But it would be very bad if her brothers heard something taken out of context by a dumb puppy .”

“That’s me,” Dodaj says, sticking his hand in the air, unbothered.

Rusty’s eyes narrow. “Emery’s a grown-up. As long as she’s happy, I’m not going to say anything to anyone. You treating her right?”

I think about the way her pussy clenches around my tongue when she comes. “Of course.”

“You taking care of her while you’re away?”

I hesitate a beat too long. I don’t think he means phone sex.

Marsh groans and shakes his head. “Bud, you gotta send her stuff.”

Dodaj unbuckles and stands up, too, fully invested in this conversation. “What do you mean?”

From across the aisle, Jenson says, “I like to send Ani a new book every week.”

Ty gives him a high-five. “That’s a good one. Do you pick them or does she have a wish list?”

“Little bit of both.”

“Flowers are good, too,” Marsh says.

“Chocolate. You can’t go wrong with chocolate,” Russ says.

That’s actually a great idea. I’ll find some amazing, weird, foodie chocolates for Emery. “Yeah, okay.”

“Whatever she’s into. And like, make her life easy.” Jenson shrugs. “Ani’s getting pretty uncomfortable in her pregnancy, so I increased the number of times a week our house cleaner comes.”

Fuck.

Right.

I could hire more people to do the things that Emery is helping with.

And then Ty gives us all a sly wink. “And of course, you can take care of her from afar. Make sure you get quality phone time, you know? Don’t short change that connection.”

Well, I’m relieved to find out that my phone sex instincts weren’t completely off. And I can totally do that.

To his credit, Russ doesn’t even wince. He doesn’t change the subject, either. He keeps his eyes on me, like he’s tracking whether or not I’m taking notes.

Be mindful of what she needs. Check.

Give her attention. Check.

And firm up what the fuck we are doing before her brothers find out. Triple. Check.