Page 48

THIRTY-FIVE

Beck

I knew our winning streak would eventually end. There was no way we could have an undefeated season, but losing to Nashville had not been on my fucking bingo card. The blow was devastating. The morale during the flight home was plain old ugly.

My team wasn’t happy, and there wasn’t a goddamn thing I could say to cheer them up. Even though we’d won our first game on the road, destroying Colorado in a shutout, Nashville had outplayed us—there was no way around it.

And once we landed back in LA, I couldn’t even go home and rest my body because I had an obligation this evening to The Weston Group. From where the team’s plane landed, Jolie and I walked right across the tarmac and boarded my jet, flying to San Antonio for the opening night of Horned.

We changed during the flight, and once we touched down in Texas, we got into the SUV that was waiting for us on the runway to take us straight to the restaurant.

I was holding Jolie’s hand in the back seat, feeling how sweaty it was becoming.

“Are you nervous?”

She looked at me while she messed with her curls. She pushed them up, she slid them back, and she brought them to the front of her shoulder again. “How can you tell?”

“Where are the nerves coming from?”

Her chest rose and stayed high, even as she said, “I have this strange feeling the paparazzi is going to be there.”

“Oh, they’ll be there all right. Hart will have made sure of that. He wants every bit of press he can get for this opening. The more cameras, the more celebrity shots, the more buzz, the more reservations.”

She rubbed her lips together, her eyes so wide that I worried they were going to burst. “This is the first time we’ll be photographed as a couple. Which means, before the night is over, our picture is going to be blasted across the internet.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

She shook her head. “I’m just … anxious.”

“Don’t be. You’re mine. The only person’s opinion that matters is this guy right here.” I tapped my chest. “And you look so fucking gorgeous tonight.”

My stare drifted down her body. She had on a jumpsuit that was black, but the V-neck was cut low, showing a small amount of tit. The material hugged her hips and ass. I hadn’t been able to keep my hands off her when we landed.

“You shot me down on the plane—I get it, you didn’t want to look ‘fucked,’ as you called it. But the second we get back on that plane tonight, you are going to get fucked.”

She smiled without showing any teeth, shaking her head. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Make everything perfect.”

I leaned into her neck, inhaling her vanilla-amber aroma that I’d never seen her put on once tonight, but it smelled as though she’d just sprayed it over her skin. “I cannot wait to show you off.”

“Show me off?”

“Yes. As mine.” My lips lingered on her cheek before I pulled back. “The team knows, the staff knows, our families know. Ginger too. All the important people have been covered. Now it’s everyone else’s turn.”

“You mean the women who get all hot and bothered by your stretching memes?” She rolled her eyes. “I can’t wait to see how they’re going to react to the news.”

“The longer you’re with me, which I intend to be forever, you’re going to learn one thing that’s extremely important.”

“And that is?”

“We don’t give a fuck what any of those people think. They don’t matter, Jolie. What matters is us.”

She put her hand over the side of my beard and whispered, “You’re right.”

The SUV pulled up in front of the restaurant, and there were several paparazzi stationed by the stairs near the entrance. Since the property was directly on River Walk, with a pedestrian sidewalk that sandwiched the water and our eatery, I assumed there were more paparazzi stationed there.

Which meant, tonight, we would be surrounded by cameras.

Jolie wasn’t just wading in; she was going face-first into the middle of the ocean.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Remember, it’s just us. No one else matters.”

She nodded.

I got out of the SUV first, and the flashes from the cameras immediately hit my eyes. I held out my hand, and Jolie clasped my fingers, and I helped her climb from the back seat. Once her heels were on the ground, I didn’t let her go.

“Tough loss today, Beck,” one of them said. “How do you feel about going into the Detroit game in a couple of days? Think the Whales will restart their winning streak?”

“The Whales will be in the finals this year—mark my words,” I replied.

“What about those rumors that Landon is getting traded to Philadelphia?” another one asked.

I repositioned my hand over the small of Jolie’s back and led her toward the stairs. “That’s a rumor I haven’t heard.”

And that was all it was—a rumor. Mark wasn’t trading Landon; he was the best goddamn goalie in the league.

“Do you want to tell us who’s on your arm?” I was asked next.

I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around to face the small crowd. “You mean who the love of my life is?” I rejoined our fingers, and she squeezed them so tightly. “This is Jolene Jameson, the head of marketing for the Whales.”

“The owner’s daughter?” one of them asked.

There was no reason to hide her identity. The second these photos were posted, the speculation would start. It was best to put out the fire with my own voice rather than someone else’s.

“Yes,” I responded. “And she finally agreed to date me after almost three years of begging her.”

“Three years?” one of them yelled. “That’s a long time to make someone wait.”

Jolie gave the camera a smile. “He had to earn me.”

I chuckled at her perfect response and brought her inside, the doors closing behind us, and I could tell Jolie was finally breathing again.

“You did great.”

“I’m so glad that’s over with.”

“Don’t get too comfortable. I’m sure there are some lingering in the back of the restaurant.” Still holding her hand, I walked her into the bar, where my entire family, minus Walker, was standing.

“Uncle Beck!”

Colson’s daughter, Ellie, was running to me, and I picked her up.

“How’s my girl?”

She rested her tiny hand against my shoulder. “I’m the best!”

“Yes, you are.” I laughed and kissed her cheek. “Do you remember Jolie?”

Ellie had met Jolie at one of our home games, but my niece didn’t always recall the people she was introduced to.

Ellie reached for Jolie’s hair and began to twirl it. “ Mmm , I remember!”

“It’s so nice to see you again, Ellie.” Jolie was rubbing my niece’s back.

“You have the best hair in the whole wide world.”

“Maybe if you’re good tonight, Jolie will let you braid it.”

Ellie’s eyes went wide. “You will?”

“After she has a very stiff whiskey with a splash of sour mix, which you’re going to help her get.”

Jolie playfully slapped my arm. “You’re not sending your niece on a drink run, are you?”

I set Ellie down and said to her, “See that woman over there?” I pointed toward Ginger. “Once she hugs Jolie—and that’s going to happen at any second—take her by the hand and bring her to the bar. I bet she’ll get you the best Shirley Temple you’ve ever had.”

“Ginger!” Jolie yelled once she followed my finger.

Ellie smiled at me. “I’m on it, Uncle Beck. I love Shirley Temples.”

“Oh my God, what are you doing here?” Jolie squealed as she ran into Ginger’s arms.

“Apparently, I have to come all the way to Texas to see my best friend.” While Ginger hugged my girl, she gave me a smile and mouthed, Thank you.

Since she couldn’t make the time that our corporate jet was taking off, I’d bought her a first-class ticket and arranged transportation to the hotel I’d booked for her.

I grinned back and joined my siblings.

“I can’t believe you’re here on a game day,” Eden said after she hugged me.

“That’s one of the perks of playing an early afternoon game,” I said to her.

Colson gave me a pound. “You must be beat?”

“I will be, I’m sure.” I gripped the back of my neck after man-hugging Hart. “I’m still seething over the loss.”

“What would you tell me?” Hart asked.

I let out a long, loud breath. “That you can’t win them all …”

Hart shook my shoulder. “Exactly.”

I glanced around the bar, the part of the dining room I could see from here, the open kitchen, where there was no sign of my brother. “Place looks incredible.”

“Doesn’t it?” Eden said. “We were down to the wire. Hart almost murdered the contractor. But it all pulled together, and everyone is still alive, and our guests won’t notice the small imperfections that the contractor’s crew will fix tonight once the restaurant closes to the public.”

“Jesus,” I groaned. “It was like that?”

The anger flashed across Hart’s face before his girl, Sadie, joined him. “You have no idea,” he said.

Sadie leaned across the space in which we were standing, and we kissed cheeks. “So happy you could make it, Beck.”

“Good to see you, Sadie.” I took another look around the restaurant. “Guys, where’s Walker?”

They all took deep breaths and stared at each other and eventually at me.

“He’s … not here,” Colson said.

“What the fuck do you mean, he’s not here?” I pressed.

Eden grabbed my arm, her eyes giving me a warning. “We have a lot to tell you.”

“Then tell me.”

Hart shook his head. “Not here, Beck. Not now.”

What the fuck does that mean?

Jolie and Ginger, holding hands with Ellie, joined our circle, my girl sipping on a drink as she moved in next to me.

I kissed the side of her head, and while I listened to my family speak to her—a group who adored her—my mind was on Walker.

This restaurant, like all the others we owned, was my brother’s baby.

His love.

So, why the fuck wasn’t he here?