Page 84 of Against The Boards

“You think that because I know she’s better than beer league?”

He nodded. “Yeah, bro. When you love someone, you want them to be the best they can be. You cheer on the sidelines for them and let them complain when things get hard. Like how I do for Fi with her writing. You’re doing that for Rox.”

“You think I fell too fast?”

Rox and I had only been sneaking around for a couple of weeks. A part of me felt like my feelings for her came on too soon. The other part of me worried she’d realize she still hated my freaking guts and dump me. I dreaded that the most because I never wanted to go back to a time when she hated me. The only time I enjoyed fighting with her now was in bed.

Riley laughed. “I think it’s about damn time! You’ve been in love with that feisty woman for years. You were both just too stubborn to realize it. Have you told TJ yet?”

I shook my head.

I wasn’t looking forward to that. The code was such bullshit. Rox was her own person and could make her own decisions about who she wanted to date. However, TJ was also my teammate and my roommate, and I wasn’t trying to piss him off. I wanted to sit him down and tell him I loved his sister and that I wanted to make this work. It wasn’t a conversation you did via text. It was one you did after several drinks.

“I don’t envy you,” Riley admitted.

“I’m not afraid of TJ.”

“Yeah, but dude…the code.”

“Is bullshit.”

“I don’t disagree, but you know how he feels about it.”

I rolled my eyes.

TJ had made it clear Rox was off-limits several times. In the past, it hadn’t been an issue because it wasn’t like anything was gonna happen between me and Rox. Now I had to figure out how to break the news to him that while he was playing in the World Hockey Championship, I’d been banging his sister.

I watched Noah check Rox into the boards and swipe the puck from her. I might have been annoyed with Noah for doing that if Rox didn’t give it right back to him. Rox and TJ had a similar style of play. She was good at getting under your skin and was scrappy as hell.

“Come on, girl, you gonna let him beat you?” I yelled.

“Oy! Fuck you, Bennett!” she yelled back.

I removed my gloves and reached behind me on the bench to grab my phone. I recorded her for a couple minutes, so I could play it back to her later and show her she belonged on the ice again. I wished she saw her potential. She hadn’t contacted any of the leagues I had researched for her. I thought she was still scared of concussions and not being healthy.

I wished women had better options in professional sports. It was unfair. Some of them had a harder shot than us, but yet they weren’t getting paid millions like I was.

Riley nudged me. “How long were you two sneaking around?”

“Come on, not this again.”

He poked me with his stick. I put my phone behind the bench and put my gloves back on. “Remember how I had to rescue her from that awful date?” I asked.

“No shit? I knew it.”

“Well, kinda. We thought it was a one-time thing, but…”

“But what?”

“That shit with her ex happened, and she was so upset. I had to drive up to Canada with her. Then she had me pretend to be her boyfriend in front of her ex.”

“Oh, fake dating. That’s the trope Fi is going for in her romance book.”

I laughed. “Yeah, that’s always a good one.”

Riley cocked an eyebrow. “How would you know?”

“Listen, my lady likes to read romance books, and I’m very supportive of it.”