Gametime: A Moo U Hockey Romance by Jami Davenport (shoe dog free ebook txt) 📗

and niceties now. His behavior was disgusting, and I owed a debt of gratitude to coach. Maybe he’d attempt some of his psychological tricks on our Dad, but I wished him luck with that. The man wouldn’t be a willing participant.

We bolted for the elevator.

“Damn, we need to buy Coach a drink,” Patrick said. “What’d you say to Dad that has his boxers in a wad?”

“Last time he called me, I ended the call with Fuck you and hung up on him.”

Patrick grinned at me and slapped my back. “Pax, you are my hero. I’m sure he deserved it.”

“You know he did.”

Patrick caught the eye of a few thirtysomething businesswomen standing off to one side of the lobby. Their faces lit up when they saw us. My brother winked at them, and they took that as an invitation.

“Later,” I said, not interested tonight in hooking up with anyone—except Naomi, and I didn’t need to be reminded we were staying in that damn friend zone.

I walked toward the pub, the only place open in the hotel to get a bite to eat. Not only was I irritated by my crappy play, but my brother was flirting with these women when he could have Naomi. I shook my head and slid into a booth in the nearly deserted seating area.

Slumping in the booth, I wallowed in my foul mood until a shadow crossed over the table.

I looked up to find my own personal angel smiling down at me, and my crappy mood wasn’t so crappy anymore.

15

Kindness Lecture

Naomi

I slipped out from behind a large potted plant and checked to make sure no one had caught me eavesdropping on Mr. Graham and his sons. I was furious at the depth of cruelty and selfishness in that man. Pax needed me, and I was determined to find him.

I startled a hotel worker who was dusting the nearby coffee table. She jumped backward, clutching her duster to her chest.

“I’m sorry.” My face flamed red, and I hurried past her. Near the main doors, Patrick flirted with several women. I barely gave them a second glance.

I stopped in front of the hotel pub and peeked inside. Paxton was slumped in a booth, nursing a glass of water and hunkered down over a menu. His shoulders were slumped and his body language signaled defeat like a blinking neon light.

I hesitated, not sure being alone with him was a good idea. But he needed me, and he was one of my besties. I slunk across the room, keeping my eyes on him, still reluctant to approach him. My feet had no such problem and carried me right to his booth.

“You look like you could use a friend?” I said.

His head shot up, and he regarded me warily. “I guess I could.”

I sat down across from him. “I was nearby when your dad accosted you and Patrick.”

“How much did you hear?” He frowned and rubbed his eyes wearily. Heaving a sigh, he met my gaze. I wanted to wipe the devastation off his face, make all his troubles go away, and give him something good to think about. My thoughts had started down that more-than-friends path once again. I jerked myself back from the brink of propositioning him.

“Enough,” I said.

“So you heard my dad?”

“Yes, pretty much everyone did.”

He sighed and slammed back his water, signaling for another. I ordered one, too. I hated for a man to drink water alone.

“He’s a little harsh,” I offered sympathetically, tempering my words. Frankly, I wanted to slap the man for how he treated his boys. Coach Garf had way more patience than I did when dealing with obnoxious parents. Maybe my patience had been worn thin by my own dealings with an overbearing parent. Regardless, I knew my dad loved me in his own way. I wasn’t sure I’d say the same for the twins’ father. He seemed more interested in what they might be able to do for him.

“That’s one way of putting it.” Paxton took a huge gulp of his newly delivered water glass.

“You might slow down.” I pointed at his new glass of water, now empty.

He snorted. “Imagine you telling me that?”

“I know. Right?” I laughed, and we grinned at each other, feeling our old mutual respect and fondness.

“Hungry?”

“You know, I am.”

He ordered nachos and offered to share. I never turned down an invitation like that. We made easy small talk, teasing and joking like we once had. A weight lifted off my shoulders, and my world looked so much brighter. Pax and I were finally in sync again.

His phone buzzed, and he scowled at it.

“Your dad again?”

“Nah, Patrick telling me not to come to the room until curfew.”

I nodded knowingly.

“I shouldn’t have told you that.”

I shrugged. Knowing his twin, my alleged crush, was hooking up with some random female didn’t depress me like it once had.

“Does that bother you?”

“Not really. Patrick is Patrick. We both know that.” Now if Pax had joined his brother and hooked up with one of those women… The mental picture of him screwing someone else’s brains out ate at my gut, surprising me. I met his gaze. We stared into each other’s eyes, not speaking but communicating with our hearts, not our heads. I dared not decipher what those two hearts were saying to each other.

Finally, I voiced what we’d both been thinking. “Pax, I really do miss you. I miss our little talks. I miss hanging with you.”

“We hang out.”

“Only if I initiate it, and you find any excuse to distance yourself.”

“I don’t want to get in the way of you and my brother.” His words rang hollow and broke my heart as I’d broken his.

“Did you know Patrick asked me out?”

“I knew he was going to.”

“I took a rain check. I had a test the next morning.”

“I’m okay with the two of you. You know that, right? Not that I get a vote, but don’t let me hold you back because of—you know—what’s happened between us on occasion.”

Hell yeah,