13. Bristol

Chapter 13

Bristol

"I've noticed your articles have been especially tough on Maddox," Dakota remarked as she sat beside me with a bowl of popcorn.

I groaned, reclining on the couch in the living room of the house she and Braxton had bought in Indy a year ago. "It's my job to be critical."

She gave me a pointed look. "There's being critical, and then there's bias. You might be lucky enough that others haven't noticed because they don't know your history with him, but you need to lock it up."

"History." I scoffed. "I slept with the guy once."

"Bristol." There was a note of warning in Dakota's tone. "You're better than this."

"I know." Throwing an arm over my eyes dramatically, I whined, "He doesn't make it easy, though."

"Are we talking about what happened on the plane?"

"More like what happened after," I grumbled.

The sound of the popcorn bowl being placed on the coffee table reached my ears before Dakota's hands peeled my arm away. She wasn't going to let me hide from what was going on in my life .

"I can't help you if you don't talk to me," she said softly.

I blew out a heavy breath, my hand floating to my throat where the scratches were no more than a distant memory. "I don't know what to do."

Dakota took my free hand. "Is there something there with Maddox? And you're purposely distancing yourself because you're afraid of how it'll look?"

Huffing out a wry laugh, I countered, "How it'll look? There's no scenario where I don't look like the slut who slept with the head coach to get ahead. It won't matter to anyone when we hooked up. If it was before I started my job, it looks like I spread my legs to get the position. If it's after, I'm fucking my way to better interviews."

"So, that's a yes." She twisted her lips in thought. "But it still doesn't touch on how you feel about him. You said the sex was next level, but what about the rest? Like the part where he went out of his way to apologize to you after you made that call to me from the bathroom. Or when he was the one who pulled you from your panic attack on the plane and made sure you got medical attention the minute you landed?"

"You're forgetting the part where he turned those tender moments into something sexual, making it exceedingly clear he's all too eager to get back into my bed," I pointed out. "I'm sick of the playboys who are only down to fuck, not caring about the trail of broken women they leave behind."

"They're not all like that."

"I know." I couldn't help the sad smile that turned up my lips. "You got a really great one, and his brother's one of the good ones too, as are all of his closest friends. I just keep finding the duds."

"You're really ready to write Maddox off so quickly?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I can't keep doing this. How many times can I let my heart be broken before it completely shatters, and I'm left with nothing? I already had to move away from the only home I've ever known after the last one. This one could cost me my job, my fresh start."

"Do you know why Braxton invited Maddox to Pipes that night?"

"Why?" I let out an exhausted sigh.

Her mouth curved into a soft smile. "Because you're both starting over. He thought you might find common ground. That it might make your first day easier, with another friendly face at the arena besides him."

Arching an eyebrow, I countered, "He didn't seem too keen on the idea of us being chummy when he lost his shit on Maddox and got punished in front of the entire team."

Dakota's head tilted from side to side. "Well, to be fair, he didn't expect you two to hook up. I think he still has PTSD from the whole Nix situation."

I snorted. "That makes two of us."

"Three." She hooked a thumb toward her chest.

Nix made sure to leave a trail of destruction in his wake. He was selfish like that, and anyone who got in his way became collateral damage. Dakota became a target because she was looking out for me, knowing I could do better. Braxton—even though they were roommates—got up in his shit because he was a white knight, and I fell under his protection as Dakota's best friend. That meant Nix went out of his way to fuck with him, going so far as to goad him about my crush on Jaxon, among other things.

Had I realized he was so shitty to the people I loved sooner, I wanted to believe it would have been the push I needed to end it with him, but I wasn't so sure. He had this hold on me that had turned me a pathetic, lovesick fool. Looking back on it now, I hated the person I became when I was with him. I was so much better off now.

I grabbed the bowl of popcorn, threw a handful in my mouth, and eyed the chick flick playing on the TV that we'd watched a thousand times .

"Enough about me. How's work going for you? You're starting a new book soon, right?" I was desperate to change the subject. It was bad enough I was forced to see Maddox almost daily at the rink and write about him for work. I needed a mental break from the man.

A mischievous sparkle entered her brilliant blue eyes, so dark they rivaled the color of sapphires. "You know, I've been toying with something different in my hockey series."

"Oh yeah?" I perked up. I might have sworn off hockey boys, but I could still enjoy reading about them not being total douchebags and treating a woman right.

She held up her hand for dramatic effect. "Hear me out."

I eyed her carefully. "Okay . . ."

"It's not your typical hockey romance, but what do you think about a story where the head coach hooks up with a reporter, and they fall madly in love?"

She began to giggle, and I chucked a throw pillow at her head. "I hate you."

Lowering the pillow from her face, she smirked. "Not any more than I hated you when you forced me to spend time with Braxton when he was the last man on Earth I wanted to go near. And come on, tell me the forbidden romance element doesn't get you all hot and bothered." Dakota waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"More like gives me paralyzing anxiety that someone will find out and I'll be forced to go home and live with my parents," I grumbled.

"Aw, come on. You can take the spare bedroom here," she offered.

"No, thanks. I'm not interested in being your practice baby, sleeping in your future nursery."

Dakota pinched my cheek. "But you're so cute."

"Mmhmm. What's it going to take for you to drop this?"

She tapped her chin, pretending to think. "How about you take your personal feelings out of your writing, and we'll call it even? I remember someone telling me once upon a time that they were glad their writing centered around facts instead of drama."

"Fine." I sighed. "But he is very dramatic."

"He's figuring out his new role, same as you. Don't you think he should be afforded a little bit of grace?"

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.

"Who's dramatic?" Braxton walked into the living room, dropping a kiss on Dakota's lips.

Dakota looked at me to answer, but there was no way in hell I was stepping on that land mine.

When she realized I had no intention of speaking up, she told him, "Maddox."

A growl rumbled from his chest, and he turned to me. "Is he bothering you again?"

Lord, these two were on totally separate pages when it came to my relationship—or non-relationship—with Maddox. Dakota was in that new love phase where she wanted to see everyone else happy and in love. And, of course, it didn't help that she wrote couples falling in love daily for a living. Then, there was Braxton, who was in protector mode. He was ready to go to war against any man who mistreated me.

"No, Dad." I gave him a little bit of attitude. "But you need to rein your girlfriend in. Her author brain is already writing our happy ending."

His voice grew stern as he addressed her. "Dakota. We talked about this."

Dakota waved a hand through the air. "You talked. I listened. I wouldn't go so far as to say we had a conversation where we were on the same page."

Braxton groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "It can't happen. You know that. "

"And why not?" Folding both arms over her chest, she narrowed her eyes.

How did I end up in the middle of this again? Oh yeah, by deciding it was a good idea to have an anonymous one-night stand. How could I forget?

"Because they work together!" My eyes widened at Braxton's raised voice. It was a rarity, and I'd only ever heard it once before—the day he screamed and shoved Maddox on the ice at practice. And yet again, I was the cause.

Dakota scoffed. "Yeah, because workplace romances never happen."

"It's not the same," he countered. "This isn't some fictional book. This is your best friend's life!"

"Is it so wrong for me to want to see her happy? Maddox is one of the good ones, you know that. And there's clearly something there."

"Tell me this, Dakota. What happens if the two of them don't get the happy ending, huh? Not everyone decides to spend the rest of their life with the first guy they date."

He had a point there. Braxton was Dakota's first everything. She didn't know what it was like to wade through the duds of the dating pool, to have guys not call her back, to watch as a guy you liked moved on with a new girl. But she had witnessed heartbreak. Her mom had been so besotted with her dad that she let it wreck her life, and that had left a lasting impression on my best friend. It was no small miracle that she'd let Braxton in, opening her heart to him after the disaster of her childhood.

"But what if he is the right one?" Dakota's voice betrayed how passionately she believed something could be found between me and Maddox.

Braxton challenged further, "If it doesn't work out, is she expected to pretend like it never happened? With the amount of time they spend together professionally? He's not going to walk away from his position, so is she the one who has to bow out? Hasn't she been through enough?"

I needed to put an end to this. I couldn't have my bad decisions driving a wedge between my best friend and the man she loved.

"Does anyone care that I might have an opinion on the matter?" I interrupted their heated debate.

Both heads turned in my direction. Judging by the guilty expressions on their faces, they'd forgotten I was in the room as they argued over my love life—or lack thereof.

The fire in Dakota's eyes extinguished, and she leaned forward to give me a hug. "Sorry, babe. You know I only want what's best for you."

"I know." I tightened my arms around her. "I just don't think Maddox is it."

Sighing, she pulled away. A sad smile tugged at her lips as she nodded. "I guess. Do you think if Nix hadn't—" Dakota paused, a shudder rolling through her body at the mention of his name. "Do you think if things had been different back in Hartford, you might have been open to the possibility?"

Reaching out, I squeezed her hand, shaking my head. "I wouldn't even be here now if it weren't for him."

"Right. Of course. Don't know what I was thinking." She stood, her fingers slipping from my grasp. "I think we need a reset. I'm gonna go use the bathroom, and when I come back, we are going to start this night over again."

"Sounds great," I replied.

The second he heard the door close to the powder room down the hall, Braxton took her seat on the couch.

"Braxton, look—"

"We don't have much time." He cut me off, peeking over my shoulder toward where Dakota had disappeared.

"Excuse me? "

"I know it's asking a lot, but I need you to come to Pipes on Tuesday night."

I arched an eyebrow. "Care to explain why you're asking me to return to the scene of the crime? Especially after that really convincing display you just put on?"

"I'm gonna propose to Dakota."

A gasp was torn from my throat, and both hands flew to cover my open mouth. I knew it was coming, but I hadn't expected to be invited to the show.

My heart swelled for my best friend. She deserved the kind of love Braxton showered upon her.

A pleased smirk graced Braxton's face at having surprised me. "Thought it might be special since the Comets are coming to town a day early."

I shoved at his shoulder playfully. "Ugh, that's such a great idea. Why are you so freaking perfect?"

He flashed me a cheeky grin. My bestie had found herself a man who rivaled the book boyfriends she wrote that other women swooned over. And he didn't have to try; it came to him naturally.

"She loves it when Nat and the kids come to visit, but it's bittersweet. Just when she found a family to love her unconditionally, we moved halfway across the country."

Braxton's brother and his wife had five kids between the ages of fifteen and two. That might seem like a unusually large age range, but only the youngest two were biologically Jaxon's. The older three came from Natalie's first marriage—to a European prince, no less—but Jaxon had legally adopted them a few years back. Dakota was an only child, like me, so being brought into a big family was like a dream come true for her. There was so much love surrounding her that, at first, it had been overwhelming.

"So, you'll come?" he asked hopefully. "Gonna have the whole crew. Doesn't seem right to do it without you there too. You're Dakota's best friend. She'd want you there to share in that moment."

"Of course, I'll come. It's been a long time coming."

"That, it has," Braxton agreed.

While they'd only met two years ago, their relationship had gotten off to a hot start.

Braxton had been all-in from day one. He knew what he wanted, and Dakota was it. But they'd pumped the brakes after Braxton demanded the trade that brought him to Indy. Sure, Dakota moved out here to be with him, and they'd bought a house together, but they decided it was best if they slowed things down. In their early twenties, there was no rush to settle down. But I knew Braxton wouldn't want to wait forever. Dakota was his world.

As the bathroom door opened and Braxton jumped up, saying something about making us a fall-themed cocktail, I wondered if I would ever find a man who truly believed he couldn't live without me.