Chapter 8

EIGHT

Claudia

The spa we go to the next day is high end, the type of place I don’t normally frequent. It was a graduation/end of summer gift from Johan to Hana and me, and Sloane and Eden join us. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how everyone on the team, and more importantly their significant others, are related.

“It’s very incestuous,” Eden jokes when I pose the question.

The four of us are spread out on four comfy massage-style chairs, wearing plush robes and lightweight slippers provided by the spa. We have cucumbers on our eyes and some kind of mud mask on our faces, and I’m feeling extremely relaxed.

“Okay, so let’s start at the beginning,” Sloane says. “This is only the team’s fourth season. Back in season one, which was their inaugural year, Vaughn met Juliet after the first game. They’re married now. Meanwhile, her best friend since high school is Chloe. Once Juliet and Vaughn started dating, Chloe started hanging out with her, and she met Jude. They’re married now.”

“And then,” Eden adds dramatically. “Vaughn’s estranged father comes to town, looking to rebuild their relationship. He’s a widower.”

“And Juliet’s mom is a widow,” Sloane interjects.

“Vaughn’s dad Adam and Juliet’s mom Maria got married last December.”

“Oh, my God.” I chuckle. “That’s wild.

“So then, Jace goes on vacation with some of the guys and meets Tawny on the beach in Hawaii. They start dating. Turns out, she’s a professional surfer who knows Scarlett, who happens to be Wolf’s ex.”

“His ex?” I ask in confusion. “Aren’t they together?”

They’re throwing a lot of names at me, but I’m pretty sure I know who everyone is since I’d met them yesterday.

“Hush and let her tell the story,” Hana interjects.

“Right. So Scarlett and Wolf run into each other, wind up getting naked, and getting pregnant.”

“It’s actually kind of a sad story, because she lost the baby,” Sloane says softly, “but we’re going to skip all that because they’re together now. They adopted Naomi, whom you met yesterday, and they just had their little boy a couple of months ago.”

“And it continues from there,” Eden says, chuckling. “The team is on a road trip when Cam runs into his ex, who was a goalie in the professional women’s hockey league. They get back together, he helps her get a job working for the Knights organization, they move in together, and then her bestie comes to visit. I don’t know the details, but Autumn meets one of the team’s assistant coaches, Henrik, and they wind up getting together. He’s the head coach of the L.A. Phantoms now, but they got together here.”

“I’m getting confused,” I admit.

“My story is better,” Eden says. “Back in college, I had two besties—Daisy and Zoe. Daisy’s mom is married to the head coach of the Las Vegas Sidewinders. That’s important to know. The three of us graduated from college and went on vacation in Paris. There we met Slava and Van.”

“Slava?” I ask. “Wait—the Slava and Zoe I met yesterday?”

“Yes. Hang on. So Daisy and Van hook up, not knowing who they are. Meaning, she doesn’t realize he plays for the Sidewinders, and he has no idea his head coach is her stepfather.”

“Shit!” I gasp through a laugh.

“Right. So Slava and Zoe hook up, but he’s playing for the KHL in Russia at the time, so their relationship is separate from this part of the story. Things blow up when Van and Daisy decide to keep seeing each other. Anyway, they get together, Slava gets signed to the Knights, and he and Zoe wind up together. Meanwhile, I go visit Daisy in Vegas and meet Decker, who’s playing for the Sidewinders.”

“This is such a fun story,” Sloane says, laughing.

“We date, we break up, and then I realize I don’t want to lose him, so I fly back to Vegas not knowing he’s already been traded.”

“Let me guess,” I say. “To the Knights?”

“Exactly. But…he’s back in Vegas for one day to take care of some things and we make up and I follow him here to Florida.”

“That’s where I come in,” Sloane says. “I ran away when I was sixteen. It’s a long story I don’t want to talk about today, but I hadn’t seen my brother, Decker, in ten years. After my divorce, I decide it’s time to reconnect. So I fly down here and go to a game. I call out to him as he’s leaving the ice, and he sees me.”

“He didn’t know you were coming?” I ask.

“He had no idea where I was. We literally didn’t see or speak to each other for a decade. Anyway, I come to find my long-lost brother, but while I’m waiting for him after the game, in walks Johan.” She giggles. “I almost forgot about my brother. One look at those blue eyes, and it was all over.”

We all laugh.

“So you found your brother and the love of your life,” I say in a dreamy voice. “That sounds magical.”

“It is. Johan is everything I’ve ever wanted and then some.”

“And now you’re going out with Anders,” Hana says, poking me with her foot.

“It’s a group date,” I say.

“You guys were sucking your faces off during the fireworks,” Sloane says. “Why didn’t you go home with him?”

“Tell them,” Hana says dryly. “Tell them why you didn’t go home with him.”

“Because I barely know him!” I say. “Geez.”

“Uh huh.”

“I feel like there’s an inside joke,” Sloane says.

“Except they’re not laughing,” Eden adds.

“Fine.” I huff. “I had a bad sexual experience and haven’t had sex since. And I told Anders there wouldn’t be any of that happening.”

“And he still wants to go out with you.” Sloane sounds like she’s smiling.

“He does.”

“More than that, you want to go out with him,” Hana murmurs.

“Who could turn him down?” I demand. “I mean, have you seen him? He’s six feet three inches of Swedish hotness.”

“I don’t want to minimize whatever it was that happened to you,” Sloane says softly, “because I was sexually abused by the leader of my church starting when I was ten years old. But you can move on. Do whatever it takes to move past it, Claudia. Don’t allow someone who hurt you in the past to dictate what you get out of life in the future.”

“Oh. Sloane.” I’m shocked and horrified, but also a little embarrassed. What she went through had to be much more traumatic than my experience. “Mine was more of a medical trauma, though it impacted me emotionally as well. To make a very long story short—” I take off my cucumber pieces and look around, to make sure we’re alone before I fill them in.

“Oh, sweetie.” Sloane takes off her cucumber slices and looks at me. “I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine how painful that was.”

“I feel ridiculous compared to your story.”

“Don’t do that.” She shakes her head. “Your trauma doesn’t get minimized because you perceive mine as worse. Yes, mine was pretty terrible, but I came out the other side. And you can too.

“And Anders is a great guy,” Eden says. “A little bit of a playboy, but rumor has it, he went through something with his ex in Sweden. He won’t talk about it, but it was Martika this, Martika that, and then nothing. It’s over. Don’t want to talk about it. That was last summer. If Decker knows the story, he won’t tell me.”

“I don’t think he knows because Johan said Anders refuses to talk about it,” Sloane says. “The most he would say is that she betrayed him, and it had nothing to do with cheating.”

Holes in condoms.

For some reason, that little tidbit of information pops into my head from our conversation last night.

But if he was that closed-mouthed about it, I wasn’t going to betray his trust either.

“Well, I appreciate all the support,” I say, “and he does seem like a nice guy. But regardless, I go back to Philly a week from today and start my new job a week from tomorrow. I don’t think we have much of a future.”

Eden laughs. “Oh, those are very famous last words.”

“I don’t want to be this weird, nerdy lunatic who’s too afraid to have sex,” I admit. “I start to panic just thinking about it. It took me a year to start using tampons again.”

“How long has it been?” Sloane asks.

“Five years.”

They’re all quiet.

“Yeah, I know.” I sigh. “It’s been long enough.”

“If you want to move on, you can,” Hana says gently. “You just need to find the right guy. Someone you trust.”

“Do you trust Anders?” Eden asks.

“I don’t know,” I admit, “but I think so. I’ll probably know after tomorrow.”

“You’re going to the surfing lesson thing with him?” Sloane asks. “That’s awesome! We’re going too.”

“I’m going with Felix,” Hana says quietly. “He said he wants to talk to me about something.”

“That sounds…ominous,” Sloane says, wrinkling her nose.

“Personally, I think he’s dorky,” I say. “Not in how he looks, but in his mannerisms. I don’t know. There’s something about him I don’t like. For you, I mean. He seems like a decent guy, but when I think about the two of you together, I get uncomfortable.”

Hana gazes at me in surprise. “Really? And you don’t know why?”

“Nope. Just a gut feeling.” I shrug. “But you know who I like? Aiden. He’s kind of cute. A little shy, even.”

“I adore Aiden,” Eden says. “He’s nice. Divorced.”

Hana shakes her head. “No divorced guys. I don’t like the idea of being the second wife.”

“Well, you do you,” Sloane says, “but I like Aiden better than Felix. For you anyway.”

“You guys are…” She slips into Slovak, and we all laugh.

“That’s not fair,” Sloane says. “Johan is teaching me a few words, but I don’t recognize anything you just said.”

Hana laughs. “I just called you all nosy.”

“Look who’s talking, Ms. Give Anders A Chance.”

“I know, I know.” She grins. “But I think it’s my turn for a massage.” She gets up and pads toward the doors leading to the private rooms.

It feels like there’s more to the story of her and Felix, but I’m obviously not going to find out now. Tonight, when we’re back at the hotel, I’ll have to grill her. For now, I’m going to enjoy my massage and a little pampering.

All while I daydream about a certain Swedish hockey player.

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but his kisses last night were enough to make me second guess myself.

I just need to determine how that’s going to play out.