Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

S he’s My Serenity

Finn

I’m at the blender, making my morning protein shake, when Macklin comes up to me acting all incognito, which is fucking weird. He’s got a hoodie on his head and he’s ready for morning skate.

“Bro, what’s wrong with you?” I mutter, looking at him like he’s lost it.

“Not me, I think Charlie is having a problem,” he whispers. That gets my attention.

“What makes you think that?” I retort as I pour the contents of the blender into one of my smoothie cups.

“Overheard her talking to Cade last night in his room. That ex of hers is stirring up trouble,” he relays.

I don’t know which part of that statement raises my blood pressure more. Hearing she was in Cade’s room or her ex still causing problems. I should be saying she isn’t my problem. I shouldn’t care she was hanging out in Cade’s room. Only I fucking care and it’s irritating the shit out of me.

“What kind of trouble?” I ask.

“Something about him spreading rumors about her,” he whispers. “It was kind of hard to hear through a closed door, if you know what I mean.”

“No, bro, I don’t make it a habit of eavesdropping on my housemates,” I deadpan.

“Right, yeah, I was curious.” He shrugs, rubbing at the scruff on his jaw.

“I need to go grab my bag. I can’t be late for practice,” I tell Macklin and move to leave the kitchen.

“Wait,” he calls out. “What are you going to do?”

“Nothing, she isn’t my business,” I lie, and I feel shitty doing it.

“Bro, can I get a ride with you?” he asks.

“Yeah, see you in five outside.”

I head to my room to get my things and head out to my car. The wheels are rolling in my mind. Clearly, having the prof involved wasn’t enough to deter her idiotic ex. I didn’t show up to pick her up after class last night because I thought he got the message, and it’s better for Charlie and me to keep a distance from each other. Students on this campus know who I am, and the people in her class probably know she was placed with the team. Seeing us together on the regular could look suspicious, even if I need to keep her safe.

Macklin and I head to the sports complex. Charlie is already here, and she is in a meeting with Alice. I head to the locker room and suit up for practice.

By the time we are headed to the ice, Charlie is there with a camera.

“Give me two truths and a lie,” she says to Macklin.

“Oh damn, okay.” I watch him grin. He knows he needs to play nice because this is all part of the social media game. “I’m in love with tennis, I have the best sister, and my dog’s name is Fluffy.”

Damn, not bad.

I follow Macklin onto the ice.

“Two truths and a lie, Finn, go,” she says to me.

“I don’t do relationships, I love my family, and I always wanted a cat growing up,” I answer and I move onto the ice. Damn, that was more stressful than it should be.

Hayden is next. I don’t stick around to hear what he says.

Coach Heaton has us lined up. He asks us to do suicides across the ice this morning, which is freaking brutal. I’m not surprised he’s been working us so hard. Some of the guys are complaining about the rigorous morning skates but they have helped with our game wins, even though we only won in OT Friday night.

After practice, I leave the ice when Coach Heaton calls me into his office.

“What’s up, Coach?” I ask.

“Have you spoken with Willow?” he asks.

“Ah, so you’re Jacob now.” I snicker and my brother gives me a look that tells me he thinks I’m a smart-ass. “I spoke to her last week.”

I wait to see where this conversation is going because I never know with my brother.

“She mention going to the farm for Thanksgiving?” he asks.

I haven’t been home in over three years and Willow knows I am not going to change my mind, which is probably why she didn’t mention it to me.

“She knows better,” I reply.

“Don’t you think it’s time to come home? She wants the whole family spending the holiday weekend together. You have to see the place, Finn, they made it into a crazy resort.” Jacob laughs. The farm had been in our family for years but after my dad passed, Mom was intent on selling and moving on with her life. My sister and her famous NHL player husband bought the farm and renovated it. I heard they built an inground pool and a guesthouse. My brothers say it’s amazing, but I haven’t wanted to go home since I left.

“You aren’t telling me anything I don’t know,” I say to Jacob.

“Come on, Maylee is getting older and so is Austin. They should know their uncle,” Jacob reprimands, laying on the guilt. I love my sister and her kids. Her husband is a great guy too. I go out to New York to visit when I can, but she knows I have nothing to do in Tennessee.

“Nice, Jacob, make me feel bad,” I chide.

“Come on, bro, it’s been enough time.” He sounds defeated. But I don’t know if it has. Chelsea cheated on me the year I lost my father. My relationship with Dad was a difficult one, but he was still my father. He was an important part of my life, and Chelsea, she was the air I breathed, but I realize now she wasn’t the person I thought she was.

“Let me think on it,” I tell him to get him off my back.

“Good, yes, that’s progress.” He pumps the air.

I roll my eyes. “Can I go shower now?”

“Excused,” he says.

“Ass,” I retort.

“I heard that,” he calls to my back.

“You’re my brother now not my coach, remember?” I say, but I have already left his office. I also lift my middle finger in the air.

“Punk,” he mutters, and I smile. It’s good to have him here after all this time.

“Finn,” Charlie whispers as I am leaving the locker room.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“I overheard your conversation with Jacob. You haven’t been home in three years?” she asks, looking alarmed.

“You were eavesdropping?” I scoff.

“Drop the attitude. I was getting you back for eavesdropping on me speaking with my dad,” she remarks.

“How juvenile of you,” I sneer.

“What can I say?” She looks at her hot pink nails. “Is the cheater the reason you haven’t gone back?”

“Damn,” I hiss. “Since we are being intrusive, do you want to tell me why you were in Cade’s room last night?”

Her green eyes narrow. “How do you know that?”

“I have my sources,” I say coyly.

“Are you jealous?” she asks.

“Definitely not.” I snicker and then my eyes narrow on her. “Do you want to tell me you and Cade were fooling around?”

She watches me and doesn’t answer. “How did this conversation become about me? I was inquiring about you.”

“You’re annoying,” I tell her.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she retorts. This girl pushes all my buttons and I should want to walk away, but instead I want to pin her up to the wall and have my way with her.

“It wasn’t meant as one,” I say dryly. “Now, can we be serious for a minute here?”

She nods.

“Is your ex threatening you or something?” I ask.

Her eyes widen and then she pulls away and doesn’t look at me.

“Charlie,” I whisper, taking hold of her arm.

“You’ve helped me enough, Finn. I don’t want to drag you deeper into my mess,” she replies.

“You aren’t dragging me anywhere. I’m in it because I want to be,” I assure, and our gazes connect. Her green eyes feel like they are searching me for truth and then she exhales looking defeated.

“He’s spreading rumors about me cheating on him. We had some friends in common and they’ve clearly chosen to believe him and . . .” Her face twists.

“What a fucking ass,” I hiss. “And. . .” I wait for what she wanted to say.

“He is telling people he wants to get you back for going to the prof. I’m a little worried he’s going to say there is something going on between us, and we’ll both be screwed.”

Shit. This isn’t good.

“He thinks I knew you before that night,” she continues.

“Who cares what he thinks. The guy is a big loser.”

“That may be so, but if he goes to the prof and the prof goes to your brother. . .”

She doesn’t need to finish that sentence. The right thing for me to do would be to walk away from Charlie and tell Jacob we had a night together before I knew she’d be working for the team, but that isn’t what I am going to do because the thought of not talking to her, or knowing she is okay, doesn’t sit right with me.

“We’ll need to figure something out,” I say instead.

“Finn, I need to figure this out. It’s better if you and I keep our distance.”

I take a step toward her and her breath hitches.

“We can tape that interview later,” Charlie says to me to cover up what was just happening between us.

“Cool.” I nod.

“Are you heading to class?” Aaron asks.

“Yeah, bro.” I walk away from Charlie and head toward the center of campus with Aaron, but she is on my mind all day. I’m risking a lot by continuing this crazy situation with her, which makes me question my sanity. I’ve worked so hard to get to this point, but I can’t say that hockey is my number one passion. Is that why I’m playing with fire now? Because maybe I want to be thrown off the team? I blink at the crazy thought, not knowing where it even came from. But what if there is some truth to what I am thinking? Maybe it’s my subconscious trying to send me a message. Or maybe it’s the fact I like Charlie, but liking a girl doesn’t mean I should risk everything. Even though I do want to keep her safe and thinking of that idiot Raphael doing anything to hurt her makes me want to wring his neck.

By the end of the day my thoughts are still mixed up. I call my sister.

She picks up on the first ring.

“To what do I owe this honor?” she asks.

“Jacob said you want me home for Thanksgiving,” I state.

I hear her sigh. “I told him to leave you be. Honestly, I don’t want to pressure you.”

“It’s time I come home,” I confess.

“Oh wow, this is huge. What changed?” she asks and then she pauses. “There’s a girl.”

Bingo.

“It’s complicated.”

“It’s always complicated,” Willow replies.

“It’s the girl I told you about before. The one I hooked up with who is now working for the team,” I say carefully.

“Oh shit,” Willow gasps.

“Mommy just swore,” Maylee chimes in the background and I laugh.

“I like her,” I splutter.

“Hallelujah,” Willow cheers.

“This is a problem, Willow. She works for the team. It isn’t allowed. She could lose her job and I could face a suspension. It’s senior year, my time to leave my mark.”

“You’re in a pickle my friend,” she says.

“What is it with girls and pickles?” I ask.

“Uh, what?” Willow sounds confused.

“Charlie has an emotional support pickle. She carries it around with her when she’s at home.”

“Aw, those are so cute. I saw them on Amazon,” Willow coos. “And look how domesticated you’ve become living with this girl.”

“There is nothing domestic going on except when we cook dinner together on occasion,” I say.

“Wait, you two are cooking together?” My sister sounds too excited now.

“Not a big deal. You know I like to cook, and Charlie, she may enjoy cooking too,” I reply with nonchalance.

“Wow, you know what they say about people who cook together?” my sister says, being all annoying.

“No.”

“Me neither, but it’s super cute. Like, that is a major bonding thing, Finn. Cooking is your serenity place and if you are doing it with her then. . .”

“She’s my serenity,” I finish the sentence. “This is bad.”

“What are you going to do?” she asks.

“I don’t know. That’s why I was calling you.” I raise my voice a little, feeling irritated.

“You should bring her for Thanksgiving,” Willow suggests.

“Are you effing crazy? Besides, she needs to be with her dad.”

“Bring her dad too. They can stay in the guesthouse. It’s so beautiful, Finn. They would love it. There is one wall that’s all windows. It gets a perfect view of the sunset.”

“This is crazy talk. Have you been smoking something?” I ask her.

She laughs. “I’m happy for you, little brother.”

“Happy about what? That I’m going to screw up my chances with the NHL?”

“You know you don’t want to be a hockey player. Jacob was a hockey player and Jack is a hockey player but you, you’re a scientist,” she says.

“My head is spinning. I have a game plan Willow. I need to follow it,” I remind my sister.

“But sometimes the best game plans are the ones you just wing,” she replies.

That can’t be right. Can it?

“I’ve got to go. Give Maylee and Austin kisses from me,” I say, and we end the call. And me, I don’t know what to do. What I do know is I need to be there for Charlie. I can’t let fucking Raphael hurt her any more. If he wants to come for me, I guess I will have to deal with the consequences.