Chapter 15

MAX

"Meet me in the east conference room," I bit out when Kas answered the phone. "We have business. Bring the lines. Both of them."

Kas sighed. "Fuck, must be serious. I'll get the guys. Hale?"

Fuck. Leaving Hale out of the loop could be detrimental to his play, so I bit out a yes, as much as I hated it. Protecting Sophia might be my lane, but the goalie deserved to have his say. "Thirty minutes."

"See you then…Coach."

I ended the call, gripping the steering wheel with both hands, knuckles white. Rage tore through me after I snuck out of Sophia's place like a fucking runaway train. Nearly broke my ass as I climbed down the tiniest fucking balcony ever built. For a guy my size, the thing was lucky it didn't break away from the building. Thank fuck they lived on the second floor.

Jaw clenched, I pictured her face, sad and so fucking hurt I had to control the rage building inside. It wasn't what she needed at the moment. Now? They awarded me the James Norris Memorial Trophy three times for nothing. If Shaw thought he could use Sophia, or any woman for that matter, he had another thing coming.

The reckoning would begin if St. Louis won tonight's game. And if they didn't advance, I'd find a way to make him pay for his sins. No one messed with what was mine and got away with it.

Two days. Two days and he'd never mistreat another girl or suffer the consequences. And he'd never glance Sophia way again if he knew what was good for him. After that, I'd find a way to make sure her brother knew what an asshole his friend was. From what I remembered about him, Sophia's brother was a decent guy, and played clean until time came to not.

But protecting your little sister from assholes meant getting a little dirty.

Flashes of Sophia from the first night up until this morning. The way she responded, her body and heart. Not letting me get away with anything. Teasing. Tempting.

Trusting.

Fuck.

Somewhere in the middle of all of it, I fell. Not just fell, jump all the fucking way in.

I fell head over fucking heels in love Sophia LeCavalier.

Holy fuck.

A loud noise scared the shit out of me, more than the thought of loving Sophia.

"The Eastern conference room is usually inside, but if this is where it's going down, then…"

Asshole, I thought with a glare at my former-rival-turned player. My little sister's boyfriend as I rolled my window down the rest of the way. The pavement was still wet from the storms, the cold front making the chill in the air poignant and reminded me of home. But, it also reminded me of the night we spent together.

Anger boiled beneath the surface at what she told me, why she had kept her distance despite the attraction between us. The reason I called Kas in the first place.

"Inside." I jerked my head at the door. "The other guys here?"

He nodded.

Eastern conference room was code for non-team specific meetings that started when any of the guys had issues from off the ice they needed to solve. With the help of their teammates on the ice.

Hockey might be the one sport where you could give a guy a hard time when he was an asshole off the ice. By reminding him no one was above paying for their shitty actions.

Thank fucking God.

Because we had business to take care of. I stepped inside the building right behind Holken, and grabbed his arm before we went any further.

"If you want to date me, Vaughn, too late. Your sister's it for me. But, I'm sure you'll find happiness with someone who will put up with your grumpy ass."

I glared at him. "I promised Jules I wouldn't kick your ass, Holken. You're not making it easy."

He shrugged. "I made no such promises."

This was going to fucking suck. I ground my teeth as he raised his eyebrows, then huffed out the breath I'd been holding to stop myself from sticking my foot in my mouth.

"I need your help."

Kas stood in front of his line, including the rookie Oliver Sutton and the two defenseman, Kane Michaelson and Marc LeCavalier, who I still thought was related to Sophia even though they only shared a last name but no blood relation. "Boys, we have a lesson to teach. Looks like we are playing St. Louis in the next round, and when someone fucks with one of our own-"

Kane nodded. "We take care of it."

Pride swelled in my chest at how, in less than a full season, the guys had the type of team camaraderie it took some team three times to achieve. Even fucking Kaspari Holken.

I filled them in, leaving out most of the details other than how he played Sophia and was a total dickhead about it. Kas gave me the side eye a few times, but didn't say anything. Thank fuck.

"And, it goes without saying, but-"

"What's said here, stays here," Hale added. He held out his fist, and the other guys bumped it, one by one. Grim determination alongside the fire lit beneath all of them. United and driven. A common goal.

Protecting and defending Sophia.

"No one messes with one of our own." Marc smirked. "Especially when she shares my last name." He shrugged. "Found family and all."

The last hour, I sat in my office and tried to go over line-ups, watching tape, and fucking Sophia running through my head like a goddamn sexy as fuck freight train.

I wanted to fuck her again as much as I wanted to hold her in my arms while she slept. Between her and the damn kitten, I didn't fucking know who I was anymore.

But I liked it more than I ever fucking thought I could.

"So. Just wondering," Kas said, hair wet from either a hard workout or post-shower, lingering in the damn doorway, like a gossip hungry drunk aunt, "whether there's more to the story than you led on in there." He hooked his thumb, pointing behind him to the hallway.

I shot a withering glare in his direction. "Don't think those damn family dinners are making me soft towards you."

Kas snorted. "Morning skate confirmed that fucking fact, Coach. But, I can't help but wonder how far it actually is from my floor to the ground?" Arms crossed, he smirked. "Or was I imagining things when I carried Jules' bag from the car and heard a thud right under Sophia's window?"

Fuck.

My jaw ached from how hard I clenched it, trying to figure out a plausible excuse.

Fuck it.

Kas, the asshole, grinned even larger as I opened and shut my damn mouth, trying to figure out what to say.

"Vaughn, if you think anyone missed the looks you gave each other or the way you two spar like you either want to tear each other apart, or," he smirked again, "tear other things off each other, you're sadly mistaken. Jules might not see it because she can't imagine her big brother being in love, but fuck, even Hale noticed."

"Hale? He tried to date her, for fuck's sake."

"Sophia is single and a knockout, dumbass. It's not outside the realm of possibility that someone is going to try to date her. Especially since the two of you skate around like each other you can't can't get out of your own way." He shut the door with a snick, and turned around the chair in front of my desk. Arms rested on the back of it as he continued. "I wanted to do this over a beer and maybe a huge ass steak, my treat, but I'm not sure I want you around sharp cutlery. I fucking admit it, I was worried the two of you would deny it, then Hale would die one day in practice because you kept punishing him if he even glances her way. Until this morning."

I leaned forward, ready to deny it all, but…

Fuck it, Vaughn. I let out a sigh. "She's…mine. There's no other way to put it. But she fucking fights me every step of the way. Unless I push her, and even then…and this shit with Shaw?"

He nodded. "Red. All the fucking way. I might give you shit still, but," Kas hedged for a second. "Calling me, the guys? It means something. Just don't expect a fucking bromance or anything. Because Daisy would hate me then, and she lives with me."

I couldn't help the grin. "Fucking cats."

"All that pussy fucks with your head. You'll see."

I thought about Sophia and her newest addition, and grinned like an idiot. "It already has."

Kas grinned, holding out his fist. "Best fucking feeling, isn't it?"

My fist bumped his, and as I shook my head. "Fuck yeah."