Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 52975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
“I had an amazing time. Thanks for bringing me.”
“You’ll be seeing a lot of them while you’re here. That’s pretty much my Cleveland family if you add in a few more of my teammates.”
I remember a text from Shane earlier. “Hey, Shane wants to come visit this weekend. Is it okay if he stays at your place?”
He presses his lips together, his jaw tensing. After a few seconds, he says, “Yeah.”
I knew he didn’t like Shane, but I wasn’t expecting this. “We can get a hotel room.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Are you ever going to give him a chance?”
He shrugs. “He’s not good enough for you, Lane. That’s never going to change.”
I exhale heavily and turn to look out the window because there’s no point in continuing this conversation. It ends the same way every time.
My own brother is okay with me marrying Shane. I can’t for the life of me figure out why his best friend has a problem with it.
Chapter Five
Bash
* * *
“You’ve got a great setup here for a pool and hot tub combo. Here’s my card if you ever want to talk about options. I own a pool construction business.”
Shitty Shane Thompson passes Coach Turner a business card, a flicker of embarrassment passing over Lainey’s face. I’m giving Shane the Clint Eastwood get off my lawn squint, even though the fucker deserves a dick punch.
“Let’s not talk shop today,” Lainey says lightly. “Where should I put the dip I brought?”
Lainey, Shane and I just got to my head coach’s house for a team cookout, which happened to be scheduled for the day Shane was coming to visit. My choices were to invite Shane and Lainey to come with me or leave them at my house alone, where he would’ve tried to have sex with her.
That’s not really a choice at all.
“I’ll take that,” Coach’s wife Angie says. “Oh, it looks delicious!”
Our head coach, Noel Turner, is the polar opposite of his wife. She’s a bubbly tan blonde and he’s a grouchy dick who’s graying at his temples. Said with love, of course. I wouldn’t want to play hockey for anyone but him, but his coaching style isn’t for everyone.
He pulls no punches and expects hard work, but he works just as hard as his players. He’s not a warm, encouraging sort. When he praises his players, we know we earned it and he means it.
“You keeping the pounds off, Stone?” he asks me wryly, clapping me on the shoulder.
“He’s Fatman,” our goalie Isaac says from nearby, not missing a beat.
I roll my eyes. “Shit, man, your voice is about ten octaves too high to even try saying that.”
Leo walks up and puts an arm around me, doing his imitation of the kid from Shrek. “Do the roar.”
It’s not a roar, but that’s what he says when he wants me to do the Batman thing.
“I don’t like being objectified,” I gripe. “I’m more than a sexy voice, a killer body and a perfect face.”
That draws laughs and even a rare quirk of the lips from Coach. I glance at Lainey, who’s giving me a warm smile.
“Do it, Stone,” Isaac calls out.
“I’ll do it once. After that, you’ll need to discuss terms with my agent.” I clear my throat, drawing it out because I like having Lainey’s undivided attention.
“I’m Batman,” I say gruffly.
“Outstanding.” Leo claps my shoulder. “Never gets old.”
“It does after a decade or so,” Shane quips.
Leo and Isaac look at him, both unamused. Shane puts up his palms.
“Hey, don’t knock my teeth out. I went to high school with him. It was a joke.”
“You guys went to school together?” Coach asks.
I nod. “I’ve known Shane since he wasn’t balding. That was a long, long time ago.”
My coach and teammates in earshot freeze, like they don’t know if it’s okay to laugh. Shane puts an arm around Lainey’s shoulders.
“Yeah, I still remember when you got cut from the high school hockey team junior year,” he says.
I shrug, my fingers twitching at the thought of landing just one solid punch on his smarmy face. If someone would take a photo of his expression as I’m about to hit him, piss running down his leg as he panics, I’d make it my phone wallpaper.
“Turned out okay for me.”
“Drinks,” Lainey says brightly. “Why don’t we get some drinks?”
She takes Shane’s hand and leads him over to the outdoor bar, which is being worked by two bartenders today.
Coach Turner was a legendary player before becoming a coach, and his home is spectacular. There are floor-to-ceiling glass doors on the massive sunroom that slide open, making the space indoor and outdoor in the summer. Several patios have seating areas, one of them with a long dining table that seats twenty people.
The landscaping is all professionally maintained, with fountains gurgling around the perimeter of the yard. There’s a guest cottage that puts the little two-room cottage in my yard to shame. It has a bedroom, a poolroom, another bar, a full kitchen, a library and a big living room.