“Yes!” She threw her arms up, sending yogurt splashing down on Connor’s hair.
He shook it out like it was nothing and laughed.
It never failed to shock me how different he was with her. How the skirt-chasing asshole on the ice only melted for one female on the planet, and she was five.
Hell, the girl who melted me didn’t want a fucking thing to do with me, and had moved on so fast I should have called our break-up a pit stop, so in that regard, Connor definitely had more going for him.
I rode with them, seeing as he had a booster in his Rover and I didn’t have one in the truck. Once we got to the rink, we each took one of her little hands, keeping her between us to block the paparazzi that had lined up at the player entrance to the rink.
The guard gave us a smile and opened the door.
“Thanks, Don,” I said as we slipped into the building.
“Have a great game,” he answered, tipping his hat at Hannah.
I muffled a curse as I saw a petite blonde leaned up against the wall outside the locker room. “What could she possibly want?” I growled. As if Pepper hadn’t shredded my soul, now Ivy needed a piece?
“Whoever knows what Ivy wants?” Connor remarked, shaking his head.
My head snapped toward him. “You can tell them apart?”
He gave me a look that blatantly called me an idiot. “Ivy’s face is slightly narrower, her lips are a little fuller, and her eyes are a shade darker. Plus, she’s hotter.”
“Bullshit,” I snapped in automatic defense of Pepper before I remembered that she wasn’t mine to defend anymore.
“Language,” Hannah lectured with very serious eyes.
“Sorry, Banana. I’ll work on it,” I promised, squeezing her hand.
“Hey,” Ivy said, wringing her hands just like Pepper as she walked toward us.
God, it made my fucking heart hurt. But maybe it was a good trial run for dealing with Pepper today, not like my head wasn’t screwed up enough before a game.
“What’s up?” I asked her.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Well, I’m not sure there’s really anything to say. She made a choice. I wasn’t it.”
I didn’t miss the look Connor shot me.
Neither did Ivy.
“Maybe after the game?” She asked quietly.
“I like your skirt,” Hannah said, eyes on Ivy’s short, black choice for the day. “And your boots.”
Ivy’s eyes widened, and she dropped down to Hannah’s level. “I like your sparkles,” she said, pointing at her worn unicorn shirt.
“Thank you,” Hannah answered. Sounding way more grown up for her five years. Then again, considering the shit the kid had seen, she was way too mature for her age.
“She yours?” Ivy asked Connor.
“I’m his niece,” Hannah answered.
“Hey, Hannah,” Gage said as he walked by us, headed for the locker room. Shit, he looked tired today. That was a bad omen.
“Gage, is Bailey here?” Connor asked
“Nope.” He shook his head but smiled at Hannah. “Sorry, honey, Lettie is sick. She was up all night with a cough and fever. I know she would have loved to play with you.”
Connor muttered a swear word.
“Everything okay?” Gage asked.
“Yeah, Jessica just got…” He cleared his throat. “She thought Hannah might like to see a game.”
Understanding dawned on Gage’s face. “Okay. Let’s see if Paige or Nine is here. I’m sure she can hang with them.”
“I’ll take her,” Ivy offered.
“I’m sorry?” Connor asked, taken aback.
“What?” Ivy asked, narrowing her eyes up at him. “Am I not good enough to hang out with Hannah? It is Hannah, right?” Ivy asked her.
She nodded. “Can you braid?” Hannah pointed to Ivy’s long blonde hair which was done in some kind of intricate design.
“Yep! Want me to braid yours?”
“Yes! Please, Uncle Connor! I’ll be so good, I promise.”
Connor’s eyes locked with Ivy’s, a war waging in his eyes. There was nothing more precious to him than Hannah. And there was no one he thought less of than Ivy after she’d let Pepper take the temporary fall for the Crosby pictures.
“I’ll keep her in the family box. After we take a pit stop to the merch storage because you definitely need a jersey if you’re going to cheer on the Sharks!”
“She’ll be okay,” I said to Connor, keeping my voice low.
“Please?” Hannah begged.
He melted.
“Okay. Just...be good, and careful, and stay right next to Ivy. And if you get lost, you just tell them that your name is Hannah Bridgerton and show them this.” He slipped his security badge over his head and put it around her neck. “Ivy, she is…” He stroked a hand over Hannah’s hair.
“I’ll take care of her. Promise,” Ivy told him softly, losing her usual cool confidence. She put out her hand, and Hannah took it without hesitation, which was something I’d never seen. It had taken me a year to earn her trust. “Now, what do you say let’s get you a jersey. Who’s your favorite?”
The two walked down the hallway as Hannah said, “Uncle Eric!”
“Screw that! Ivy, don’t you dare! It’s Bridgerton or...well, that’s it!” Connor called after her.
Ivy threw a smile over her shoulder and wiggled her fingers in goodbye, disappearing into the belly of the rink with Hannah.
I laughed as we headed toward the locker room, and it struck me that I hadn’t laughed since Pepper had broken up with me.
A flash of blonde and pink caught my eye, and I stopped dead in my tracks as Pepper appeared at the end of the hallway.
Our eyes locked, then hers fell away as Mason came up behind her, slinging an arm around her shoulder and pressing a kiss to her cheek.
“You going to tell me what’s going on there?” Connor asked as we turned into the locker room.
“We had something. Now we don’t. Simple as that.” I slung my bag to the floor and started to strip.
“That didn’t look simple,” he said carefully.
I looked around us, making sure no one could hear. “I loved her. We had to keep it secret. She chose her job...and apparently Mason.”
His eyes didn’t widen as much as I’d expected after dropping a secret like that.
“Yeah, I figured it was something like that.”
“You did?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Have you seen you lately? You were all puppy-eyed at Pepper, or both of you looked like you were going to strip each other and fuck on the ice. Then you stopped sleeping if those circles under your eyes are any indication, and well...you’re kind of an a
sshole again.” I might be oblivious sometimes, but I’m your best friend. Feel better now that you’ve told me?
“Yeah, I do.”
“Good. Now get that shit out of your head. We have a game.”
We lost.
The buzzer sounded, and I leaned back against the top rail, listening to the crowd’s displeasure. Yeah, guys, I feel the same way.
I’d played like shit, and the reason was sitting directly on the blue line with Mason-fucking-Hall. Guess she was letting someone else keep the numbers so she could run them later, but she’d never fucking skipped out on keeping stats herself so she could watch me play.
Ever.
And now I sounded like a jealous little bitch. Awesome.
Fuck, I’d never let a woman in my head to that level, let alone lost a game because my dick overrode my brain...or maybe it was my heart. Not that it mattered. What was the point of having a heart if it just iced you out and left you numb?
It was time to take my heartbroken ass home to my apartment. At least then the only sounds of disappointment would be my own.
“Contract is signed,” I told my agent. I was now the fifth highest-paid goalie in the NHL, and a Shark for five more years. I’d briefly debated taking the New York offer, even with fewer dollar signs, just to get away from Pepper, but she’d chosen what was best for her career, why shouldn’t I do the same?
“Good. I got the other papers you signed, too. You sure about this?” Greg asked. “It’s a shit ton of money.”
It was two million dollars to be precise. My entire signing bonus, which meant I’d be living on my monthly paychecks in this apartment instead of the house I’d had my eye on. But I could build a house on my family land in Montana as my endgame, so I was more than cool with it.
“Yep, I’m sure. Just make sure he doesn’t think I’m the lender, only the co-signer.”
“Yeah, I know the drill by now. Consider it done.”
“Thanks, Greg.”
“She’s not with Mason!” Connor shouted as he burst through my front door.
“Greg, I’ll call you back, someone just dropped in.”
“No problem. Later, Gentry.”
I hung up, and took another swig from the bottle of whiskey I was a quarter of the way through. “Good to see you, too. How was your day, dear?”