Isaac “Ice” Wolfe broke off from the group he’d been talking to and came toward me. He held out his hand, and I gladly shook it. He was holding a Coke because Ice didn’t drink. Not anymore.
“Good to see you here,” he said.
“Good to be here. I…I’m sorry for my idiocy and endangering the team’s chances.”
“Yeah, I know you are. We’ve all done stupid shit we aren’t proud of as rookies. Some of us got away with it, some didn’t. Just don’t ever repeat that mistake.”
“I won’t,” I said earnestly and from the heart. I had learned the error of my ways, and there’d been no excuse for what I’d done, not even a broken heart. I was a professional hockey player, and my personal and professional lives must remain separate. No matter what turmoil I might be going through personally, I’d never again allow it to affect my ability to play the game I loved.
“Good.” Ice nodded and scanned the room. “Later.” He was gone just like that. Ice was a man of few words, but the team listened whenever he spoke.
Ziggy and Cave entered the building, heading straight for food. They filled their plates. Cave ate like a caveman, one of the reasons he had that nickname, and Ziggy managed to keep up. Once they’d had a few plates of food each, they beelined for the bar. I strode over to them and inserted myself into their conversation.
“How’s it going?” I said.
“Good,” Cave grunted.
“It’s a fucking fine night, but where are the women?” Ziggy asked, glancing around.
“We’re at Mr. Parker’s mansion and Steele organized this.”
“Fuck,” Ziggy muttered under his breath, knowing exactly what that meant.
“So no half-naked chicks?” Disappointment was written all over Cave’s face. He’d been expecting a different kind of night.
“None.”
Both their faces fell.
I took note of the whiskey the bartender had handed both of them. “After this one, drink beer.”
“Who the fuck are you? My mother?” Cave’s scowl was fierce, but I didn’t back down.
“Yeah, tonight consider me your mother. No more hard liquor, because you guys are always spoiling for a fight when you drink whiskey.”
“And you aren’t?” Ziggy accused.
I held up my beer. “I’m drinking beer. Just like the two of you will be the rest of the night.”
They grumbled and cussed me out under their breath, then left me standing there. Satisfied they couldn’t get into too much trouble, I walked onto the large patio running the length of the mansion in back and leaned against a column.
On the lawn, Steele had arranged yard games, croquet, bocce ball, and cornhole. No shit. A hockey player’s bachelor party with yard games? As weird as it sounded, several guests were playing, and laughter rang out along with good-natured ribbing. I’d never attended a bachelor party quite like this, but no one complained. In fact, I saw tons of smiling faces.
I strolled back inside, talking with more guests, apologizing to most, and picking up team gossip from others, like who was being traded, who was looking elsewhere, stuff like that.
A cute blonde wheeled out a large cake, like an epically huge one, and the guests began to gather round. I sidled up to Steele, who was standing back from the gathering crowd with an unreadable expression on his face.
“What the fuck? You have a stripper?” I’d never expected this of Steele.
“Not your normal stripper.” He gave me the side eye and looked forward again.
“Did you run this by Mr. Parker?”
“No need to.” One corner of his lips twitched. Something was afoot.
“What’s going on?”
“Penance.” Steele’s gaze didn’t waver from the cake.
Only then did I get it. I glanced around the room for Axel. He wasn’t anywhere to be found. “You didn’t?”
Steele’s grin cracked his stone face. “I did.”
“Dude, you are fucking ruthless.”
“You’re next.”
“Don’t go to the bother.”
“It’ll be my pleasure.”
“I was afraid you’d say that. Just remember, payback is a bitch.”
“You’ll be waiting a long fucking time to pay me back.”
“You sure? I used to think the same way. Love hits you up the side of the head before you ever know what happened and can mount a defense. Then you find out you don’t want a defense.”
“Not me. Never.”
I frowned at him, not sure why his words irritated me, but they did. The sucker was in denial. Someday, Cupid’s arrow would be pointed right at his heart. He might fall for a total opposite like Cin. I’d pay money to see that. Love struck us all at some point in time, and Steele would be