Talk Hockey to Me (Bears Hockey #3) - Kelly Jamieson Page 0,73
up the few things I brought. I go down to the restaurant for coffee and breakfast before I check out and head back to Victoria. While I’m sitting with my coffee at a table at the low stone wall separating the restaurant from the lobby, I pull out my phone to look for flights from Vancouver to New York, trying to coordinate with ferry times. I’m getting frustrated because it’s not working out unless I want to drive like a maniac back to Victoria.
I drop my phone to the table and make an aggravated noise.
“Hunter.”
I look up.
Holy shit. What is happening?
Am I dreaming this? Because I’ve been thinking about these two guys so much?
I stare at Easton and Josh, standing next to my table in the hotel restaurant. My mouth hangs open wide enough to drive a Hummer in.
They give me crooked smiles.
“What…?” I shake my head, closing my eyes briefly, but when I open them, they’re still there. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you. Mind if we join you?”
Without waiting for my answer, Josh pulls out a chair opposite me and sits. Easton sits next to him. A waitress approaches with a coffee pot and a big smile. “Hi guys. Coffee for you?”
“That would be great.” Easton pushes the cup on the table closer to her.
“Could I get a Coke?” Josh asks.
“You bet. Do you want to order breakfast as well?” she asks, after filling the cup. “I can get you menus.”
“Nah, just coffee’s good,” Easton replies.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask.
“We heard a rumor that the Bears have offered you a contract,” Josh says.
I blink. “You did?”
“It’s just a rumor,” Easton adds. “Who knows if it’s true.” He shrugs.
I stare again.
“But…if it was true…and it was a great contract…that would be fucking awesome,” Easton continues.
I focus on breathing, because my heart is slamming so hard against my sternum my lungs are having a hard time expanding. “It would be.”
“So you’ve signed the contract?” Easton hoists a challenging eyebrow.
“You fucking know I haven’t.” I glare at him. Then my lips twitch. I can’t help it. I grin. “But I’m going to.”
Now it’s their turn to stare. “You are?”
“Yeah. Assuming I haven’t fucked things up beyond repair. Assuming my agent is still representing me.”
“Yeah, about your agent…” Easton pauses.
“What?” I frown.
“She’s hot.”
Josh gives Easton an elbow. “Hey. You’re practically a married man. Shut up.”
He shrugs. “Just an observation. Obviously she’s not as hot as Lilly.”
“Lilly’s your girlfriend?” I ask.
“Yeah.” His face goes soft and kind of lovey-dovey.
“That’s great.” I smile. “And yeah…Kate’s hot. And smart. And…” I sigh. “Hopefully forgiving.”
“I hope so too, for your sake,” Josh says.
Easton rubs his mouth. “I have a good feeling about it.”
“Wait. How do you know Kate?”
Their eyes go shifty. “We don’t,” Josh says.
“We may have talked to her,” Easton adds.
“What?”
“She’s worried about you.” Easton gives me a ballsack-shriveling look.
Shit. Of course she is. “She called you?”
“Yeah.”
My jaw drops. “Holy shit. Why?”
“Like I said, she’s worried about you.”
“That’s why you’re here?” I cannot believe this.
“Well, we heard that rumor. So we tracked you down to convince you to accept it. But…seems like you already made up your mind.”
“After breakfast I’m checking out.” I hold up my phone. “I was just trying to book a flight to New York.”
“Well, fuck me.” Easton regards me with disappointment. “We came all this way for nothing? Also, you’re supposed to be in Calgary, asshole.”
“I was. Then I wanted to come here.” I pause. “You went to Calgary?”
“Yeah. Your mom told us you were here.”
I shake my head. “Jesus Christ.”
I’m so goddamn confused.
My breakfast arrives. I look between Josh and Easton. “Uh…”
Easton waves a hand. “Go ahead and eat. We grabbed something on the way here.”
I pick up a fork to dig into my eggs. “I still don’t understand what’s going on.”
“We need to talk,” Josh says.
“We do?” I take a bite of sourdough toast. This makes me nervous. “About what?”
But weirdly…I’m not panicking.
“About why you disappeared off the face of the earth nine years ago.”
22
Hunter
I chew some eggs slowly. I guess this is it. I have to tell these guys. They’re going to know how screwed up I am. When they went through the exact same thing and bounced back fine. I sigh. “Okay.”
“Finish your breakfast. We can go somewhere else.”
“The beach,” I say. “We can walk on the beach.”
“Okay. Sure.”
“I’ve never been to Vancouver Island,” Easton says.
“Me either.” Josh looks out the big windows. “It’s pretty awesome.”