A Hockey Player's Proposal (Oh Captain, My Captain #2) (17 page)

Brody

I walk into Selene’s house, and everyone's in her kitchen, laughing.

“You know, Meatball, it wasn’t that bad of a hit. Are you getting weak in your old age?” Kris teases me.

“Shut up,” I growl at him as I sit down. Selene takes my phone from my hand and plugs it in. “What are you doing here?”

“Checking up on my captain.”

I give him a small smile. “I’m fine, but I’m going to be off the skates for a couple of weeks at least.”

“Ouch,” Bradley answers with my exact thought.

I hate the fact that I’m going to be benched for a while, but on the plus side, I can spend it with Selene and get my life straight again. She sits next to me at the table. All I want to do is go upstairs with her and not leave that bed.

“I would like to know where my dog is?” Selene looks at Allison.

“Calm down, he’s outside. I’ll get him for you.” She stands as soon as she opens the patio door, Bonkers comes sprinting through the kitchen.

The problem is he can’t stop and slides out of the room. He finally finds his footing and leaps into my arms, licking my face. “Yes, yes, calm down, Bonkers.”

“I swear that dog loves you more than me,” Selene mutters, and everyone laughs.

My side really hurts from the laughter, but I try to hide it, not wanting anyone to worry, because it's not that serious. I stand, hand Bonkers to Selene, and get a bottle of water when the front doorbell rings. I look at Selene, but she just waves me back.

I don’t have a bad feeling until Bonkers begins to growl, and he only does that to one person. I glance over at Bradley, and he’s already on his feet heading in the direction of the front door.

Kris blocks my path. “Don’t,” he commands.

“It’s her. I know it.”

“Let Selene deal with it. Bradley’s there, but you will cause friction that doesn’t need to be made.” He gives me a serious look. I hate that he’s right.

“Go,” I nod my head, and Kris heads to Selene. When I hear Jessica’s voice, it’s like nails on a chalkboard to me.

“Get off my property. You’re trespassing and violating a restraining order,” I hear Selene tell her calmly.

“I need to see Brody,” Jessica tells her.

“Well, my
boyfriend
is too busy to see your crazy ass,” her voice is still calm.

“Oh, so we're name calling now, huh? I could call you a few good names.” I look around the corner and see Jessica trying to muster a mean look to Selene, but she looks scared instead.

“I’m sure that yours are very colorful, but I don’t time have for you and your lying ass,” Selene’s voice rises an octave.

“I’m telling the truth, and you wait because Brody and I will be together. Forever,” Jessica’s voice shakes with a hint of fear.

“Really? Well, he’s in my bed, being my boyfriend and having sex with me. Plus, why is it that your, what, six, maybe eight weeks pregnant, and your stomach is flat as board?”

Jessica face turns white as snow, and her eyes widen. I knew that she was lying this whole time, but I need more proof than a facial expression,

“You just wait, Miss Thing,” Jessica spits out the words to Selene and walks off the stoop.

No one moves for a moment, trying to figure out why this female won’t leave us alone.

“Well, I think I’ve had enough fun for one day. Selene,” Kris says as she turns to him. “Take care of Meatball, he’s hard headed.” He gives her a small hug before leaving the house.

I’m not sure what to do. Do I go to her? Do I beg for her to stay with me? I know she said that she would, but that was then, and now Jessica has shown up at her door again. I can lose her a second time.

“Bradley, weren’t you going to take Brody to his house to clean up?” Allison’s subtle suggestion makes me realize that maybe I’m not going to keep Selene in my life right now.

“Yeah, then Allison and I can make some lunch for when you two come back,” Selene adds, giving me a tiny smile. It isn’t much but it makes my heart burst with love. She’s going to stick by me, like she said.

“I’ll be back in a little bit then,” I smirk back at her.

Bradley suggests going out the back door, in case Jessica is still stalking out front. I walk into my house, and I want to rush to get back over to Selene. Then again, I might want to shower and put on some cleaner clothes. I feel like I can still smell the hospital on my skin.

“So, you’re going to be off for two weeks, huh?” Bradley asks as I’m about to go upstairs.

“Yeah, why?”

He shrugs, but I know what that means. He’s thinking about something, but doesn’t want to say it yet.

“Bradley?” I question him. “What’s on your mind?”

“Just thinking about staying. You know, until you get better.” He looks around the living room, and I think he’s blushing.

“This wouldn’t have to do anything with a certain best friend of my girlfriend's, would it?” I tease my twin brother.

“Maybe,” his answer is vague but I know there’s more.

“What about work?” His boss is pretty lenient, but he’s already been gone for a while, helping me out.

“Well,” he clears his throat, “I’ve been thinking about a change.”

I walk over to him, grinning. “A change?”

“Yep,” he nods. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and this might be a good chance for me. Plus, I have a certain twin brother who has a spare bedroom that I know he would let me use.”

“Ha,” I bark out. “I'll charge you rent, brother.”

“I’m your twin and you’ll make me pay rent? Didn’t you make six million dollars last year?” he questions me.

“It was eight, but that’s not the point,” I correct him.

“Then what is it?” he crosses his arms, trying to stare me down.

I hold back my laugh because he’s failing at it. “The point is, I would love to have my brother here, and I’m kidding about the rent. Why don’t we talk about it more later?” I wink at him as I head up the stairs.

I take a shower, and even though I want to hurry through it, the hot water actually relaxes me a little bit. My muscles are tight from the hit, and I didn’t sleep all that well in the hospital, even with the pain medication. I stay under the water until it begins to turn cold.

Once I’m all cleaned up, Bradley and I head back over to Selene’s house. We went back through the backdoor, in case Jessica was still lurking outside, but I’m hoping she got the point.

“Hey.” Selene’s smile makes my heart race. “We ordered some takeout because neither of us wanted to cook.”

I give her a quick kiss on the lips. “Perfect.”

“Oh, and your phone keeps ringing.”

Shit. I forgot about my phone. I walk over to the counter and see that I have missed three calls from my lawyer. Shit. I quickly hit redial and walk into the living room. Bonkers is on my heels, jumping around.

“Mr. Madison, it’s Brody Ross,” I rush out. I wasn’t been this nervous when I played in the Stanley Cup Final.

“Well, we’ve had an interesting turn of events. Is there anyway that you could come to my office first thing in the morning?”

“Name the time, and I’ll be there.”

He tells me to be there at nine in the morning, and we hang up. I sit down on the couch, and Bonkers curls up next to me. Every emotion is pulsing through me. Is this going to be a bad meeting? Is Jessica really going to have my child? Maybe this is a good meeting, and it’s all a mistake? I want my life to be Selene and no one else.

“Brody, everything okay?” Selene touches my shoulder, and I become calm from it.

“I have to meet the lawyer in the morning.”

“Okay,” she nods. “The food will be here soon. Do you want to lay down until it gets here? You must be tired.”

I hate to say that she's right, but she is. My body still hurts. “I think I may lay down for a little bit. I love you.”

“I love you.” She leans in to kiss me, but Bonkers jumps in between us, and we end up kissing him. We both laugh at the silly dog.

I crawl into Selene’s bed and relax, inhaling her flowery scent. Bonkers curls up by my feet, and I close my eyes.

~ ~ ~

The bed shifts next to me, and my eyes open. “Sshh,” Selene coos. “Go back to sleep.”

I rotate my body and stretch my arms out. “What time is it?”

“Actually, it’s time for bed. None of us had the heart to wake you.” She kisses my forehead. “Bradley and Allison are at your house.”

“Okay.” I blink my eyes, trying to focus. I notice that it’s dark out, and I really did sleep the whole day away.

“Do you need anything? Want me to fix you a plate of food?”

I shake my head. “No, you rest. I’ll run down there real fast and grab a bite.” I roll out of the bed.

“Brody,” Selene’s sweet voice stops me. “Do you want me to go with you tomorrow?”

“Yes, I do. I don’t want you anywhere else, but by my side. I love you.”

“Sounds like a beginning of an proposal.” She lightly giggles.

“Would you say yes?” I could hear the hope in my voice.

“Not this time.”

I chuckle as I walk back over to her. “Am I at least in the number one spot?”

“What?”

“When we first got together you said I was in the top three. Am I number one now?”

She cups my face. “Yes,” she firmly answers, and I have no doubt in my mind that she's telling me the truth. “I love you, Brody Ross.”

“I love you.” I kiss her hard, and her moan turns me on instantly.

“Brody, please.”

She doesn’t need to say another word. “Bonkers, out.” The dog jumps from the bed and heads out the door. My attention goes back to Selene, and it stays there all night long.

~ ~ ~

I hold Selene’s hand tightly when we walk into Mr. Madison’s office. My blood boils when I see an older man sitting across from Mr. Madison. Selene squeezes my hand, and we take a seat next to my attorney.

“Now, that we’re all present we can get down to the bottom of this,” Mr. Madison says. “Brody, this is Mr. Fox, and he is Jessica Williams's lawyer.” Mr. Fox nods to me, but I don’t make a motion to him. I’m still too mad that I’m going through all of this. “He has come to discuss a few things with us. Go ahead, Mr. Fox.”

“Ms. Williams’s does have some mental issues.”

“You think,” I cut him off.

He clears his throat. “Anyway, she has checked herself into the mental health hospital.” He hands me a paper, showing that she is a patient. “She was taking medication for her
issues,
but went off of them on her own. In that time, she began to stalk you, and...” he pauses. “She has a creative imagination.”

“Jessica’s not pregnant then?”

“No.” He shakes his head at my question.

Relief floods through me.

“But we need to talk about one thing,” Mr. Madison’s voice is firm. “Mr. Fox, you may finish.”

“Jessica knows that she could go to jail for extortion and fraud if you want to press charges. However, I talked to her, and we came up with this.” He slides a paper over to me. “If you don’t press charges, Jessica will remain in the hospital for her full treatment and promises not to come around you in any fashion.”

I look at Selene. She’s part of my life, and this is her decision too. “What do you think?”

“If you press charges, you’ll have to go to court, and this will be all over the news.” Selene looks up at me. That is something that I don’t want to deal with. The news is already on my case because the Mustangs aren’t doing that well right now.

“Okay, we have a deal.”

Selene

It's the Brody Ross on the ice that I’ve always known and loved. He’s strong, relentless, and as it turns out, he holds a bit of a grudge. I can tell by how he’s playing in this All-Star game that he’s still pissed about the hit from Carson Lee. Brody chases him down the ice with all the determination in the world. I
almost
feel sorry for the guy as Brody checks him. The seconds are counting down as Carson desperately tries to score to tie this game up before the buzzer goes off, but there’s no way in hell Brody is going to let him even get close to scoring. He keeps intercepting him and sending the puck down the other end of the ice.

Allison, despite her new relationship with Bradley, who has moved in with Brody, is here, cheering on her man on the ice. Too bad he’s up against my man. The seat next to me is still empty, this place feeling more and more at home as I become more connected to the people in it. I didn’t think it was possible for me to feel even more than I already did, but I do. Partly because of my best friend and boyfriend’s brother sitting on the other side of me, largely because of one particular hockey player on the ice.

The horn sounds, Allison’s shoulders falling a bit in disappointment as I smile. Patting her shoulder, I say, “How about we go out? Us to celebrate and you to sulk over a loss.” I grin when she glares at me.

“You don’t have to rub it in, Selene.”

Bradley laughs, stands, and takes her hand. “Let’s go already. Brody can meet us at the bar.”

As we leave and head to a bar, I text Brody to let him know where we’re going. He usually likes for me to wait for him, but Bradley drove, so I might as well ride with him. There is a traffic check along the way that holds us up. Once we get to the bar, Bradley whistles at a red Ferrari parked along the curb.

“That’s a sweet ride,” he comments. “Think Brody will buy his big brother one,” he jokes to me.

“Hm. Doubt it,” I laugh. “You guys find a booth. I need to use the restroom real quick.”

Allison nods and pulls Bradley across the room. The bathrooms are right off from the end of the bar. The place seems twice as packed once I exit the restrooms. I stand by the bar, trying to spot where they decided to sit.

Hot breath hits my neck, sending chills down my spine as a man whispers, “You look lost.” His voice makes me want to shudder as I turn to face the one and only Carson Lee, the stench of alcohol already powerful on his breath. I would bet my house that the Ferrari outside is his. I doubt he travels with it, but he most likely found one to rent and drive while he was here. It’s no secret that he likes to show off.

“I’m not.” Allison is going to flip once she finds out he’s here. I go to turn around again, but he slides an arm around my waist with his hand flat on my lower back, his fingers spread out as he holds me in place.

“Are you sure about that, sweetheart? I’m real good company.” He frowns as his eyes finally take in that I’m wearing a Mustangs jersey with that C on the front to mark that it’s Brody’s. Then he slowly starts to smile. “You know who I am, don’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Then you know I’m way better company than the captain of that team. Obviously,” he adds.

“That’s why you’ve won the Cup before?” I smile innocently at him.

Carson narrows his eyes at me as a hand suddenly pushes his arm off me. I feel Brody’s body against my back as he wraps his arms possessively around my waist.

“Hey, baby,” he says loud enough for Carson to hear as he kisses my neck. “There a problem?”

Carson’s eyes widen just a bit with surprise. “Seriously?” he asks, looking at me and doing his best to ignore Brody.

“Don’t be mad, Carson, that I have a hot chick and you have your hand,” Brody tells him, making me laugh. I don’t have to look to know that Brody is smirking.

“Fuck you, Brody. There’s more than one hot bitch in this place. I’m sure yours isn’t all that special.”

Before Brody can say anything, I turn in his arms. “C’mon, let’s go find the others.”

He’s not happy that Carson basically called me a bitch, but Brody knows better. He looks down at me with a smile. “Yeah, we better go. Carson’s going to be disappointed when he ends up going home alone.” He glances at Carson again. “You picked a bad bar to come to. Mustang fans come here a lot, so seriously, good luck.”

We turn and leave Carson behind. Allison and Bradley are very cozy in a booth, and when they see us, they put a little space between them. They were so wrapped up in each other that Allison didn’t even noticed that I was talking to Carson. And I don’t plan on telling her either. She likes the guy on the ice, and I’m not about to introduce her to the one off the ice. There are four shots of whiskey on the table as we slide in.

“Congrats on the win, bro,” Bradley says, lifting the shot.

We follow suit, clinking the glasses together before lifting them to our mouths and throwing them back. Nights like these are my favorite, nights I’ve come to love and cherish. The brothers, my best friend, and me all together. Bradley alone would be enough to make us laugh, but when you pair him with Brody, their bickering can make us laugh until our sides hurt. I wasn’t sure about Bradley moving here at first, only because I knew Allison had a part in that even if she didn’t know about it.

But now, I’m really happy he’s here. I can see how much happier Brody is by having his brother nearby. He seemed happy before, but I think he’s truly happy now. It’s not often that I see him without the exact same smile he’s wearing right now.

We’ve been here for about an hour when I lean closer to him, my hand on his thigh as my lips brush his ear. “Take me home.”

His grin widens as he wordlessly starts to gently push me out of the booth. “We’re heading out.” His eyes cut to Bradley. “Since you live with me, I’m assuming you can pick up our tab? Thanks,” he adds without waiting for an answer as he stands, takes my hand, and we leave.

It doesn’t take us long to get to my house. Brody’s hands are firmly on my waist as he kisses my neck while I unlock my door.

“I have to let Bonkers out first,” I remind him.

“Of course,” he murmurs. “I’ll do that. You get us a beer and I’ll meet you in the living room?”

“Sure,” I answer, pushing the door open. Bonkers goes nuts around our feet but one simple command from Brody has him running after him and towards the backyard. I shake my head at the two of them, grab us each a beer, and then go relax on the couch.

The little taps of Bonkers’ paws soon sound as he comes barreling back through the house. He jumps into my lap with his front paws on either side of my neck as Brody sits next to me.

“Hey, Bonkers. Did you miss me?” I rub his head as my eyes catch sight of something hanging from his collar. My brows come together in confusion as my lips dip. “Be still,” I order sternly when he keeps wiggling in my lap, preventing me from getting a good look. My heart nearly stops as my fingers touch a ring. What in the world? “Brody?” I question, unable to look away from the bright ring against Bonkers’ black fur.

“What is it?”

His response makes me look over at him. “What’s on Bonkers’ collar?”

“Well, what is that?” he asks with fake wonder as he peers at the collar. “That looks like a diamond ring. Wonder how that got there?”

My heart pounds faster as I realize what’s coming. “I have a feeling where it might have come from, but I think you know more than I do.”

Brody reaches over to remove the collar, and it momentarily irks me that Bonkers stays still. He always moves too much when I try to either take it off or put it back on. I watch quietly as he removes the ring. “Okay, I
may
have put that there.”

“May have?” I question.

He ignores me and continues, his eyes flicking back and forth between me and the ring he’s holding. “I bought this before the All-Star week started. When I walked by the window, I saw it and I knew that it was meant for you. It was meant to be your engagement ring. It was meant for you to wear everyday and see how much I love you, and how much I want to be your husband.” He lifts his gaze to me and holds it. “Selene Porter, will you marry me?”

We’ve almost been here, in this moment, before, so I can’t help but want to tease him a little. “What would you say if I said ‘we’ll see’ or ‘not this time’?”

“I would wait for you until I heard a ‘yes’,” he replies without missing a beat. My heart, on the other hand, does miss a few beats.

This man next to me loves with his entire heart, unconditionally, no questions asked. He’s given me that love, has shown it to me, and has waited for me to catch up to him. He doesn’t need to wait any longer, though. “I’ll say yes now, if that’s okay with you?”

“Well, I guess it’ll be okay,”

I grin. “You do know that this doesn’t mean I’ll only wear your jersey now, right? Kris and the others still need my support too.”

“I’ll try to keep my jealousy in check when you do that. As long as you always wear this ring,” he adds, sliding it onto my finger.

“I won’t ever take it off,” I promise.

“I love you.”

Smiling, I say, “I love you too.” I stand up and start for the stairs. “Give me five minutes,” I call over my shoulder. “And I’ll be ready and waiting.”