BrickWall_Kobo (10 page)

Mike had to be held accountable, Dr.
Farouk had said.

“Damn.
I’m sorry, Liss.”
He hung his head, ginger hair shades lighter than her own, hanging over his forehead.
“I’ll remember for next time.
I promise.”

Now she smiled.
“I know you will, bud.
Now what’s so important you forgot your manners?”

And that fast, his grin returned.
Her parents swore Mike had taken one look at her after she’d been born and hadn’t stopped smiling since.
And she’d hadn’t known a time when her brother wasn’t a fixture in her life.

“My boss told me I’m getting a raise!”

Her brother’s infectious joy made everything in life just a little brighter.

Throwing her arms open, she hugged Mike tight and said a silent “fuck you” to the few so-called friends who’d told her she was crazy to agree to have her “disabled” brother move in next to her.
Mike wasn’t disabled.
He was differently abled.
In her mind, the distinction was huge.

“That’s great!
I’m so happy for you.”

Mike pulled back, but not before putting a smacking kiss on her cheek.

As he told her about his day at the grocery store where he worked, she let herself get caught up in his joy.
Since they’d moved into their side-by-side apartments, she’d watched him gain so much more confidence.

Her parents had never tried to hold him back but even they’d been worried about his plan to move out on his own.
But when her former neighbor had told her he needed to sublet his apartment immediately because he’d gotten a new job out of state, she’d gone straight to her parents and Mike.

She’d known Mike would be fine.
Her parents had taken some convincing but, in the end, Mike had moved in next to her and she’d never regretted the decision.

Her ex had never understood why she’d want to “chain” herself to her brother, “with all his problems.”

With an internal sigh, she knew that should’ve been a question she’d asked herself about Rich at the time.

She’d learned her lesson.
Wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
You never knew who was going to turn out to be a dick.

She really hoped Shane proved to be the decent guy he seemed to be.

Chapter Five

“Seriously?
You’re going to a wedding with a girl you just met?
Are you insane or just stupid?”

Shane showed off his dexterity by giving Lad the finger without losing his grip on the game controller or getting his character killed.

“Leave the guy alone.”
Jake knocked his controller against Shane’s in a show of solidarity as they sat on the floor, backs against the couch.
“He has obviously taken too many shots to the head.
Addled his brain.”

With the press of a button, Shane killed off Jake’s character.
“Yeah, fuck you, too, Jake.”

With a burst of Czech that probably called Shane’s parentage into question, Jake tossed his controller over his shoulder to Lad.
Jake had no doubt Lad would catch it.
The guys were more in sync than an old married couple.
It made them a great defensive team on the ice.

“So I take it the sex was amazing.”
Joey Constantino sat on the couch beside Lad.
“Why else would you subject yourself to a wedding, especially when you won’t know anybody there?”

Shane elbowed Joey’s thigh, hard enough for the guy to flinch.
“I didn’t say anything about sex.
And…what the fuck, man?
I thought you were on my side.”

Joey smirked as he got his character up and running.
The wiry forward skated with a blinding speed that totally contradicted his laid-back personality.

“I
am
on your side.
But not if you’re gonna be a total dickhead.
You haven’t stopped talking about her since you got here.
You only met her last night.
You got laid.
The sex was obviously great or you wouldn’t have agreed to go to a wedding with her because, yeah, who goes to a wedding with a girl they just met unless they’re expecting more awesome sex?”

Okay, Joey might have a point but still… “Fuck that.
I haven’t talked about her that much.”

Had he?

When the other three guys exchanged a look then started laughing, Shane wanted to grab the nearest stick and slash the hell out of all of them.

“Yeah, fuck you, assholes.
Just because you aren’t getting any—”

“Who says we are not getting laid?”
Lad punched him on the arm.

Shane snorted.
“You spend most of the time we’re not on the ice here playing video games like twelve-year-olds.”

Jake stuck his elbow in Shane’s side.
“And aren’t you sitting here, right now?”

“Visual acuity exercise.”

Joey burst out laughing.
“You’re so full of shit.
You don’t have anything better to do than sit around with us.
Why didn’t you go home anyway?”

Shane shrugged.
Didn’t want to admit that he was avoiding his Hallmark parents.

Lad and Jake wouldn’t understand.
They would’ve been on the first plane out if they’d had enough time to fly home and get back in time for the next game.

Joey… Well, Joey’s parents were a living nightmare so he didn’t go home.
Ever.
He wouldn’t understand why Shane wanted to avoid his perfect family.

“I needed to work on some things and Cary said he’d help.
So I stayed.
I need the practice.”

“Don’t sweat the past few games, man.”
Jake shrugged.
“This shit will work itself out.”

Jesus, he hoped so.
Otherwise… “I just want to stay focused on the game and not get caught up in all the family stuff.”

Jake snorted.
“And nothing says focus like screwing around with some girl you don’t know.”

“It’s not like that.
She’s…” Amazing.
Sexy.
Smart.
“Nice.”

Silence.

Shane looked over his shoulder to see Joey staring at him with wide eyes.
When he looked at the other guys, they had identical expressions of what-the-fuck.

“What?”

“Nice?”
Jake said.
“This girl is so
nice
, you told her you would go to a wedding with her?”

Jake’s accent got thicker with each word and his blond eyebrows rose until they were hidden by the fringe of pale hair that fell over his forehead.

Shane shrugged, feeling a little WTF himself over the guys’ reaction.
“Yeah, she’s nice.
So what?”

Jake and Lad exchanged a glance then they both looked at Joey, who started to shake his dark head.

“Nice girls are the ones you really have to watch out for, “Joey said.
“They’ll screw with your head and you’ll never know what hit you.
Seriously.
You should run now.
Before you’re totally fucked.”

* * * * *

Shane adjusted his tie, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door.

For some stupid reason, he was having trouble breathing.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t been on a first date before but it’d been a while.
At least six months, maybe more.

Damn, he couldn’t even remember.
Had to have been after last season, when he’d been home.
Couldn’t even remember the girl’s name.
Did that make him a dick?
Probably.

Pitiful.
Fucking pitiful.

Sliding into his truck, he double-checked the address Bliss had texted him, took a look at the map to make sure he knew where he was going, then headed out of the parking lot.

His phone rang seconds later and he answered through the truck’s Bluetooth system when he recognized the number.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Yo, Brick.
We are checking up on you before your date tonight.
Jakub and I are planning to get shitfaced and watch…that show.
What is that show?”

The last of that sentence had faded, probably because Lad had turned away from the phone to talk to Jake.

“I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”
That was Jake, hard to make out because he must have been farther.
“Shane, please come save this asshole’s ass before I fucking kill him out of boredom.”

Lad responded in Russian, some of which Shane understood, but only the swear words, and then Czech, which Shane didn’t understand at all.
And then he heard what sounded like a scuffle.

Shane started to laugh but the other two guys didn’t hear him until at least a minute had passed.

“Bastard laughs at us.”
Jake’s voice, closer to the phone now.
“But we are not the ones going to a wedding tonight.”

Still laughing, Shane shook his head.
“At least I’ll be drinking for free.”

“It is not the drinking you go for.”
Lad’s voice got sly.

Very true.
“Fuck you, Drac.
It’s a date.
You remember those, don’t you?
Or are you and Jake still playing with each other on and off the ice?”

Despite the language barrier they’d faced when they’d first arrived in the states three years ago, Lad and Jake had picked up English quick.
But they still fell back on their native languages when they wanted to insult you.

So when Jake spouted off something in Czech and Lad started to laugh, Shane figured he didn’t want to know what Jake had said.

“Well, then, fuck you,” Jake finally said in English, disgust in his tone.
“Ignore your buddies for a slice of ass cake.”

“If I had the chance to get some of that,” Lad added, “I’d leave you at home, too.”

Shane laughed so hard, his chest started to hurt.

“You two are fucking assholes, you know that, right?
You deserve each other.”

“Dude, you definitely need to get laid more often.”
Lad sounded serious now, such an abrupt switch that Shane had to shake his head.
“This will help you get your head out of your own ass.
You need some…what’s the word?”

“Ass!”
Jake yelled from the background again.

“No, not— He is an asshole.
Do not listen to him.
No.
Distraction!
You need distraction.
So go be distracted.
We call you tomorrow.
Or maybe you call us if you’re not busy, yes?”

Shaking his head and trying not to laugh, Shane agreed then hung up to the sounds of Jake singing Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
Bastard had a decent voice.

He still had a smile on his face when he pulled up to Bliss’s apartment building, which turned out to be a renovated school building on a side street not far from his place.

Since she’d also texted her apartment number, he parked on the street and buzzed her from the lobby to let her know he was there.

“Bliss, hey—”

“Oh wow.
You’re here.
Come on up.
I just need a minute.”

She sounded distracted and maybe a little out of breath and he didn’t even get a chance to respond when the intercom cut off and the door buzzed.

He found her apartment on the second floor and knocked, hearing the faintest trace of heels clicking against wood before the door flew open.

His mouth dropped open and his brain literally froze for a second.
Then he practically swallowed his tongue.

Holy shit.

“Hi, sorry, I’m running just a minute behind.”
She took a step back and waved him in, but not before her gaze dropped and she checked him out from head to toe.
“Um.
You look…great.”

He could’ve sworn her cheeks flushed but she turned away before he could be sure.

One thing he did know…she looked fucking spectacular.
If he’d thought she looked edible at the party two night’s ago…

Now, he wished like hell they could skip the wedding so he could strip off her dress, throw her over his shoulder, and toss her on her bed…wherever that might be.

“I hope you don’t mind if we take my car tonight,” she called over her shoulder as she hurried toward the back of the apartment.
Her legs looked amazingly long in high heels.