Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 110671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“Yo!” Abel answered. Gray winced, because there was a fuckload of background noise. “Hold on. Leaving the arena.”
Shit. Gray hadn’t considered that Abel might have a game or practice. “I can call back, bud—”
“No, no. Hey, back off! Getting in my car—fucking hell! Phew.” It got quiet in the background. “Someone on the team knocked up another teammate’s girlfriend. It’s paparazzi madness around here.”
Gray spluttered around a laugh and figured maybe it wasn’t a bad thing to catch up with Abel. It was a break from everything in Camassia to listen to his NHL friend’s life of glitz and glamour in Vancouver. And ironic, since Abel hated too much attention. He was only a clown and the life of the party on his own terms.
“Is it illegal to run over reporters?” Abel asked and honked. “Well, what’re you waiting for, motherfucker!”
“Pretty sure it’s illegal,” Gray chuckled.
Abel huffed. “Anyway. What’s up, my long lost brother?”
Gray smirked and turned right. “Just talked to your mom. She called you immature.”
“What the fuck,” Abel spat out. “I’m putting oatmeal in her shoes next time I come down. I’m the maturest guy I know.”
Was that even a word? Either way, Gray cracked up. “Let me guess, you’re gonna blame your sister.”
“Of course! I’m not stupid.”
“Uh-huh. Then Madigan sees through you in a hot second and puts you on a two-week-long orgasm denial.”
Abel cursed. “He would too, fuckin’ Sadist.”
Gray grinned and shook his head.
Sixteen
Yesterday, Gray had been beyond grateful when his brothers had offered to book the rink for them, thus sparing him from having to contact Craig. But they’d warned him that Coach would probably be there, seeing as he had his office in the back. He was always there, and now, so was Gray.
He should’ve just bitten the bullet last night.
Darius was on the phone—with one of his brothers, Gray assumed—so Gray helped the boys out of the car once they’d parked outside the arena.
“I can help him, Gray,” Jayden said pointedly. He had a tight grip on Justin’s hand. “Come, stay close to me.” Adeline hadn’t been kidding when she’d said Jayden had a protective nature about him.
It was sweet, to an extent. Gray wouldn’t have Jayden reverting to the tiny adult he’d acted like before. Gray would show him he could be trusted with Justin too.
“I’m not gonna listen to your bitching anymore,” Darius told whoever he was on the phone with. “If you want a verbal lashing, I’m at the Tridents’ Arena the next few hours.” He hung up the phone and sighed, “Ethan” as he grabbed the last duffel out of the trunk. “He’s become more of an insufferable dick lately. I didn’t think it was possible.”
Gray’s forehead creased. He’d only met Ethan very briefly in Florida, but he’d seemed like a nice guy. Before he knew he was Darius’s brother, he’d also seen him plenty at the gym where Abel and Gray worked out together. Turned out, Ethan owned it.
Gabriel and Gid showed up on their bikes a couple minutes later, and Jayden stepped closer with Justin’s hand still in his. “They look like you so much.”
Gray smiled. If Jayden said that about him and the twins, wait till he met Gage. Gray and Gage shared the same biological father and had inherited his coloring and features.
Gray liked to think of his twin brothers as annoying kids, but the truth of the matter was that they would graduate from high school next year. At seventeen, they were louder and more obnoxious than ever, at the same time as they’d matured a little and started using their brains.
“You gonna gear up properly or dick around?” Gabriel asked Gray.
Gray lifted the duffel he held. A big fucking bag that was the same size as their own. “Does this look like I only brought skates?”
Gabriel grinned. “Fuckin’ A. I need a challenge.”
Gideon glowered at him. “Fuck you, I got two past you last practice.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Outta fifty tries.”
Gray shook his head and smoothed back Jayden’s hair. “So, these are my hell-raisin’ brothers. Gabriel is a goalie, and Gideon spends most of his time with his face in the ice.” Before Gid could come up with a no doubt vicious retort, Gray lifted a brow at his brothers. “Remember what Adeline tells everyone who visits the shelter?”
Pipe the fuck down because some of these kids have PTSD. Maybe not in those words…
The twins took him seriously, thankfully, and they turned on the charm for Jayden and Justin. It wasn’t their first rodeo. Hockey teams were often involved in charities for kids, and both Gabriel and Gid did two weeks every summer where they coached underprivileged children at a camp.
They headed inside the arena, and Gray was taken back to all the years he’d wrestled with his gear in these halls. When the Tridents of Ponderosa met the Camas Ravens, two thousand people raised the roof with their shouting and cheering. The Tridents played in blue, and the Ravens wore red and black.