Page 81 of A Major Puck Up

“It had to be done,” he says in his thick French accent. “You don’t even brush your hair anymore.”

I pat at my head and scowl. “I do too.”

Sienna studies me in her quiet way, her head tilted to one side. “No, I don’t think you do.”

I sigh and drop into a seat at their table. There’s no avoiding this little intervention. That’s obvious. When they sit too, I wave to the bartender, silently signaling that I need a drink.

With a cocktail in hand, I’m feeling only a modicum better, but I force myself to meet Sienna’s green eyes. “I know this looks bad, but seriously, I’m fine. This is what I want to do. Write music. Do this on my own. Just like you did with the fashion industry.”

She arches a brow and sips her dirty martini. “Like I did?”

“Yeah. How you bucked your family’s plan for you and paved your own way.”

“My family wasn’t in the fashion industry.” She takes another long sip, her eyes locked on me, warning me not to interrupt. Then she sets her drink on the table. “I didn’t do it all on my own. Beckett lent me the money for the start-up because my parents refused. Gavin set me up with the company jet without my parents’ knowledge every time I had a meeting. Brooks sat with me in the back of a limo with his arm around me while I cried and hyperventilated into his jacket because I was so afraid of failing. Aiden posted almost daily on every social media outlet he could find about how proud he was of me and how everyone needed to see my designs.” She presses her lips together, her expression pitying again. “If my family hadn’t offered to help, and if I hadn’t accepted it, I would not be sitting across from you wearing my own design, in a room filled with people whose outfits are in some small part influenced by me, chiding you for being so obtuse.”

Heat creeps up my neck and into my cheeks so quickly I drop my head in an effort to hide. “But you had people who believed in you. I don’t have that.”

Sienna’s face softens. “Yes, I have four brothers who would do anything for me. Maybe Daniel and Paul have been too busy to notice you floundering, but I know for certain that, at one point, you had the full support of one of my brothers.”

My breath catches in my throat, and I sputter, searching for a denial.

“Please,” she tuts, picking up her glass. “I’ve never seen my brother so taken by someone. Anyone with eyes could tell he’d bend over backward for you.”

I swallow down my nerves and breathe deeply, trying to keep a straight face. “I-I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

She smiles. “Oh, Gavin may love me, but I’ve never seen him more in my life than I did last year. I don’t believe for a second it was because he’s got some hockey thing going in Paris. The man was here to see you. And the song you sang that night, the one about forbidden love, that was about him, right?”

I flatten my lips and pull my shoulders back, refusing to give an inch.

“Listen, I’m twenty-six and alone. I’ve never had a love like that. But I have an amazing career. And that’s thanks to my family. I may not have gone into the family business, but I definitely used my family connections to get where I am.

“Yes, our last names come with certain expectations, and sometimes they weigh us down and make us feel like we need to run in the opposite direction of our parents to be taken seriously, but if you really want to make a career of writing music, then you have to take all the help you can get.

“And if you find a love like you so clearly had with my brother, you don’t walk away from it.”

Her words hang between us as my already shattered heart disintegrates further.

Gavin tried to tell me he loved me, but I wouldn’t hear it. He begged me to tell my family about my music, and I kept my mouth shut.

“What if it’s too late?” I whisper, barely able to breathe past the weight pressing down on my chest.

A pleased smile forms on Sienna’s lips. “What if it’s not?”

TWENTY-EIGHT

GAVIN

April

In the two weeks since I became a dad, my life has become unrecognizable. The living room, which I’ve always kept free of clutter, is now littered with a baby mat—for tummy time; it’s important according to all the books—toys, washcloths, diapers, and a playpen.

Brooks and Sara come over most nights so I can shower and make dinner without having to wear Vivi.

The baby carrier Beckett ordered has been a lifesaver. Both Vivi and I prefer when I hold her, and I do it as often as I can, but I draw the line at using the stove with a baby strapped to my chest.

One time I had the preheated oven all the way open before I realized I was wearing her. For days after that, I had visions of what would have happened if I’d dropped her.

How the hell do people do this alone? Yes, I’m a single dad, but I’ve got all three brothers, Sara, and an entire hockey team helping me.Thank god I moved into this building when I did. If it wasn’t Brooks and Sara stopping by, it was one of my players. None of them have much experience with babies, yet they’re a hell of a lot better with her than I am.

---