Page 59 of Hockey Boy

Sara snorts and Brooks grumbles, dropping his head into his hand.

Millie, mouth agape, scoffs. “It’s because Gavin calls me Peaches.”

Oh shit.

“I’m sorry. It’s probably delicious.” The glare I fix Aiden with is icy, even as my face flames. “I just assumed?—”

Aiden covers my hand with his and squeezes. “You assumed wrong. I took one look at you and ended it with Jill. Like I told you—from the beginning, we were planning a wedding for them.” He nods across the table, but his eyes never leave mine.

“Aw, that really is the sweetest,” Liv says.

Beckett puffs up, his dress shirt straining over his solid chest. “We Langfields really are the swooniest, Livy.”

Sara coughs out a laugh again. “Permission to make fun of you since we aren’t at work?”

“Permission not granted,” Beckett grumbles.

“Dammit.”

The whole group is laughing when Beckett’s phone buzzes again.

“Beckett,” Liv hisses.

He picks up the phone and holds it out in front of him as he powers it down. “It’s not my fault. Hannah is about ready to murder my rookie, and I’m sure there are others standing in line to join her.”

“What did Jasper do now?” Gavin asks.

“What hasn’t he done?” After a hefty sip of wine, Liv shakes her head. “He was caught with the two strippers last week. The week before that, a woman claimed he fathered her child?—”

“She was seventy. She couldn’t possibly be pregnant,” Sara interjects. “It was bull.”

Beckett nods. “The point is that the kid needs a tight leash.”

Across from me, Gavin gives a thoughtful nod. “That’s why the younger guys on my team live in my building. They aren’t getting away with shit.”

Sara points finger guns at him. “Nope. We’re there to lay down the law.”

Chuckling, Brooks cups her hands and lowers them. “Sar, no finger guns.”

“No, wait. That’s a great idea,” Beckett says slowly.

Sara raises them again, making her finger guns dance. “They are very docile fingers. Just ask your brother.”

Brooks groans. “How many times have we discussed that we don’t talk about sex with my brothers?”

Sara shrugs. “And yet you asked me to marry you? Who’s the fool here?”

I can’t help but giggle quietly at the way they all interact.

“No,” Beckett says, steering the conversation back on track. “The apartment. What’s going on with your place now that you’re living with Brooks?”

Sara’s expression sobers. “Lennox is staying there now.”

“I can move out,” I offer, shifting uncomfortably in my chair. I shouldn’t have been squatting in the apartment in the first place, and now this is just awkward.

Aiden squeezes my thigh. “No way. You have it decorated exactly as you like it.”

The grin Sara directs my way is evil. Shit. It’s impossible to be prepared for what she might say, especially when she looks like that. “Why don’t you put the new guy in War’s old place, and Aiden can move in with Lennox?”

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