Page 116 of Well Played

NOAH: Nope. Soph and I have a competition going. Now I’m ahead. *fist pump*

BRETT: The two of you are ridiculous.

NOAH: Yep, but still winning. Coach Big Bro.

BRETT: Call me that and you’ll be doing sprints.

NOAH: Goalies don’t do sprints.

BRETT: You will if you call me that. N. Love you, lil bro.

NOAH: SAME.

I checkedmy watch for the millionth time as the plane taxied and turned as we prepared for takeoff.

Not to check the time, but to convince myself it had only been hours ago since I left her room. When the object of my current infatuation laid in my arms, writhing with pleasure. Cold, hard reality set in as the plane’s engines propelled us down the runway, and far from the one person I couldn’t stop fantasizing about.

But it was time to go back to the real world, and the next chapter.

In Montreal. With my baby bro.

4

Zoe

Two weeks later…

“Wait.Brett? Noah’sbig brother, Brett?As inLeCavalierBrett?”

“The one and only.” Numb, I nodded as I unlocked the front door to the brownstone we shared. Eden and I were rooming together until she found a place of her own. Of course, it had been six months, but it was better than living with her mom and stepdad. Even though Eden turned twenty-four this summer, her stepdad was just a tad overprotective in the best possible way.. The walk from Noah’s place a few doors down took maybe five minutes. Noah, as inLeCavalierNoah, invited a few of the Triumph players over for a pre-madness/preseason dinner. Training camp began in just a few days, and there were a few new guys who he invited to stay at Noah’s place until they found out if they made the team or not.

Eden and I left when the boys brought out the gaming chairs and did that weird chest bump thing guys sometimes did.Out came the PS5 controllers, the headsets, and a few extra beers. Being around them going head to head in some insanely immature and loud video game was not my idea of a good time. I loved Noah, but unless he snuck out the Nintendo he hid for our Kirby tournaments, Eden and I were out.

Rowdy hockey players taking out their aggression gaming? Not as much fun as it sounded. Even if they were easy on the eyes.

Noah got all emotional in the middle of dinner about how his big brother was going to coach the Triumph. My stomach dropped. The guilt worsened when Brett sent him a text telling him he’d be in town in a few days seconds later. Eden, my other best friend, kept throwing glances my way, twiddling with a strand of her bright pink hair. Eyes narrowed on me, watching every reaction.

When we begged out of the rest of the night, Noah teased as he walked us to the door, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were sneaking off with your summer fling instead. But Mr. Mystery man is thousands of miles away, so you get these idiots instead. Makes sense.”

“Hey!” Stephen Linders, the team’s star defensive player, peaked his head around the corner. He added, with a fake pout, “I’m offended. See you later, Zoe. Eden.”

Eden waggled her fingers at him, then turned her attention to me as I pretended to look for my keys. Watching every movement.

As if she realized I kept something pretty big from her that included Noah somehow. And the text he read out loud as I choked on the spaghetti marinara from our favorite Italian place.

Eden knew I hooked up with someone on my mini escape over the summer. I just never told herwho.Or that the reason I needed to get away was my secret situationship with Liam andhis two-timing ass.Add one more thing to the list of secrets I was keeping.

As soon as I threw my keys in the bowl on the kitchen island, I broke down and told her my hot-as-fuck beach hook-up was Noah’s older brother. As in, also the new coach of the Triumph.

Eden buried her face in her hands. Then she brought out the vodka, lips pursed and silent, poured shots. We downed one together. With a grimace, Eden motioned for me to continue, and listened to my incoherent ramblings.

By shot number three, I confessed I thought about him constantly. “But it’s hopeless to even think anything else could come of the night we spent together. Ugh,” I groaned as I buried my heads in my arms on the countertop.

“Noah is going toiceyou out when he finds out. Not because of having crazy, dirty sex with his older brother. But because you kept it from him.”

“Which is why I amnotgoing to tell him.” I raised my clear shot of false liquid courage and threw it back like I was still in college. The burn as it made its way down to my already torn up in knots stomach only made me feel worse. “And neither areyou.”

Eden raised a brow as she gathered her multicolored hair and twisted into a bun on top of her head. “What else aren’t you telling me, Z?”

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