Page 14 of Not A Chance

When she first started coming over to our place, she hadn’t even acted like a kid. She was like some mini adult that her parents had ordered out of a catalog. Always perfectly polite and never a hair out of place.

She’d warmed to Emery almost immediately. My baby sister had that effect on people, and over time, she had become comfortablewith the rest of us, especially my mom.

My phone buzzed, drawing my attention away from Indie. I unlocked my screen to see that our sibling group chat was buzzing.

Emery

WTF Theo! Why do I have to find out you’re in Toronto from Indie?!?!

Chase

Bruh?

Liam

What’s going on? I just woke up.

Emery

Our long-lost brother was just about to tell us why he’s in Toronto and not getting ready for training camp in Vancouver.

Shit. Everything had moved so quickly since the meeting in Coach’s office I hadn’t told my family about my trade.

I had to bite the bullet and apologize. Em was going to be pissed at me for keeping this from them.

Theo

I got traded two days ago.

Emery

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU GOT TRADED?!?

You moved to the other side of North America without telling us? But you told Indie?!?!

Liam

Not cool, man. I mean, we’re not yourkeepers or anything. But you could have at least texted us.

Liam has left the chat.

Fuck. Liam was the more sensitive of my two brothers. I had really screwed up here. I owed them more than this.

Theo

I’m sorry. It’s been hectic. They sprung this on me two days before camp was due to start. I’ve been up to my ears in logistics for 48 hours. But that’s no excuse. I’ll do better, I promise.

I didn’t tell Indie anything. I just literally ran into her. What’s she doing here?

Chase

Those are only words, T. Thanks a lot. Now I’m going to have a pissed off wingman at the bar tonight. Neither of us are going to be able to hook up.

Emery

Am I the only one who cares that we are going to be seeing Theo even less than we already are?!

For someone with such a sunny disposition, she knew how to aim guilt trips for maximum effect.

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