Page 10 of Brace and Chase

“So only you and I know the real reason why I’m here?” I ask just to make sure.

“I promise,” she says with a nod, and holds up her palm as if swearing on a Bible. “Only we know.”

“Right.” I take a deep breath then rest my forearms on my knees and lean forward. “Then let’s see that contract so we can make this official. Then I need to eat, and then I need you to tell me where I can go get some food for breakfast.”

She smiles at me almost indulgently, definitely leaning on maternal, and for whatever reason, I love it.

“I’ll put stuff together for you so you can take it home and get to sleep. You can stock up tomorrow.”

That simple offer, that careless way she offers me food from her pantry... it tells me everything I need to know about Gabrielle Darnell. She just welcomed me into the team with that offer, and I’m pretty sure she thinks of it as her family.

As someone who values family above everything, I feel the weight of it.

“Thank you,” I tell her, with emotion clear in my words.

FOUR

SANTA

One Day Before The Season Starts

Distracted,hoisting up my duffel on my shoulder and making sure I have the key to my room, I don’t see the man leaning against the opposite wall of the hallway right away. When I do, I jump about a foot in the air.

“Jesus Christ,” I cry. I don’t like to be startled. I have well-honed instincts that make me react defensively, and outside the rink, that’s frowned upon. “I did not think I would see your ugly face so early,” I quip, with my usual shit-eating grin.

He says nothing, though, just keeps staring intently at me, and that’s when I realize he’s here to take me to the rink because he thinks I need it. “Bear,” I growl at him, already mad at the reminder of having to see Charlie Heart today.

I make myself stay still and not fidget. I don’t need himto see how rattled and anxious I truly am about today’s practice.

“Picard was at Gab’s last night when he got there.” He speaks evenly and steps away from the wall.

I ignore his words and start walking to the elevator, but that doesn’t deter him from continuing his report or whatever this is supposed to be. “He said he looked excited to be there, to meet Gab?—”

“Of course he is excited to meet Gab. Only an idiot would not. She is a badass and a treasure.” Again I focus on exaggerating my Russian accent. It’s always hard at the start of the day but gets easier the more I use it, then I don’t have to focus on it so much.

Bear snorts as we wait for the elevator to arrive.

“In any case, he said he doesn’t get any anger from him, and he didn’t say anything about you.”

“Why would he say anything about me?” I raise an eyebrow at Bear and he holds up his hands in defense. I guess maybe I growled the question.

“I didn’t say anything to anyone about you hating him, bro. But your reaction to the news the other day was pretty self-explanatory. Everyone saw it. And just now... you were your usual happy self, but as soon as you remembered his existence you went all icy Santa.”

I only grumble in answer to that. I’m not exactly proud of the way I stormed out of the team event, but I also don’t regret it. No one’s mentioned it since—at least not to my face. We’ve practiced normally, gotten workouts in for theupcoming season, and it’s all just been normal. I know all that familiarity is about to go to shit today.

Clearly, Heart brings out the worst in me, and the thought that my teammates already think differently of me because of the effect he has on me pisses me the fuck off.

But my plan is to not let it change my attitude with my team any longer. I’m just going to ignore Heart. I’m going to pretend he’s not even there, and he’ll get the hint that I want nothing to do with him and the season won’t be ruined.

“Come on,” Bear tells me, tapping my arm when we arrive at the garage.

“What?” I ask him, confused.

“I’m driving you to the rink and back after practice,” he says like it’s obvious. I only stare at him and he sighs like I’m the one being unreasonable here. “You’re in no state of mind to drive, Santa. Just get in the car for fuck’s sake.”

“You are finally embracing your role as my chauffeur. I am so happy for you!” I tease him but follow him to his SUV without any more protests. Bear has a nice car.

Not as nice as my Aston Martin Vanquish, but nice enough.

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