Page 13 of Puck and Prejudice

Chad’s jaw locks tight, and Jane looks worried.

I’ve let Jackson run this interrogation for too long. “Who cares how many months? And why are you so bothered? Is Chad your brother or something?”

“He’s like my brother, and it’s my job to make sure he’s not engaged to a gold digger.”

Jane gasps.

Fury erupts from the pit of my stomach. “Howdareyou call my sister a gold digger! You don’t even know her, and you’re already making assumptions.”

He narrows his eyes. “Yoursister? Why am I not surprised?”

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Lydia appears out of nowhere with Mari Carmen in tow.

Of course she had to show up now.

I whirl around. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Uh… Mari Carmen and I wanted to see the mansion. What are you guys doing here? It’s the most boring room in the house.”

No surprise she’d think a study with bookshelves bursting at the seams with books would be boring.

“I’d better go,” Jane says in a shaky voice. Hell, I know she’s about to cry, all thanks to Jackson.

Chad holds her hand tighter and doesn’t let her step away from him. “No. We’re leaving this room together. We might as well announce to the entire party that we’re engaged.”

“You’reengagedto Chad Bingley?” Lydia’s voice rises an octave.

Ah shit.

“Yes. The plan was to tell everyone when things calmed down a bit for Chad but…” She looks at him. “What the hell, we might as well do it tonight.”

I try to capture her gaze, hoping she sees my panicked expression. They’re going to announce their engagement to the world before telling Mom and Dad. Our parents will be crushed.

Chad beams at her. “All right. Let’s do it.”

“Are you sure that’s wise, Chad? What are your parents going to say?” Jackson butts in.

“Honestly, I’m not concerned about their opinion.”

Normally, I’d try to convince Jane to wait as well, but she looks so happy, I can’t ruin it for her. I don’t want to be an asshole like Jackson, who’s grinding his teeth so hard that his cheeks have hollowed in. I don’t need to read minds to know he’s going to try to change Chad’s mind. I hope Jane’s fiancé is strong enough to tell his friend to mind his own business, but if he isn’t, then he’s not the man for Jane. That won’t make me hate Jackson less though. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever loathed someone as strongly as I loathe him.

ChapterSeven

JACKSON

Iwas caught by surprise at the party and said things I shouldn’t have. I regret my outburst, and can’t blame Chad for not taking my calls and not speaking to me in the locker room the day after. Everyone could sense something was off. I can’t have that. Engagement or not, we’re in the finals. Only four more wins, and the Cup is ours.

I need Chad’s focus to stay sharp, so for now, I’ll pretend I don’t have any objection to his premature engagement. But just because I’m not being vocal doesn’t mean I’m not doing anything to stop my friend from making the biggest mistake of his life. I’ve hired a PI to investigate Jane Bennet and her family. I need all the ammunition I can get to convince Chad he’s rushing into things.

Not wanting to add fuel to the fire, instead of talking to him in the training facility, I head over to his house after morning practice. We have our first home game against the Vancouver Vikings in two days, and I need to clear the air between Chad and me.

I catch him while he’s walking out of his house. The first thing I notice is his appearance. Chad’s style is casual, and when he’s not going to a game, he lives in T-shirts, shorts, and slide sandals. Today, he’s wearing a long sleeve button-down shirt with slacks. The scruff he had this morning is gone, and his shaggy hair is combed back and tamed.

He and I should be sporting our playoff beards like everyone else, but the first year we ever played the playoffs together, someone shaved half of mine off when I was asleep in the bus. I’m a hundred percent sure Wickham did it, but I couldn’t prove it. Chad decided to shave his playoff beard too and we won that series going from a three-game loss to win the next four games. It was an epic comeback, hence why we both shave during the playoffs, breaking tradition.

“Hey, did I catch you at a bad time?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he replies but doesn’t move toward his car parked in the driveway. “What are you doing here?”

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