Page 13 of Goaltender Interference

“Um, so, Aubrey, I was wondering though,” he said, poking at the remnants of his eggs. “Are all of the O’Shea brothers married now?”

“Oh yes,” she said with a smile. “Kelly was the last of them to tie the knot.”

Jesse’s heart sank.Fuck. He’d slept with a married man.

But where the fuck was Connor’s wife? Hadn’t she noticed that he hadn’t come back to their room last night? Why hadn’t they been together at the ceremony or reception? Maybe she’d stayed home in Boston or something? Shit, that was even worse. No wonder Connor had freaked this morning.

Aubrey paused, glancing across the table toward Evie, but her chair was empty too. “Well, Connor’s divorced now, actually,” she said quietly.

Relief flooded through Jesse. He could breathe again. “Divorced. That’s good.”

Aubrey shot him a strange glance.

“I mean, that’s uh, that’s good if things weren’t working out, you know? Especially if there’s kids involved. It’s always best if there’s a lot of fighting and stuff, right?”

“Right.” Her expression smoothed out. “It did get rough there at the end for Connor and Viv, I suppose.”

“So, um, I thought all these kids were yours?” Jesse admitted. “I take it they’re not?”

“Pat and I have five kids. The one devouring the waffle earlier was our son Cory and our toddler Emilia is … ahh, with herUncle Finn now. And we do have several other boys running around, but most of them are hanging out with their cousins at the moment.”

“Got it.”

Aubrey laughed. “Honestly, this family takes a communal approach to parenting. Connor’s ex—Viv—didn’t come to Chicago this weekend but the kids were invited, so I kept an eye on them at the wedding and early part of the reception yesterday since Connor was busy being a groomsman. We rented a suite and hired a few babysitters to keep an eye on all of the kids once it got late. Well, Con’s oldest, Nolan, is fourteen so he stayed later, hanging out with other boys his age, but all of the little ones left the party early. I’ve been spending extra time with Evie and Maura especially—the divorce has been hard on them, you know?”

“I bet. I am sure they appreciate that.” He laughed ruefully. “But I think I’m gonna need a whole-ass family tree to keep track of the O’Sheas.”

“There are a lot of us, that’s for sure. Good Irish Catholic stock, you know?”

“Hey! Nice of you to join us, Con!” Pat said loudly, standing to hug his brother. “You look like shit.”

Jesse snuck a furtive glance at Connor, who still had the little one—Maura—in his arms. His face had returned to its usual stern expression behind his auburn beard.

“I pounded on your door earlier,” Pat continued. “But you weren’t in your room. I’d like to think you were getting some, but knowing you, you were probably working out.”

“Getting what?” Evie asked, hanging off Connor’s arm. “What were you getting, Daddy?”

His gaze flickered across Jesse’s face like he wasn’t even there, before he smiled tightly down at his daughter. “Nothing, Peanut. Just stepped out of my room for a bit.”

“Have a seat,” Aubrey said, patting the spot beside her that Maura had been in. “I think she’s all done eating and she has half a plate left.”

Connor cracked a smile. “I’ll grab some food in a bit but I need to talk to Finn about something first. Thanks though.”

Pat frowned. “Aren’t you gonna congratulate Webber on the trade, Con? This is good news! We’ve needed a goalie like him for a while. He’ll be a great addition to the team.”

Connor glanced over, his smile strained when he nodded at Jesse, staring somewhere over his right shoulder. “We already spoke this morning.” His fair cheeks went a mottled red color and he looked away.

Fuck you, Connor.Youkissed me.Youchased me down at the hotel. This is all on you, bud, Jesse thought with an internal sneer.

What an asshole.

Fine, so Connor hadn’t cheated, but this was fucking ridiculous. Connor’s dick had been balls-deep in all of Jesse’s holes in the past twelve hours, yet he couldn’t even fucking look him in the eye now.

Connor didn’t want to acknowledge Jesse? Fine, Jesse would make him squirm.

“Yeah, my new captain wasverrrywelcoming already,” Jesse said with a big grin, lounging back in his chair and spreading his thighs a little.

Pat snorted, taking his seat again. “That doesn’t sound like Con at all. You sure it wasn’t one of our brothers?”

---