Page 43 of Goaltender Interference

She disappeared, then reappeared a moment later, several bottles dangling from her hands. “Take your pick. I’m sure this lot will take the others from me without too much pushing.”

Jesse picked one at random, then took a seat on the sectional. “Thanks, Mrs. O.”

She shot him a brief grin, then disappeared into the crowd.

Tanner dropped onto the sectional beside Jesse. “So, dude, this is going to beawesome.”

“I know right?” Jesse’s mood lifted at the thought of having an actual friend on the team. Not that he wouldn’t make friends with the guys on the team. His mom had once claimed he could make friends with a lamppost if he put his mind to it, but damn it was nice to not have to start from scratch witheveryone.

“So, where are you living?” Tanner asked. “Did they put you up in a hotel? Because I’ve got a place and you could totally crash with me if you want.”

Jesse grimaced, setting his plate on his thigh, then twisting open the beer bottle. He took a long drink before he answered. “So, yeah, I’m kinda on probation.”

Tanner cackled. “For the shit you did after your Cup win?”

“Yep.” Jesse sighed. “And then I got detained at the border on my way over and it made the press. Swear to fucking God, I have the worst damn luck. Racine isn’t happy with me and he’s pretty much stapled me to Connor for the foreseeable future.”

“Connor, huh?” Tanner lifted an eyebrow.

Jesse was tempted to admit what happened this summer but that wasn’t cool to Connor, so he shrugged. “Ehh, yeah. We met this past summer at his brother’s wedding and hung out for a bit.”

“What were you doing at Kelly O’Shea’s wedding?”

Jesse explained about the skills camp Anders Lindholm had and Tanner nodded. “Yeah, makes sense. Shit, that sucks that you’re stuck living with the captain though.”

Jesse frowned. “Why? Don’t you like him?”

“Nah.” Tanner waved it off. “I don’t mean it like that. He’s great. Just having a babysitter all the time sucks. Dude kinda has a stick up his ass, you know?”

“Oh.” Jesse grinned. The stick—so to speak—had been uphisass, not Connor’s, but he did know what Tanner was getting at. “Yeah, he’s a little uptight. But I think I can work with it.”

Tanner grinned back, pounding Jesse’s thigh. Thankfully, the one without the food on it. “Shit, dude, we are going to have so much fun this season.”

“You better make the roster then,” Jesse threw back. “Or it’ll be back to Concord with you.”

The Concord Night Hawks were the Harriers’ AHL team.

“No, dude, I’ve been training super hard this off-season. I’m gonna make it.”

“You better,” Jesse threatened. “Cause with you around man, it’s gonna befun.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Later that evening, Connor glowered at Tanner Clayton when he hugged Jesse goodbye, whispering something in Jesse’s ear that made him throw back his head and laugh.

Tanner waggled his eyebrows as he pulled away, waving to everyone before he was out the door.

The party had broken up—mainly because there were a lot of kids who needed to get home and get ready for bed—including Connor’s own.

“Well, good luck with that,” Pat said drily, throwing an arm around Connor’s shoulder.

“Huh?” Connor said, turning to frown at his brother.

“The Terrible Twosome there.” He nodded toward the open door where Tanner was still visible, and Jesse, who stood inside the entrance. “We all knew Webber was gonna be a handful but throw in Clayton …”

“Yeah.” Connor pursed his lips. “Tell me about it.”

Because Jesse was …Jesseand, apparently, now he had a sidekick.

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