Page 10 of Daring the Defender

“The music gods,” I reply, smugly. “I have a gift for making the perfect playlist.”

He looks up to the speakers just as the song shifts from something with an electronic beat to something more pop. “You think this garbage is perfect?”

“Hey,” Jefferson calls out, “I like this song.”

We all roll our eyes. Jefferson has a notorious love of pop music–especially Ingrid Flockton. Which look, every guy, and some girls, of a certain age has had a crush on her. She’s about our age and we grew up listening to her. But in the last year,she’s grown from teen sensation to legit pop-star and gone from cute to an absolute knockout.

“You know who else likes this song?” Jefferson says, eyeing me. “Darla. I saw her dancing to it last night at the Kappa party.”

“Oh yeah?” I say, feigning disinterest in my ex. “Good for her.”

He’s testing me–waiting to see how I’ll respond to the fact my ex was at a frat party on Valentine’s Day. Darla and I dated since freshman year, and yeah, we fought a lot–mostly about stupid stuff. She’s bossy. I’m more laid back. She’s super organized. I’m a mess. I was in it for the long haul, but it turns out she wasn’t. Now I’m a single man.

I lift the weight over my head and focus on Ingrid’s voice, the song’s lyrics are about kicking her ex’s ass and taking names. No wonder Darla was dancing last night, probably on my theoretical grave.

I’m mid lift when the music suddenly shuts off.

“Hey!” Jefferson shouts.

When I look over, Axel is next to the speaker, his tattooed arms crossed over his chest. He glares out at the room. “Listen up. I have an announcement to make.”

I rack the bar and move to a sitting position, pretty sure I know where this announcement is going.

“My sister, Shelby, is in town for a few weeks. Myyounger, sweet, inexperienced, sister. She’ll be staying at the Manor which means she’ll be around some.” He makes eye contact with every guy in the room. “She’s going through some shit back home and the last thing she needs is some horny, cunt-stunned, hockey player messing with her.” His green eyes flick to mine, then away. “Understood?”

A chorus of voices agree, even though they don’t exactly know who Shelby is or what he’s talking about. Sisters are off limits. It’s a standard rule. I have my own sisters and get it.Which is why I’m not only a jerk for kissing her last night, but for rubbing one off thinking about her this morning, too.

Reese steps next to Axel. “I expect everyone to be welcoming to Ax’s sister and to be a gentleman. Treat her like your own sister–”

“Or I’ll break your face,” Axel interjects, this time he lets his gaze linger on me and he cracks a grin. “Not your fingers. You need those to win the championship.”

Reese claps, tells everyone to finish our reps and get suited up for cardio on the ice. The guys file out of the room, but I hold back and call out to Axel.

“Got a minute?”

He frowns, looking down at my busted lip. “One. What?”

“What did you mean by inexperienced?” It’s pretty obvious she’s a virgin but…

“I mean, completely inexperienced. I doubt she’s ever been kissed.” He grimaces. “Not thoroughly. Not by that dweeb, David Jones, that’s for sure.”

Well, shehadn’tbeen, but even with the bruised lip, my lips tingle at the thought of her mouth on mine.

“Shit,” I wince. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t know.”

“I know.” He sighs, running his hands through his hair, and his shoulders sag unexpectedly. “It’s not what I want for her–this closed off, sheltered life that my parents built for her. I’ve tried to convince her to want more, but she was raised with these ideals on purity and marriage and she bought into them, hook, line, and sinker.”

“What about you?” I ask, pulling off my weight lifting gloves. “Because you’re sure as hell nothing like that.”

“God no. It just didn’t take. I saw through the bullshit immediately, but Shelby? She wants to believe in it, or she always has. That’s why it’s a surprise she’s here.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Something in her woke up, but I doubt it willstick. Probably last minute jitters. She can stay for a bit, but it’s my plan to return her back home untouched. From there she can figure out what she wants to do with her life, but I’m not letting her get hurt on my watch, or do anything she’ll regret.”

“That makes sense.”

“This is the first time she’s done something rebellious, but the thing about living in a house like ours, is that we’re raised to think there are severe consequences for our actions. She’s not going to wake up with remorse. She’s going to feel guilt. The kind that eats you from the inside. She didn’t just do something stupid with you, dude, she committed asin, and I have no idea how she’s going to react to that.”

It’s then that I realize how much I’ve screwed up. Axel isn’t just pissed I fooled around with his sister. He’s pissed that I took something from her. Something you can only give away once. Fuck, I’m more of a dick than I realized.

No more thinking about Shelby Rakestraw. Starting now.

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