Page 187 of Finding the Forward: Part One
“Sometime will you let me be in charge with her?” His voice was a low rumble.
“If she’s willing, absolutely.” I liked that idea quite a bit.
Kylee, our PR person, bounded over to our table.
“Grif, dearest. Where’s your little honey?” She looked around.
“This is AJ, my alpha, and one of the loves of my life.” I kissed him on the cheek.
“I know who AJ is.” She shook her head, smiling. “I’m looking for Verity.”
“Right here.” Verity slid back into her seat. “Hi, Kylee.”
“The video of Grif giving you his jersey is popular.” Her eyes twinkled. “Grif, you should bring her to the Squire Foundation Gala.”
“Oh?” Verity’s look grew curious.
“In a couple of weeks, the team is having a party to raise money for The Squire Foundation, our charity that has hockey programs for underprivileged kids. It’s a good cause,” I told her.One I was partial to. We should bring her. She’d probably enjoy it.
Most teams had charities like this. I supported the shit out of the one the Hurricanes had and volunteered a lot with them. Partially because I had a lot of free time, being away from my pack. Partially because my involvement with the Boston Royals youth program made a difference to me when I was a kid.
While I hadn’t done much with this one yet, I was looking forward to helping with more of the clinics–and the camp they had in the summer where the players got to be the counselors.
“Perfect.” Kylee waved and left.
“You’ll need a fancy dress. I’ll get you one. AJ would be the best one to go shopping with,” I added, not wanting to add extra stress of needing special clothes.
“If the Vecci from today is salvageable, you should wear that,” AJ told her, eyes lighting up. “The dry cleaner seemed optimistic.”
“True. If not, I have a couple of dresses that could work.” She pulled up some photos.
“They’re beautiful and would be perfect. But Icanget you a dress if you want a new one,” I offered. While there was nothing wrong with wearing a dress you had, sometimes it was nice to have something new.
AJ shook his head. “You’ll be the talk of the party in that Vecci. Grif can get you a necklace to go with it.”
Well then. None of this meant anything to me, but I was glad they could talk fashion with each other. “Sounds like a plan.”
AJ toyed with her hair. I was so curious now.
Her phone buzzed, and she checked it and grimaced. “The video of us hit my sibling group chat.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Also, my mama is up in my business. Again.”
“I might have gotten a text from one of my moms asking about you, too,” I confessed. Sissy’s text saidso let her bite you already.
Oh, I would. In time.
“This is what Sonny posted on the Maimers’ social media, in their ongoing saga ofTeam Mom finds love on the ice.” Verity showed me a video of me giving her my shirt.
The caption saidWhoops, guess Have No Mercy forgot to give Team Mom back her sweatshirt after our last prank. Hope Grif Graf understands.
“That’s funny.” Dean leaned over me to see it.
Oh, right, the Maimers’ had crashed one of our practices dressed like us. Which would explain why she wore the Hurricane shirt. Mercy still had her Knights one. Also, I had nine sisters. I knew they took each other’s shit.
“What are we looking at?” Jonas joined us and peered at her phone.
“Grif being a possessive dickhead during the game,” Dean replied. “I think I’ll do that next game. Storm over, give you my jersey, and play the rest of the game shirtless. It was so fucking hot.” He fanned himself and shot me a wink. “But I want to see you in my number.”
“Only on your birthday,” I told him. While I wanted my number on her, I might agree once in a while.
