Page 97 of Overtime
Maybe I shouldn’t go to this party. Maybe I should go home and watch film from the teams we’ll face at regionals. Or maybe I should go tire out my hormones with a late-night swim at the lake by myself.
But I want to see her. I want to banter with her. Make her blush. See if I can get her to gasp my name in my ear.
Mierda. I can’t keep doing this, not with regionals on the horizon.
My head’s still swimming when I make it out of the locker room and find my family hanging out near the training area’s exit.
“Hermanito!”
Luz spreads her arms wide and squeals as if I were some celebrity. I brace because I know exactly what will happen next, and nothing in this world will stop her. She slams into me with enough power to make me stumble back a step, making me drop my duffel bag on the floor so she can squeeze the crap out of me. I don’t drop my stick, though. It has to hold out until the championship game.
“I’m so awed by you,” Luz says with her face buried in my chest. She pulls away to look up. “You’re so much better than many pro goalies already, including the starter on Max’s team.”
“For real, man.” I like Cassiano because he respects boundaries. He offers a fist to me, and I bump it with mine. “I got some film for my coach, by the way. His mind’s going to blow away when he sees that wild save you made in overtime.”
“Dude, you got shot point blank at easily a hundred miles per hour.” Brooklyn opens his mouth wide, shakes his head, and runs a hand through his goldilocks. The picture of shock.
I sigh and peel my older sister off me. To her fiancé, I say, “Thanks, but I don’t want to have to use connections.” I’m not Edwards.
Cassiano blows a raspberry. “It’s not because you’re my brother-in-law. Coach literally sent me here to scout you once he knew I’d be in town.”
Luz nods rapidly. “Yup. We didn’t come here just to support you, although we did that too. Right, Aceituna?”
“Whatever,” our younger sister says, checking her phone. “Can we go eat now? I’m starving.”
“Actually, I’ll agree with Aceituna for the first time in my life,” I say.
She frowns until her whole face scrunches up. “When are the two of you going to stop calling me by that ridiculous name?”
“Never,” Luz and I say at the same time. I can’t help but exchange a grin with her. This is what older siblings are for.
Huffing, Liv whirls around and heads for the exit. Her golden retriever of a best friend follows her, talking her ear off about the game. I pick up my duffel bag and follow after Luz and Cassiano. They’re just as disgusting as they were six years ago, their arms around each other’s waists as if they can’t stand to be apart for a single second. Cassiano glances down at my sister as if the moonitself were in her eyes, and she looks up at him as if he put it there.
I can’t do that.
The thought halts me in my steps.
I can’t be that guy for someone. I’ve never looked at anyone like that. I can’t afford to bend my life over to accommodate one more person. I have enough with two reckless sisters who are regulars at the hospital and parents who can’t afford those bills. It’s on me to make sure the Rodriguez family has a good future, and I can only do that if I stay focused on making it to the league.
Coach was right. I needed a dating ban to understand this. Hockey isn’t just something I do for fun. It’s the thing I’m best at—what I need to make a living with for my family’s sake and my own. I can’t jeopardize it by giving priority to something else. Or someone else.
I need to really enforce the dating ban. Tonight.
With a lump in my throat, I follow after my family and spend the whole dinner thinking of how to end what has been the best part of my year.
CHAPTER 28
MADDIE
“Where’s Aran?”
I glance up from the Jell-O shot I’m about to take, thinking the question is for me, but Ryan’s attention is on Jamal. A flush rises up my throat because who the heck am I to think I speak for Aran?
The Nigerian-descent forward checks his phone, and above the din, he shouts, “Apparently he’s having dinner with his family. His older sis and her fiancé are in town.”
“Cassiano’s in town? I want his autograph!” Ryan pulls out her phone and types furiously on it, probably to ask Aran for the prize.
I push down the Jell-O shot. It tastes like medicine, if medicine were like a big clump of glue that burns your esophagus as it makes the trip down.
