Page 115 of Hot for the Hockey Player
“But as far as who I’m dating, who makes me happy, who makes my kid happy, the whole damn world can know that business.”
The look of love in Jagger’s blue eyes as he grabbed Raina’s hand and kissed the back of it was enough to make even Cupid swoon.
“Does he make you happy, Gabs?”my cousin asked.
I didn’t say anything.
“Do you enjoy being with him?”
Again, I didn’t say anything.
“Is the sex good at least?”she asked with exasperation.
It was like the whole table went dead silent on purpose right at that moment, and everyone turned to listen in.
I tried to shoot laser beams out of my eyes at my cousin, but failed.
She smirked because I’m sure the answer was written clear across my face.
“Don’t run from what makes you happy, Gabs,” Raina said gently.“We’ve been through too much to not let ourselves feel joy and happiness.And I’m not just talking from our kids.”She gave me a small, encouraging, hopeful smile, as well as a gentle nudge of her foot beneath the table, before glancing up lovingly at Jagger.“This guy taught me that.”
I sucked in a deep breath through my nose and sipped my wine as Maverick’s words and Raina’s words mixed together in my mind.
“Stop being so afraid of what everyone else thinks of you.”
“We’ve been through too much to not let ourselves feel joy and happiness.”
“The biggest badass I’ve ever met.You ran barefoot, pregnant, with a baby on your hip, while grown men chased you, and you turned them into the police.Then you raised your kids all on your own, got a degree, then a law degree, and chose to help women get out of similar situations that you used to be in.If that is not the definition of a badass, then I don’t care to know what is.”
“We have nothing to be ashamed about.We got the fuck out of that hellhole.We should be proud.”
“A person who accomplished all of that shouldn’t give two shits what anyone says about them.”
The conversation around us picked up again—thankfully—and the only two staring at me, apparently waiting for my epiphany, were Raina and Jagger.
“Does the lightbulb normally take this long to come on with her?”Jagger whispered out the side of his mouth to Raina before taking a pull from his beer.
“She’s a stubborn mule, this one.Smart as fuck, but socially, and emotionally dim sometimes.It’s aggravating,” Raina replied, not as quiet, but still out the side of her mouth.
“I can hear you both,” I said.
“Good,” they said at the same time.
Heaving a big sigh, I drained my wine—grateful for the liquid courage—and stood up.
“There we go,” Jagger said, lifting his beer bottle to me in a toast.“Go get your hockey player.”
I glared at him, but he just grinned beneath his scruffy beard.Normally, he kept his beard tidy and on the longer side, but the doctors had to shave him after Raina’s brother broke a bunch of bones in his face and he needed surgery.
“You have condoms?”Raina called after me as I headed to the door.
I simply lifted one hand and my middle finger, not bothering to look back.She and Jagger both burst out laughing just as the door banged shut behind me.
The raindrops were the size of golf balls as I ran down the grassy path toward Maverick’s cabin, the bottoms of my trousers getting soaked in the process.His truck was still parked out front.That meant, hopefully, he was home.
I ducked under the eaves and knocked on the door, not sure what I was going to say to him, but knowing I needed to apologize.I was being wishy-washy, and I hated wishy-washy people.
A moment later, the door opened, and he appeared, surprise—and wariness—in his eyes.
