Page 69 of Blindsided

Lincoln shook his head. “You’re telling me. I started using Lincoln Lewis in college. It was the freest I’d ever been.”

Another short pause followed before Christian spoke again. “So, you’re happy in Nashville?”

“I am.” Lincoln’s response was immediate and left no room for his dad to question it. “Oddly, I didn’t just fall for Easton. I kinda fell in love with the entire team. It’s… it’s mine.”

His dad hummed. “Then it’s yours. I’ll get with the attorneys and figure out what needs to happen to make it so. You gave up everything for that team. I’d been against the move from the start. It wasn’t right for her to make that decision.”

Lincoln gave a sad scoff. “No, it wasn’t. No matter how well the move turned out for me, I still maintain she shouldn’t have made that decision without my input or consent. That doesn’t mean I’m surprised she did. Something I learned a long time ago is Aston can do no wrong and I’m just here as his backup.” He paused for a second, his head rocking back and forth as he formed his thought. “I take that back. I was his backup. I’m not anymore. I won’t fix another one of Aston’s impulsive mistakes. I won’t give up my life for people who only call me when they need something.

“However fucked up the situation was that led me here, I’m where I belong. I’m not leaving. Not for her, not for Grandpa, and especially not for Aston. If that means I’m not welcome there, so be it. I’m not entirely convinced I was ever truly welcome in the first place.”

I wished it was possible to hold him tighter as I felt the silent sob Lincoln let out. I could only imagine how hard that would have been to say, no matter how shit his family was. I was proud of him and how he’d stuck up for himself and would be sure to show him as much when I finally had a chance to take him to bed tonight.

His dad’s voice drew me out of my thoughts. “I’d love to argue with you and tell you you’re wrong, but they would just be words, at least when it comes to your mom, Grandpa, the business, and your brother. To me, Lincoln, you’ve never been a backup or a spare. You not knowing that at your age is on me and I’ve got to accept that I screwed that up.”

From the phone, we could hear a door close in the distance followed by a female voice calling out a greeting. “And that’s your mom. I need to go talk with her.” The last sentence was said with frustration and I didn’t envy the conversation that was going to happen at their house.

The line went silent and Lincoln was still for nearly a minute before he turned in my lap and looked down into my eyes. A lot had been said in the last minute of their call, but Lincoln’s focus had caught on just one thing. “He said the team was mine, right? Like, it’s really mine?”

Disbelief and hope sparked in his eyes and I couldn’t help but smile as I nodded. “Yeah, he said he’s going to figure it out.”

I already had a lapful of Lincoln, yet he managed to get more of his body on top of me as he crashed into me with a hug that nearly took the breath from my lungs. “I’m staying! I’m staying! I’m staying!” Just as suddenly as he’d enveloped me in the hug, he pushed off my chest and gasped. “Shit! I need to call Tom back, and Daisy, and probably Camille.” His eyes continued to grow wider with every name he listed. “And, and, what was the name of the guy I was talking to before Daisy called?”

“One thing at a time. We have all weekend. Hell, we have the rest of our lives.” I pushed him to a seated position. “Let’s go grab a snack, maybe a few beers, then we can head up to our room, curl up in bed. You can get your quilt, and we can figure out who to call.”

Lincoln tapped his chin thoughtfully. “The rest of our lives. I like the sound of that. Though we should probably figure out the calls before one of us keels over. We’re not spring chickens anymore. You’re twenty-nine and I’m thirty. Might as well start digging our graves.”

As though my body couldn’t help but agree, my knee popped loudly as I stood and I winced. “Fuck, that might be truer than I’d like to admit.”

“That was your knee, right?” At my nod, Lincoln gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Oh good, you can still spank me with a bad knee.”

“Brat.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. But I’m pretty sure I was promised food and snuggles… then a spanking. I need to forget about the last two days for a bit.”

“I like the way you think. But your spanking might have to wait until we talk to Daisy. She’s been blowing up my phone since I hung up on her.”

“Okay, okay. Snack, snuggles while we talk to Daisy, then a spanking. Like you said, we’ve got the rest of our lives to call the others back.”

Leaning forward to kiss the crook of his neck, I grinned.

EPILOGUE

LINCOLN

“You want me to walk out there?” I looked at the ice rink in front of us. “With all these people watching?” I’d seen the opening night ticket sales. The arena had almost sold out for the home opener. “You cannot spring this shit on me out of the blue!” I didn’t know if my thirty-year-old heart could take being blindsided by something again. I definitely didn’t think my thirty-year-old bones could take a fall on the slick ice. And I knew my thirty-year-old ego couldn’t take the hit from a fall in front of seventeen thousand fans.

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Drama king, you’re as bad as Tory. You don’t have to walk on the ice. They roll a carpet out for you to walk on.” She casually adjusted the long braids hanging over her shoulder. She’d chosen a navy blue fitted suit that showed off her every curve, her stilettos making her look taller and her posture even straighter than normal. The teal silk blouse and the yellow flower pin on her lapel not only complemented the suit but was a nice touch of the team colors. Though I found myself more drawn to the way her purple and pink braids contrasted with the navy of her suit.

I’d spent my entire life around confident, powerful men and women. I’d learned early what a power suit was. Daisy, however, wore hers with an authority and confidence I’d never experienced before. It was both gorgeous and terrifying in equal measure. While I’d gotten over my initial fear that she’d eat me for breakfast, in that suit, she exuded the air of a whip-wielding Dominatrix who would take no shit from anyone—Dom, sub, or otherwise.

“You should have led with that!”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “You do not pay me enough for this, Lincoln.”

Personally, I couldn’t believe it had taken her until thirty minutes before the first puck drop to realize that. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d been saying that since the first day I’d walked into the office without a clue about hockey.

There was a lot of pomp and circumstance around opening night ceremonies, or at least in my opinion there was. The Grizzlies were there as a show of support, as was the commissioner of the league and a few other men I’d met at the owners’ meeting. I knew they had fancy titles but couldn’t remember who they were or what positions they held.

---