Offside Yuletide by Victoria Denault

Author:Victoria Denault
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Victoria Denault

CHAPTER 15

Jeremiah

I toss and turn most of the night until I finally break down and take one of the painkillers I still have for my shoulder. There's been a dull ache in it all night, but it's not the only thing keeping me from sleep. The idea that I'm going to have to face Jayden, and act like I haven't seen Hannah naked will be easy. But pretending I don't like her… that might be hard. If Jayden finds out about this, I am dead, and I don't even blame him. If one of my teammates slept with my mom, I would ram a hockey stick down their throat without even thinking. But my mom doesn't have the figure of a toned thirty-something. My mom might be smart, but she isn't witty, and she doesn't giggle with a lightness that makes me feel like I'm floating on the sound.

When the painkiller finally kicks in I over-sleep, and when I wake, the room is obscenely bright. I grab my phone off the nightstand and realize it’s eleven. Shit! Crap! I jump out of bed and yank on my clothes, running my hands through my hair as I hurry down the stairs. I was hoping that I could help Hannah with breakfast and then maybe have her for breakfast. Once… twice if you count the shower… was not enough. And I know as soon as Jayden shows up, this is done for good.

And sadly, I realize as I hear more than one voice when my feet hit the bottom step, that time has come. I turn to the right, and as soon as I step into the great room, he calls my name. “Wall! Hey man!”

Jayden is standing in the kitchen leaning on the island. Beside him, making coffee is his girlfriend Ariel. Hannah is sitting at the long table, a mug of coffee in her hands. Beside her is Coach Emerson. He's one of the two assistant coaches on the team. Emerson handles defense more than offense, so I don’t work with him much, but I like him. I just don’t understand why he’s here.

Everyone is staring at me while I stare at them. And expressions are starting to change. Jayden looks annoyed I haven’t answered him. Ariel looks confused that I’m just standing there like a Christmas tree. And Hannah’s eyes are growing wider by the second. “Hey! You made it! That was faster than we thought.”

“Yeah, they ended up clearing the road at about three a.m.” Jayden explains. “Ariel had an app on her phone and got an alert it had opened, so she woke me up to get on the road. Luckily Coach E. was a good sport about the four a.m. wake-up call.”

“There isn’t much that would get me to miss a Christmas in Whistler,” Coach Emerson replies, and now I’m focused on him. “Jayden heard I was going to be alone this Christmas and invited me along. Wasn’t that nice of him?”

"Really nice. Great!" I swallow the scream of disapproval in my throat.

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