“I was drunk.”
“You drove from the airport! You couldn’t have been drunk,” Anna objected.
Oh, hell, did everyone feel the need to play Sherlock Holmes today?
“Can we change the subject?” he asked anxiously. In the last ten minutes, he had managed to push Penny out of his thoughts for the first time since that night. He had no desire to start the cycle again. “I gave in, it happens to the best of us.”
“Not you!” Dax objected in disbelief. “Dude, two weeks ago, twins came on to you at the Ice Lounge and suggested a threesome and you saidno, thank you! Leon started crying because of it and Matt handed you the number of a psychiatrist!”
Anna made a face. “Seriously? Are there that many groupies throwing themselves at you?”
“No, no, forget you heard that,” Dax said, looking at her somberly. “My first time ever was with Lucy and I’m glad I waited so long. Remember: sex is bad. Makes you stupid, makes the exam more difficult! You should definitely wait. Until you’re married.”
Anna snorted. “Dax, I’m in my mid-twenties. That train has left the station!”
His brother made a face. “I don’t want to hear any of that!”
“Oh yeah? But Jack’s stories are okay, right? That’s sexist! You want to imagine him having sex, but not me?”
“I don’t want to imagine either of you having sex,” Dax replied, horrified. “Now, stop putting such horrible images in my head. It’s just that Jackneverbreaks his stupid abstinence rule during the season — and I want to know who that woman was!”
Well, that could be a problem. “She’s nobody,” Jack insisted. “Really. Can we finally play something new?”
“Yes, I know,” Anna piped up cheerfully. “We could…”
“Not truth or dare!” he interrupted rudely.
“Oh.” The smile fell from her face.
Dax looked at him, shaking his head. “We already have a man-of-mystery on the team, Jack,” he muttered. “I don’t think Moreau would be happy if you tried to take his place.”
Jack snorted. “Moreau isn’t mysterious just because he never says anything!”
“No, there’s something about him,” Anna objected, rocking her head from side to side. “He has this charisma that makes you feel…”
Dax and Jack’s eyebrows shot up.
Anna sighed. “I’m not just your little sister, I’m a woman too!” she reminded them. “But fine. Let’s play another game. It won’t hurt any of us to stop talking for a bit.”
Everyone agreed so they dug out Uno, out of nostalgia. And as soon as Jack had the cards in his hand, he relaxed noticeably.
This was good, being with Dax and Anna.
Lifewas good. It was definitely better now than it had been the last few years. He would forget about Penny, concentrate on his game, and win the damn Stanley Cup with the Hawks. Afterall, he had had dozens of one-night stands, and the last one was nothing special.
No one was surprised that Jack won three rounds. Anna finally kicked them outto go to sleepeven though they both knew it was code for alittle more studying. They had been the ones dropping her off at the library while they went to practice all those years, though, so they couldn’t exactly blame her.
“She wants to join the Hawks as an assistant physician,” Dax mumbled grumpily as they walked out the door of her apartment complex.
“I know.”
“I don’t like it. I know how horny hockey players are.”
Jack snorted. “As if anyone would even look at her wrong if they knew you were her brother.”
That seemed to calm Dax down. “True.”
Jack nodded and pulled his car keys out of his jeans pocket. As far as everyone was concerned, Anna was Dax’s sister, not his.
