Luca McKenzie, taking charge. Following directions really, but to a fucking T.
Nobody walking by would have ever assumed that entire thing was just for show. Not with the way he’d flattened into me, the pads of his thumbs digging into my hips, his head dropping hungrily to my neck like we were silent picture stars in a black and white movie.
I finally understand why those women always looked so limp. Because to have someone ravish you like that—it makes your bones turn to jelly.
Leaving L.A., Luca and I sat next to each other on the plane like we’d started to do every time we traveled somewhere. We pulled out our notes and our tablets and we’d talked through the strategy against the Wild.
“They’re going to come out strong, aggressive,” I warned. “Your biggest task is keeping them from scoring early. Once they do that, it’s a whole mental battle—one I’m not entirely confident the Frost is equipped to win.”
Uncle Vic had stopped by our row for a second to hear some of our thoughts, but when he got sleepy, he returned to his seat, and soon his belly rose and fell as he snored.
Then we landed in Minneapolis, and there was still nothing from the night before. Nothing in the press to show me and Luca together.
I started thinking we might have to take matters into our own hands. It wouldn’t be as effective, Luca posting a picture on Insta with my hand on his chest—but it would be better than nothing.
Then I sat through the Wild game, thinking. At first, I was thinking that Luca was going to go through another game with his shit all knocked off balance by his ex-wife. Then, about halfway through the second quarter, it was like he broke through and came to the other side.
And when he scored the final goal, he looked up and found me.
I’d ignored the little flip in my stomach then. Maybe I’d finally become a hockey fan, and someone as famous as Luca McKenzie finding me in the crowd felt like something from a Wattpad story.
Now, I’m making my way out of my seat, down to the area outside the locker rooms, when an older couple intercepts me smiling ear-to-ear.
“Hi,” the woman says, her eyes shining with something warm and affectionate.
“It’s so great to meet you,” the man says, sticking his hand out to me, and it’s so disarming that my very first thought, somehow, is that this is a set-up.
When Dad and I were grifting, we always played personalities like this. Warm, welcoming. Approaching people and pretendingto know them, knowingtheywould feel too bad about the situation to admit that they didn’t remember us.
Of course they didn’t. We’d never met them before in our lives.
Even knowing this would be the perfect cover to get me unbalanced, I reach out and take the man’s hand.
“Hi.” I clear my throat, looking between them. “Sorry, I don’t—”
“Oh, how silly of us,” the woman says, and when I drop the man’s hand, she steps forward, wrapping her arms around me. “I’m Blair McKenzie. And this is my husband, Gerald.”
“It’ssonice to meet you,” he says again when his wife releases me and steps back. “Maybe it’s overstepping, but I can tell you this, I’ve never been so happy about a divorce in my life—”
“Mom? Dad?” Sloane appears, breathing a little hard. Her dad reaches out a hand, offering it to her. She holds onto it, leaning into the support and taking a large breath. “What are you doing?”
“Just talking to your brother’s new girlfriend,” her dad says, and my stomach drops.
How had I not thought of this? Sloane turns to me, her eyes wide and confused, then a laugh bubbles out of her.
“Are you kidding?” she asks, eying me, waiting for me to deny it.
DoI deny it? In all our planning, we hadn’t talked about what to do about his family. For some reason, we hadn’t even broached the subject of his family finding out. Do I tell them that this is a fake thing? That we’re just doing it to diffuse some of the attention from the Mandy situation?
But my questions are answered when a steady hand slides around my waist, drawing me in closer. Sloane’s eyes lock onto the movement, then move to me, then to the person beside me.
“Hey, babe,” Luca says, as casually as if that’s something we’d always been doing. “What’s going on?”
“Luca,” his mom says, her face beaming with pride. “That was quite the comeback, we’re so happy we made the drive over for the game—”
“We were introducing ourselves to your new girl,” Gerald says, putting a hand on his wife’s back, as if to remind her of the moment. “It’s good you’re here now, so you can tell us why we found out fromSlap Shot,of all places, that our son is seeing someone new—”
“Slap Shotposted about it?” Sloane asks, her eyes going wide, hand sliding into her pocket to find her phone. “What the hell?”
