by Alley Ciz
“I was just thinking the same thing about you,” she responded with a laugh.
“I love watching you dance at Rookies but hate that I can’t be the one dancing with you. You have no idea how many times I came close to cutting in when I would see some guys trying to push up on you,” he punctuated possessively.
“Ha! Half the time I go down to dance it’s because I can’t stand to watch the puck bunnies throw themselves at you.” The sadness was evident on her face.
“Hey.” He bent and put a finger under her chin to lift it up to place a whisper soft kiss across her lips. “Soon it won’t be an issue anymore. This whole situation with your brothers won’t last forever,” he continued once he had her full attention.
Tightening her arms around his neck she pulled him in closer.
“I know and this whole thing is entirely my fault. I don’t even know why you put up with it,” she murmured against his neck.
He took one hand off her hip and raised it to the back of her head, while leaving the other to rest on her hip just under the edge of her shirt. He kissed her with all the feeling and emotion that he’d been keeping in check.
She responded instantly by tightening her arms around his neck and going on her tiptoes so their bodies were flush together. When she felt his tongue trace the seam of her lips, she opened to grant him access.
Time stood still as they made out in the middle of the dance floor. Nothing else mattered except the two of them.
When the need for air became too great Jake pulled back and held her face in between his two large hands.
“Baby, I’d put up with anything for you. I love you.”
He watched as shock and pure joy exploded in her hazel eyes. The gold flecks practically sparkled. Her jaw dropped down in amazement.
Jordan’s heart skipped a beat and she froze, not sure she had heard him correctly over the loud music.
“Are you serious?” She croaked.
If it wasn’t for the pure happiness radiating off her body in waves he would have been nervous. But he could feel the love she had for him in every look she gave him and her every touch. He grinned like a Cheshire cat.
“As a heart attack.”
“Oh my god,” she whispered. She stared him right in the eyes and could see the laughter dancing in those emerald pools.
Reacting instinctively, she crushed her lips against his in a kiss that could have melted the leather of his shoes. Then she said the words he too had been longing to hear.
“I love you too Jake.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
As the final weeks of the summer went by, Ryan and Jase were still blissfully unaware of Jake and Jordan’s relationship. Sure keeping things a secret made things a little convoluted but in the end everything seemed to work out.
The more time they spent together, the more in love Jordan felt. She was still trying to figure out the best way to tell her brothers and had committed herself to telling them before the start of school and the hockey season. She was hopeful this would be possible since all had been quiet on the Tommy front since that fateful night at Rookies.
With that resolve in mind she planned on dropping the bomb after the end of summer party the team was throwing that night at the hockey house. Now she needed Maddey to arrive so she could bounce the idea off someone else.
As if on cue she heard the front door open.
“Jor, where you at?” Maddey shouted after she let herself in like usual.
“Upstairs,” she yelled back.
“Hey girl.” Maddey said as she entered the room, dropping her overnight bag on the bed before giving her best friend a hug.
She paused in packing her own overnight bag to return her friend’s hug.
“Hey I’m so happy you came to hang out with me before heading over to the hockey house.”
Maddey regarded her knowingly. “Uh oh. I can tell by your face you have something going on in that pretty head of yours. Spill.”
Jordan took a deep breath and let it out in a rush.
“I was thinking of telling Ryan and Jase about me and Jake after the party tonight.”
“Wow,” Maddey said, stunned into silence.
“Yup.”
“That’s a big move.”
“Yup.”
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
“Nope.”
“Did you talk to Jake about it?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, enough with the monosyllabic answers,” Maddey scolded.
“Sorry, I’m just nervous.” She sat down on the bed with a thunk as the enormity of what she was considering hit her.
Maddey sat down next to her and curled her legs under her to get comfortable.
“I think the first thing you have to do is talk to Jake and see what he thinks.”
She laughed and waved her hand in the air in a dismissive manner. “Please, he’s been wanting to tell them since the beginning.”
The girls looked at each other and fell into a fit of giggles.
“Well this weekend certainly won’t be boring that’s for sure,” Maddey concluded.
“Yeah potential homicide has that effect,” Jordan deadpanned.
“Okay time to focus on something else.” Maddey rose from the bed and went into Jordan’s closet. “What are you wearing tonight?”
Some of the guys unloaded the cars from their trips to Costco and the liquor store for the evening’s party, while the rest of the team set things up around the house.
It was only noon and they had the majority of what needed to be done complete. The backyard had cornhole, Kan Jam, ladderball, and horseshoes set up in different areas. They even put the volleyball net up in the pool.
Tucker and Jake got the kegs situated in their coolers with ice, while Jase and Ryan took care of tables and chairs.
“Do we have enough wood for the fire pit?” Jase asked.
“Yeah, I went out yesterday and picked up a few more cords just in case,” Tucker confirmed.
“Okay, good. What else do we need to prep food wise?” Jake asked as he tapped the last keg.
“We just have to put out the chips and stuff but we’ll wait until closer to the party for that. The girls are bringing potato and pasta salad, as well as stuff to make s’mores,” Ryan supplied.
“And we bought enough burgers, dogs, chicken, and steak to feed an army,” Jase added.
The guys shared a laugh as they made their way inside the house.
“What time is Sammy coming to set up?” Jake asked.
It was a nice perk to be friends with a DJ when they had parties. Sammy really knew how to keep a party going strong.
Ryan checked the time on his phone. “He’ll probably be here in an hour or so. He said he would come early in case we needed any additional help setting up.”
“Any idea how many people are coming to this thing?” Jase asked from where he sat down on the couch turning the TV to a baseball game.
“The Facebook event said about a hundred of us, though that is including most of the team. But you know how these things go, anyone could show up.” Jake shook his head at the memories of some of their more epic parties in the past that came to mind.
As planned, Jordan and Maddey arrived at the hockey house a few hours early to help with food and to hang before everything got hectic. Skye was due to join them once she got off her lifeguard shift at the pool.
Ryan currently had Maddey pinned against the counter in the kitchen. He ran his nose down the side of her ear and placed a kiss to the sensitive spot behind it.
“Oh how I’ve missed you babe,” he whispered.
“I’ve missed you too.” She tilted her face up for a proper kiss.
“If the two of you weren’t so cute together, I think I would be sick,” Jordan grumbled as she put away food in the fridge.
“The thing that sucks about school starting back up is now I’m going to see you even less when you move back into the city,” Ryan told Mad
dey.
“Are you actually pouting Ry?” Jordan shook her head at the sight. “Damn, you’ve gone soft.”
“Bite me,” Ryan told his sister.
“Careful… You know I would,” she said with an evil laugh.
Maddey threaded her arms around Ryan’s neck. “Don’t worry. I’ll come spend as many of my off days here as I can. Plus your sister is so excited to be able to go to your games again that I won’t miss many. It’ll be easier having company to watch the games with anyway.”
He let out a short laugh. “Oh man, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into going to the games with her. She’s intense.”
“Good I’ll have someone to teach me what is going on.”
“You know I will. You’ll be an expert by the time I’m through with you.” Jordan reached out to bump fists with her friend.
“Well, hopefully you’ll still be attracted to me after. She can be pretty brutal in her critique,” Ryan worried.
Maddey smiled. “I’m sure your manly prowess is safe.” She placed a quick kiss on his lips.
“I can’t wait to see you wearing my jersey. It will never look so good,” he said with a hint of possessiveness in his tone.
When her brother lifted her friend onto the counter to make-out Jordan knew it was time to high tail it out of there. With her older brother now occupied in the kitchen with her best friend and Jase off elsewhere, she used this rare moment alone to talk to Jake without prying eyes or ears. Under the guise of watching the Yankees game on TV she sat down next to him on the big couch in the living room.
Turning to him, she smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Jake returned her smile.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Okay, shoot.”
She was nervous. Jake, always able to read her like a book, picked up on it instantly. He took a quick look around to make sure they were still alone and reached for her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze.
“Babe, you know you can talk to me about anything.”
“Well I was thinking.” She paused again and bit her lip. She decided to bite the bullet. “I’m thinking about telling my brothers about us after the party.”
Jake’s eyes widened in surprise. Of all the things she could have brought up, this was not one he expected. Sure he wanted to come clean with the guys right away but she knew he understood why she wanted to keep her brothers in the dark. He knew eventually their relationship would be able to be out in the open and that all that really mattered was he had her as his girl.
“Wow.” He was still speechless from shock.
After a minute he continued. “What changed your mind?”
“I’m sick of sneaking around and having to watch other girls around you without being able to lay claim. Like tonight will suck, I’m sure.” She made a face thinking of the puck bunnies that would be at the party later that evening. “I mean you do a good job of pushing them away but it’s still not the same as me telling a bitch to back off.”
Jake laughed at the look of disgust on her face. He liked the jealous side of her.
“Babe, you know those girls have nothing on you. You are the hottest girl I know.”
That got him a smile from her.
“So, let’s tell them now,” he offered as a solution.
After thinking about his suggestion for a moment she shook her head. “No. I don’t want there to be anything that could ruin the party. It’s not fair for the rest of the team.”
He nodded at that. “Okay so what’s the plan?”
“I don’t know,” she said sheepishly.
He laughed. “Okay, well what should we say? Should we tell them we’ve been together most of the summer?”
“I don’t know that either.” Jordan paused to look him deep in his gorgeous bright green eyes. “I just know that we will tell them tonight no matter what. Nothing will keep us apart anymore. I’m just done with it all.”
“Whatever you want, babe, I’ll just follow your lead.” He ran a finger down the side of her face in a loving caress.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The party had been in full swing for a few hours and Jordan was doing her best to not grind down her molars to dust in frustration from watching the puck bunnies make passes at Jake. Just like always, Tabby had been particularly attentive to him all night.
Trying to get her mind off of what was going on in the other room, she had spent the past hour playing beer pong with Jase.
“What, is there no one out there that can take us on?” Jase taunted the room at large. “We’ve been running the table for over an hour and have had barely anything to drink. I’m thirsty.”
She rolled her eyes at her twin. He was such a guy at times.
“We can retire you know,” she cast him a look. “I would like to spend time somewhere other than the dining room.”
Jase looked down at her and smirked. “You know I think that’s an awesome idea.”
He turned to face the room at large. With a slight bow he said, “Well it’s been an honor to play for our fans but my sister and I will be retiring for the night. Good luck to you future competitors.”
She pushed her brother on the back to get him moving toward the sliding back doors. “Okay, Wayne Gretzky. Will you just go, it’s beer pong for Christ’s sake.”
“Oh, but you know you love me.” He laughed as he let her manhandle him outside where they joined Ryan, Maddey, and Skye by the fire pit.
“Only because I shared a womb with you,” she muttered.
“Did you guys finally lose?” Ryan looked up from the Adirondack chair he sat in with Maddey snuggled on his lap.
“No. I was finally able to convince hot shot over here,”— she hooked her thumb in her twin’s direction— “we should retire so we could experience the rest of the party.” She rolled her eyes in the direction of her twin.
“I swear the way he left, you would think he was retiring from the NHL and not a beer pong game.”
She settled into the empty chair next to Ryan and murmured her thanks to Jase as he handed her one of the beers he poured from the keg.
“Hey, I went two years without having a decent partner. It’s nice to finally have someone I can kick Jake and Tucker’s asses with.” Jase tapped his solo cup against hers.
“Why are we talking about my ass? Because if you wanted to grab it you know you don’t have to ask ladies,” Tucker said with a wink as he joined the group.
“Please,” Skye answered with an exaggerated eye roll. “If I’m grabbing anyone’s ass it isn’t going to be yours.”
Maddey choked on her beer at Skye’s response.
“Oh, darlin’ you know you love my ass.” Tucker waggled his eyebrows at Skye. The sexual tension between the two crackled like always.
“Seriously I think you guys need to start sleeping together again. The sexual tension is so thick between you two I feel like I need to take a shower after I’m with you,” Jordan suggested.
“Blondie, you are so smart. I think that is an excellent suggestion.” Tucker saluted her with his beer.
“Hey. I thought you were my BFF?” Skye asked.
“Oh I am.”
“How is you helping Tuck get his dick wet helping me?”
Jordan sputtered into her beer. Leave it to Skye to be blunt as usual. “Well you also get laid in the scenario.”
“Good point.” Tucker sent Skye a hopeful look.
“Not gonna happen.”
The group laughed at Tucker’s rejection.
After a while more people joined the group around the fire including Sammy and Jake. Jordan was happy to note Tabby was on the other side of the backyard at the moment.
Skye had gone into the house to get all the supplies to make s’mores earlier. And the whole crew had a blast making them.
“Oh, this is the best campfire treat ever.” Jordan exclaimed while licking the last remnants of melted marshmallow off her fingers.
She l
ooked up and caught Jake’s heated stare across the fire as he watched her tongue clean her fingers and smiled. Sending him a quick wink she hoped no one noticed. She was happy to note Jake adjusted his shorts, clearly not unaffected by her.
He was so hot sitting there in his green Ninja Turtle t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts and she longed to go over and curl up in his lap as Maddey was in Ryan’s. She checked the time on her phone and realized it was already after midnight. The party would be winding down soon and the moment would come soon enough for her to bite the bullet and reveal the truth of her relationship for all the world to know.
Jake noticed the anxious look on her face and sent her a reassuring smile. He mouthed the word soon to her and she returned his smile.
The next hour flew by with good conversation and tons of joking around. Tucker was always there to tell a joke or an outrageous story. The backyard was finally emptying out of the extra partygoers and those who would be staying overnight at the house started to make their way inside.
To Jordan’s dismay some of the remaining people were a few puck bunnies, including Tabby. Deciding to shake it off, she started to help clean up in the dining room. Soon it would all be a moot point. Her brothers would know about her and Jake and puck bunnies would become the least of her worries.
As she finished wiping the last of the beer residue off the table, she went to check the time on her phone and noticed it wasn’t in her back pocket. She could have sworn she had it with her when she came inside.
“Has anyone seen my phone?” She asked the room at large.
“I thought I saw a phone outside on one of the fire pit chairs earlier,” Tabby answered, pausing in her blatant attempt at flirting with Jake while he cleaned up the garbage in the kitchen.
Still slightly miffed at Tabby’s presence in general, she muttered a soft thanks and opened the sliding glass doors to go out back.
There was nothing on the chair she had been sitting in. She double checked the whole area around the fire pit but no phone. Deciding to check the other areas she was earlier, she checked around the cornhole game and the horse shoe area and still no dice.