Shutdown Player New

by dlady

  Izzy nodded, but her brows knitted together as if she were contemplating something. “Maybe you’ve had enough for tonight. I’ll text Coop, and he can tell Jared you’re not feeling well and will see him tomorrow.”

  “You’d do that for me?”

  “I would.” She smiled and linked her arm with Steph’s. “Let’s hit the road.”

  Together they walked to the parking lot.

  Relief flooded through Steph. She couldn’t take another minute being examined under a microscope by those women. Tomorrow would be another story. She’d have time to rest and recharge her batteries.

  She was going to need all the energy and courage she had to get through the next few days. Why Jared’s sisters’ hurtful comments mattered, she didn’t know. Jared wasn’t her perfect guy or even her imperfect guy. He was just a friend, but she always worried too much about what others thought. She’d probably gotten that from her mother, who valued appearances above the genuine.

  Thinking of her mother only depressed her more, and Steph was trying so hard to stay positive.

  She’d escaped Gino’s dangerous grasp. She was putting together the pieces of a new life.

  But she missed her family. She missed being around people who loved her.

  Unconditionally.

  * * * *

  Jared sipped a beer and leaned back in one of the metal chairs at the folding card table in his small apartment, a far cry from the huge monstrosity that seated sixteen to twenty guests in his former home’s dining room. Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

  His brother flopped onto the couch and stretched his legs out in front of him. Silently, he surveyed the combined kitchen/living/dining area.

  Jared’s gaze followed his. He knew what Heath saw and winced. He could read Heath’s mind. Last time he’d visited, Jared had lived in a gorgeous waterfront condo with huge expanses of windows, a top-end kitchen, and designer décor. Now he lived in an average apartment close to the practice rink with a view of the parking lot and an office building across the street. His furniture was cheap crap from a discount furniture store. Because he’d decorated it himself, nothing matched. He didn’t have a housekeeper anymore, so the place was also a cluttered mess.

  Jared braced himself for the inevitable questions and thanked the creator above it was Heath he’d be answering to, not his mother. At least, not yet. He was postponing the inevitable, as she’d insist on seeing his new abode before she left town.

  When his brother said nothing, Jared couldn’t take it. He needed to get this over with. “I know what you’re thinking.”

  “And what is that?” Heath’s dark eyes bored into his, completely unreadable. Heath possessed a damn good poker face when necessary.

  “Why am I living here?”

  Heath shrugged. “The thought did cross my mind, considering what you make on an NHL salary. This looks more like something I could afford.”

  “Candy got the condo, but I’m still making the payments and taxes. I hope to have it paid off in another year or two.”

  “What the fuck?”

  “Yeah, no shit. I got my ass handed to me in the divorce.” And he’d rolled over and let her have her way just to get the nightmare over with as quickly as possible. Money had never meant much to him, but he’d been a fool not to fight some of the unreasonable demands she’d made. In an effort to avoid more drama by having his name dragged through the press, he’d acquiesced to even the most outrageous requests. He knew Candy, and she would’ve done whatever it took to squeeze the last penny out him.

  “But still. Don’t you make seven figures?”

  “Yeah. Amazing how quickly someone can go through money like that if she has gambling and drug problems. Oh, and pays for all her friends’ gambling and drugs, especially the male friends.”

  Heath winced. “It’s that bad?”

  “I have credit card bills that would make you shudder in horror. You’d shit yourself if you saw them.”

  “Ah, man, that’s brutal.”

  Jared saw the one thing in his younger brother’s eyes he’d hoped to never see—pity. Heath had always looked up to him, idolized him, wanted to be him. Now, he was probably thanking his lucky stars he wasn’t stupid enough to be snared by a gold-digging woman.

  “I’m pretty much drained for the next year or two until I can get stuff paid off and her maintenance ends. She has two years to get an education and support herself.”

  “Is she getting one?”

  Jared chuckled ruefully. “Not the one I’m supposed to be paying for.”

  “Hard lesson to learn, bro, but stay away from puck bunnies.”

  “I am. I’m not like you. I like being part of a couple. I like having a partner.”

  Heath frowned. “And you think Stephanie is that girl?”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think she’s sweet, pretty, and quiet, but I’m not sure she’s for you.”

  “Why the fuck not?”

  “You’ve always been drawn toward women with runway-model looks and a surly attitude.”

  “Maybe I’ve grown up and prefer a good girl now.”

  “I think you’ll end up bored with a good girl.”

  “There’s something to be said about a traditional relationship. Coming home after a long road trip to a home-cooked meal, cuddling on the couch, and discussing our future. I’d never worry about what she was doing and with whom while I was gone.”

  “There is that.” Heath wouldn’t meet his gaze. Something was troubling him.

  “What?”

  “About Candy.” His brother was peeling the beer label off the bottle, a sure sign he was nervous. He stopped to run a hand over his face.

  Jared waited and gripped the side of the card table so tightly that his knuckles were white.

  Oh, God, please, no, don’t have my brother be one of her conquests.

  He didn’t know how he’d live with that knowledge.

  Finally, Heath looked up, and Jared’s stomach did a nosedive off the high board into an empty swimming pool—not a pretty sight. “Candy propositioned me.”

  “What? When?” Jared’s fingernails dug into the vinyl tabletop. His vision started to blur, and a wave of nausea swept over him.

  “A year or more ago. That’s why I quit visiting. You left for practice, and she walked into the spare bedroom where I was napping wearing nothing but a seductive smile.”

  “Fuck. My own brother.” He was going to lose his cookies all over this cheap-ass table. He swallowed back the bile and concentrated on controlling his emotions.

  Heath held up his hands. “I didn’t touch. I got the hell out of there.”

  Jared relaxed his fingers and released his hold on the table’s edge. He blew out a long, slow breath. His vision started to clear, as relief flooded through him. “Is that why you left so suddenly?”

  “Yeah. Wouldn’t you?”

  Jared nodded. “But why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  “I tried, but you wouldn’t listen. You were so wrapped up in lust with her that you didn’t want to hear anything bad.”

  “I was a fucking idiot. I thought she was it. The one. The woman who’d give me forever. Instead, she became my biggest nightmare, my greatest humiliation. The entire fucking team knew she was sleeping around before I did.”

  “Dude, that’s brutal.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “Next time, let Mom and the girls vet your girlfriend. If she can past their muster, she’s the right one.”

  “I guess that’s what I’m doing right now, but I wish Roberta wasn’t in the middle of all this.”

  “Roberta’s all right. You could do worse,” Heath said.

  “I did worse. This time, I don’t want to settle. I want what Mom and Dad had.”

  Heath squinted at Jared like he couldn’t quite see him. “What?”

  “Yeah, like they had.”

  “What planet did you grow up on?”

  “What’s that mean?�
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  “I was the baby, and I figured it out. They got along because they rarely lived in the same house together. When Dad was home, he was like a houseguest, and they had fun together. Didn’t you notice in the summers, they’d both get really edgy by the time training camp started?”

  “I—” Jared cut himself off. He thought back, disconcerted he’d seen the situation so differently from his brother. “I have the same job Dad did, the same work hours. I need an independent woman who can function without me.”

  “You haven’t been describing an independent woman. You married an attention slut. When she couldn’t get it from you, she went elsewhere. The ideal woman you’ve been describing is one who needs a man to make all her decisions. I think you’re confusing loyalty and fidelity with dependence and compliance.”

  “Well, Dr. Freud, thanks for the psychoanalysis.”

  “You don’t have to get sarcastic about it.” Heath rolled his eyes. “Let’s talk about your most immediate problem.”

  “And that is…?”

  “Keeping Mom and our sisters from seeing this place. I assume you haven’t told any of them your financial situation?”

  “Oh, God, no.” The thought almost gave Jared a panic attack, and he was not prone to those. For the moment, he pushed his muddled thoughts about his parents’ relationship, Candy’s proposition of his brother, and his attraction to Steph. He focused on his most pressing and horrifying problem—his mother and sisters finding out how broke he was.

  Chapter 8—Riding the Pine

  For Thanksgiving dinner, Steph put on a pink sweater dress a couple sizes too big. The thing hung limply from her shapely body. Even so, the material hugged her large breasts. She threw a scarf around her neck to disguise their size. She hated her breasts. Guys always talked to them instead of her. They judged her intelligence based on them, assuming she was a big-boobed dumb blonde. Sure, she had her blonde moments—she was forgetful and naïve about a lot of things—but she wasn’t dumb.

  She joined everyone in Coop and Izzy’s large living room overlooking the waters of Puget Sound and gladly accepted the glass of wine Coop offered her. He winked at her, his smile friendly and almost protective. Izzy must have filled him in. The man could be unreadable and uncommunicative, but he cared fiercely for the people who mattered to him. Steph was flattered she might be one of those people. Besides Jared and his family and the Blacks, there were a few hockey players present. Most likely guys who didn’t have family nearby. Also, the Wolfe brothers and their families were there en masse.

  She avoided Jared’s family. In fact, she avoided Jared. She didn’t care what they thought. She didn’t like pretending to be something she wasn’t. She’d been stupid to agree to this charade. Let them all believe they’d had a tiff.

  The incredible smells of turkey roasting filled the air, along with the screams of little children. Zeke Wolfe and his wife had three little kids who were currently playing chase around the dining room table with Otto. Paisley, Zeke’s wife, ran after them in attempt to prevent total destruction of the living room. Meanwhile, the ladies in the group were busy passing around Tyler, Emma and Tanner’s infant son. Tyler wanted no part of being held. He kept wriggling and fussing, wanting to use his newfound crawling skills to chase after Connor, who was zipping around the room on his hands and knees. Steph watched it all with fascination. Despite having five children, her mother would never have tolerated such chaos.

  Steph wondered what kind of a mother she would’ve been. Would she have been overprotective, or would she have let her child spread its wings and fly?

  Oh, dang. She shouldn’t have gone there. Her eyes were starting to fill with tears. She dabbed at them with a napkin and glanced around to make sure no one had noticed. Jared appeared at her elbow, surprising her. She jumped slightly.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” He put his hand on her back in a comforting gesture. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Steph sniffled and wouldn’t meet his eyes. She heard the concern in his voice and fought to hold it together.

  “You don’t sound fine. Did I do something? Or my family?”

  “No.” Finally, she lifted her head. His brow was furrowed with worry, and his green eyes shone with compassion. She called forth every bit of inner strength she possessed to hold back the tears.

  “Did someone else?” His hand tightened slightly at her waist. Instead of making her nervous, his touch comforted her.

  “I—I just need a minute alone. It’s nothing anybody did, just missing my family.”

  “Okay.” He nodded, seeming to buy her excuse. “I’m here if you need me, Steph.”

  “Thank you.” Escaping into the kitchen, Steph poured a glass of water, realizing too late that she’d trapped herself with nowhere to go. Mrs. Roderick had followed her and stood across the large kitchen island, hands on her hips. Her mouth was turned down in a thin, disapproving line, and her eyes were hard and cold.

  “Hi, could I help you find something?” Steph said in a pleasant tone.

  “I found what I was looking for. Have a seat.” Jared’s mother gestured to one of the barstools at the counter.

  “I—I have to—”

  “Sit,” she ordered Steph in an authoritative voice. She obviously wasn’t used to being questioned.

  Steph scrambled for a chair and sat with a thump. She clasped her hands in her lap and chewed on her lower lip, nervously searching for a way to escape.

  “What are your intentions toward my son?”

  Steph blinked. Several times. Her intentions? Wasn’t this a question usually asked of the man, not the woman?

  “I don’t have any intentions.”

  Mrs. Roderick snorted. “Of course you do. All women have intentions. What are yours?”

  Steph was at a loss for words. How did a person answer a pointed question like that? “Your son and I are just friends.”

  “That’s not how he explained it. Jerry tends to fall hard and fast for the wrong women.”

  Jerry? She covered her mouth, so his mother wouldn’t catch her snicker. “I’m not the right or wrong woman because I’m really not one of his women.”

  “I will not stand by and see him make the same mistake he made before. He’s very vulnerable right now, and he doesn’t like to be alone. He likes being in a relationship, always has.”

  Steph wasn’t prone to fits of temper or even anger. She’d been raised to be seen and not heard. A dutiful little daughter with a pretty voice, a nice smile, and an agreeable temperament. Yet right now, irritation zinged through her, making her feel like their old orange tabby cat who raised the hair on his back and growled low in this throat when he saw the neighbor’s dog head his way.

  “I am not after Jared or his money or his fame. You can relax.” As soon as Steph said the words, her hand flew to her mouth in shock. She never spoke up. She usually suffered in silence. Despite her discomfort for expressing a—God forbid—opinion, a small part of her applauded her daring.

  “Good, then. We have that settled.” Mrs. Roderick huffed and narrowed green eyes so much like Jared’s, a mother bear protecting her cubs.

  Steph didn’t respond.

  Jared’s mom did something completely unexpected next. She smiled at Steph. “I like you.”

  And just like that, she left the room.

  Steph stared after her, completely dumbfounded.

  Jared hurried into the kitchen as his mother exited. His eyes were huge and his expression tense. “Was my mom nice to you?”

  Steph managed to shoot him a look of boredom. “Why wouldn’t she be?”

  “Uh.” He slid his gaze from her to the door and back again. “My mom. She moves through a room with the force of a hurricane followed by a flash flood. And doesn’t leave much unscathed in her wake.”

  “I didn’t see that side of her.”

  He stared at her as if she’d lost her freaking mind.

  Steph smiled sweetly at him and waved. “Later.�
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  She breezed by a stupefied Jared and retreated to the sanctuary of the powder room. Once inside, she shut the door and leaned her head against the cool glass of the mirror. She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed in deep gulps of air. Eventually, her heartbeat slowed, and she was able to think clearly.

  She was proud of herself. Despite getting out of her comfort zone, she’d voiced her opinions to Jared and his mother and nothing bad had happened. No one had berated her for having an independent thought or slapped her so hard that her head whipped and almost snapped her neck. She’d survived, and she felt stronger for it.

  For her, that just might be an epiphany.

  * * * *

  Jared watched Steph’s retreating back as the bathroom door closed behind her. He scratched his head and wondered why he bothered trying to figure out women. Most of them were total mysteries, even though he’d grown up in a household of females. Then again, he’d never figured his mother or sisters, either.

  He’d pegged Steph for sweet and timid, but at times she’d exhibited a little spark of sass. He wished he could say he didn’t like it, but he did. A lot.

  “You look like you’re either contemplating world peace or how to pick a lock.”

  Jared whipped around. His face burned with the guilt of being caught staring at the bathroom door. Roberta smiled at him. The sugary innocence of her smile contradicted his past knowledge of her. She wasn’t a bad person, but she made it way too obvious she was looking for a diamond and forever. Jared sensed a trap when he tripped over one.

  He might be the settling-down type, but the lack of sparks had always kept him from exploring a relationship with his sister’s friend. Maybe it was that simple. She was his sister’s friend, and a breakup would be doubly painful. His wounds were too fresh to dive into another potential powder keg. He didn’t want drama. He wanted comfortable. Roberta was a wild night out in an ear-shattering club, while Jared longed for a cozy fire and a good movie.

  She wrapped her fingers around his arm and dug her nails into his bicep. He winced. Her grip reminded him of Candy’s, and the thought made him half sick to his stomach.