Troublemaker (Playmaker Duet #0.25; Prescott Family #2; Love In All Places #3)

by Mignon Mykel

  Copyright © 2016 by Mignon M. Derks

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a media retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of this book, excepting of brief quotations for use in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

  ISBN: 1539029166

  ISBN-13: 978-1539029168

  Cover Design and Formatting: oh so novel

  Editor: Jenn Wood, All About the Edits

  All images have been purchased

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  PRESCOTT FAMILY SERIES

  From the Beginning - currently unavailable

  Interference

  Playmaker Duet: Troublemaker, Porter’s prequel

  Playmaker Duet: Breakway, Asher’s prequel (February 2017)

  Playmaker Duet: Altercation (March 1, 2017)

  Playmaker Duet: Holding (March 28, 2017)

  O’GALLAGHER NIGHTS NOVELLA SERIES

  One Night Stand

  About Last Night

  All Night Long

  O’Gallagher Nights: The Complete Series with Bonus Holiday Novella

  LOVING MEADOWS SERIES

  Saving Grace

  Ember Bright—coming soon

  Honor Bound—coming soon

  Carpe Diem—coming soon

  ENFORCERS OF SAN DIEGO SERIES

  Dropping the Gloves—coming soon

  Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in our own sunshine.

  -Henry Ward Beeche

  This is a story of a teenaged boy, but is intended for readers 18+. As a teenager, he does go through what some consider adult situations, such as sex and drugs. The age of consensual sex in the state of Wisconsin is 18 years old and the state of Wisconsin does not have what is considered a Romeo and Juliet exception. However, sex happens with teens. Any sexual acts that are written about are consensual between the parties.

  Now

  It was finally here.

  The day I had been dreaming about since a young kid. The day I’d thought about when Caleb was drafted, and Jonny shortly thereafter.

  I was excited as hell.

  I stood in line waiting for both mine and Ace’s coffees, thumbing through my phone. My best bud Logan recently went off to college—University of North Dakota—and my phone was constantly blowing up.

  He was all NoDak, all the time. I was getting pictures of green and white everything—linens, signs, his hockey uniform, the tape on his hockey stick, and maybe an inappropriate picture of a painted other stick. The kid lived to rile me up.

  He was one of those friends who I had no doubt would be my friend for the rest of my life, the type of friendship my dad had with his old hockey buddy, Teague Ketterhagen.

  Just before I closed down my phone, a text came through.

  Miss you already, but totally understand. Maybe I can visit you…

  I gave a small smile at the screen but refused to answer. I wasn’t going to do that to her, lead her around. Not with our history.

  I was pocketing my phone with a sigh when the front door opened. I glanced past the table where Avery was sitting, nosy to see who came in.

  This was Starbucks, so it wasn’t like the place was dead. People were in and out of the doors every thirty seconds.

  The person—the woman—who walked through took my breath away.

  It wasn’t her clothing choice, although the not-so-skin-tight jeans looked good on her. It was surprisingly refreshing to see a woman wearing something that wasn’t yoga pants or skinny jeans.

  And she wasn’t showing off all that much skin in the long-sleeve tee with sleeves pushed up to her elbows. The cotton did hug her chest though.

  No, it wasn’t any of those things.

  Maybe it was the colorful ink on her right arm. Or maybe the studs up and down both of her ears, or even the black Monroe piercing she had.

  Or her hair.

  It was thick and brown and curled around her shoulders and down her back.

  She was fucking gorgeous and for the first time since signing my contract in South Carolina, I wished I were staying a little bit closer to home.

  “Grande java chip and tall black for Porter!”

  I begrudgingly turned my attention away from the woman who stole my attention and grabbed my Frappuccino and Ace’s coffee.

  “Thanks,” I said, lifting the cups in a thank you gesture to the barista. I turned back to head toward the table, curious where the brunette beauty went but knowing it was a lost cause anyway.

  I was leaving so who the fuck cared if I found a local girl gorgeous? Besides, this was my last hour with my sister before I was supposed to be headed to the airport.

  Giving up on finding the girl, I went straight to mine and my sister’s table and handed her the cup of death. “There’s your nasty java.”

  “Hey, at least you didn’t wuss out and get the strawberries and cream today,” Avery said around a grin, lifting the white cup to her lips.

  I didn’t bother scoffing at that.

  Yes, I sometimes went for the sweeter frozen drinks.

  There was nothing wrong with that.

  “Is that at least a coffee-based Frappuccino?” she asked, her brows up as she lowered her cup to the table now.

  “Yes.” I scoffed that time.

  I pulled a chair out and plopped down across from her.

  “Excited for your change?” I asked. Avery had gone away for school the last two years, but this year had chosen to stay closer to home.

  She nodded, her light green eyes lighting up. “I am.” She let go of her cup and swept her blonde hair over her shoulder in an action that she probably practiced growing up, mirroring everything our oldest sister, Mykaela, did.

  “And you’re sure the agent field is what you want to do?” I asked, casually taking a sip from my green straw.

  Let’s be honest, I was curious because I was being a bit selfish. If Avery got into sports management, she was going to take me on as a client and I didn’t think there was anyone better to have your back than family.

  She nodded again. “Absolutely. If I can’t play hockey professionally, I still want an active part in the sport.”

  “But Myke—”

  Ace lifted a blonde brow. “Would you want to play under Myke?”

  Women’s NHL was slowly becoming a thing, at least on the East Coast. Myke was fighting to start a division in the Midwest and I absolutely believed she could do it, but, “Nope. No, I would not.” I grinned wide.

  Nothing against Myke, nothing at all, but she was definitely a mother hen. She was mini-mom growing up which, thankfully, I didn’t remember too much of as she was nearly twelve years older than me.

  “Besides, my knees are getting old.”

  I laughed. “If your knees are getting old, I should probably
start looking into knee replacements.” Avery was only a little over a year older than me.

  Ace started to say something when her smile widened. “Oh! Porter, I wanted you to meet my new friend. I met her earlier and she’ll be staying in the guest house while she gets back on her feet.” Avery stood and walked around the table. I followed her with my eyes, turning in my chair to meet whoever Avery liked enough to get our parents to agree to let use the guest house.

  “Porter, meet Asher.”

  I stood and was ready to extend my hand, being the polite baby brother my sister expected me to be. But when I turned, ready to do just that, the words were stuck in my throat.

  It was her.

  Then

  People often asked me what it was like to not only be the kid of a hockey legend, a man who won numerous awards as a player and just as many as a coach, but also the kid brother of two of NHL’s most notable players.

  It wasn’t bad.

  But it wasn’t great either.

  My family was super close, yeah, but the last thing I wanted was to be fucking compared to my twenty-seven year old brother. Yeah, Caleb was fucking great. Awesome. Glad you think that. Sure, his wife was a fucking knockout. Sydney was a great woman, yeah. They had a cute kid, yep.

  Then there was Jonny.

  “Oh, you didn’t want to play goalie because you knew there’d be no competing with Jon Jon Prescott,” people would say, as if I didn’t know who the guy was.

  No, I didn’t want to play goalie because I didn’t particularly enjoy pucks fucking flying at my face.

  And let’s be honest, Jonny only ended up in goal because he was no good at forward.

  That’s not me being an ass, that’s the real story.

  And then people went on and on about Jonny’s wife. Jenna was pretty, yeah, but she was a fucking bitch, and from the moment those two got married, Jonny stopped showing up to family things.

  Like Jenna was more fucking important to him than his family.

  So fuck you, Jonny. And no. I don’t want to be like you either.

  I was Porter Prescott. I was my own fucking person, thank you very much.

  As the years passed, as my brothers became more and more well known, as my sisters started to do their own things with the hockey community, I felt like my worth as a Prescott continued to diminish, as if I was just the kid brother who was bound to follow in every other Prescott’s shadow.

  There wasn’t any way in hell I was going to do that.

  I was a seventeen year old going-to-be junior at the same high school every one of my siblings went to—and no, I wasn’t held back because I was dumb. My parents didn’t think I was ready for kindergarten when I was five, and because I was the youngest at home, wanted me to excel in school.

  Between my brothers and two of my sisters excelling at hockey, and McKenna excelling in academics, my siblings were brought up all the fucking time. As if there was no such person, Porter Prescott, without the five of them ahead of me.

  I was fucking done.

  I was done having to own up to my accomplishments; they were fucking mine! Not Caleb’s. Not Jonny’s. Not Myke’s or Ace’s. They were mine. It was me on the ice, my stick wielding the puck, my shot scoring goals.

  Not theirs.

  Before the year was up, I was no longer going to be “Baby Brother Prescott.”

  No. I was going to be Porter Prescott period.

  I was done being in the shadows.

  August

  “Dude, Teagan is so fucking hot,” my buddy Alex said as we lounged against the side of our community pool. School was starting the next day and we, along with our other friends, were soaking up the last of the Wisconsin summer sun.

  Summers in Wisconsin were either bone fuck cold, never getting above seventy, or they were the armpit of hell at ninety plus with full-fucking humidity. This summer was the armpit of hell, so we spent as much time at the pool as possible.

  I looked over to the other side of the pool to catch my pseudo-cousin Teagh doing a swim lesson with some little kids.

  I guess she was pretty for a girl, but I grew up with her. I knew her bad habits. “I guess.”

  “You just think that because of whatever fucking messed up thing in your head that says she’s family. Porter, Teague Ketterhagen is not your uncle. You could totally tap that ass over there.”

  I shook my head, grinning. “I know Teague isn’t really my uncle, asshole, but I grew up with Teagan. Like family. And let me tell you, she’s too good for you, so I would just stop thinking about her while you’re ahead.”

  Teagh must have heard us talking about her, because she looked over her shoulder in our direction, all while still giving direction to the little kid she was helping with a back stroke. I grinned and shot her the bird, earning me a crooked grin and a shake of her head.

  Teagan was cool. And she was family, no matter what these fuckers said.

  “I want to unwrap that bun on her head and fist it all while—” my buddy Ty started but I wasn’t about to let him finish that sentence.

  “Shut the fuck up, you dick,” I said, splashing water his way with a sweep of a closed fist.

  Ty chuckled and wiped at the water on his face. “She’s fucking hot,” he repeated what Alex said.

  Lesly, one of the girls in our group, shrugged. “She’s ok. She thinks she’s better than everyone.” Lesly moved her bug-eye sunglasses off the top of her head so she could stare in Teagh’s direction discretely.

  “Just stop, guys,” I said, shaking my head.

  Lesly muttered, “It’s true,” but I turned my attention to Alex as he pulled himself out of the pool.

  “I think that in honor of the last day of summer, we should break in tonight and go skinny dipping,” Alex stated.

  The community center, and therefore pool, closed at sundown. It wouldn’t be the first time we broke in to the pool.

  I shrugged and looked over at the other guys, who were nodding. Lesley pouted, saying something about her parents being super on top of curfew this year, but I could care less. She could stay behind. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings none.

  “Sounds like a plan.” I looked over my shoulder to where a giant clock was mounted between the club house’s restrooms. I was already on Dad’s shit list, so I would probably be better off getting home in time for dinner. God, I couldn’t wait until the AHL season started and he would be off for days at a time, coaching away games.

  But oh yeah.

  That’s right.

  He retired at the end of last season.

  Fuck me and my life.

  Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad. He’s a great guy but his tolerance level for my…stunts—as Mom calls them—is much lower than Mom’s.

  “I’m heading out, but text me your plan,” I said as I hoisted myself out of the pool backward, my ass sitting on the ledge before I pulled my leg up beside me to stand. I rung the water out of my shorts and shook my hair, sending water droplets spraying.

  “God, Porter!” came a girly shrill beside me. I laughed as I stopped shaking, grinning at Mo, one of the cooler girls in our group. We lost our virginities together two years ago and she was still the one I went to when I needed that release. We were cool, though. She knew I wasn’t looking for a relationship and I respected her when she was in one.

  But she wasn’t now.

  And to be completely honest, I would be cool with the idea of a relationship with Mo, if she were to ever want to, you know, change the friend label. It probably wouldn’t be much different than what we did when she wasn’t dating someone. Hang out. Fuck. Hang out some more. She had a pretty vigorous schedule herself, so she knew the demands of my lifestyle and would be understanding if we only got to hang out a few hours a week.

  “Sorry, Mo.” I winked at her and reached around her for my towel, snapping it at her ass. I loved her ass. Maybe I could talk her into some naked time later tonight.

  At the moment, she wore a black strapless top and those ch
eeky bottoms that showed off her ass impeccably. When my towel snapped her, she jumped and grabbed herself, her eyes narrowing at me.

  “You can be such an ass!” she said, but she was laughing and her face was flushed. It was quick, but her eyes dropped and raked back up my body.

  Oh yeah. Definitely getting laid tonight.

  “See you later?” I asked.

  “Yeah, Mo, you should come tonight. Skinny dipping,” Alex said as he lifted Lesly, right before tossing her, yelling, into the pool.

  Mo didn’t bother to look at Alex, her eyes locked on mine as she gave me a coy smile. “Sure. I’ll be there.”

  I flashed her the Prescott Dimple as I wrapped my towel around my hips—before my dick drew attention to itself—and left, heading for my car and for home.

  Dinner tonight hadn’t been that bad.

  All of my siblings were gone—Kenna and Ace to college, Jonny and Caleb and their wives flew back to San Diego the week prior, and Myke lived a town over and was pardoned from family meals, on account of her being twenty-eight.

  I think my parents wanted to see her married off. I don’t think anyone expected Jonny to be the first to get married. For as long as I remember, he’d dated Jenna. We all hoped he would drop her like a bad habit, but nope. He went and proposed to her instead.

  From the moment he put a ring on her finger, Jonny was hardly ever around.

  And I hated Jenna the most for that reason alone.

  Even when Jonny did come around, he wasn’t the same guy he was three years ago.

  Married life suited Caleb really well. And Sydney was a great addition to the family, I would definitely give her that. They started on babies right after the wedding, and I have to say, I do enjoy being an uncle to their first kid, Brandon. He was almost two and looked just like Caleb, but with Sydney’s eye shape and color. I wouldn’t put it past Cael to get the kid in skates sooner than later either.

  Sydney was also pregnant with their second kid. They announced it right before flying back to San Diego. Caleb was a great dad, but it was just one more thing to pull my family away.