Defensive Zone

by Catherine Gayle

  “I understand that you’re being a stubborn ass. That’s what I understand.”

  Cody threw back his head as if praying for patience.

  Lord knew I could use a dose of it myself. “Come on. Let’s go.” I spun on my heels and reached for the doorknob.

  “Go where?”

  I was already halfway out the door when I stopped and turned so he could see my eye roll. “To my parents’ house, since you seem so fixed on talking to Dad before you answer me. Let’s do it.”

  “What? Now?” Cody sounded appalled. “It’s almost ten o’clock.”

  “Yes, now. Because if we don’t go now, you’re going to try to sneak off to see him sometime without me.”

  “This needs to be a conversation between the two of us. Man to man.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Lord save me from macho ideals.” Then I headed out and climbed into his car, slamming the passenger door and crossing my arms in front of me as I waited for him to join me. If he intended to go to my parents’ house without me, he was going to have to walk there…and even if he did that, I’d just drive over there and beat him so I could lay it all out there for Dad. Mom would be on my side. I had no doubt about that.

  Of course, I might have to steal his car to do that, but I wasn’t going to let something silly like grand theft auto stop me any more than I intended to let him go to my parents’ house on his own.

  It seemed Cody eventually came to the same conclusion, because he finally stalked over to the driver’s-side door and slumped into his seat, turning the key in the ignition.

  We didn’t speak the whole way to Mom and Dad’s house. To be honest, I didn’t have a damned thing to say to him until he finally deigned to answer my proposal, and it appeared he would rather marinate on that than respond.

  As soon as he pulled to a stop in my parents’ driveway, I threw open the car door and stalked up to the porch, not waiting for him to join me. I rang the doorbell and—when they still hadn’t answered after about two and a half seconds—banged on the door.

  Dad answered, looking equally furious to have someone pounding on his door and startled to discover it was me, at about the same time as Cody came around the corner. Dad’s expression instantly went to full-on fury.

  “We need to talk to you and Mom,” I said, shoving my way inside. I’d thought to add Mom to the equation because she could help me defuse the situation if Dad got overheated.

  Or if Cody decided to do something stupid. Judging by the way he was behaving so far tonight, I wouldn’t put it past him.

  “Now?” Dad replied, blinking in confusion. “It’s almost ten o’clock.”

  “Yes, now.”

  His startled expression was probably due to the bite in my tone. But seriously, I’d about had it with men tonight, and like it or not, he was going to have to deal with getting caught in the crossfire.

  Smart man that he was, Dad stood back and let me inside. I caught the way he glowered at Cody before I pushed past him. Frankly, a bit of my father’s posturing and scowling and whatnot would probably do Cody some good right now. Someone needed to put him in his place.

  Mom came down the stairs, still tying the belt of her robe in place. She grinned at me, until she saw the look on my face. Then her eyes fell to Dad. Then to Cody. When she next looked my way, there was a question in her eyes. “I’m going to go get some wine,” she said, heading for the kitchen.

  “Bring me some, too,” I said, not expecting her to comply. Then I plopped down on the couch, crossing one leg over the other and both arms in front of me.

  “You’re not getting any wine,” my father said. “You’re only twenty.”

  “We’ll see about that,” I shot back. “If Mom gives it to me, I can have it.” And once we were married, Cody could be the one to give me alcohol if I wanted it. I shot him a look, trying to tell him as much with words, because I was still sulking and not in the mood to spell it out for him.

  He took a seat next to me. Then he acted like he was going to drape an arm around my shoulders. I shot a glare in his direction, and he thought better of it. There wasn’t going to be any lovey-dovey stuff until he agreed to marry me, damn it.

  Sure enough, Mom came back bearing two glasses of red and passed one into my hands.

  I took a sip and nearly gagged. God, that stuff was gross. Which, of course, I already knew, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get drunk, damn it, because a girl deserved to get drunk if she proposed to a guy and he didn’t even bother to give her a freaking answer.

  Mom took a seat in the armchair across from us. Dad remained standing, arms crossed, legs braced in an intimidating posture, which only made me want to roll my eyes at him. He always put on such a show when it came to the guys Katie and I dated—even more so when things became serious—but I’d never known a person so full of bluster in my life. It was ridiculous how guys never seemed to realize that.

  I took another sip of my wine, grimacing as I set the glass on the coffee table. “So,” I said, looking over at Mom to calm myself. “We’re here because he thinks he needs your permissi—”

  “I asked Dani to marry me,” Cody interrupted before I could get it all out. I stomped on his foot, but he kept going. “But then I realized I needed to talk to you about it first, so I wouldn’t let her give me an answer. I need your blessing, and I know I’m not likely to get it because of things you know about me.”

  “Not likely?” Dad practically roared. His eye was twitching, which was a clear sign that he was about to blow a gasket. “It won’t ever happen. I know what you do, and that’s not ever going to happen with my baby girl.”

  “Oh, good grief,” I said before he could get anything else out. “For one thing, I’m not a baby anymore, in case you haven’t noticed. For another thing, I’m already fully aware of what Cody does, as you put it. Not only am I aware, but we’ve done it together already. So I do it, too.”

  “Wrong thing to say right now,” Cody muttered beneath his breath.

  Dad had his arms crossed in front of him, but they kept flinching as though he was having extreme difficulty keeping them where they were. “If you lay so much as a single finger on my little girl—”

  “What happens between us, when we’re two consenting adults, is none of your damn business,” I interrupted him.

  “It’s my business if he’s hurting you,” Dad roared.

  “He’s not hurting me, and for your information, I’m in love with him, okay?”

  “You’re sure about that?” Cody said, but Dad’s eye was twitching.

  “You don’t know what you’re saying,” my father said. “This isn’t love. It’s infatuation. You’re practically still a child. It’s because of all that Fifty Shades bullshit—”

  “I’m not a child,” I shot back. “You don’t get to control who I date and who I don’t. You get even less say in who I marry. You have no business being involved in my sex life, so I’ll ask you to butt the heck out.” I ignored my father’s garbled sound of outrage when I mentioned having a sex life and kept barreling on. “And this has nothing to do with any book or movie, all right? This is about your daughter and the man she loves wanting to get married.”

  “I won’t allow it,” Dad bit off.

  “I hate to be the one to point this out,” Mom cut in, “but you can’t exactly do anything to stop her. Dani has a point. She’s an adult, and she has the right to make her own decisions for her life.”

  “Oh, so now you’re going to gang up on me?”

  “I don’t need your permission or your blessing,” I said as calmly as I could, which wasn’t easy because Cody was practically vibrating beside me. But this wasn’t his battle to fight. “We’re getting married. And no matter how you feel about it, you’re going to have to learn to deal with it.”

  “It was bad enough when Katie decided to get involved with Babs—”

  “Oh, come off it, already,” Mom said. “You adore Jamie. You know he’s the best thing that ever happened
to Katie. Maybe, if you give him a chance, Harry will be the best thing to ever happen to Dani.”

  “His name’s Cody,” I said. “And he is the best thing that could ever happen to me. I’m not asking you for permission, Dad. I don’t need it. I just need you to accept it.”

  “That’s never going to happen. And you,” he bit off, glaring at Cody, “you can bet your ass that I’m going to have Jim Sutter working the phones as soon as tomorrow to get you shipped out of here. I’ll—”

  “You won’t do that unless you never want to see me again,” I interrupted him. “Because wherever he goes, I’m going with him.”

  “I won’t let you.”

  “You can’t stop her,” Mom said, as placatingly as she could. “You know you can’t. And she has a point, Dave… She’s an adult, whether you like it or not. She can make her own decisions.”

  I’d never seen my father so torn. His muscles kept jerking, like he was having a hard time keeping himself from punching Cody or dragging me up the stairs to toss me in my bedroom so he could lock the door. But reality seemed to be setting in.

  “But she’s only twenty,” he finally said.

  “In case you’ve forgotten,” Mom said, “so was I. And I think you might also recall that my father wasn’t any too happy to have me racing to the altar with a hockey-playing hooligan, as he was so fond of calling you. But here we are, twenty-five years later, still just as in love as ever.”

  “I’ve never hit you,” Dad pointed out.

  “Well, maybe we should try it sometime. Spanking could be fun, and frankly we could use a little spice,” Mom said at the same time as I argued, “It’s fully consensual, not to mention it’s none of your business.”

  When I realized what my mother had said, I had to bite down on my lip to keep from bursting out laughing, and I was almost positive my face was bright red from blushing. I couldn’t look at Cody or I’d die.

  But then my father couldn’t decide how to respond. He stood there, shaking his head as if trying to clear it of cobwebs, for a long moment, looking back and forth between me and my mother.

  And then I couldn’t hold it together any longer. I laughed so hard that I snorted.

  Finally, he pointed an angry finger at Cody and bit off, “He’s not like Babs!” but that only made me laugh harder.

  “And thank goodness for that,” I replied, even as Cody tried to keep it together…but he was quickly losing his battle.

  Mom rolled her eyes, laughing almost as hard as I was. “That doesn’t make him any less perfect for your daughter. Dani isn’t Katie, in case you haven’t noticed. And that’s a good thing.”

  Quickly running out of arguments, my father nearly huffed in frustration.

  “Give it up, Dave,” Mom said. “You’re not going to win. You might as well just accept that your daughters have minds of their own.”

  “They’re like their mother that way,” Dad bit off. Then he turned to glare at me. “At least your brother hasn’t gotten any bright ideas about coming home with a hockey player.”

  “I’ll be sure to let him know he’s still on your good side,” I said.

  But I doubted I’d be able to wipe the grin off my face for hours—because I’d been right. My father was all bark and no bite.

  And I was going to marry Dirty Harry.

  Let the kink begin.

  LATE THAT NIGHT, I lay awake in my bed, thoroughly unable to sleep. After leaving her parents’ house, I’d taken Dani home and dropped her off because I needed time for my head to catch up to my heart. My brain wouldn’t shut off, so I had been flopping around on top of my sheets for hours, staring at the bright moon outside my window and running through all the things that had taken place. I was trying to be sure they’d really happened and I hadn’t merely imagined them.

  But Dani really had proposed to me.

  And David Weber actually hadn’t killed me when we’d told him we were getting married.

  And I’d even gotten a text message from Jim Sutter, confirming that everything Dani had told me about the nursing homes here in Portland was true, and that the team’s legal department had verified our ability to bring Dad here if I married an American citizen. There was a spot being held for my father at the facility, and even though Mr. Sutter wouldn’t promise that he’d never trade me or that I could play out the end of my career in Portland, he reassured me that he had no plans of making any moves of that nature before the end of this season.

  There would be changes on our blue line, but those changes shouldn’t involve me.

  Not only that but, if and when I ever was moved, whether via trade or free agency, he said he’d help me find a new solution for Dad wherever I ended up going so that Dani and I could be close to him.

  I didn’t know how to process all the changes that were taking place in my life.

  Jim had set up meetings for me and Dani tomorrow with a couple of the better nursing homes in the area, including the one where an available space was already being held for my father. “We need to get things settled for you as soon as possible,” he’d insisted when I’d pointed out I would have to miss practice if I were going to make it to these appointments. “We need you to be able to give the team the same kind of focus you normally do, and that means getting your father moved down here sooner rather than later. I’ve already cleared it with the coaches. Everything’s been arranged. You just need to show up and see what they’re like. Dani can go with you.”

  Getting Dad moved to Portland sometime in the near future also meant that Dani and I would have to get married as soon as possible. I still hadn’t figured out how she’d convinced me to go along with it, let alone her father.

  I doubted I’d ever be able to look at Webs again without wondering if it was the last time I’d take a breath. But somehow, Dani had done it. She’d come up with a solution for all my family’s problems, and she’d done it while I was none the wiser. My sisters and I had been trying to do this for months with no progress to speak of, but Dani had managed it in a few days.

  She was a miracle worker. I’d known for a long time that Dani could make the impossible happen when she wanted to, but I never imagined something like this would be on her radar. When Dani Weber wanted something, she would move mountains to get it. I was a lucky son of a bitch that what she wanted was me.

  I didn’t deserve her, but I’d be damned if I’d let anyone else have her.

  And we weren’t going to have to continue sneaking around, trying to keep our relationship a secret anymore, either. Everyone could know we were together. There wasn’t any need to keep anything on the down low. We could be out in the open for the whole world to see.

  Which only made me wish she were here with me now.

  But she wasn’t, because I was an idiot. I’d taken her back to her place after we left her parents’ house. She’d done more than merely drop hints that she wanted to spend the night with me, but I needed time to think.

  Or so I’d told her.

  The truth was, I was simply spinning my wheels. I kept waiting for the moment when her plan would all fall apart. When the holes would be revealed and the floor would drop out from underneath me. For so many years now, I’d been convinced that I was the only one holding everything together. That I was the glue for my family. That if I wasn’t the one who came up with the solutions, my whole world would fall apart.

  Maybe I’d been taking too much of it on myself, but that was simply how I’d always worked. I didn’t know how to allow someone else to come into my life and make it different, even if different really meant better.

  And instead of graciously accepting the help Dani offered, some subconscious part of me kept trying to find the cracks in her plan, the loopholes that would prove to be the undoing of everything she’d worked for, so that I’d be right back where I already was—with the weight of the entire world on my shoulders, keeping me down.

  Apparently, I wasn’t comfortable with letting others help me. Not even someone I love
d. I felt an overwhelming need to take everything on my own shoulders, to do everything on my own. Never mind the fact that everyone needed help sometimes. For whatever reason, I couldn’t allow anyone to help me.

  That was more than merely a character flaw. If I allowed it to be, it could become my own personal form of Kryptonite…and I wasn’t Superman, so I couldn’t afford to expose myself to anything nearly so fatal.

  Sometime after midnight, I was still ruminating over all of this when my phone buzzed with a text message.

  Dani: You awake?

  Me: Yeah.

  Dani: Wanna fuck?

  Me: Always. Do you even need to ask?

  Dani: I was a bad girl tonight. Starting an argument with you… Drinking wine underage… Talking back to my father… Someone should spank me. And that someone should be you.

  Me: Does your father know what a dirty mind you have?

  Dani: He knows more than he wants to know right now, and more than you ever intended for him to know. But you still haven’t answered me. You’re bad about that, you know. It’s not good for a girl to not know where she stands.

  Me: Maybe you should spank me, then.

  Dani: Nope. That’s not how this works. Wanna fuck?

  Me: How soon can you get here?

  Dani: Unlock your door, smartass. I’m here.

  I laughed out loud. She’d never been one to leave anything to chance. That was one of the many things I loved about her. She didn’t mess around. Dani never allowed anything or anyone stand in the way of getting what she wanted. Thank God she wanted me more than anything else.

  I tossed my phone on the nightstand and bounded downstairs to let her in. The second I opened the door, she leaped into my arms…which was exactly where she belonged.

  Yeah, I was a lucky son of a bitch. And Dani wasn’t ever going to let me forget about it.

  “PICK IT UP, boys! I can promise, you don’t want to be last to finish.” Webs had us skating suicides at practice following our less-than-stellar performance in the past few games, the most recent of which took place last night against the Canucks.