Page 14 of Elite Player
“I’m not going anywhere,” Jo says, and Tonya laughs uncomfortably.
“Oh no, we weren’t planning on taking you anywhere.”
“No?” Jo juts her chin to Danny and Waylon, standing in the corner. “Brought them along for fun?”
“I told you, they wanted to come.”
“I didn’t want to come,” Danny says like a total dick, while Waylon remains silent, occasionally slanting his gaze toward me.
I help myself to sitting on Jo’s bed, placing my hand on her kneecap where she sits on top of the sheets. She must’ve dug into all of the gifts I’d sent because she’s changed out of thehospital gown she wore yesterday and smells like springtime. Could be the vases of flowers all around or maybe lotion.
I kiss the back of one of her hands and reflexively drag the tip of my nose over her wrist because she smells so good. “I’d like to see you try to take Josephine away from me.”
Tonya swoons. Mamaw claps. Danny huffs. Lizzie’s eyebrows practically erase off her face. Waylon, as I guessed, seems pissed.
There is a story there, and I amveryinterested in learning it.
“So, tell us about yourself, Nico,” Lizzie says, leaning into Waylon’s side, cell phone up as if she might research me on the internet. “What makes you love my sister?”
I turn my focus to Josephine, and there really is something fishy about all of this. Jo’s back to being her closed-off, anxious self, shoulders curved over, teeth massacring her bottom lip, and I suspect that the reason she was nervous with me yesterday and nervous now stems from the same problem—her family. I will eventually find out whatever they did to this poor girl, but in the meantime, I’ll put on a good show.
Dragging my knuckle over her chin, I tilt her face up, forcing her to meet my eyes, and offer her a reassuring smile. Then I tug that lip out from under her teeth and soothe it with my thumb. “I love your mouth. Don’t do that to it,” I murmur before turning back to her family, finding them all slightly stunned. “What made me fall in love with Josephine? I can’t put my finger on it because there are so many things.”
“Like what?” Mamaw asks, fully invested.
“Her humor.”
Lizzie is incredulous. “Her humor?”
“Yeah.” I clasp both of my hands around Jo’s left one, urging her to lean into me, use me for support. She does, and I rest our hands in my lap, staring at her sister. “She laughs at all my jokes, and she’s got a great smile.”
Danny and Lizzie outright scoff, while Waylon turns a shadeof pink. Tonya frowns at me as Jo mumbles something I don’t catch, but I feel her stiffen beside me.
I don’t know what’s so weird about my answer and glance back at Mamaw, who has hearts in her eyes. So I tell her, “Jojo has a gentle spirit, and in my world, there aren’t many people with tender hearts. I want to protect hers.”
Mamaw makes a pleased sound, hands on her chest. “Oh, what else?”
“What else,” I muse, turning to Jo, her dark eyes shiny with unshed tears, and I don’t know if it’s because of me or them, but I keep going, on a roll now, thinking of all the things I know about her. It’s not much, but I consider myself a pretty good judge of character. And Jo is…she’s special.
“She’s creative, a talented photographer, and she helps me relax. I have a hard time settling sometimes, but she’s my quiet place. My soft place to land. I?—”
Lizzie interrupts me with a sputter. “You play in the NHL!”
“What?” Waylon grabs her cell phone from her hand.
“NHL?” Danny eyes me. “Like hockey?”
I nod. “I’m a hockey player for the Philadelphia Iron.”
Tonya gasps. “You’re a professional hockey player?”
“I am.”
Lizzie’s eyes are wide as saucers, bouncing back and forth between Josephine and me. “I can’t believe it.”
“That I play hockey?”
“That you’re engaged to her.”
