Page 46 of Punked By the Playmaker
“Oh, right, I’ve noticed the memorial stall in the locker room with his nameplate and jersey. Didn’t realize you guys knew him before he passed, since he never got to play for the Surf after being drafted. Brain cancer, right?”
Cole nodded, a sad smile tugging at his lips. “Glioblastoma. They found it after he took a bad hit to the head in juniors. Ten months later, he was gone.”
“Shit,” Levi hissed. “Can’t imagine what it would be like to lose a teammate like that.”
“He was more than a teammate,” Crew interjected. “He was practically our brother.”
Chuckling, Cole said, “Our mom used to joke that she went to the hospital to have twins and left with triplets.”
“Oh.” Surprise lit up my husband’s features. “So you gowayback.”
“To the day we were born,” Cole confirmed. “Our moms met in the nursery. I was born at 1:12, Russ at 1:13, and then Crew at 1:14. The nurses got a real kick out of the fact that we were all one minute apart.”
“That’s how you got your numbers.”
“Bingo.” Crew winked. “We did everything together. First day of school, learning to skate, and even getting drafted by the hometown team.”
“And that’s why we stay with the Surf no matter how bad they are,” Cole explained. “Because it’s where Russ is. We can’t move on and leave him behind. It doesn’t feel right.”
“Ah.” Levi inclined his chin. “I couldn’t figure out why both of you turned down offers from other teams when you made it to free agency, but I get it now.”
“Look on the bright side. The only way to go from here is up.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Crew lifted his beer, and the men toasted what they hoped would be a change in their fortune.
Feeling like an outsider, I stood from my chair. “I’m gonna go make sure the kids are settled in bed for the night. You guys keep enjoying the evening.” To the twins, I said, “Thank you for coming.”
They all wished me good night, and I hightailed it to the house, in desperate need of a date with the detachable showerhead.
It wasn’t the most conventional wedding night, but at least the bride was guaranteed an orgasm.
Chapter 14
Levi
“You’remarried?!”
The high decibel of the screeched words made me wince, and I pulled the phone away from my ear slightly.
Digging my fingers into my eye sockets, I released a tired groan. “Good morning to you, too, Jenn.”
“Oh no,” my sister huffed. “You forfeited the right to pleasantries when you didn’t invite me to your wedding.”
Arizona rolled over, giving me a shove from the other side of the pillow wall she’d insisted would be a permanent fixture in our bed since I had proven I couldn’t be trusted to keep my hands to myself.
Groggily, she grumbled, “Who in their right mind calls at this hour?”
“It’s my sister,” I replied.
Halfway back to sleep, she murmured, “Didn’t know you had a sister.”
“What the hell, Levi!” Jenn yelled.
My brother-in-law’s voice chimed in from the other end of the line. “Honey, maybe you should calm down.”
She turned her anger on her husband. “Don’t you dare tell me to calm down! I have one brother. One! And he didn’t bother to tell me he was getting married. I had to find out about it on social media!”
I sat bolt upright in bed. “Wait, what?” Everyone who had attended our private ceremony either lived in this house or had been sworn to secrecy. How the hell had it ended up on the internet?
