Page 13 of Center Ice

I turned and rubbed the back of my neck. “Sure, let’s get food.” I hoped my diversion would be enough to take his attention off me.

“Should we eat first or change?” Lucy asked Sydney.

“Let’s change. We haven’t been to the beach at all yet.” They waved before splitting off from us. I expected Brandon and Colin to go with them, but they stayed with us.

“I think I’m going to eat a dozen fish tacos,” Lance proclaimed.

“I bet I could do fourteen,” Colin challenged.

“Oh no. Is this turning into a contest?” Brandon groaned. “I refuse to participate.”

“Fine, old man,” Lance teased.

Brandon rolled his eyes and fell into step with me and Mikey. Most of the guys called him Dad on and off the ice for being the oldest on the team and having twin sons, but I never dared. I didn’t think I’d earned that relationship with him yet.

“We need to find you a woman this week,” Mikey declared. “It’s time to break the funk.”

“The funk?” I asked.

“You’ve been single for too long. It’s time to get back on the horse,” he explained.

“You’ve got too many analogies going on,” I said, trying to distract him.

“You know what I mean.” He looked to Brandon. “Help me out here.”

Brandon shrugged. “There’s no rush. He’ll meet someone when the time is right.”

“I’m not talking about finding a wife. He just needs to have some fun.” Mikey waggled his brows, and I questioned our budding friendship.

“This is a good place for that,” Colin shouted from behind us.

“You found a wife, that’s not the same,” Lance argued.

“We’re not married,” Colin argued.

He and Lucy had been together for a year now and behaved like every other married couple on the team.

“That’s a formality.” Brandon smirked over his shoulder. “It’s only a matter of time at this point.”

“Don’t mention that to her. She’s already mad that you and Sydney got married before us,” Colin threw back.

“It’s not my fault I go after what I want. Stop dragging your feet,” Brandon countered.

We walked into the large open-air restaurant and sat down at the first open table.

“I’ll wait for things to settle a bit after this. I don’t want their wedding to overshadow her engagement,” Colin said.

“Great excuse,” I added, even though I had no ground to stand on for this topic.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Don’t make me switch sides and work with Mikey to corrupt you.”

I chuckled. “I don’t need to be corrupted.”

“You need something, man. You’re the most spotless one on the team. We need to rough you up, get some gossip going.” Lance looked around at the guys for support.

“I’m spotless because I’ve kept my head down and worked hard,” I counted. “I don’t want to end up a headline on ESPN.”

“Look.” Mickey leaned forward, bracing himself on his elbows. “I know you had to take care of your mom, and that’s really honorable. We all respect what you did and how much you sacrificed, but now it’s time to live up to your potential.”