Boarded by Love (63 page)

These past months have been unbelievably amazing. Claire moved out to Vegas early, after Christmas, and when I say we Skype more than anybody on the planet, I’m not kidding. It’s constant. I sometimes just watch her tell people what to do and train dancers. We even sleep with Skype on, just so that if one of us wakes up, the other is there. I miss her constantly, but I’m thankful she has the weekends off and flies home to be with me. It’s a lot on her, but she’s doing the job beautifully and our love has never been stronger. Diamond Burlesque Revue opens in three weeks, and the buzz about the club is awesome. Claire is excited, which makes me excited, and with the club opening, I really didn’t think she would be able to come, but she made it happen.

She is here for me.

When my mom squeezes my hand, I glance over at her and smile. She’s a different person now, and I believe that my dad held her back. She went back to teaching, and I’ve never seen her so happy. My dad, who we now refer to as the dickhead, is holding off the divorce so he can avoid paying her alimony. It’s a fucking headache, but one day she will be free of him. At first it was hard, though; she was extremely broke, and we thought we were going to lose the house, even with all of us working to help out. But then out of nowhere someone paid the house off, taking a huge financial burden off my mother since my dad left her with no money. To this day, my mom still tries to pay Claire back, but she won’t take it. I think I fell in love with her all over again when I found out the check was from her. She told me it wasn’t a big deal, but I think it was. I think it was extremely gracious of her.

She constantly amazes me.

Letting go of my mother’s gaze, I look down at where everything is set up for the draft. All thirty teams are prepared. Their coaches, GMs, owners, everyone is down there deciding my fate. The first team is on their fifteen-minute time limit. I’m nervous and hoping I go first, but I don’t know if I will. I feel like I’m going to throw up. I’m nervous as shit, but then I feel Claire’s lips against my neck and a sense of calm washes over me.

“You are going to be fine,” she whispers in my ear, and I nod.

“Thanks,” I say and she smiles, kissing me again. “What if I don’t get picked first?” I whisper in her ear.

She shrugs. “Then you’ll get picked second.”

I give her a look, and she smiles. “No matter what, I love you and I’m so proud of you.”

“I love you.”

I look back down to where the Los Angeles Kings are making their choice. They weren’t supposed to go first, but they traded one of the top-scoring, senior forwards for the first-round pick. They love me from what my agent says, but they could pass me up for anyone, and that scares me. Did I not impress? I mean, I had a great season, we won the championship, and I know I’m the best, but am I good enough for first round?

“Stop shaking,” she teases, and I send her a grin.

“I’m freaking out,” I admit, and she shakes her head.

“You’ll be–” she starts but then the announcer interrupts her.

“The Los Angeles Kings have made their pick.” I squeeze her and Mom’s hand as the announcer leans to the mic. “The Los Angeles Kings’ first-round pick is Jude Sinclair of the University of Bellevue.”

Holy fuck.

Jumping up, Claire cries out, pulling me up into her arms. Kissing me hard on the lips, her excitement is intoxicating and knocks me out of my paralyzing shock. Kissing her back, I say, “I love you.”

“I love you!” she cries, her face flooded with tears. “I told you!”

“Yeah, you did,” I say with a nod.

“Didn’t I say I was always right?”

No way in hell am I going to agree with her, but I am going to kiss her because this moment marks the start of our future together. And what better way to start it than with a kiss from the most amazing girl in the world?

They always say that love is a fantasy, but with this girl, it’s a reality.

I
’ve tried so hard not to hate Claire’s boyfriend, but it’s getting harder by the second. I know I talked him into giving her another chance, but that was mainly for Claire, and now I regret that more than anything. Standing in the face-off circle with the smug little bastard who has already scored on us tonight, I glare, waiting for the puck to drop.

“You know you want to let me marry her.”

“Fuck off, Sinclair,” I sneer as the ref pushes me back, but Jude keeps on grinning.

“I’ll take care of her, Phillip. Just say yes,” he says and I swear I am going to beat the fuck out of this kid.

“Shut up,” I say again, and he just keeps grinning. When the puck drops, he somehow beats me to it, making me feeling like a fucking grandpa, and passes it back to his defensemen as he flies past me.

Fast little shit. He’s gotten bigger too.

I rush to catch up with him, but thankfully Adler is there, stopping Jude from getting past him.

Or so I think.

Somehow the little asshole dekes around him as the puck comes up, and the next thing you know, Odder is sprawled out on the ice and the puck is in the back of the net. He throws his arms up, and I glare as he hugs his teammates. I turn, heading to the bench, and I’m almost there when he skates up beside me. When he starts to sing to me about being rude, I can only glare at him because I’ve heard that song on the radio, and it’s not the song I want my niece’s boyfriend singing to me! And also, what fucking respectable hockey player sings on the ice?

“I’m gonna marry her anyway, no matter what you say,” Jude says with a shrug.

“The fuck you are,” I yell, and he just smiles.

“Who’s gonna stop me?”

And for some fucking reason, say it’s his smug attitude or the fact we’re losing, but I drop my gloves and snatch him by the back of the jersey. He turns just in time for my fist to crack against the side of his face. He comes at me with a punch, getting me in the nose, and the next thing I know we’re throwing and receiving punches back and forth. I have to give it to the kid too; he can hold his own, his punches hurt, and the little asshole has a hard-ass face. I know I’m going to get shit for this later, but surely no one expects me not to put this kid in his place.

Locking up, we fall to the ground, and as the refs part us, I say, “She’s too young!”

“I love her! And she loves me! Let me marry her. I’ll fight you over and over again until you let me,” he says, and I can see in his eyes that he isn’t backing down; he wants her.

“This isn’t the place to do this, boys!” the ref says, and I can even hear my coach hollering at me, but I’m not done.

“You don’t deserve her!”

“That again?” he says as they throw us in our own boxes. I then hear him yell, “I love her, Phillip. Say yes!”

“No. Shut up,” I yell back, leaning back in the box, breathing hard. As the game restarts and Kings’ fans yell how much I suck and I should go back to Nashville, I sit there and replay the last year. The little shit has been good to Claire. When she isn’t flying home, he flies to her, and she does love him. He even came over and visited with Sawyer and Reese, just to check in on them since Claire and I couldn’t. But I just can’t get over the idea of my baby girl getting married. Maybe she’ll say no, though?

No, she won’t.

When our time is up, the doors open and I head out at the same time he does. I look over at him, and he’s looking toward the bench, not paying me any mind. I know I’m not going to see him after the game since we’re heading out to Vancouver.

Letting out a breath, I say, “Hey Jude.”

He looks over at me, his eyes burning with anger as he says, “Don’t be afraid?”

“No, dumbass. Why does it matter if I let you?”

He shrugs. “Because she loves you, and I want you to support us.”

I think that over for a minute, and as I reach the bench, I say, “Go ahead, marry her. But know I’ll kill you if you hurt her.”

He pauses at the door and says, “Wouldn’t think of it.”

When a grin replaces his angry look, I know I did a good thing, and I’ll probably get in less trouble with Reese since I said yes after kicking his ass.

Or so I think.

“H
e still isn’t sleeping?” I ask as I smile at Sawyer, giving him fishy lips. He’s only six months old, but he knows who his sissy is, and soon a little toothless grin appears on his sweet, chubby face. He looks so much like Phillip, same eyes and shape to his face, but he has Reese’s brown hair and dark skin tone. He’s a doll and my favorite, of course.

She shakes her head. “Nope, he wants to sleep all day and party at night. He’s killing me. I’m blaming Harper too; she spoils him.”

I smile. Harper keeps him while Reese works at the studio since I’m gone now. “He’s sweet, and she loves her nephew.”

“Whatever. What time is it there? One?”

“Yeah,” I nod as I lean back against my chair. The walls are vibrating with music, but one of the must-haves was soundproof walls so that when I needed to talk to my family I could. Thankfully my bosses were fine with that because they were crazy expensive, but then, I don’t think they care. They love me and have been amazingly awesome. I mean, I’m living in a penthouse above the Lights and Sounds hotel, I drive a Mercedes, and I have a clothing allowance that would make Kim Kardashian piss her pants. I am set, and man, I love it here. I do wish that Jude was here a hundred percent of the time, but we both knew this was going to happen, that we would be apart. I do have the same problems that every director has, but I don’t know many twenty-year-olds with this kind of job, a hot NHL boyfriend, and basically living a dream life. I am constantly waiting to wake up, but it still hasn’t happened. I don’t know what I did to deserve this amazing life, but I’m more than thankful for it.

Glancing at the clock, I glare. I don’t know why Jude hasn’t called me, he usually calls me an hour after his game, but it’s almost been four hours, which is really weird.

“Did you see the game?”

“Yes, idiots,” I say with a shake of my head.

Seeing my uncle and boyfriend fight shouldn’t have been so shocking to me, but it was, and I plan on ripping both of them a new one. “Jude should be calling me anytime now. He’s superlate, probably trying to ignore me, but when he does finally call me, I’ll let him have it.”

“Yeah, Phillip is ignoring me. Even sent me a text saying he knows I’m mad, but just give him a chance to explain. I can’t believe he threw the first punch.”

“It was obvious that Jude was taunting him. Figures the first time they play each other is the first time they fight. Been good the whole year, but as soon as they get on the ice, they want to be idiots.”

“So dumb,” she says with a shake of her head. She looks amazing and not like a momma that gets no sleep. Her eyes are bright, and I have to admit that motherhood looks amazing on her. Kissing Sawyer’s cheek, she looks at the camera and waves his little hand. “Say, hi sissy, we miss you.”

I smile, leaning on my hand. “I miss you guys. I’ll be home for Thanksgiving.”

“Good, we can’t wait. Can we, buddy?” she asks Sawyer. He’s just looking at the screen, trying to grab her phone. “Anyway, when do you get to see Jude?”

“I’m not sure. I was going to ask him tonight. I think this weekend he’s going to fly up? I’m not sure. Things have been insane. I had to fire two girls ’cause they’d rather do blow than dance.”