Page 103 of Risky Play

He made a face. “Why? Because princess has to sit up front?”

I laughed. “You know her royal highness!”

He shook his head with a laugh and got out of the car.

When we were kids, Luna declared herself Princess of Minnesota, and we her two lowly subjects. Ty always appeased her, but I tried to start a rebellion. Now we teased her mercilessly about it.

It had been about a week since I broke up with Maddie, and I was miserable as shit. That was why my sister insisted on coming to visit Franklin U. When I told her I thought Ty or Elsa should give her a tour, she demanded answers, and then I booked her a flight to Philly. I was pretty certain it was not so Ty could show her around but so the two could gang up on me and tell me I was stupid for giving Maddie that ultimatum.

I’d agree with them because I missed her so much. I hadn’t heard from her since I laid down the law. Occasionally, I saw the dots pop up in our text thread, but then they would disappear. That hurt even more because I was waiting for her to make a move. For her to get her shit together and tell her brother about us. But now I wasn’t so sure there even was an ‘us.’ Maybe there never was.

I missed her so much. I missed laying in bed with her, watching those cheesy action films she loved, and listening to her talk about the bonkers plot of the latest novel she was reading. I missed holding her hand and her sweet smile that was only for me.

I ran a hand down my face but couldn’t help but smile when I watched Luna jump into Ty’s arms as he spun her around. Yeah, it was not lost on me that Ty had a thing for my sister. He forgot he told me when we got drunk last night. He might be a douche, but if he ever got his shit together, I knew he’d treat my sister well. It didn’t bother me if they ever dated because Luna was her own person with her own opinions.

The only thing good about my breakup was that I was putting all my energy into hockey. It hadn’t gone unnoticed, and Coach had been keeping me on the line with Mac and Hallsy, but he also called me into his office and asked me if I was okay because I looked like a robot. I never had a coach like him before. LaVoie actually gave a shit about his players, and not just about hockey. I brushed him off, and he hadn’t pressed me more on it.

Luna climbed into the passenger seat while Ty put her bag in the back before sliding in next to it.

“You’re grumpy,” she said by way of greeting.

I rolled my eyes and tore out of the airport to get back to the city. Dinah and Noah had graciously let her stay with us. They had the room and had been more than happy to host her. We had a game tomorrow afternoon, so Dinah was going to bring her along. Luna had only seen me play on those few times we played the Minnesota Tundra.

Luna turned around to look at Ty.

“Hey, put your seatbelt on,” I yelled at her.

I felt her roll her eyes without seeing it, and she did as I asked, but then turned around to look at my buddy. “How bad is it, Ty?”

“Bad Lu-lu.”

“Nobody fucking asked you,” I snarled.

“She did,” Ty argued.

“What did you do?” my sister demanded.

I gripped the steering wheel as I drove and pretended I didn’t hear her.

“MATTY!” she shrieked.

“Dude, tell her,” Ty urged.

“Tell me what?”

God, I loved my sister, but I could do without her high-pitched screaming right now.

“Tell me!” she demanded.

So I did. I told her the whole messy story. When I was done, we were back in the city and on our way to campus. Luna sat back in her seat and was quiet for a while.

“What do you think, princess?” Ty asked.

“Have you talked to her since then?” Luna asked.

“It’s pointless. She doesn’t love me.”

“I think you’re wrong.”