Page 96 of Risky Play

“You really think so?”

He nodded. “You can do anything you set your mind to. I know so.”

My heart did a little dance that he was confident in my abilities. When Dinah brought that up, I waved her off, but something had been nagging me about it. I could start that process. Or at least take more clients independently and then start the business once I had a solid list.

I turned back to my computer and finished scheduling posts. I still needed to finish a readthrough for Dinah, but I’d do it when Matt was on the road this week.

I turned off my computer and put it away so I could pay attention to him. I was going to ask him if he wanted to watch a movie before I had to go home when I heard a car pull into the garage. Anxiety coursed through my body at the sound of footsteps climbing the steps to the main level.

“What’s that?” I whispered.

His face had gone white as we heard voices talking upstairs in the kitchen above us.

Oh no.

Oh fucking no.

Dinah and Noah were back already.

“They weren’t supposed to be home yet,” I hissed in a low whisper.

The terror was marked across Matt’s face, and my anxiety rose. I wasn’t supposed to be here. This was not how my brother was going to find out I was dating his teammate.

“I’m not sure why they’re back,” Matt said, but he frowned when he saw the look of horror on my face. “Hey, C’mere.”

I jumped off the bed and looked around for an escape. There was a separate door down here that led to the garage, so I could slip out without going upstairs. But would they notice? Or would Dinah and Noah assume Matt had gone out? Worse came to worse, I could hide out behind the closed bedroom door while Matt awkwardly talked to them upstairs.

“Sweet pea,” Matt whispered.

“Matt…”

I didn’t know what to say. Noah would put two-and-two together as soon as he saw me down here. After watching him annihilate Jaime on the ice, I had one clue how he’d react with Matt. Poorly. Very Poorly was my guess. I should have never taken Matt up on his offer to chill here tonight. This was such a mistake.

Before he could calm me down, I jumped at the sound of loud knocking on the closed door that led into the basement. Matt got up and left the bedroom, going out into the media room.

“Yeah?” I heard him ask.

“Hey, we have leftovers from my brother if you want any,” Dinah’s voice shouted down to him.

It seemed like she respected his privacy, so it wasn’t like she was going to burst in down here and catch us in the act, but I felt frozen in my spot. This was too much. I was not ready for the fallout. This was why we always hung out on campus. How had I been so stupid?

“Thanks, D. I’ll come up later if I’m hungry,” he called back to her.

“Okay,” she yelled back, and then I heard her footsteps walk away.

I found my coat in Matt’s closet and shoved it on, rushing to button it up. I needed to get out of here. I put my backpack over my shoulders.

Matt came back to the room, and he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “We should tell them.”

I vigorously shook my head from side to side, the panic rising like bile in my throat. “This is a terrible way to tell them.”

“It won’t be bad. I promise.”

He was wrong. I thought my brother would actually murder him.

“I have to go,” I said. I didn’t even let him kiss me goodbye, just ran out of there as fast as I could.

The hockey gods must have been on my side because I didn’t run into Dinah or my brother on my way out. My heart pounded loudly in my chest as I walked to the subway and made my way back to campus.