Puck Princess (Houston Scythes Hockey #2)

4. Callie

4

CALLIE

The phone rings a fourth time and I know it’s probably going to go unanswered. I want to warn Summer that Owen knows and things are about to get even more complicated. But I also want to apologize.

I wasn’t supposed to find out Miles is Nicky’s dad, and Owen especially wasn’t supposed to find out.

It’s not like I have much of a relationship with her. She’s the sister of the man I… was falling for, the father of my baby.

Which, I guess, makes Summer the aunt of my baby.

So, there you have it! We’re family, and I need to apologize and warn her as soon as she answers her damn phone. If she answers the phone.

But again, the call goes to voicemail.

“Fuck,” I hang up and immediately dial again.

Maybe she’s already talking to Owen. He left here a while ago, and I know he probably went to find her.

Or he went to find Miles.

My lungs squeeze painfully at the thought of what Owen might do—what Miles might do.

I get Summer’s voicemail again.

“Shit,” I hiss just as Kennedy walks in, arms laden with to-go bags.

“I hope you want appetizers because I ordered the menu.”

“I’m not hungry.” I hang up and dial again.

Kennedy dumps the bags on the counter and kicks her heels off. “You need to be hungry. You’re pregnant. I got it all—wings, artichoke dip, sliders, these weird Buffalo chicken egg rolls that are probably offensive to several cultures, but actually smell really good.”

“Uh-huh,” I mumble, hanging up and dialing again. With every missed call I leave, I’m wound a little tighter.

“Callie.” Kennedy raises her voice, and I look up at her. She waves a bizarrely orange egg roll at me.

“No thanks. I mean, later. I’ll eat… later. I just have to do something first.” I look at her for the first time since she walked in. “Why are you home if you’re dressed like that?”

Also, when did she get dressed like that? I was so preoccupied when I came home to pack I didn’t even notice what she was wearing.

She’s wearing a skimpy red dress with her hair curled and her makeup done. Kennedy doesn’t put in the effort unless she expects a return on the investment. The sun is still up, so she should still be hunting. Something isn’t adding up.

“I was going out with some of the girls from the team—kind of a post-game ritual. All the players are there, plus fans. And then the fans of the other team, and?—”

“Lots of men to ogle you in a short dress,” I summarize for her. “Again I ask, why are you home early?”

“Well, I got there and, despite the win, the mood was low. Your man wasn’t even there. Most of the guys were just nursing beers instead of doing the typical rounds of shots. The bases were loaded, but no one was playing, if you know what I mean.”

A win doesn’t feel as much like a win when two of the star players duke it out on the ice and one of them gets ejected from the game. Miles and Owen might not be able to exist in the same zip code after today, let alone in the same rink.

The Scythes might have just lost their center.

I glance down at my phone, but Summer hasn’t called. I’m starting to think she never will.

“The only eligible man in the whole place was some guy with a blue goatee sitting at the bar and Lance.”

“Gross.” I scrunch my face, grabbing a wing. “Goatee man, I mean. Lance is fine.”

“Lance is… Lance.”

“You still haven’t told me what your issue is with him.” I want to keep steering the conversation away from me, but I’m also genuinely interested.

“There’s nothing to tell.” She dusts off her hands and heads to the fridge for a La Croix.

“Is that why there’s so much tension between you? Why he keeps shooting his shot and you keep shooting him out of the sky like a duck? Because there’s nothing to tell?”

Kennedy lets the fridge door slam hard. “Lance is just— How do I put this nicely? The bane of my existence.”

“But why ? Something obviously happened between you two. We tell each other everything. We’re like sisters. You can’t keep secrets from me.”

“Says the woman who didn’t tell me she was pregnant with the secret love child of the hottest player on the team.”

I open my mouth to offer a rebuttal, but I got nothing. She’s right. And she’ll lord this over me until we’re both dead.

With that avenue closed, I go back to my phone, back to dialing Summer’s number and waiting.

“Who are you trying to call anyway?”

I get Summer’s voicemail again and hang up. “Damnit.”

Maybe I should just drive over to Summer’s house. Owen might be there, which might be weird since we made out and then he stormed away without a word. But I need to talk to Summer.

Kennedy crosses the room and snatches my phone out of my hand before I can stop her.

“Hey!”

“Summer? As in Owen’s sister, Summer? Why are you trying to call her… eight times ? Jesus, Callie. What’s going on?”

I consider trying to lie, but as was just laid out for me, my track record with the truth lately has been spotty. And Kennedy knows something is up. I’m even easier to read than usual these days. Pregnancy brain must be kicking in because I’m very off my game.

She pokes me in the shoulder. “Callie?”

I don’t want to spill it all. I can’t. Some of it isn’t mine to spill, but I can tell Kennedy something. Part of me even wants to. I’m tired of being the only one who knows the truth.

“Your dad fired me because he saw Miles Solomon being inappropriate with me in the training room, but I lied and said that I came onto him.”

She blinks at me for several long, drawn out seconds before she swats my bicep. “Why in the hell would you do that, Cal?”

I massage my arm. “Because if I told the truth, Owen would’ve found out and tried to kill him.”

I watch as she puts the pieces together, her mouth falling open. “Which, let me guess: Owen still found out and then tonight, in front of a live audience, he tried to kill Miles.”

“That about sums it up, yeah.”

“God.” She shakes her head in disgust. “I knew something was off with him. He’s always had kind of that creep thing going on, you know?”

More than you know.

“Anyway, I almost got crushed by your wardrobe earlier tonight, but Owen came over to save me?—”

“Wait, the Facebook Marketplace one? I had to hire five college guys to bring that upstairs for me. You should be a pancake!”

“I almost was. You need to secure it to the wall before I have this baby,” I warn her. “But that’s not the point. The point is that Owen found out about Miles and it's complicated, but I need to talk to Summer. Preferable before she talks to Miles.”

“Too late for that.” Kennedy pops a chip in her mouth.

I stare at her, my heart sinking. “Why?”

“Because I saw them together.”

“Where?”

“At Pour Boys. She and Miles were sitting at the bar.”

And she isn’t answering her phone.

No, no, no.

“What were they doing?”

“Their taxes,” she answers dryly. “I don’t know! They were just having a beer and talking.”

I drop my half-eaten wing on the counter and lunge for my shoes and my keys.

“Callie, what has gotten into you? Is it the garlic on the pita chips? I heard garlic can fuck you up when you’re pregnant.”

“It’s not the garlic. It’s… I gotta go.”

I have no time to explain. Before she can ask any more questions, I bolt out of the apartment and down the stairs.

This can’t happen.

This won’t end well.

As I am literally running to my car, I shoot off a string of texts to Owen.

Have you talked to Summer?

Are you with her?

I know you’re upset, but please call me.

By the time I’m getting in my car, I just spit it out.

She’s in trouble. Go to Pour Boys.

Summer is with Miles.