The Christmas You Crash (Going Rogue #2)

Chapter 33

thirty-three

RYDER

We decide to tell them the truth and swear them all to secrecy.

When I lead Lexi out of the guest bedroom, I’m relieved to find that the only people left in the apartment are my teammates and their wives or serious girlfriends. The few casual dates that accompanied some of the guys have been banished to I’m-not-sure-where. It’s not that I think any of those women would have ill intentions, but if one of them got pissed at the guy they’re seeing and spilled the beans, it would blow up in all our faces. Not just mine or Lexi’s, but the guys too. We’re about to ask them to keep a secret from Coach.

All eyes are on the two of us as we make our way back to the couch. Lexi’s got one hand holding mine, and the other wrapped around my arm like she’s scared I’ll ditch her to deal with all of this alone. I never would, of course, but she’s freaked out. I get it.

“So,” Logan Byrne—our first-line right winger—pipes up from his seat on the couch opposite us. He eyes us speculatively. “Why were the two of you hiding from Coach?”

I glance at Lexi. She blows out a deep breath, making her hair flutter around her face. I open my mouth to speak and spare her from having to explain, but she beats me to it. “My name is Alexis Cross. Your coach is my dad.”

You could hear ice melt.

Every single guy in the room stares at Lexi like she has two heads. Isla and Mira don’t seem all that surprised, but then again, they don’t have the kind of relationship with Coach that would make this front-page news.

Griffin narrows his eyes at my girl. “Wait a second. I’ve seen a picture of you on Coach’s desk. Aren’t you like fifteen?”

His roommate, Mira, smacks her palm against her forehead. Logan barks out a laugh, Maddox shakes his head, and Sebastian shoots Lexi an apologetic grimace.

“It’s an old picture, dumbass,” Maddox grumbles. “Obviously.”

Lexi shifts uncomfortably beside me. “I’m twenty-three. Not fifteen. Jesus.”

“Oh.” Griffin nods, like that makes much more sense. Because it does. “Right. Sorry. Carry on.”

“How did you two meet?” our goalie, Sebastian Navarro, asks. He poses the question to Lexi, and god bless him for it. His tone is soft and soothing, and it helps Lexi relax beside me.

“Ryder tried to garrote me,” my insane girl says with a smirk in my direction and complete deadpan delivery.

Maddox chokes on his beer. “I’m sorry, what?”

Rolling my eyes, I pinch Lexi’s thigh. She yelps , then breaks out in a fit of giggles. “She thought I was going to murder her,” I clarify. Okay, so that’s not much better.

“I really feel like we’re missing a vital part of the story here,” Logan drawls.

“You guys know my dad sent Ryder to his cabin for the week, right?” Lexi asks. The guys all nod. “Okay, well, what my dad didn’t know is that I was already there and planning to spend a relaxing week alone.”

“During Christmas?” Griffin’s brow creases. “Why would you want to be alone during Christmas?”

Lexi sighs. “My parents got a divorce, and it’s made holidays a little...awkward. I didn’t want to deal with my mom and her boyfriend, and my dad and I don’t exactly have a great relationship.” She shifts in her seat beside me. “Which is probably obvious because I’ve never been to a Rogues game and none of you had any clue who I was. My dad’s probably never even mentioned me by name, right?”

The guys wince. Because, no, he hasn’t.

“Right.” Lexi nods, because this is exactly what she expected. “So, I didn’t tell my dad I was heading up to the cabin. Didn’t think he’d care either way, to be honest, so I didn’t see the point.” She shakes her head. “Anyway. I was soaking outside in the hot tub when Ryder arrived, so I failed to hear his car or him entering the house. He was standing there like a total creep in all black when I waltzed my oblivious ass inside, and since I had been listening to some true crime podcasts on the drive in, I naturally thought he was there to murder me.”

“Naturally,” Logan parrots with a smirk in my direction.

“Sooo, I hit him with a wineglass, he saw me naked, and eventually, as we yelled at each other through a closed door, we realized what had happened.” Lexi’s cheeks are stained pink with the revelation that I saw her naked. I don’t think she meant to say that part out loud.

“I have so many questions,” Griffin mutters.

“Just let them tell the story,” Mira says. She pats him on the head, and Griffin settles in beside her.

“Right,” I say, picking up where Lexi left off. “After we talked, I decided to leave. I obviously wasn’t planning to crash her week alone. But the weather had other plans. My car couldn’t even make it down the driveway. So, we got snowed in together for a week.” When I glance at Lexi out of the corner of my eye, she’s smiling. I pause the story to give her a kiss on the forehead. The guys let out a collective awww sound, which makes her giggle.

“Anyway. I quickly realized that Lexi is amazing and practically begged her to give me a chance. And I don’t know if it was all the snow causing a beer-goggle effect, or if she was bored, or what, but we ended up clicking and she agreed to give dating me a try.”

“And you don’t want to tell Coach?” Sebastian asks me.

“I don’t want to tell him,” Lexi says. “Ryder would tell him, but I don’t want to. My relationship with my dad is...complicated. It’s not worth the drama it would cause.”

“You think he’d retaliate against Ryder?” Maddox leans forward, his elbows on his knees.

Lexi shifts uncomfortably again. “No, it’s not that, but if Ryder doesn’t play at the top of his game this season, my dad will blame it on me, and I just…” She sighs deeply, her lips twisting into a frown. “Look, I know it’s shitty to ask you guys to keep this from him, but I’m not ready to deal with all of that. So, will you keep it a secret? Please?”

Sebastian’s brow furrows as he studies Lexi. “He’s your dad. Why would he blame Ryder’s performance issues on you?”

“Yeah,” Griffin pipes up. “No way would Coach do that. You’re his daughter.”

Maddox clears his throat. “Remember that time earlier this year in the locker room and what he said when he ripped me a new one for defending Isla from those asshole fans?”

“Oh.” Griffin frowns. “I guess I do.”

Shit. I remember. He told Maddox that hockey had to come first. That, when he was coaching, hockey was everything. He didn’t have a wife or a daughter. He wasn’t a husband or a father. He was just Coach . How could I have forgotten that?

“What did he say?” Lexi asks, her tone wary.

Maddox shakes his head. “It’s not worth repeating. All you need to know is that, if this is what the two of you want, we’ll support you.”

“Thank you,” Lexi murmurs.

“So, you’re not going to come to our games and cheer Hanson on?” Griffin gives me a sad look. He knows there’s nothing better than having someone who loves you cheering from the seats. And they all know my parents are both gone.

No one cheers for me from the seats. At least, not anyone that matters.

“I... It wouldn’t be a good idea,” Lexi says. She looks up at me with a frown. She’s smart and perceptive, so I’m sure she doesn’t miss the distant look of longing I’m trying to hide.

“And what if things get serious between you two?” Sebastian asks.

Giving Lexi a squeeze, I say, “We’ll figure that out when we get there. For now, this is all new. Will you guys agree to keep this quiet?”

“Of course they will,” Mira says with a pointed look at Griffin.

“Yeah,” Maddox agrees. “We’ll keep it a secret.”

Logan shakes his head, incredulous. “I’ll keep my mouth shut, but watching all of you twist yourselves into pretzels for relationships makes me damned sure of my decision to avoid them. Too much work. Relationships are inconvenient.”

Maddox grins at him. “Just wait, Byrne. You’ll fall hard one day and change your tune.” He runs his fingers through his girlfriend’s hair. “Best inconvenience ever.”

Logan Byrne, chronic bachelor, doesn’t look convinced. Hell, he didn’t even have to kick his date out for this conversation. Because he didn’t bring one. He never brings one. Since I’ve played with the Rogues, never once have I seen Logan do more than hook up with a woman. And we all know about his one- and-done rule. He never has sex with a woman more than once. He never takes them out for anything more than a few drinks to loosen them both up, and he never spends the whole night with them.

We give him so much shit for that one because the guy actually sets an alarm to wake him up in the middle of the night so he’s out by the time the poor woman he’s spent the night with wakes up. I suppose they know what they’re getting into—he’s brutally upfront about what he is and isn’t willing to give—but it seems so hollow. Especially now, with Lexi snuggled up next to me. Logan has no idea what he’s missing.

“Not that you ladies aren’t cool,” Byrne says to Isla, Mira, and Lexi between sips of his beer. “But I like my life the way it is. I enjoy plenty of female companionship. And I also enjoy my freedom. Not sure why I’d want the complications a relationship would bring.”

“Companionship.” Isla snorts. “You can’t even remember most of their names the next day. Don’t act like you’re in it for the companionship .”

“Oh, come on, Isla,” Griffin teases. “Byrne’s dick gets lonely. Even if he doesn’t.”

We all laugh at that. Even Lexi beside me. She was so tense when her dad showed up, but she’s back to her normal, charming self now. She piles on the teasing everyone levels at Logan, and I can’t help thinking that she fits in so well here with me. With us. And I know she’s not ready to go public yet, but I can wait her out. One day, she’ll sit in the family box with Isla and Mira, wearing my jersey and cheering me on. It’s going to happen. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to get us to that point.

“I bet the girls you’ve slept with have a Facebook group or something,” Lexi says between giggles. “Oh, I bet they call it Feeling The Byrne or The Byrne Book or something. And they all post their pictures and share their stories and compare notes about their sexual encounters with the Logan Byrne. And probably their latest STI test results.”

Mira laughs so hard, champagne sprays out of her mouth. Griffin howls with laughter, and the rest of the guys join in. Logan gives Lexi the evil eye. He almost looks menacing. Or, at least, he would, if his lips weren’t twitching.

“I’ll have you know, I’m totally clean.”

“You probably single-handedly keep your doctor in business,” Maddox teases.

“I wonder if any of the nurses are in your Facebook group?” Isla giggles. “If you signed a waiver, they could probably cut out the middleman and just give your conquests a clean bill of health.”

Bash shakes his head. “That would be a HIPAA violation.”

“That’s why he’d have to sign a waiver,” Isla replies.

Logan looks over at Lexi and says, “See what you started?”

“Sorry, not sorry.” She rests her head on my shoulder. She’s fitting into my world so seamlessly.

We spend the next couple of hours joking and laughing with everyone. And when the live feed on TV starts counting down from ten, I wrap Lexi in my arms and revel in this unexpected turn my life has taken.

Ten.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Nine.

Her big green eyes blink up at me.

Eight.

“Me too.”

Seven .

“Making you come earlier…”

Six.

“…wasn’t nearly enough.”

Five.

Lexi flushes and presses her face into my chest.

Four.

“I can’t keep my hands off you, OTG.”

Three.

My thumb brushes the side of her breast, and Lexi shivers.

Two.

She presses her hips into mine, and I groan.

One.

I cup her face, completely enraptured by her.

Happy New Year!

Leaning down, I take Lexi’s plush lips in a slow, sensual kiss that leaves her breathless. Her mouth chases after mine when I pull just far enough away to whisper in her ear. “Happy New Year, Alexis Cross. I can’t wait to see what this year brings.”