Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“Oh, that sounds like so much fun. Hi, I’m Kylie, Lexi’s soon to be sister-in-law extraordinaire, and also Kirby’s favorite sister.” The girl beside Lexi extends her hand as Lexi laughs at her introduction.
“You’re his only sister,” she points out to Kylie, who just shrugs.
“I’m still the favorite. It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Thank you.” I extend my hand to her. “Coming to visit was a graduation present to myself.” I smile big. “I just graduated less than two weeks ago and, sadly, the first thing I decided to do was come to California to see my brother.”
“Fun,” Kylie says. “I backpacked in Europe for mine and Kirby paid for it.” She mentions her brother who is Jaxon’s teammate.
“I wish!” I shriek. “I freaking wish.” I look at Ariella, who is talking to one of the girls. “Think Jaxon will pay for me to go backpacking in Europe?”
“Yeah, sure,” she nods her head, “and he’ll hire five guys to go with you.”
“Yeah, I’m afraid of that.” I look up at the ceiling. “He’s such a buzzkill ever since he became a father.” I fold my arms over my chest. “Thanks for that.” I side-eye Ariella.
“You’re welcome, I think.” She sounds confused.
“Look at her shirt,” Lexi urges Ariella. Kylie proudly turns around to show her the back of her shirt. All I can see is the number and a glimpse of the name.
Her gasp out loud is very similar to Lexi’s. “That’s bold.”
“It is not bold,” Kylie defends. “There are literally other girls out there,” she points to the seats, “who are wearing his name too.”
“Yes, but you wearing it means”—Ariella holds up her hands—“like you’re taken by him.”
“Well, I am,” she admits and everyone’s eyes go big, except mine.
“We’re dating,” she announces and I guess this must be a big deal, but I don’t really get it.
“Oh fuck,” Lexi whines, “admitting it out loud is—”
“Well, considering I went toe to toe with the ex-wife last night,” Kylie says, and I swear this is better than the soap operas my grandmother used to watch. I wait for the next update as if my life depends on it. “And met his parents who, by the way, are assholes.” She takes a sip of the wine and I have so many questions. “So, she literally put her hands on him to stop him from moving. I swear to everything, I was this close,” she puts her thumb and forefinger together, “to fucking throat punching her.”
“The tea is piping hot!” I squeal with glee. “Wait, so she put her hands on him,” I finally ask cocking my hip, “and you were going to throat punch her?”
“Well, not throat punch her, per se,” Kylie admits. “I would never do it with the kids there, but I did use a firm voice.”
“Got it.” I nod. “I don’t know if I would be as mature. I’d be like ‘Bitch, you want a piece of this?’” I puff out my chest like I’m going to chest bump her. “‘You are going to get a piece of this.’”
“And this is why no one is paying for you to go to Europe,” Ariella retorts to me as the girls laugh and I roll my eyes.
The roar of the crowd goes nuts and we know the guys have taken the ice. I smile as the memories of my father skating into the arena when I was younger come back to me. Those were the best nights, and some of my best memories. “I forgot how loud it can get,” I say.
“It gets louder.” Kylie’s voice goes louder. “So what are you doing now that you have graduated?” I see the girls starting to walk out of the suite toward the seats and I have no doubt they are going to stand by the boards. It’s where all the fun things happen before the games. I still remember I had a whole duffel bag of pucks I collected one year, and I used hockey tape to write down who gave them to me. It’s still in my closet at home, in the corner collecting dust. I refuse to throw them out.
“I don’t know yet,” I answer her honestly. “I have a couple of options, but nothing has jumped out at me just yet.”
“What’s your degree in?”
“Marketing,” I reply. “I worked with an ad agency back in Dallas, but it’s not really my thing.”
“Well, what are you looking for?”
“Obviously I’m good at social media,” I tell her and she laughs at me, “but then I love doing market research. Finding out the trends before they happen. Helping create the brand and then driving brand awareness is what I love most about marketing.”
“Well, if you want.” Kylie starts, taking a drink of her wine, “we could use the help with the foundation we are running. You could take over the social media, which has been put on the back burner since I don’t want to do it, and Lexi is too busy doing other stuff. We also were looking at starting an after-school program, which could really be huge if we had the right marketing behind us.”