DIRTY REBOUND Read online

  DIRTY REBOUND

  A Slayers Hockey Novel

  Mira Lyn Kelly

  Copyright © 2020 by Mira Lyn Kelly

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  DIRTY REBOUND

  Photographer: WANDER AGUIAR PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

  Cover Designer: Najla Qamber, Najla Qamber Designs

  Editor: Jennifer Miller

  For Lisa Kuhne

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  Also by Mira Lyn Kelly

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Cammy

  “Look, Cammy, you’re a nice girl. Easy on the eyes. And I tried to give it a chance,” he says around a yawn he doesn’t bother covering. “You know, gotta respect the single mom and all. But I’m just not feeling it.”

  Gah, me either.

  Zipping my parka against the biting January night air outside Wagner Arena, I nod as fans stream out around us. “I understand.”

  I understand that I should have held out longer with the hockey tickets. Stretched it another month, maybe even two. But he was persistent, whiny, and fine, I felt guilty about using him. Even knowing he was using me for my connections to the Slayers hockey team.

  Why did I think this was a good idea?

  I’m a romantic. And despite a pretty rotten track record when it comes to guys—present company included, thank you—I still believe in happily ever afters.

  This guy was no candidate.

  He does that neck-twitch thing that drives me nuts and winces. “You gonna be okay getting home on your own?”

  Seriously? I blow out a steamed breath and force a polite smile. “I’m fine.”

  Sympathy shines in his eyes and I kind of want to puke a little. “Keep your chin up.”

  “Bullshit!” George snaps from across our table in the back of the Five Hole. “If you’re going to break up with someone, you do it before the game. Not after. Never after. Is he here tonight?” Straightening in her seat, she scowls toward the front end of the bar. “I bet he’s here.”

  “He is.” I huff, picking at the damp label on my beer. “A couple friends were waiting for him when he finished dumping me. It was super awkward walking fifteen feet behind them all the way from the arena to the bar.”

  “This is why I avoided dating hockey fans,” Natalie groans, absently rolling the fat diamond on her finger. “It’s so hard to read when they’re really into you instead of being into your brother—or brother-in-law in your case.” Her brows furrow. “No wait—Julia had that thing so Greg donated his tickets tonight. George and I sat in Vaughn’s. Whose seats were you in?”

  “Rux’s.”

  Pinching her lips together against a laugh, she shakes her head. “Oh man, he’s going to be pissed.”

  “So pissed,” George gleefully agrees, clinking her beer with each of ours.

  Six more bottles land on the table as Quinn O’Brian leans in between them. “Hey Georgeous, who’s gonna be pissed?”

  The girls are out of their seats in a flash, George throwing her arms around Quinn’s neck, and Natalie giggling as Vaughn Vassar sweeps her into his. It takes another minute before Rux clears the crowd. He’s tall and broad, dressed in one of his gorgeous custom post-game suits, chestnut hair combed back, but it’s that cocky smile that sets him apart. This guy. Even as he drops into the seat beside me, fans are still slapping his back.

  Slinging a powerful arm around me, he flashes a huge grin. “You see it?”

  “Nice breakaway.” It was beautiful. Tie game with thirty-seven seconds left in the third, and he scored the winning goal.

  Pulling me in tight, he presses a quick kiss into my hair and then leans back, looking around. “Where’s what’s-his-name?”

  “You mean The Blip?” George offers, getting comfy in her man’s lap. “Probably jerking it to a selfie from your seats.”

  These girls are the best.

  Rux leans back with a satisfied smile. “You finally drop his ass?”

  I choke on a swallow of beer.

  This time Nat is the one chiming in. “Not exactly.”

  No more smile.

  Between the music and the amped-up post-win crowd, the Five Hole is pretty loud, but I swear I can hear his molars grinding together as she fills him in. Rux has been a little overprotective of me since I scored what Natalie calls surrogate-little-sister status, but I think of more as being besties-in-law. And the look on his face right now is about as threatening as I’ve ever seen. But I’m pretty sure I don’t have to remind him of the no-beating-up-Cammy’s-ex-boyfriends rule.

  “Keep your chin up?” he growls. “Is he fucking kidding?”

  I lean into his side for a squeeze. “I know, right? Like I’m going to be so broken up about losing him? Please. And honestly, I can’t even be angry about him waiting until after the game—because, come on, Slayers tickets.”

  Everyone around the table grudgingly agrees.

  “The thing that rubs is I only agreed to go out with him because he asked like two hours after I found out Jeremy was moving back to Chicago. And I didn’t want to be single when he got here. But now, not even a month later and here I am… single again.”

  Rux shakes his head. “What do you care if Jeremy thinks you’re dating someone? That asshole left you pregnant at eighteen.”

  I shouldn’t care. After all these years I wish I didn’t. But the way he left me was brutal.

  “I guess I just wanted him to see that I’m doing fine without him.” That I’m not waiting anymore.

  “Sunshine, you’re better than fine. So you don’t date much—”

  “I’m choosy.” Careful. Patient. God, have I been patient.

  “Hell, yeah you are. And you’re also an awesome, hot-as-fuck mom with an incredible kid, a sister who would lay down her life for you, and kickass friends who love you. Plus, you’re rocking a great job that lets you work from home, your fridge always has the best snacks, and you score Slayers tickets on demand. Babe, you’re killing it.”

  I feel myself getting a little misty, so I focus on the fun. “Your seats are pretty great.”

  I grew up on football thanks to Julia, but since she married into hockey, I’ve seen the light.

  “Right?” Reaching for my other shoulder, Rux pulls me around so we’re facing each other and I’m looking into his dark brown eyes. So it’s just him and me. “Jeremy know who you were dating?”

  “No.” He hasn’t even asked.

  Which is totally fine. It’s not like I thought Jeremy Levenson would be banging my door down trying to score some long-overdue second chance. He’s had seven years and hasn’t done it yet. Besides, if he’s really back for our son, then I don’t want anything else muddying the waters.

  A nod. Rux looks past me. His eyes get ha
rd, and I swear the next breath he takes fills his chest to twice its size, broadening his already intimidating shoulders. Following his glacial stare, I find The Blip standing a few feet off, his fangirl eyes locked on Rux.

  “Yo, Rux, great game tonight… buy you a beer?”

  No. Freaking. Way.

  I turn back to Rux, expecting the seams of his suit to be busting open. But instead of going full-on Hulk… he’s smiling. Sort of. This isn’t Rux’s real smile, the one so contagious my son can’t see it without breaking into fits of giggles. This is something else. Something dangerous.

  Rux nods to the guy I’m pretty sure he wants to take apart. “Yo, thanks for getting out of my way.”

  Out of his way? What’s he—

  In the next second, his mouth slants over mine in a kiss so unexpected, that in a million years I wouldn’t have seen it coming. A kiss that startles me still, frozen in his hold as he bows me back through one heartbeat, two… thirteen. When Rux pulls clear, he looks past me to where The Blip is standing red-faced and openmouthed, and growls, “Leave.”

  There’s no argument.

  The table is silent around us and I still haven’t blinked.

  George breaks the silence, eyes wide, and whisper-squeals, “Rux is your dirty rebound!”

  Finally, I sputter, “Rux, you just kissed me!”

  He winks. “You’re welcome.”

  Rux

  “Ruxton Meyers, you are so dead.” Blue eyes the color of the summer sky narrow to slivers of pure wrath as my bestie glares up at me. I’m thinking it’s kind of adorable, but then she balls her fist, planting it on her hip, and I realize this is serious.

  “Whoa, you’re pissed.” She is. I’ve seen it before, just rarely directed at me.

  “Um, yeah?” She looks around the deserted back hall, blonde curls bouncing around her face. “What were you expecting with that kind of stunt? You kissed me!”

  At the risk of making things worse, I shrug and own it. “Seriously, I was expecting more of a thank-you.”

  Definitely not Cammy Wesley grabbing me by the ear and towing me into the back hall of the Five Hole so she could jab her pointy finger into my chest until I’m pretty sure I’ll have a bigger bruise from her than from getting racked into the boards in tonight’s game.

  For a second, she just blinks up at me—then her face scrunches up and she jabs me again. And even beneath the bar’s dim lighting, I can see her cheeks turning pink. Wait, red.

  Oh shit.

  She’s never going to let me into her fridge again. Matty’s going to grow up playing football instead of hockey. What have I done?

  “You said you wanted Jeremy to think you were seeing someone,” I start, scrambling for my defense. “And then that little waffle stomper was headed over and I figured—two birds, one stone. Set The Blip straight on who needs to keep his fucking chin up and start some rumors circulating about who you’re seeing.”

  With Greg Baxter out, the last few games have been rough. People are watching, waiting to see what happens. And pulling out that last-minute save tonight is going to have eyes on me.

  This place is crawling with snap-happy fans and probably some press too. Someone caught that kiss and, guaranteed, by tomorrow everyone’s going to know about it.

  Problem solved.

  She throws up her hands. “And how am I not going to look desperate—no, scratch that—how am I not going to look totally pathetic when a week from now The Blip sees you with your tongue down some bunny’s throat?”

  I hold my finger up and she cocks her head like I better make this good.

  “First, when was the last time you caught me with my tongue down anyone’s throat?”

  I’ve been on a bunny break for a while actually.

  Her arms cross. Slowly. “Um, it was in this very bar, actually. Against that wall.”

  Okay, and I know what she’s talking about, because when I’d come up for air and saw her across the bar—it didn’t feel good. So it was the last time. “That was months ago.”

  She rolls her eyes. But I’m right.

  “And secondly, who gives a shit what that guy thinks?”

  “I don’t. Not really.” She loses some of her steam and her shoulders droop. “But... don’t you have any exes who have said stuff about you that you’d like to prove wrong instead of right?”

  The question catches me off guard and, shoving my hands in the pockets of my suit pants, I clear my throat. “Look, you know I’m not really cut out for the kids-and-white-picket-fence life. Relationships aren’t my thing. But of the very few women I’ve dated seriously… they pretty much hit the nail on the head.”

  “What did they say?”

  “I’m impulsive. Irresponsible. Unreliable and all over the place.” To start. The rest… I don’t want to go there.

  Cammy looks like she wants to argue. She’s sweet like that, always seeing the good.

  But we’ve got this honesty thing going, so I don’t sugarcoat it. “They’re right.”

  After a breath, she shakes her head. “Well, I don’t know about that, but—”

  “But you don’t want The Blip to be right about you,” I supply. For as much of a trooper as Cammy is, handling anything life throws her way and never backing down, my girl is vulnerable too.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she mutters.

  The hell it doesn’t.

  “Cammy, look at me.” Those big blue eyes come up to meet mine. I can’t stand the idea that she’s upset and would pretty much slither on my belly over broken glass to take that worried look off her face. “Hey, I’m sorry. I just wanted you to feel better.”

  I want to protect her from the guys who don’t deserve her.

  Hell, I want to protect her from everything. It’s been like that for three years. Since that first night I went over to her place with Greg to pick up Julia. There was Cammy. Twenty-two years old, Matty clinging to her side. She was so happy for Julia, smiling that bright, beautiful smile while we took her sister out and she stayed home. I could see the longing in her eyes, the envy. Only the second she looked down at that little boy, it was gone.

  She was such a good mom. Trying so hard.

  At first, I just wanted to help her out. Give her a break once in a while. So I’d make sucker bets with Julia, offering up babysitting here and there. Cammy’d come home and we’d talk a little about her night before I left. The next time we talked a little more. And pretty soon it wasn’t just babysitting and it wasn’t just about wanting to help her out. We fell into the kind of easy friendship you don’t find with most people.

  She shakes her head and lets out one of those long breaths that usually mean she’s getting over her mad. “I know. And thank you.” The corners of her mouth tip, and it’s like the sun coming out after a month of rain. “Did you see his face?”

  “The Blip’s? Hell yeah, I did. Pretty sure his mouth hit the floor hard enough to rattle his teeth.”

  “Rux?”

  “Sunshine.”

  She rolls her eyes, but I know she likes it when I call her that. And it fits who she is perfectly.

  “No bunnies next week.”

  I get another little jab in my chest for good measure, and then catch her finger in my hand and pull her in for a hug that feels like everything good in the world. “Not a problem.”

  Chapter 2

  Cammy

  “Come on, you’ve got to tell me,” Julia begs the next morning, her arms stretched across the kitchen table in a plea as pitiful as I’ve ever seen my sister deliver.

  I’d planned on getting a few hours in on my medical coding job before Matty came home, but once she heard about that kiss, there was no putting her off—not that I’d want to. Julia and I talk about everything and I miss having her around like crazy.

  But thank God for flexible hours.

  “Was it good? Gross? Did he, like, try to eat your face or was it one of those tight-lipped Afterschool Special kisses? Rux is such a showy guy, I’m bettin
g it was one of those kisses where your lips are closed but you move your face all around.”

  I ought to answer. After all the years of living vicariously through Julia’s love life, demanding details only a little sister would dare to demand, it would be fair. But dang it, she never gave up the goods without making me work for it at least a little, and turnabout is fair play.

  So I pretend to read over the field trip form in front of me. Move my pen down the page—I’ll have to read it for real later, they might need a chaperone—and blink innocently across the table we used to share.

  Her eyes narrow. This girl gets pro athletes to spill their tea every day—she’s a woman to contend with. But she’s also my sister, and in a battle of wills, I’m not going down easy. It would be an insult to the both of us.

  Finally, she cracks. “Cammy!”

  And who am I to keep her in suspense? “Okay! Okay, okay, okay. Relax. I’ll tell you.”

  She props herself on her elbows, her fingers drumming the table impatiently.

  I lean in. “It was fine.”

  “Fine?” she coughs, rocking back.

  “I know, it would be so much more fun if it swung further to one extreme or the other, but the truth is, as kisses go, Rux’s was neither here nor there.”

  “Tongue?”

  “Come on.”

  “Well, I don’t know. Open mouth or closed?”

  “A little open. He kind of caught me mid gasp. I didn’t see it coming and then”—I fling my hands up, Kermit-style—“there it was!”