Hockey Hunk (Loving the Puckers Book 4)

by Kat Obie

  Hockey Hunk

  Kat Obie

  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

  Epilogue

  Also by Kat Obie

  Join My Newsletter

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  1

  Matt

  I shouldn't say it, but I loved getting off the ice. Not because I hated playing hockey—quite the opposite. I loved hanging out with my buddies from the team, and practice just got in the way of the fun.

  I tried to get off the ice quickly, since I didn't want to give Klaus Lagerfield or Colton Weber a chance to prank me. I had less to fear from Webs since he was my best friend, but there was always that risk of being the target of the next prank, especially with April Fool’s Day coming up.

  Getting back to my stall, I noticed that my pants were missing straight away. I got out of my stuff and just hung out in my boxers as I waited for the pranksters to enter the locker room. Lager walked by first.

  I tossed a towel at his head. "Where are they, jackass?"

  "It wasn't me, although now I wish I did it, but you got to ask Weber for them back." He snickered as he snapped the towel my way. "You're so easy to rile Shoresy."

  I could be at times. I liked my routine, and when things got shifted, I got pissed. But I needed that routine to help keep me focused on stuff and not forget things.

  I waited for Weber to get into the locker room, but he was probably canoodling with his girlfriend in her locker room. None of us had any idea how long she would be with the team. She'd been a damn good goalie for us, but she was up against some stiff competition with Riker for the backup job if he got out of rehab okay. Lily was good for Webs.

  Webs finally walked in ten minutes later. "Dude, where's your pants?"

  I shot him a look. "Give them back. I know you took them. K sold you out."

  His head turned to the left towards Klaus's stall. "Lager . . . We had a deal. If he asked, it was Gavin who stole his shit."

  "Yo! Leave me out of your shit," I heard Gavin shout out while Webs cracked up. Almost immediately, there was a string of curses from Gavin. We all stared at the rookie to see him pulling out my missing track pants from the back of his cubby. "Dude, I had nothing to do with it. I swear."

  I still didn't know what to make of Gavin. When he first came to the team, he had such a chip on his shoulder. Although lately, that chip only came out when he was on the ice. He'd been pretty chill lately and even cozying up to Lager, Webs, and myself since he started dating Lager's little sister.

  I quickly pulled the pants over my boxers. Now I could do some lifting and forget about the guys stealing my pants.

  Of course, the pranks didn't end there. I went to put on my shoes, and they were actually hammered into the bench. No wonder Klaus and Weber had a deal. "You assholes. I liked those shoes."

  Klaus and Webs were laughing their asses off. They were the only two people left in the locker room, since we were scheduled to either be in the video room or the weight room.

  I glared at Webs, knowing that he took the pants. He raised his hands defensively. "That was actually Klaus."

  I wasn’t sure I bought the fact that he was innocent about the shoes. "I'm going to get you back."

  Regardless, I was pissed and it was time to remind the guys that there were players you didn’t prank since they would either explode or take it too far. It was time to make sure everyone knew not to mess with me. I would take it a step or two too far.

  I had the perfect idea for a prank in mind, but I needed Webs's little sister Renee for the assist. Thankfully, in one of my most brilliant drunken moves, we had swapped telephone numbers. I hung out with Little Weber whenever she came out to visit her brother. She was beautiful and funny.

  I ducked into one of the conference rooms that weren’t in use at this hour and gave her a call. I wasn't sure she would be able to pick up due to her job at the hospital. The hockey gods must have been smiling down on me, because she picked up almost immediately. "Hey, you. Everything all good?"

  I started to scratch the back of my neck. "Yup, but I need to ask you a favor."

  Renee

  I was lounging on my sofa and reading a book when I heard my phone go off. It was weird to see Matt Shoresy's name pop up on my phone. He was my brother's best friend. We'd chatted a few times since my last trip to visit Colton. Anytime he called, I would think the worst, like my brother was at the hospital, even though most of the time he was just checking in with me.

  My interest piqued when he asked for a favor. "What's the favor?"

  "So, your brother and Lager have been relentless with the pranks lately and I want payback."

  I laughed. Colton had always been a bit of a prankster in the locker room at school. Since Lager joined the team, Colton had increased his pranks because he had a partner in crime. "How big are you talking about?"

  "Fake pregnancy big."

  I was so glad that I wasn't drinking anything at that moment, although I still choked on my saliva. Once I could form a cohesive thought, I asked, "Seriously? A fake pregnancy?"

  "Yup." He was so calm about the idea. This was going to have consequences. They were best friends, and there was no way Colton would be cool with the idea of me sleeping with Shoresy. If he hadn’t been my brother’s friend, I might have tried to make a move on him since he was totally my type.

  "Okay, what's the plan? Besides, why do you want to do something this big? What has Colton done to deserve this?" I was all questions at this point, but I had to stop asking them so he could answer.

  "Mainly things are adding up. He and Lager thought it was hysterical to hide my pants and nail my favorite sneakers to my stall earlier today. So, I want to make sure those two won't ever mess with me again, and this was my first idea. Please tell me you’ll do it."

  I could see that adding up after a while. The idea was huge, but what did he want from me? "It's not exactly easy to fake a pregnancy."

  "Sure it is. We all got super drunk when you came over for All-Star break. Webs passed out before we did. Easy to claim we did something after we put him to bed. All I need you to do is come into town proclaiming that you’re pregnant. Then we play it from there."

  The plan would actually work. The only tricky thing was that I might need to show a sonogram. Then again, Lisa was pregnant again and she went to see Kristy for her sonograms. I was sure my two besties would be willing to pull a few strings. "So, when were you thinking of doing this?"

  "April Fool's weekend."

  "Wait, what? You want to do it over April Fool's? That's like, next week."

  "Why not that weekend? I'll fly you in and everything. Would Thursday through Sunday work for you?"

  I was aghast. While the dates would most likely work with my schedule, it just seemed so insane. "Colton isn't dumb; he's going to know that it's fake if we do it over April Fools."

  "Doesn't matter. He'll be so freaked by the idea that we hooked up, he won't even realize it's April Fools without help from Klaus. Besides, we can confuse the hell out of him with the timing of the announcement. So, how about it? I promise to make it worth your while."

  It would be nice to see both him and Colton again. I could maybe even meet my brother’s new girlfriend. So I was thinking about saying yes even before he decided to say he would do something specia
l for me. "All right, I'll come out for it. It might be a bit weird to just show up on Colton's doorstep and expect him to open up his house to me now that he's not living alone anymore."

  "Don't even worry about it. Stay with me. Unless you want me to get you a room?" He started to laugh. "You should totally show up on his doorstep with that announcement. He would flip. It would be great."

  The more we talked about it, the more excited I got about this caper. I still thought we were going to get caught super quickly, but it was going to be epic to see the look on Colton’s face if he thought I did it with his best friend.

  2

  Matt

  I was getting antsy. It took all my self-control to keep myself from bouncing my leg while I hung out with Webs to play some Call of Duty. Renee was coming today, and she assured me she was ready to announce our love affair.

  I was worried that she might not get onto the airplane and bail instead. I kept checking my phone to see if she’d said she was on the way or sent any update at all.

  Webs elbowed me. "Dude. Quit looking at your phone. I need you to protect my flank."

  "Well, it's not my fault that your girl keeps sniping. If I didn't know better, I’d say there's trouble in paradise." It was weird that Lily was also playing with us but was sitting upstairs rather than with us. Whatever floated their boats, I guess.

  "If you’re going to be such shit company, I would rather be hanging out with Lil."

  Shit, there was trouble in paradise. Maybe this wasn't the best time for a prank, but it was too late to tell Renee that we needed to hold off. "What's the deal?"

  "She got word that Riker's coming back and she's going to be sent down to Hamilton in the next week."

  Their whole love story was pretty epic. They fell for each other when she was an emergency backup goalie and earned a spot on our team while Riker went through alcohol rehab treatment. I hoped that they would get the whole season together, but her having to leave just sucked.

  "Sorry, man."

  "It'll be okay. We've been lucky to have her on the team. Who else gets to hang out with their girlfriend so much?" That was Webs—looking on the positive side of things. But no wonder he was giving me some shit for being bad company if he wasn’t going to see her for a bit. I was surprised he was spending the afternoon with me.

  The doorbell rang. I tried to pretend I didn't have any idea of what was going on, but that had to be Renee. Webs paused the game and answered the door.

  If it was possible, she looked even more beautiful than she did in late January. Her hair was looking lush, long, and wavy. While her green eyes were similar to her brother’s, hers always seemed to pop, especially when her dark hair was down. I was instantly hard thanks to her beauty.

  Too bad this prank was the closest thing I would get to having her as a girlfriend. Then again, the next few days would really show how much of a dead man I would be if I did touch her.

  The moment she spotted me on the sofa, she looked pissed. She came my way and slapped me right across the face.

  I was in utter shock and just sat there blinking. "What did I do?" We’d agreed we would ad lib the announcement, but ow! Did I have to get slapped?

  She shouted, "You got me pregnant, you asshole."

  In unison, both Webs and I asked, "What?"

  Then Webs turned towards me, and he looked pissed. Not that I blamed him, but I had supposedly broken the bro-code. "Did you sleep with my sister?"

  "Um . . . Maybe . . ." Then I got hit for the second time in the span of minutes. That one I was expecting.

  There was no way sleeping with your best friend's sister was ever going to be a free pass. That didn't mean it hadn’t hurt my jaw. Especially since he got me in the exact spot as Renee did. I rubbed it in the vain hope it would stop the stinging.

  Both of the Webers were screaming at the same time. He yelled, "Get the hell out of my house, Shoresy. I don't want to kill you," while Renee screamed, "Don’t you dare kill him, Colton!"

  A loud whistle from the stairs silenced the two Webers. Lily looked pissed too. She took control, although she glared at Renee. "What the hell is going on here, and who are you?"

  Colton's face softened as he addressed his girlfriend, but anger seeped from him. "Apparently, that asshole decided to impregnate my sister. Also, Lily, meet Renee. Renee, this is my girlfriend Lily."

  Lily's eyes scanned between me and Renee, probably trying to ascertain what was going on.

  Renee quietly waved her hand. "Hi. Glad to finally meet the girl that swept Colt off his feet."

  Knowing I should probably make a quick escape, I said, "I'll be going." I knew it was a big risk in front of a pissed-off Webs, but I added, "Renee, why don't I take you out to dinner tonight so we can discuss everything?"

  She nodded. "Yeah, we need to talk." Her voice was so cold that if I didn’t know better, I would have thought she was livid with me for getting her pregnant.

  "I'll pick you up here in a couple hours." Then I made a quick exit.

  Renee

  When Matt left, I felt bad. Colton hit him far harder than I expected. Shoresy took the whole thing on his chin, although I was now questioning this prank. We might have crossed the line, and I didn’t want Colton and Matt's bromance to break up over me.

  There was so much tension in the air, even though Shoresy had left. Colton turned towards me. "So, when did you sleep with Shoresy?" The venom from my easy-going brother was surprising.

  I bit the side of my lip as I tried to figure out a way to say how I ‘slept with’ Shoresy without making Colton angrier. "Remember how we all got drunk together during the All-Star Break?"

  "Sorta. I kinda passed out early that night." He scratched the back of his head as if that could help to nudge a memory from a black out.

  "Well, one thing led to another and we sorta did it." That would work. Right? I wished Shoresy and I had planned more details other than when.

  His eyes went wide. "Wait, you guys did it on the sofa?"

  I thought about things. It was months ago, and I didn’t want him to freak out more than he had already. "No, it was in the guest room. What can I say? I like doing it in a bed."

  "But you're sure that the baby is his?"

  I looked at him like he was crazy. What did he take me for? Sure, we weren't in the same city much, but he should know me well enough to know that I didn’t randomly shag people. “Seriously, you think I would come out all this way if it wasn’t his?"

  He shook his head. He then looked apologetic as he took a step towards me. He wrapped his large arms around me. "I'm sorry, Renee. I should have known that it’s his. So, now what? Do you need me to kick his ass?" He looked way too hopeful about the prospect of beating up his best friend.

  I laughed. "No, I don't want you to kick Shoresy's ass."

  "Fine. I won't kick his ass." He frowned. He was angry. I couldn't really blame him. At least he was calming down as he took a few deep breaths. "You know, I would gladly help to support the baby. You don't need Shoresy."

  Ever since he started to make money in the NHL, he’d tried to spoil me. I let him purchase a condo for me so I could pay off my student loans quicker. So, I wasn’t surprised that he offered to support me and his would-be nephew or niece. I scoffed, "I didn't come here for your money. It'll be okay one way or another."

  He nodded, but he looked like he wanted to protest. Instead, he asked, "You are planning on keeping it, right?"

  Shit, shit, shit. We should have planned some of our answers better, but Shoresy said it would be fine. At least it was easy to say the truth. "I think so. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Shoresy about the next steps.” I took a deep breath. This was going to be hard to say since he would hate the idea. “Don’t worry about staying up late for me to get home after I have dinner with Shoresy. I don't want to intrude. I know you and Lily have limited time together, so I got a hotel room."

  "Nonsense. You're not going to a hotel."

  I should have kno
wn he would want me to stay with him. Given how angry he was, I wanted to soften the blow some and I said, "Fine. I guess I'll stay with you. It's only a couple days."

  I knew the next couple of hours might be vital for the longevity of the fake pregnancy. I couldn’t make any false moves and give away the secret. Thankfully, I had the perfect distraction. Colton had fallen in love with someone for the first time, and this was my first chance to get to know her. "Since I won’t know my next steps for a couple of hours, how about I finally get to know your girlfriend?"

  3

  Matt

  Walking up to ring the doorbell, I was freaking out. I'd never seen Webs so pissed off before, and I was sure that he still wanted to kick my ass tonight. So, I made sure I came prepared: roses for Renee and Webs's favorite tequila.

  My heart was racing, even though I knew I shouldn't be nervous. This was just a well-orchestrated prank. Well, maybe not orchestrated, but it was a prank. I rang the bell and waited for my potential doom.

  "Hey, Lil." She was the last person I expected to answer the door. I was sure it was going to be Webs wanting to kick my ass or Renee wanting a quick escape.

  "He's calm now. Let's just keep it that way." It was my goal to keep things calm, anyway. But there was a slight change in Lily's tone when she said, "Why the hell did you do it with his sister? What were you thinking?"

  It was a fair question if you didn't know that this was a set up. Although, if I was really honest with myself, I would have loved to have done something with Renee, but I wasn't stupid enough to actually make a move. "It was all alcohol."

  "Then how did you get it up? ‘Cause there has to be some real desire there. Although, it seems shady to act like you don’t remember how it could have happened."