“Hang on, lemme see if cousin dear has anything up his sleeves.” Ryan pulled the phone away from his face as he went looking for his cousin, finally finding him settling his stuff into the bigger bedroom. “You. Are. An. Asshole. But we’ll fight over this more later. Despite your charming wit, Gabi wants to know if you had anything planned for dinner.”
“Non.” Luke murmured as he continued to unpack his clothes into the closet. Just before Ryan put the phone back to his face again, he saw Luke mouth at him, ‘She will be mine.’
Clenching his free hand into a fist, Ryan stalked out of the room, tripping over his own long forgotten bag in the process. Growling softly and kicking it towards the smaller bedroom, he grumbled at his sister, “His highness has no plans. Are we coming to you, or you coming to us?”
“Why don’t we come to you? I’ll park in Emma’s extra spot, I know she won’t mind. Maybe I can even invite her up and let her see that you guys aren’t the classless idiots that she no doubt thinks you are?”
Kicking at the bag again until it was completely inside the other bedroom, Ryan promptly closed the door and murmured at her, “One classless idiot, one justifiably cranky American. She came up here to yell at us cuz we were making so much noise, said that ‘Some of us have jobs’.”
He could almost see his sister rolling her eyes through the phone before she responded in a softer voice than he was expecting. “Emma doesn’t understand sports. She’s trying, but in her experiences thus far, it’s a lot of machismo, not a lot of what she equates to work, even if she acknowledges the skill necessary to compete. She was more likely trying to make the point that you two were interrupting HER work rather than trying to insult you.”
Going to wrinkle his nose then immediately regretting it, Ryan finally muttered sourly, “Well this is a job, dammit. I mean yes, I have my degree but…”
“I know Turtle, I know.” Gabi interrupted. “And you’re good enough. You’ll make it, I believe in you.”
He managed a half-smile at that. “You always have, Gaba. You always have.”
“That’s because you’re my little Turtle. Now go be a good boy and turn on your oven on to 425 and make sure there’s nothing in there first, please. I don’t want you burning the whole complex down.”
Snorting, Ryan left the confines of what was now his bedroom to head to the kitchen. “One time I put something metal in the microwave and I still can’t live it down, can I? I’ll take care of things on this end. I’ll see you soon, Gaba. Love you.”
“Love you too, Turtle.”
Hanging up Luke’s phone with a sigh, Ryan could still only shake his head. Dinner with his sister and her husband didn’t worry him. But dinner with Emma? That was another story entirely. He had to get to her before Luke did, and he just wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
But could he live with himself if Luke used her up and spit her out as carelessly as he so often did?
Chapter 8 - Above the Fold
After several days in their new apartment and getting used to living with each other, Ryan and Luke were finally preparing for their first task as members of the Blue Springs Blizzard – a fan festival to be held at their home arena. They’d been told to dress ‘smartly’ and wear their dark-colored ‘away’ jerseys, as there was to be an autograph session and they wanted people to be able to identify the players.
Ultimately, both cousins had gone for khakis and loafers, with plain white t-shirts beneath their jerseys. They’d come out of their rooms at the same time and laughed at each other. It was times like this where Ryan so felt like they were twins instead of cousins. Of course, Luke’s hair – currently tinted blond – and their height difference would always be the tell-tale differences.
Ryan wanted to get a look at his own hair before they headed out, but Luke had been in their lone bathroom for the better part of an hour, working on his hair. Banging a fist against the door jamb, Ryan hollered, “C’mon you jackass. We need to get going!”
Almost immediately the door opened, with Luke running a hand through perfectly coiffed spikes. “How do I look?”
“Downright fuckable.” Ryan replied snarkily as he pushed past to get a look at himself in the mirror. Once he was certain he looked fine as well, he patted Luke on the shoulder on his way past him. “But you did miss a spot.”
“Marde!” With that, Luke was back in the bathroom, and Ryan was bringing his palm to his face.
“I’m leaving without you!” Ryan hollered through the door, and once again the door open instantly.
“You are a fucker. My hair is perfect.” Ryan rolled his eyes at Luke and waved him towards their door, following him as they finally, mercifully, headed out and off towards the arena.
~*~
Though the fan fest wouldn’t officially start for another 20 minutes, Emma had been wandering around the inside of the arena area for the last half hour, trying to get to know anyone who would have anything to do with team. She’d talked with the people who took care of the ice, the ones who would run the team store, even the President of the team. Both her recorder and her camera were getting a workout, and she knew this was only the beginning.
She’d put on her best, most expensive set of clothes – the gift Keegan had given her at her graduation. Though she’d thought the outfit rather useless at the time, it was perfect for this setting. She wore black pinstriped pants and a tailored white shirt, and finished off the look with a set of black heels. With her black satchel hanging over one shoulder, her glasses on in place of her contacts, and her ‘press pass’ and Kansas City Times lanyard around her neck, she hoped she looked as professional as she felt.
Walking back towards the main entrance of the arena, Emma could see several of the dark blue jerseys the players would be wearing and realized that they had begun to arrive. Though she’d met most of the currently signed players already, it had all been in an unofficial capacity, and this would be the first time she’d be recording conversations. As she got closer to the players, she started reading the names on the back of the jerseys and was relieved to see that there were no Perraults among them.
Sidling up beside Trent, she nudged him in the ribs, waiting until he turned around to ‘introduce’ herself with eyes dancing. “TJ Jarrett? I’m Emma Connelly, with the KC Times. May I have a few minutes of your time?”
His eyes narrowed briefly even though he smiled at her, telling her in a normal voice, “It’s Trent actually.” And leaning closer so his mouth was near her ear, he teased under his breath, “Though you seem to prefer Lover Boy?”
Blushing fiercely but laughing at him, Emma grabbed her recorder and silently tilted her head in a request for permission, grinning a bit more when he nodded his ascension. Flicking it on, she started throwing questions at him as though they’d never met, asking about what brought him to the KC area, about his past, anything that could potentially turn into an article about the ‘local boy’ on the team.
As always, the conversation was easy, comfortable. And though Emma did her job as well as she ever did, she couldn’t help but wonder if a time would come that Trent would ever look at her as more than a friend.
As Emma walked away from the players, she noticed the doors were opening and fans – more fans than she’d even remotely expected – were piling in. And just like so many times before in her life, she could feel her heart start pounding out of her chest and her breathing get more constricted. She knew she needed a place to hide, but where?
Edging away from the players and fans alike, Emma found a small cranny in one of the walls to lean against, to bend over and try and calm herself down. It didn’t matter how often she went to baseball or football games, the sheer enormity of the crowds freaked her out. And even though there were far less people at the Blizzard’s fan fest, it was still a lot to take.
But no sooner than she started to get comfortable than a man in a nice suit approached her with a grim expression on his face. “Emma Connelly?” He confirmed as she nodded.
“We need to have a talk.”
~*~
“I told you that we were going to be late! They’re already letting the fans in!” Ryan practically took off in a dead sprint towards the building. It took a few moments, but Luke soon caught up and passed him. At least he had the grace to hold the door open once they both reached the building.
Trying to act as inconspicuous as possible, Ryan pointed towards where he saw the other players gathered and they headed off in that direction, exhaling soft once they were finally among their teammates. “Hey guys,” Ryan greeted them, offering what he hoped was a friendly smile.
The group – there couldn’t have been more than a half-dozen of them total – looked at the new arrivals and one of them asked, “Perrault cousins?”
“Oui, I’m Luke, the good looking one. The short one is Ryan.” Luke smirked as the rest of the group laughed and they all introduced themselves. Ryan forced a smile on his face but purposefully shifted just a bit so he could plant his heel across Luke’s toes. “Son of a!”
Ryan clamped his hand over his cousin’s mouth and murmured. “Language, Luke. There are small children around. No need for you to corrupt them, yet.”
With a flick of an eyebrow, Trent turned to address them, telling them, “You missed the reporter from the Times. She’s already been through and talked to us all. No idea where she wandered off to, either, so no idea if she intends to come back and talk to you two.”
Ryan wasn’t sure if he was relieved or unnerved by that bit of information, not to mention the way that Trent looked almost through him and Luke both. He definitely settled on unnerved when he heard one of the other teammates piping up, “Looks like you two might be in luck. Here she comes again.”
And sure enough, Emma was indeed approaching – but she wasn’t alone. Talking her ear off in an obviously animated manner was the team’s General Manager and he didn’t look pleased. Ryan could only hope it wasn’t he and Luke that were the topic of conversation, but he wasn’t particularly optimistic about that.
~*~
“So, you’re certain that they’re not giving you any problems?”
Ever since the general manager of the team had found her off to the side, he’d immediately looped her into conversation – she’d never even had the opportunity to pull out her recorder. But it seemed like he was more interested in interviewing her than the other way around. “No sir,” Emma lied finally as they started to approach the front area of the arena again, where she saw that the group of players had two new additions – both with “Perrault” on the backs of the jerseys.
“We’d heard that some of players were being disruptive. That’s not something we’re going to tolerate. So, I want you to let me know if those Perrault boys give you any trouble. Talent be damned, I’m not going to have this team making a bad name for itself in this community.” The GM paused for a moment, and then fished a business card out of his pocket. “Here. If you have any issues, I want you to let me know immediately.”
Emma glanced at the card, the embossed Blizzard logo in the corner, and then tucked it into her satchel before offering the GM as sincere a smile as she could manage. They were practically to the group now, and she wanted the boys to overhear what she had to say. “I’ll admit that they were a bit rambunctious the first hour or so after they arrived. I think they needed to decide who was getting what room.” She waited until they were just in front of the group to make her last point. “But since that point, they’ve been the perfect neighbors. I haven’t heard a peep out of them.”
The GM nodded, patted Ryan on the back, and murmured something that sounded like, “Keep up the good work, son,” before he wandered off, leaving Emma standing alone in front of the semicircle of hockey players.
“Hello again, gentlemen. For those of you who I haven’t met, I’m Emma Connelly, I’ll be covering the team this season for the KC Times. Would you mind gathering together for a few pictures?” Pulling the small camera out of her satchel, Emma waited until the boys finished arranging themselves to snap several pictures then redirected her eyes to Ryan’s, waiting until the realization of what she was waiting for finally dawned in his eyes.
“I don’t think we’ve met – I’m Ryan Perrault, and the one with the weird hair is my cousin, Luke.” Smirking a bit at her, his tone was almost flirtatious as he continued, “All you need to remember is I’m the better looking one.”
Snorting a bit, Emma questioned, “Cousins, eh? And on the same team? That must not happen too often. Why don’t you two come tell me more about how that came to be?”
Biting on her lip to keep a chuckle in as both sets of Perrault’s eyes lit up, she led them off to a quieter area, away from fan traffic. When they were out of earshot of the rest of the players, Ryan remarked, “I would have thought you already knew. It was Gabi’s influence.”
Turning sharply on her heels and leveling them both with a stare, Emma kept her voice low and venomous – a trick she’d unknowingly picked up from Gabi. “Of fucking course I know that. I also know that your General Manager has already heard mumblings of some of his players acting unruly and asked me how my ‘neighbors’ were behaving.” Even Luke paled at those words and Emma nodded a bit. “I told him that beyond a little rambunctiousness when you first moved in, you were the perfect neighbors. Let’s keep it that way, eh?” She leveled them with another glare. “He wanted me to tell him if that was ever not the case.”
Both cousins gulped in near unison and nodded their heads, understanding exactly how precarious their situation could turn. After a long moment of them all staring at each other, Luke seemed to get a bit of his swagger back and coughed, beginning, “We started playing hockey young. Our Grandpère Perrault played professionally.”
Emma held up a finger, reached into her satchel to grab the recorder, and then signaled at Luke to repeat what he’d just said. And thus the interview – and what would end up being the ‘above the fold’ story on the next day’s sports page – began.
Chapter 9 - Oh Bi the Way
It had been several days since the article had been printed, and Ryan was finally certain they’d fielded the last of the phone calls from jubilant relatives, both states side and across the border. The conversation with their Grandpère had been an emotional one; he’d expressed pride in his grandsons, proud they were carrying on the family name in such a positive way.
It was with that thought echoing throughout his head that Ryan leaned against the frame of the living room entry and murmured at his cousin, “We need to talk.”
Pausing the video game he was playing, Luke glanced over at his cousin and raised an eyebrow before asking, “About?” But before Ryan could answer him, Luke shook his head a bit, tossed the game controller aside and mumbled, “I know. We didn’t deserve something so good. Especially not from her. Especially not how we - more me than you - have behaved.”
Nodding his agreement, Ryan asked after a half-beat, “So then you have no issues calling off the bet?”
Snorting a bit, Luke gave his cousin a smirk. “Even if I was inclined to continue it, neither of us have a snowfort’s chance in hell of hooking up with her.”
“Snowball.” Ryan corrected automatically. “Snowball’s chance in hell.” But he again nodded his agreement, murmuring, “It’s only a matter of time before her and Trent hook up.”
“Double the disappointment for you then,” Luke murmured as he reached for the controller again, no doubt intending to un-pause his game and continue even as Ryan froze and stared at him blankly. After several moments of the stunned silence, Luke asked, “What, you thought I didn’t notice?”
Gulping, trying to force breath into his now shaky lungs, Ryan prayed silently to himself that Luke wasn’t inferring what he thought he was.
“You’re interested in them both. Despite your claims about being focused on hockey alone, about not wanting the ‘distraction’ of a relationship, you would not object to a relationship with either one of them.” And pausing for
a tick, he added, “Or perhaps both at once.”
“What…how?”
“Are you forgetting you’re not the only one with a degree, Tortue? We have grown up together, yes? And I’ve watched you, as you’ve watched me.”
Ryan gulped but nodded, his voice almost a whisper, “And what have you seen, Luke?”
Shrugging his shoulders a bit but maintaining eye contact with his cousin, Luke replied, “I have seen you take note of the young men as often as you take note of the young women. And that you hide behind that goalie mask so you can watch without being noticed, without being judged.”
Staring at Luke without any words for the longest time, Ryan finally began to nod his head slowly before bringing his hands up to his face and hiding. Here was everything he’d tried to hide, to keep under wraps, about to hit the fan. As soon as their teammates found out...
Just Another Season Page 5
