Pike (Sin City Saints Hockey 2)

“Lustful feelings?”

“Of course,” I admit. “But other feelings, too. It’s because of how sweet and funny and beautiful she is that I want her. I’ve never waited so long to sleep with a woman, and I’m okay with how things have been going. I don’t want to move any faster until she’s ready. She’s made me into a different man. A better man.”

“Well, even if she doesn’t want to be with you after this, that’s something.”

I bury my head in my hands and push aside my lukewarm cafeteria breakfast. “She’s the only one. I don’t want anyone else, and I can’t even continue living my everyday life imagining her with someone else. That can’t happen.”

“Then I guess it’s grand gesture time,” Kylie says.

“Grand gesture time?”

Kylie looks at me, her brows lowered and eyes wide like she can’t believe what I’m asking. “Really? Please tell me you know what a grand gesture is.”

“I think I do, but…tell me what you think it is so I know we’re on the same page.”

She rolls her eyes. “You know, like when Mark Darcy buys Bridget Jones a new diary at the end of Bridget Jones’s Diary and she’s not wearing pants and they kiss in the snow.”

My mind is blanking, and my expression probably is, too.

“I’ve never seen that movie, and I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Okay, bad example, I guess,” she says, her expression thoughtful. “What about The Breakfast Club?”

“Yeah, I love that movie.”

“Okay, so I forget the character names for everyone, but when Molly Ringwald gives Judd Nelson her diamond earring at the end. Big gesture right there.”

“I’d give Indie a hundred diamond earrings to forgive me.” I place my elbows on the table and fold my hands together, resting my chin on top of them. “But I can’t just hand over some fancy jewelry to Indie. She doesn’t care about material things. It has to be something meaningful to her.”

“Exactly.”

I think about it as I make myself finish my breakfast, but don’t settle on anything. When I glance at my sister, I can see the toll the past couple days have taken on her. She has dark circles beneath her eyes and somehow, she looks older than she did when she came to visit me in Vegas with Jasmine.

“You said you slept well at the hotel last night, but did you?” I ask her as we throw our trash away.

She shrugs. “I got a solid four hours, but then I woke up and thought about Jasmine being here and me being away from her, and I couldn’t go back to sleep.”

“You’re a great mom,” I say, putting an arm around her. “And I hope you’ll reconsider my offer and move to Vegas. I can have Eric moved to a facility there, too, and if you and Jasmine officially change cities, Mom will want to as well.”

“I’m really starting to consider it. If anything ever happens to me, you’d be the one raising Jasmine, you know.”

My heart cracks open at the thought of something bad happening to Kylie.

“Hey, you’re young and healthy. Don’t think that way.”

“I have to,” she says, shrugging. “You’re my power of attorney and if anything happens to me, you’ll become Eric’s, too. And you’ll get Jasmine. I hope it never comes to that, but I need to know things are in order if it does.”

The thought is sobering. I’d already decided to leave my selfish ways behind because of Indie, but Kylie and Jasmine give me even more reason to.

“I hope you decide to move closer,” I say as we walk to the elevator that will take us to Jasmine’s floor. “Life’s too short, you know?”

She nods, because Kylie doesn’t just know that. Every time she walks into the nursing home to visit with her comatose husband, she lives it.

It’s been a long few days, and as soon as my return flight to Vegas touches down, I power on my phone to see if Indie has called or texted.

Nothing.

I can’t simply drive home and pretend that everything’s fine. Nothing will feel right until Indie and I can talk things out. I send her a text.

Me: I’m sorry.

She doesn’t respond, so I call for an Uber to take me home, restless the whole drive. Once I get home and unpack my bag, I take a shower, trying to figure out how to show Indie how sorry I am as I wash off the smell of hospital and airplane.

Even after her asshole ex left her high and dry, she opened herself up and trusted me. Kylie was right—I should have told her sooner.

I step out of the shower and am drying off when my phone rings from the bathroom counter. I walk over to see who it is, and when I see Indie’s name on the screen, I grab the phone and answer it.