I nod. “Sounds like her.”
He throws up his hands. “But that’s not the point. The point is, I don’t want my daughter with someone with that black mark on his name.”
“Doesn’t really matter who you want me with, Dad. I get to choose, and I choose Aiden,” I say confidently. “I love you, so much. You know that. You also know I’m smart. Aiden is a great guy, and he didn’t do those things. He wouldn’t do them. He treats me with such kindness—and respect. I love him, Dad.”
Mom takes in a quick breath as my dad gawks at me. His brows come in, and he shakes his head. “He has a man bun. You’re in love with that?”
I grin. “Yes. All of him.”
Dad looks to Mom, and she’s smiling. “Well, then, that’s settled.”
“What is?”
“This. Now we know. Even though I’ve known since the puppy shoot.”
My eyes widen. “You have?”
“Oh yeah. Fallon told me, and to be honest, I was trying to hook you two up.”
“I didn’t approve that.”
Mom sets Dad with a look. “When do you ever approve anything?”
He leans back. “She’s right.”
I meet his gaze. “Why are you okay with this? I feel like you’re acting cool in front of me but you’re going to kill Aiden.”
He doesn’t laugh; Dad just looks at me with the blue eyes I share with him and shrugs. “No, it’s not that at all. I’m pretty sure I freaked out last night.”
“He did,” Mom says with a tilt to her lips.
“But we talked, and she already knew, so she calmed my crazy. The truth is, sweetheart, over these past few months, I’ve realized you aren’t a baby anymore. You’ve grown into this amazing, headstrong woman, and I think I started realizing it after you knocked the shit out of Amelia’s ex.”
“Mom says that wasn’t one of my finer moments,” I remind him, but he shakes his head.
“Maybe not. But in my heart, I think it made me realize that you can take care of yourself. As much as I want you to need me, you don’t. You’re going to pick your person just as I chose your mother. Shelli, baby, you blow me away. You’re amazing.”
I don’t know why I’m tearing up as I gaze into my dad’s eyes. He reaches out, taking my hand. “I am so incredibly proud of you, and if Aiden is the guy you choose, then as much as I think I might die from the angina, I support you. You aren’t some flighty girl. You know what you want. I mean, you just shot me down. Pretty sure no one can dim your shine.”
I swallow past the emotion in my throat. “Thanks, Daddy. But I promise, Aiden is really great—though he is nervous about y’all knowing.”
“No reason to be. I’m only gonna break his toes and fingers,” Dad says, getting up and popping his fist into his other palm. “He can still play. I did it with a broken foot in the play-offs.”
I look back to Mom, terrified, and she shakes her head. “He is not. But I do think we should go find him and have a little talk. I’ll bring him in here. He’ll be the one with angina.”
I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my chest. I’ve wanted to tell my mom for a while. But now, knowing my dad is okay with it too, I feel so much better. It’s as if all the pieces I needed to make this whole are falling into place, and Aiden and I are gonna be good. Great, even. I just need him to see it. To see how great we’re gonna be at this.
I grin up at my dad. “How’s your angina?”
He presses his fingers into his chest. “Hurts, but I’ll ignore it if he makes you happy.”
I stand up, wrapping my arms around him as he envelops me in his embrace. He kisses my temple and rests his head against mine as I let my eyes fall shut.
“He does. I promise he does.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Aiden
“I don’t care what anyone says. That GM is terrifying!”
I lean back in my locker, drying my face and chest free of the water from my shower as our new forward, Benson, complains. Everyone seems to disagree with him, but I don’t. Elli Adler is terrifying. So is her hot-ass daughter. Hell, the whole family is! Well, maybe not Quinn. He’s a sweet kid, but the rest of them—they could take you down with a look. One thing is for sure, I don’t want to piss the lot of them off. I’m already worried that Shelli is upset. I know she wants to come clean to her family, but I’m not ready. I like what we have right now, and it’s bad enough my family knows.
I sort of want to be sure when I step in front of her dad. I don’t want him to see me as the punk-ass kid who’s trying to get in his daughter’s pants. I want him to see me as someone who is good for her. I think I am, but I want to be able to look at him and tell him I L-word her. Like, totally. Helplessly. Hell, I might already, but these feelings are totally up in the air. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I hate how unsure I am. Or is it the fear? What if I tell her and she runs off? Who am I kidding? She could do that now, and I would be traumatized. There is a reason no one has been able to pin me down, and that reason is because they weren’t Shelli Adler.