Dear Heart, I Hate You

“I’m starving. You hungry, babe?” I asked Jules, the term of endearment rolling off my tongue so naturally that I didn’t even realize I’d said it until I saw the surprised looks on Katherine and Cooper’s faces.

“Yes! Food please.”

Jules batted her eyelashes at me, and I realized that I’d never gotten her anything to eat during the game. Like an idiot, I’d asked her once and then never asked her again. It was getting late, so she had to be as hungry as I was.

“Should we go out, or do you want to just order room service?” Cooper asked.

Ordering room service meant awkward eating positions on the beds in th

e hotel room, and while I liked the idea of complete privacy, I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of that. The hotel had a restaurant, but some of the players would probably be there, cheating on their wives or hooking up with their latest puck bunny, and I didn’t want to expose Jules to that shit.

“We should go out,” I suggested. “There’s that sports bar nearby.”

Cooper frowned. “Should we really go to a sports bar after we just beat the home team? They’ll probably throw beer at me.”

“I’ll protect you, little brother,” I joked before pulling out my phone and looking at the time. “It’s late enough that everyone who watched the game is probably already gone for the night, but I’ll scope out the crowd before we go in. If it’s too crazy, we’ll go somewhere else, but our options will be limited because it’s so late.”

He sighed. “You sure you don’t wanna just stay here?”

“Come on.” Considering it a done deal, I reached for Jules’s hand and pulled her toward the lobby exit. She looked so damn cute all bundled up in my sweatshirt.

When we reached the sports bar around the corner, it was all but dead, the hard-core hockey fans already gone.

“Cal?”

A couple of my college buddies waved to me from the bar. I steered our group toward them and gave them each a firm handshake before introducing everyone.

“This is my brother, Cooper; his fiancé, Katherine; and this is Jules,” I said, showcasing the girl currently wearing my sweatshirt and curled within my arm.

Pride filled me at the idea of showing Jules off. It was a foreign feeling, having someone I wanted people to know was with me, and not simply because she was pretty. Jules was so much more than that.

We chatted briefly before I excused us, saying that we had to eat before we killed someone. The waiter seated us at a booth toward the back, as far from anyone else as possible at our request. He dropped off four waters, menus, and a giant basket filled with an assortment of breads and rolls before Jules stopped him from leaving.

“Can you take a picture for us, please?” she asked sweetly as she handed him her phone. “I hope that’s okay?” She glanced at Cooper and Katherine, who both nodded.

We huddled together and yelled Cheese! as the waiter took a few pictures, looking annoyed as he handed back her phone.

Jules grinned as she scrolled through. “These are really cute,” she said and then handed over her phone to me.

She was right. The pics were pretty cute.

“Text them to me please,” Katherine insisted, and Jules tapped away on her phone. When the hell had they exchanged numbers?

I leaned toward Jules. “Tell me you eat carbs,” I said as she put her phone away.

Reaching toward the basket, she grinned. “I eat everything. Especially carbs.” She tore off a big piece of the bread and shoved it in her mouth while I laughed, returning my hand to its rightful place on her thigh.

“Hungry?”

She nodded, her mouth too full to respond before she swallowed. “I’m starving. Sorry.” She looked at Katherine and Cooper, who both waved her off. He couldn’t even speak, his mouth was so full.

“Don’t be sorry,” Katherine said as she buttered her own roll.

Cooper swallowed hard before taking a drink of his water. “So, Jules, when did you meet my dashing older brother?”

“We just met yesterday, actually.”

Cooper practically choked before punching at his chest. “Yesterday?” he squeaked out.