Offside (The Barker Triplets 1)

Logan sat down in his chair, wincing a bit at the restricted pull of his jeans. “Me and Billie,” he replied.

“Lucky son-of-a-bitch. You know that, right?”

Was that a hint of warning in his friend’s voice?

Logan sat up a little straighter. “She’s a little nervous about people finding out.” He shrugged. “The whole hockey thing is kind of weird for her.”

Shane nodded. “I get that. Half the town thinks she’s screwing, literally screwing, a bunch of guys in the league. I won’t say a thing.”

“Dumb fucks,” Logan said, irritated. “I don’t get what the big deal is.”

Shane shook his head. “I don’t either but this is small town USA. A town where hockey is King and there are still a lot of small minds that don’t think women should be playing the game. At least not with guys.”

“I guess.” Logan exhaled as he stared at his friend and found words spilling out of his mouth that he hadn’t meant to share. Not really. But nonetheless, they were out there.

“I have to tell her about Betty.”

Shane blinked and scowled. “You never told her about Betty?”

Fuck. It was bad. Logan shook his head. “It never came up. Honestly, I didn’t even think about it until this morning after Billie left.”

“Shit,” Shane murmured.

Logan’s gut rolled. “What happened with Betty didn’t matter.” At his buddy’s arched eyebrows, Logan threw his hands in the air. “At the time it mattered, but not now. I don’t give a flying fuck about Betty-Jo Barker. She’s one cold piece of work and is nothing like Billie. It amazes me that they share the same genetics.”

Shane got to his feet and spit his gum into his empty coffee cup. “Just like you

told me the other night my friend, it will matter. They’re sisters. It will matter a lot.”

Logan swore and fell back in his chair. Shane was right. He should have told her. And maybe he didn’t because he was too damn scared she’d get angry and blow him off, or maybe he was too damn horny.

It didn’t matter. The fact tha

t he’d been with her sister Betty [i]was[i] relevant and it wasn’t something he could keep from her.

“I have to tell her.”

“If you tell her now she’ll think you were hiding it from her.”

Logan was getting more than a little irritated. “So what are you saying? Should I or shouldn’t I?”

“I’m saying, choose your moment wisely. Betty hasn’t been home in months and from what I understand, she’s not coming home anytime soon.”

“And you know this how?”

Shane shrugged. “I ran into Bobbi at The Coffee Pot this morning.”

“Really.”

“Yep,” he nodded. “She was wondering where her sister was and for some reason thought she was with me. Or you. One of us.”

Logan groaned. Shit, he’d forgotten about Bobbi.

“What did you tell her?”

For a moment Shane’s eyes darkened and a frown touched his face. “Nothing. We chatted a bit and she was…almost nice.”

Logan watched Gallagher closely. His friend was still in love with Bobbi, that much was obvious, and he didn’t have a damn clue what to say to him. Logan had never been bitten by the love bug. He’d had a few infatuations of course, but nothing serious.