Gametime: A Moo U Hockey Romance, Jami Davenport [best reads txt] 📗

a superstar and the guy my dad thought I should date so he could relive his glory days through him. Patrick was the guy I’d lusted for since my freshman year.

Paxton was a friend with one-time benefits. That’s all. Patrick was the one. My attraction to Paxton was temporary confusion due to scorching-hot sex. Nothing more. Nothing less.

But what if I was wrong? What if there was more?

6

Hired

Naomi

By the end of the week, Paxton and I settled into a weird new normal. Nothing was the same, even though we both pretended it was. Even weirder, after two-plus years of ignoring me, Patrick suddenly woke up and noticed me. It must be the blonde hair.

Instead of being thrilled, I was torn. I’d entered the twilight zone for sure.

I couldn’t for the life of me stop thinking about Pax. I made excuses all week to be where he was, eating in the dining hall at the same time, being outside the rink when he finished practice, or walking by his apartment about the time he left for class. At first, I’d denied these things were anything but coincidences, but I knew in my heart they were not. Then I tried to convince myself I was actually stalking Patrick. I wasn’t.

I was stalking Paxton. Even at the height of my crush on Patrick, I hadn’t stalked him like this. I’d like to think I was a concerned friend making sure we were okay. But I feared there was more to it than that.

On Thursday, I got home from classes in the early afternoon to multiple calls and texts from my father. Nothing unusual there, but the urgency in those messages alarmed me. Immediately, my mind raced to all kinds of conclusions. A person tended to do that when they lost their mother at a young age, just one more thing I had in common with both twins.

We understood each other’s pain with controlling, critical fathers and no mom to balance things out. We knew what it felt like to get a knock on the door late at night and have our lives be forever changed after that. Paxton and Patrick’s mom was hit head-on by a drunk driver, and my mom’s SUV was T-boned by someone running a red light in a stolen car. I suspected the driver was also drunk, but he ran from the scene, and they never found him. My dad had been on a road trip. I’d been alone with the nanny. Part of me blamed him for not being there for me, as unfair as my blame might be.

Shaking my head to clear those disturbing thoughts, I called my dad’s cell. I’d worked myself into a frenzy by the time he answered on the sixth ring.

“Dad, is everything okay?” I blurted out. Desperation shook my voice.

He chuckled at my tone. “Yeah, calm down, honey. Everything is good.”

I expelled all the oxygen I’d held in my lungs and collapsed in the only chair in the room. “What’s going on then?”

“Good news. I pulled some strings and got you an internship with the team.”

“What?” I stared at the phone as if it were the enemy. My dad interfered in my life on a regular basis, but he’d never gone this far. He’d been pushing Patrick and me together since the end of last season, and his efforts were embarrassing, especially considering Patrick resisted them and pretended to be oblivious to my dad’s machinations. I knew what Dad was doing even if he didn’t acknowledge it. My father missed playing the game, the glory, the cheers, the adulation. Originally, I’d been thrilled at his attempts because I’d gotten my Patrick time. This year, I wasn’t so sure how I felt.

“I know you don’t need the money. I give you plenty, but a job with a stellar college team will be good for your resume.”

“I know, but I’d have preferred to get that job on my own merits. If I’d known they had an opening for an intern, I might’ve applied.” This job had been created by the athletic department to appease the great Gene Smith; I’d bet my best pair of shoes on it. The Moo U athletic director was so far up Dad’s butt he never saw the light of day.

“The least you could do is thank me. Why are you so ungrateful, Naomi? I bust my ass to make your life comfortable, and all you can do is complain?”

Here he went with the guilt trips. While I was somewhat immune to them, this time he got under my skin.

“I didn’t ask for your interference in my life. I appreciate your efforts and know you’re coming from the right place, but, Dad, I need to stand on my own two feet and make my own decisions.”

“Considering I pay for everything, that ship has sailed, and now you’re balking at an opportunity to make some of your own money?”

“Dad, I—”

“It’s settled. You’ll meet with the coach today after practice. You’ll be on the bus tomorrow for the away games. I’ll be attending, and we can talk then.” Dad bulldozed right over me, just like he always did. No wonder I’d rebelled so completely in my teens. He’d barely noticed, though, having been wrapped up in dealing with the end of his career and a brief sojourn into sportscasting.

“But—”

“You’ll love this job. It’s right up your alley. Numbers, stats, analyzing…”

That did sound like something I’d love to do.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night. Let Patrick know I’ll take you both to dinner after the game.”

“What about Paxton?”

“Paxton?” He sounded confused, as if he’d forgotten Patrick had a twin. “Uh, yeah, sure, he can go,” he added magnanimously, as if he were giving Paxton a great gift. I wasn’t sure Pax would see it that way. My dad surrounded himself with people who adored and worshipped him. Paxton did not. Patrick, on the other hand, gobbled any tidbit of hockey knowledge Dad chose to bestow upon him.

There were other alums from Moo