Holdout: A Moo U Hockey Romance Read online

  “No, but he will when I want to tell him and not a second sooner.”

  Jonah Daniels did not like that answer. He sucked in a breath, swore, and marched into his room before slamming the door.

  Awesome.

  This went great.

  2

  Jonah

  What the shit.

  What. The shit.

  The senior alternate captain could very well kill me if he found out his sister was trying to move in with me. He talked about her enough that I knew he was overprotective and heavily involved in her life—and the last thing I needed was to piss off the senior on the team. Michael and the twins dominated on the ice and set the dynamics for the rest of us. If Michael was pissed at me, Paxton and Patrick would be too, and that couldn’t happen.

  Not with my year-to-year scholarship. Too much was on the line.

  Panic clawed its way down my throat into my chest, and I took a deep breath. She was the only person who responded to the ad, and there was no one else to ask for money. My dad’s face flashed in my mind, but my stomach ached with guilt. I couldn’t tell him about my financial issues. Not with the divorce two years ago and a recent, ill-timed firing leaving him alone and broke. Plus, school had started, and people were settled in their housing. If I didn’t accept her, I’d be out four hundred bucks I didn’t have since the last guy bailed with zero notice. What an asshole.

  She’s the sister of Michael Reiner. I clenched my fist a few times.

  I glared at the wall I shared with Ryann with two Ns. Her being here wouldn’t work. She might bring her friends, girls who would start drama and unnecessary conflict in my life, or she could cause Michael to beat my ass. I rubbed my temples and fell onto my bed. Splitting the rent would give me enough money to pay for food and an occasional night out, plus it would ease the ever-growing anxiety about not having enough. Maybe I’d finally sleep without worrying…shit. I sat up and let out a resigned sigh that made every already sore muscle in my body stiffen. I’d let her stay.

  The money was too important.

  Without overthinking my decision, I stomped out of my room and snatched a piece of blank paper from the bag hanging from one of the kitchen chairs. “We need rules.”

  She tiptoed from her bed to the edge of her room and tilted her head out. “I can stay?”

  A growl escaped before I could stop it. “Yes.”

  “You sound thrilled,” she said, her annoyingly upbeat voice making everything worse. She continued leaning on her doorframe, her green tank top bearing the word MOO U on her chest, pointing out she was very much a female.

  And Michael’s little sister.

  “I’m not thrilled.” I narrowed my eyes when she grinned at me, all wide-eyed and happy. It was like she knew the punchline of a joke I wasn’t privy to. “Why are you smiling?”

  “You really are grumpy.” She lifted one slim shoulder in a shrug and adjusted her long blonde hair into a ball on the top of her head. Her walk was more of a glide over to the kitchen chair. She sat and pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees. “You want to discuss rules?”

  “Yes.”

  I fumbled around in the side pocket and grabbed a pen, writing RULES in all caps. “No mess, no parties, no friends coming over, no loud music, no hooking up, no girl stuff everywhere.”

  “Wait? Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She held up a hand. She wore three small silver rings on her tiny fingers, and the light hit them just right, drawing my attention. “Settle down there, Jonah. You’re going to burst a vein in your forehead.”

  I ran a hand over my forehead at her comment, smoothing down the lines that always appeared when I frowned—which was often. “I’m fine.”

  “Is this a dictatorship, or am I allowed to offer suggestions?” She tapped her nails on the table, and I hated how I noticed they were purple.

  My left cheek twitched at her insinuation, and I swallowed down my initial reaction to tell her to pack her shit and leave. Clearing my throat, I said, “Well?”

  “Being clean will not be a problem. I will respect your place. I know the season is long and demands a lot of you physically and emotionally, so there won’t be any parties or friends here. I like music and will listen to it at reasonable hours, but you cannot dictate my sex life. If I want to hook up, I will, while remaining considerate of your boundaries.” Her high cheekbones reddened, but that was the only indication she was embarrassed saying that.

  I clenched my jaw, imagining a fling discovering she lived with a guy on the team. If he shared that with his friends, people would show up here. Hockey was life on campus, and crazed fans came in every size, shape, and gender. Everyone wanted a piece of you, and once they got it, they left. “You don’t tell anyone you live with me. Not a person.”

  “Deal. I’ll make sure all my hook-ups have no idea a hockey legend sleeps on the other side of the wall.” She grinned and jutted her jaw toward the paper. “Write the rules down, you ray of sunshine.”

  The nickname was the equivalent of a quick jab beneath my ribs.

  My mom used to call me that—at least, before she left, deciding my dad and I weren’t worth her time anymore.

  “It was a joke, Jonah. No need to look at me like that.”

  “Like what?” I croaked, my voice scratchy and thick with emotions I tried my best to get rid of.

  “Something between hate and murder.” She sighed, her breath tickling my hand. I gripped the pen so tight my fingers turned white, and she pulled it out of my grasp. “I’ll add the first rule. DO NOT CALL JONAH SUNSHINE.”

  She smirked, looking damn proud of herself as she handed the pen over to me. “Your turn.”

  Even the meanest, grumpiest face I had, the one that made our opponents fear me, did nothing to rid her of her smile. Maybe she didn’t read social cues well. “Fine,” I said through clenched teeth.

  NO PARTIES

  NO VISITORS

  NO MESSES

  NO DISTURBANCES

  I moved down to write more, but she snatched the pen out of my hand, humming some off-tune pop song that usually blared on the radio at the gym.

  “I wasn’t done,” I said.

  “Your rules are so aggressive.” She clicked her tongue and ran it over the side of her mouth as she eyed the list. She wrote in curly, pretty handwriting. HOOK-UPS REMAIN PRIVATE. “There. Happy?”

  “Not particularly.”

  “Hmm,” she said, narrowing her very blue eyes at me as she twirled some escaped hairs behind her ear. “How old are you? Eighty-two? Ninety?”

  I closed my eyes, hoping she’d get the hint. “Nineteen, obviously.”

  “Then stop acting like you’re on the last five years of your life, champ.” She got up, went to her room, and came back with a strip of tape. She put our list on the fridge and placed her hands on her hips, nodding at it. “Alright. You got a month’s rent, and we got the rules covered, anything else?”

  “Michael.”

  God, the thought of him learning his sister lived with me—I cringed. He was protective of her, and hell, I would be too after their parents died in an awful car accident. We all knew his story, and while I was aware of his sister, I hadn’t paid attention to her. Helping my dad, getting good grades, and playing hockey were all I had time for, certainly not blonde girls with large smiles who caused my left eye to twitch.

  My roommate tapped one foot on the ground, assessing me with a silent glare.

  After twenty seconds of it, I had it. “What?”

  “Are you scared of your senior leader, Mr. Surly and Focused? Surprises me, that’s all. You seem to have the resting grouch face going perfectly, and Michael is a fluff ball on the inside.”

  Not on the ice. Not when it comes to his sister. “He’s protective of you.”

  “No shit.” She laughed for a beat before shaking her head as she walked into her room. She smelled like coffee, not a bad scent, and I gritted my teeth picturing all the perfume she probably had in her bathroom. I
did not want this place getting all florally and shit.

  But I wasn’t a total idiot and could bring that up another day.

  “Your brother. I need to tell him now. This can’t be a secret.”

  “No,” she fired back, retreating into the kitchen again. All the confidence and playfulness evaporated off her face, and her eyes hardened. “I will tell him when I am ready. Not you. Certainly not you.”

  “He’s an alternate captain, Ryann,” I said, hating how the name really suited her. “I won’t keep this from him. It could change the team dynamic, and I can’t have that.”

  “How would us rooming together for a semester change the dynamic? We’re not dating, and certainly not hooking up,” she said, laughing to the point I felt insulted. “I will abide by your rules, but please, don’t tell Michael until I get some things sorted out.”

  “You want me to lie?” My voice got all high, and my adrenaline spiked.

  “I want you to keep quiet. Surely you can manage that for a few days? You don’t strike me as a small talk type of guy. I’m not asking for more than that.”

  Damn it. Ryann’s face was expressive, like an open book, and I swore I felt every emotion she went through. Desperate, determined, worried. My gut told me hiding the truth was a bad idea, yet I nodded. “Fine. One week. That’s it.”

  “Thank you,” she said, sighing so loud her relief was almost palpable. “I’ll get my shit sorted, hopefully starting tomorrow.” With that, she went into her room and shut the door. She didn’t come out the rest of the night.

  It was not my ideal Sunday evening, wondering what the hell she was doing and why the hell I cared. But money was in my account, and for at least one month, I didn’t have to worry about my finances.

  Monday morning workouts were my favorite. Most people grunted and complained at the gym, but I was in my element. Pushing my muscles, getting stronger, quicker… it all showed on the ice, and physically exerting energy filled me with a sense of purpose for the rest of the day when my body burned from a workout. Sweat dripped down my face after I finished running sprints, and I grabbed a towel to wipe it off.

  “J.D., good weekend?”

  Michael Reiner, the brother of my damn roommate, smiled at me as he grabbed a towel too and draped it over his neck. Apart from the same eye color, I couldn’t find a single shared trait with Ryann. The twins, Patrick and Paxton, were with him and talking shit about something, and my stomach filled with lead.

  Damn.

  My throat seemed to close up, and I nodded at him. “Yeah. You?”

  “Got a little carried away at a party Saturday but burned off the hangover yesterday. When are you going to come to a party at the house, man? Don’t you want to have fun before the season starts?”

  God, I needed water. I shrugged and went over to the fountain, taking my time wetting my throat.

  He waited for me with an expectant look on his face. “You can’t spend all your time here and on the ice. Trust me. Have an outlet. Get laid. Get drunk.”

  “Right,” I said, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. Guilt ate at me, making my words choppy and short. If he knew Ryann was at my place, he wouldn’t be offering to have me hang out at the hockey house. Jesus. That was for damn sure. Flashes of his infuriated face last year when a guy on the team said his sister was hot popped in my mind, mocking me.

  I wiped my face with the towel, attempting to act normal. He mentioned an outlet. Okay, small talk. “Uh, what’s your escape then?”

  He grinned, pushing up the right sleeve of his arm. Ink covered from his elbow to his bicep in twisty, colorful designs. “Tattoos, but when I’m saving up or waiting for my artist to have an opening, I hang at the house. The parties aren’t crazy, if you’re worried about cops or anything. Besides, the season starts in five weeks. Have some fun before then, okay?” He clapped my shoulder and moved on toward Patrick, the captain on our team who was already drafted. The pair of them walked to the bench press. Patrick jutted his chin in greeting at me, and I returned it, feeling all sorts of conflicted.

  Michael’s words reminded me of my mom, always telling me that hockey wasn’t everything. It was ruining our lives. It couldn’t be the only thing I had.

  But she failed to understand that it was the only constant in my life, even more so after she left.

  My shoulders felt heavier after I showered and went to my first class where I sat through a lecture on economics. Since money was the root of most of my problems, I figured I’d learn as much about it as I could. My phone buzzed, and seeing my dad’s name, I answered. “Hey, Dad.”

  “How’s it going, my boy?” he asked, the greeting always the same.

  “It’s going.” I shifted my backpack onto one shoulder and walked through the crowd. A few people recognized me from the stupid billboard, but I learned if I kept my head down, they tended to leave me alone. It was very isolating to hate the fame from playing hockey. “I found a new roommate.”

  “Did you? What happened to Edgar? Eddy? What was that boy’s name?”

  “You were close. His name was Edward.” The reminder of that asshole got my jaw tight again. “He bailed two weeks before classes started.”

  “You’ve been living there alone for two weeks? Jonah,” he said my name, piling on the guilt. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “No reason to worry you. I found a new roommate to split rent with me.”

  He sighed, the heavy breath hitting the phone just right. I felt his annoyance in my bones. “Stop trying to take care of me by hiding important things going on in your life. I’m your father, and it’s my job.”

  I cleared my throat and changed gears. “Any luck with the interviews?”

  “Ha, no.” Something rustled in the background, and I imagined him sitting on his recliner with the newspaper, circling help ads like it was twenty years ago. “I made an online profile like you suggested, but who wants a middle-aged man not well-versed in technology?”

  “Keep trying, Dad. You’re a hardworking, good man. Anyone would be lucky to hire you.”

  “Thanks, J.D.” He went silent for a beat, and my chest tightened at the resignation in his voice. “Enough about that. How are your classes? Can you find time this week for a dinner with me or something?”

  We chatted my entire walk home, making plans for a meal Wednesday at the pizza parlor. It was an all you can eat buffet, and we liked to get our money’s worth. My chest felt lighter every time I spoke with him. I hoped he was okay on his own, even though he was out of a job and still getting over the blitz attack divorce from my mom. I missed him.

  He was my best friend and the reason I needed to both have the greatest season of my life and keep my scholarship for next year. Any penny I could save for my dad was a gift.

  He had to worry about paying off his lawyer fees, finding a new place where there were no memories of her, and getting a new job before his savings ran out. I could handle my end of the deal as long as I kept my scholarship on the ice.

  Nothing could prevent me from achieving that goal, not even a rift with a teammate. I took the stairs two at a time, ready to demand Ryann tell her brother about our arrangement before the downfall messed with my future. The words left my mouth when I opened the door.

  She broke one of the rules in less than twenty-four hours.

  3

  Ryann

  “This isn’t what it looks like,” I said, watching flames come from Jonah’s ears. It would be funny if he didn’t look murderous. “I swear.”

  He clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes at the four-year old sitting on our couch watching Paw Patrol in Spanish. Preston insisted he knew the language, which was a total lie, but if Hannah’s kid wanted to pretend, who was I to stop him?

  “We agreed no visitors.” He glared at the poor kid before stomping across the hardwood floor and tossing his bag into his room. He put his hands on his hips and stared me down.

  Did he think I would kick a child out? Yeah, okay, grumpy.


  “I’m sorry, do you believe a four-year old is going to sell pictures of you to the campus blogs? Or post photos of you on his Instagram with eight million followers? My friend was in a tough spot, and it was either take her kid to an appointment with a lawyer and have him witness an awful D-I-V-O-R-C-E or let him hang out with me for a bit. I’ll take your fury and stick-up-the-butt attitude, but don’t you dare subject P here to that garbage.”

  He blinked and stared at the kid, the anger seeping out of him in one breath. The muscles in his face relaxed. It was like he literally flipped a switch to change his less-than-stellar personality. “Okay.”

  “Just okay?” I bit my lip to keep from laughing. It seemed too soon to rile him up, even though the grumpy face made me want to mess with him.

  “No kid should ever have to go through that.” He swallowed hard, gave Preston an unreadable look, and disappeared into his room, shutting the door and ending that lovely conversation.

  Cool.

  “Whatcha think, Preston? You want to put a movie on?”

  “No.”

  “You’re the boss,” I said, watching my phone to make sure I wouldn’t miss Hannah’s call. What was supposed to be her day to train me at work turned into a mess, and I was glad I could help her. I had gotten to know the little guy pretty well the past year on nights she couldn’t find a babysitter.

  “I don’t have tands.” Preston put his arms behind him, smiling way too wide for me to trust his intentions.

  “Tands?”

  “Tands. How can I pick up the remote?”

  “Hands. You mean hands.” I nodded. “I see them. You have two.”

  “No. No tands. Change the channel, Miss Ryann.”

  “I don’t have hands either.” I mirrored his movements, laughing when his frown took up his very small face. “What do we do?”

  Jonah came out of his room and narrowed his eyes at Preston and me before arching one eyebrow. “What are you doing?”