CHAPTER ONE

Andy

“Heard your sister’s in town.”

Hudson Lemieux, my teammate and one of my best friends, even if he has never quite admitted it yet, looks up at me with murder in his eyes.

“So?”

“Just making conversation, big guy,” I placate the burly Quebecois defenseman. He’s become slightly less irritable since he fell in love last season, but that doesn’t mean conversation exactly flows out of him. 

“I told you to leave her alone,” he says, slowly setting down the skate he just finished tying. “You listened, right?”

“’Course I did,” I say, hoping he doesn’t see the sweat slowly dripping down my brow. “Always listen to you.”

I did not. I did not listen to him. 

But I learned my lesson, because I’m the one suffering now. I haven’t been able to look at another woman since Julia Lemieux, and she won’t answer any of my phone calls. I’m pretty sure she cursed me.

“Is your sister a witch of some kind?”

Lemieux straightens and looks at me. “What the fuck did you just say?”

I quickly backpedal. “Not the bad kind. But you know, the kind of woman who can do spells and that kind of thing. A wiccan, I think they’re called.”

He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“I don’t want to know what’s going on in that head of yours, but as long as it has nothing to do with Julia, think what you want.”

With that, he stands and walks away from me, and I know I’m probably blowing it even worse than usual.

It’s her fault. Her curse.

I probably shouldn’t have said the witch thing. But Lemieux and I don’t exactly have the same backgrounds. I was raised by parents in Penticton who were a bit more… free in their beliefs. 

It’s not a real common thing among players in the Manor Hockey League so I usually keep my mouth shut about them. Even though I play in my home province, my parents aren’t really into hockey, so they don’t make it to many games. 

Lemieux looks back.

“How’d you know she was here?”

“Instagram.”

“You follow her on Instagram?” he says, his disbelief rising. 

Shit. I probably shouldn’t have said that. 

“’Course not. Kyra posted something with her,” I quickly cover. “I’m allowed to follow Kyra, right?”

Lemieux is fiercely protective of his wife, but not jealous. At least, not with me.

“For fuck’s sake,” is all he says, shaking his head as he walks away.

As soon as he’s out of sight, I grab my phone and quickly unfollow his sister. 

Otherwise, I just might be in big trouble.

~~~~~

My apartment feels empty when I walk in and drop my backpack, then take a seat in the comfortable chair I use to watch TV. 

It’s a decent place, nothing too fancy, not like where Lemieux or some of the other guys live. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d be sticking around Vancouver for very long, but here I am, three years after I joined the team. 

My phone dings and when I see the alert, I sit straight up in my seat. Team BBQ. Is tonight a team BBQ? I do not remember anyone talking about it at the rink.

I go into one of our team group chats.

Me: There’s a team BBQ?

Ryan: It’s been planned since the beginning of training camp. 

Me: Why didn’t anyone say anything?

Max: We did. At today’s team meeting.

Me: Don’t remember it.

Max: You obviously weren’t listening.

Me: My bad.

Ryan: Coach’s backyard. 6 pm. It’s a family thing.

Not that I have any family around.

Me: Well, that will just be my invisible girlfriend and me.

Max: Tell her to bring dessert.

Me: Got it.

Family BBQ. Does that mean Julia will be there? 

I can’t decide if that will be a good thing or a bad thing. 

Still, I take extra care choosing my clothes for the BBQ. Usually I’d just throw on a shirt and jean shorts, but if Julia’s going to be there… I wouldn’t mind her seeing that I’m trying. Trying for what, though, I have no idea.

I show up at 6 p.m. on the dot, and Coach Cooper opens his door, surprised.

“Peters. Since when do you show up on time?”

“I was told to be here at 6. Here I am.”

“All right, then. I like the promptness. Come on in.”

Coach’s wife greets me with a warm smile. This team has felt more like family than any other I’ve ever been a part of, and I don’t want to fuck it up.

Which makes the whole thing with Julia worse than I ever imagined.

I never meant to let it get this far. But we were both out, drinking, and just got… carried away.

Haven’t talked to her since, though, so maybe it doesn’t mean much.

“Anyone else here?” I ask Mrs. Cooper.

“There are a few families out back,” she says. “Mostly the families came early so that the kids could swim.”

Coach has a beautiful backyard near the university area in Vancouver. There’s a pool, hot tub, and deck chairs. I’d love to live somewhere like this, nearly as much as I’d love to live out in the wilderness somewhere.

Hard to do that and play hockey, though I try to get out to a cottage my family owns whenever I can. I spent most of my summer there, until we had to get back to start training again.

Coach is right – it’s just a few of the guys with little kids, and Max and Piper. Max is already in the pool, and I run into the change room before I join them.

“Cannonball!” I yell as I step out of the house, run toward the pool, and leap in, tucking my legs up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.

I feel how epic it is when I hit the water and sink nearly to the bottom of the pool. When I surface and shake the water from my hair, which I wear a little too long, the kids all laugh at me. But then my eyes catch on Max. He’s not laughing, but wincing. I follow his gaze and immediately freeze.

For there, standing at the side of the pool, is Julia Lemieux. 

She’s wearing a long, flowing white dress covered in red roses. Her hair is piled up in a bun, keeping it off her neck, and giant black sunglasses hide those brilliant blue eyes I can’t get out of my head.

And she’s completely soaked.

Shit.

“Julia!” I exclaim as Kyra wraps a towel around her so that no one can see through her dress. “How you doing?”

I cringe inwardly. That’s so lame. 

But I’ve been thinking about her all summer, worked myself up to see her, and now she’s here, and I’ve completely blown it.

“Get yourself together, man,” Max says from behind me, and I jump. I hadn’t even noticed he had swum so close to me. 

“I’m sorry!” I call after her, but she just waves to me and I turn to find Hudson standing there, arms crossed over his chest, staring at me with that look again.

The one that tells me I need to watch myself. 

Or he’ll do it for me.

Actually, it appears most of the team arrived in time to watch my royal fuck-up.

Dominic Sutherland is laughing his ass off behind Hudson’s shoulder, though he quickly straightens his face when Hudson turns to look at him. 

Ryan and Nora are arm-in-arm behind him, watching in amusement, while Owen Knox, a new guy to join our team, stands behind them, looking rather uncomfortable, although that’s likely just from being with a new team in a city where he doesn’t really know anyone.

“Sutherland!” I call out to the guy who might be in his third year but still seems like a kid to me. “Jump in!”

He doesn’t need much pressure, and he doesn’t even change. He just rips off his shirt and dives off the diving board. 

I can’t worry about Julia. Not now. She obviously wants nothing to do with me, so trying to convince her otherwise will likely only dig me into a worse hole. 

Instead, I decide to have some fun. I throw the kids around, play some water volleyball, and soon enough, Mrs. Cooper is calling out that burgers are ready.

You don’t need to tell me twice that it’s time to eat.

I haul myself out, dry off my hair with a towel, and head over to the line for food.

“How old are you?”

That voice. I turn around slowly, shocked to find Julia standing behind me. It’s still hot enough that her hair’s dried, and it looks like her dress is too, though I can’t stop myself from running my eyes down her body. She looks… different somehow. Tired, maybe, although I can’t put my finger on it.

Or maybe she’s just still pissed at me.

“Twenty-eight,” I say. 

“Hmm,” she presses her lips together. “Could have fooled me.”

“I seem older to you?” I put a hand on my hip and stand tall, pretending to look sophisticated, even though I’m still not wearing a shirt. Did her eyes just scan my chest? Maybe. I’d like to think so.

“No,” her lips curl up slightly. “You look like you fit right in with the kids in the pool.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” I say. “I’m great with kids.”

She looks stricken for a second before regaining her composure.

“Easy when you relate to them as well as you do.”

I turn to the table and pass her a paper plate, then pick up one of my own. I grab a bun for each of us.

“I can get my own,” she says. 

“And I am a gentleman, despite what you might think.”

“Could have fooled me,” she murmurs, and I turn and raise my brows at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” she says, shaking her head.

“You’re a tough one, Lemieux,” I say, placing a burger on top of her bun with the provided tongs, since I’m an adult and all that. “You speak nearly as much as your brother.”

That draws a small laugh from her, bringing out the Julia I remembered from the night we met in Toronto. Seriously, what’s changed? She was so fun when we met, up for a good time. It’s not like I ghosted her or anything – in fact, she’s the one who did it to me. 

Maybe she hated me. Maybe she had instant regret. Maybe she was as scared as I was that Hudson would find out. He must still be in the dark because if he knew, I’d be a dead man.

“No one speaks as much as my brother,” she says, speaking up the charade.

“He’s a comedian, that one,” I agree. “I can never get a word in otherwise.”

“Are you talking about me?” Hudson’s gravelly voice comes from behind me, and I jump like a kid caught with his hand in the candy jar.

“Never,” I say vehemently. “I would only ever say good things about you, Hudson. I swear.”

“Good,” he grunts, walking away after shooting me one more warning look.

“I’m supposed to stay away from you,” I whisper to Julia.

“You’re not doing a very good job,” she counters with a smirk.

“I don’t like doing what I’m told,” I admit with a sigh.

“Really?” she says, loading her own salad on her plate. “Could have fooled me.”

And just like that, she walks away, leaving me practically melting on the pool deck staring after her.