“I don’t take my orders from you.”

“Alex told you to keep it professional.”

“It was supposed to be until I was on the ice again, which I am.”

“So you thought you’d string her along and use her like one of your stick-chasing bunnies?” He takes a swing at me, which I don’t expect. It’s cheap and dirty, an uppercut that makes my head snap back and stars explode behind my eyes.

I trip over some garbage and fall on my ass. He takes advantage of my disoriented state and lands on top of me. For half a second I can fully appreciate the lengths he’ll go to in order to protect his sister and how much she must mean to him.

“I’m in love with her, you stupid fuck!” I shout. And I’m not just saying it for the shock-and-awe factor. I’ve been a miserable asshole the last few days without her, worse than usual even. I feel like a tree that’s been ripped out by the roots, robbed of vital nourishment.

Rook pauses with his fist raised in the air, his expression shifting to confusion. I use his momentary distraction to my advantage and flip us over so he’s on his back on the ground instead of me. My jaw already aches. If he’s broken something, I’ll be so pissed.

“I love her, and you’re the reason she isn’t talking to me!”

King pulls me off him.

Rook scrambles back to his feet. “You’re the one with a mile-long list of puck-bunny pictures all over social media.”

“Those are my brother’s conquests, not mine. When have you ever seen me pick up a bunny? Fucking never.”

“Bullshit.” Rook spits, but I can see him filtering through preseason, trying to come up with a time when I’ve chatted up a bunny, let alone taken one home with me. I’m as polite as I possibly can be to fans, considering I’m a dick on the best of days.

“You know what’s bullshit? The fact that your goddamn puck-bunny history is the reason Stevie is freaking out right now. You’re the one who’s screwing this up for me.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

I should probably stop while I’m ahead here, but I can’t seem to keep my mouth from running. It’s been days, and I’m done with Stevie avoiding me and Rook being pissed off at me when he’s the damn problem. “She lives in your fucking shadow.”

His brow furrows. “No, she doesn’t.”

“Yes. She does. She avoids the attention because she’s terrified that all people are going to see is Rook Bowman’s baby sister.” I hold my arms wide, giving him free rein to go ahead and try to hit me again. “You have no idea how hard it is for her. She thinks that no matter what she does, her identity is always going to be tied up in you, and she thinks if she’s my girlfriend, it’s going to be the same damn thing.”

Rook seems to deflate. He runs a frustrated hand through his hair. “You let that video go up and did nothing about it.”

“What the hell was I supposed to do? She shut down on me and won’t talk to me; my team thinks I’m an asshole; you’re pissed, which the entire team knows, so it’s been great for team morale; and Alex took her off my PT because he doesn’t like the optics.” We’re both heaving, me rubbing my jaw and him rubbing his ribs.

“I didn’t tell him to do that.”

“You didn’t have to. I’m the cause of the dissension, as far as he’s concerned. Which means I’m messing up the team. I might be an asshole, but I care about this team.” I pace, rubbing the back of my neck. Even with everyone pissed at me, I’ve still managed to make a valuable contribution. “This entire time I’ve been so patient. I didn’t push her for anything. I kept it light. She rehabbed me and we hung out. I focused on getting better and gave her time to get over that stupid dickbag who played with her head. And that was your fault, too, by the way.”

“How the hell is that my fault?”

“She just wants a brother. She doesn’t need you to try to replace your dad. She wanted you to think she was okay, so she found a shield, and he worked until he didn’t.”

“What?” His brow furrows even more, his confusion shifting to disquiet. “How do you know this?”

“Because she told me. Because while you’ve been busy with your life and your career and being so sure I was out to screw her over, I’ve been listening. And waiting for her to be okay enough for me to tell her how I damn well feel about her.”

“You made Stevie look like a puck bunny,” he argues.

“There are pictures of you fucking around with two mostly naked women in a goddamn hot tub still floating around on the internet!” I jab my chest with a finger. “All I did was kiss her.”

“That looked like a hell of a lot more than a kiss, and you damn well know it.”

Okay. He’s got me there. “It would’ve been better if it hadn’t happened in a public place, and if someone hadn’t posted it for the entire hockey-watching nation to speculate over, but in my defense I hadn’t seen her in almost a week. Emotions were running high.” I use the same line she gave me: her excuse for letting it go as far as it did. Which was bullshit. The only reason it didn’t happen sooner was because my dick wouldn’t work effectively and I was waiting for her to be over the douche ex. Also, Alex’s orders figured in at least a little.