I shrug. Am I a saint? No. Am I slut? Eh, maybe.
“Takes one to know one,” I throw back at her.
Her eyes are even narrower. “Ugh. The newest Top Gun movie called. They want their mustache back.”
I cover my mustache to hide my hurt. I love my mustache, and I won’t let her win. “Mean Girls called. They need a replacement for Regina. Care to take the role?”
“Kids, please,” Mom says as she walks in with a box. Her Russian isn’t as fluid as ours. Dad made sure we spoke Russian as soon as we could talk, but the only reason Mom learned was because we moved to Russia once Dad retired from the Nashville Assassins. She didn’t like not knowing what was being said. I’m surprised she is speaking it in the States; I fully expected her to just speak English now. With Kat only speaking Russian, though, maybe that’s why. Who knows. I’m ready for them to take Kat and go. She’s been a bitch from the moment this move was in the works.
I mean, I get it. She hates America and hates hockey, but guess what, she’s not an adult, so she’s stuck with our parents. Maybe if she hadn’t been trying to get with most of the Russian mob kingpins’ kids, she could have stayed with our grandparents.
Honestly, though, this move is best for everyone. Mom will be near her family again, my sister won’t marry a mob heir, and I’ll play for the Nashville Assassins. A dream of mine since I was a baby. My dad, well, he’ll do whatever Mom wants. She came with him when he wanted to expose us to a different life, and now he’s down for anything. I’m sure, however, he’s not down for Kat’s attitude, which is why I was smart enough to secure player housing.
Mom is sad I won’t be there since they are moving back in to our family home that Kat and I were brought from the hospital to, but she understands I need to focus. While Elli Adler, the owner of the Assassins—who has always been my biggest fan and promised me a spot as soon as I was able to hold a hockey stick—is behind me a thousand percent, her daughter and the GM, Shelli Adler-Brooks, is not feeling me.
I think her exact words were, “You’re sloppy, messy, and nowhere near our standard.” I won’t take offense that she described me negatively. I don’t think she likes me—ever has, really—but I will prove her wrong. I don’t feel I’ve developed bad habits, but habits can be broken if so, and I will play for the Assassins. Just as my dad did and my uncle, and I will further the Titov family legacy.
I glance over at my dad, who is on his phone, while Kat argues with Mom about how our parents are ruining her life. They’re not. She could have ended up dead with the people she was messing with.
“Dad, my mustache is cool, right?”
“The coolest,” Dad agrees. Then he clears his throat. “Ladies, Jakob and Harper have invited us over to the house. Ally is home with the baby since it’s wedding month.”
I furrow my brows. “Wedding month?”
“Yes, Stella Brooks is getting married, and so is Owen Adler.”
Kat makes a face of disgust and says, in Russian, “To outsiders or within the family?”
Listen, it’s cute and all, how the Assassins team keeps it in the family, all the kids marrying each other. But I think it also tiptoes the line of Stockholm syndrome. They were all stuck together as adolescents, and because of that, they all want each other. It’s weird.
My mom doesn’t agree with us, though. She married her sister’s husband’s brother. Or as he so bluntly puts it, “Knocked her up and it forced me into marriage, and I couldn’t be happier.”
I swear he loves her.
“Stella is marrying a hockey player but an outsider.”
“Surprising,” Kat mutters.
“Owen is marrying Lucy and Benji Paxton’s daughter Angie.”
“The one that gained all that weight, right?” Kat asks, and I glare at her.
“Not everyone is born a walking pole,” I snap at her because, of course, she has a perfect, thin body. I have struggled with my weight, and as a man, that’s embarrassing. We’re meant to have twenty-pack abs and muscles galore, but that’s not the case for me. I have to work out a lot and watch what I eat. Kat can eat anything she sees and doesn’t gain an ounce.
“Oh, sensitive?” she says with no concern for anyone but her annoying self. “And am I to assume we must make an appearance for these? Why is Ally back in town?”
“Yes, we are invited. All of us. And Ally is married to Asher, Stella’s brother,” Dad replies.
“They got married?” I ask, confused. “Didn’t they have a baby, too, and didn’t tell anyone?”
Dad laughs. “Yes, very private, those two. Didn’t tell Harper or Jakob about anything.”
“Or even Lucas and Fallon,” Mom supplies. She then looks to me before asking, “Can you come?”
“I have a three-hour workout with the trainer, but I should be able to come after.”
“Fantastic,” Mom says, walking over to me and hugging me tightly. “I moved here with you, so don’t be a stranger, okay?”
“Yes, Mom. I know,” I say, kissing her cheek as I hold her close. Like Kat, she is very slender and petite. Beautiful. Her eyes are the most stunning color of light blue, almost like the sky.
She kisses my cheek once more and whispers “Love you” before tapping my bicep. She heads out the door as Dad shakes my hand, and we hug tightly. I notice Kat walking out, but there is no way I’m stopping her.
When Dad pulls back, his eyes lock with mine. We are the same height; I’m bigger, but that doesn’t discount my dad at all. He is massively strong even at his age, and I respect him more than anyone in this world. My dad is everything to me. I love my mom, I do, but there is something about my dad’s quiet demeanor that pushes me to be the very best for him. While I’ve always wanted to play for the Assassins, I was fine in the Russian league. I was happy, but it was he who asked when I was going to play for the Assassins.
I contacted Elli the next day.
I want nothing more than to please my dad and make him proud. Which is why I kill myself on the ice and in the gym.
“You’ve got this, you hear?”
I nod. “Yes, sir.”
“I love you. Call me if you need me.” Any normal father/son dual exchange of love wouldn’t have anything else tied to it but love. But between my father and me, there is more to it. His “I love you” also means, Do your best and don’t embarrass me. Make the team, or don’t call me. Don’t get distracted by pussy. Do what you came here to do.
I don’t answer his concerns. I just hug him tighter and say, “I will. Love you too.”
After an hour of weight training, I suit up and hit the ice. I’m not gonna lie. The moment my skates hit the rink in Luther Arena and the crunch of the ice under my blades fills my ears, I feel at home. I know I’m where I’m supposed to be. I look around at all the empty seats, and it’s almost as if I’m taken back to when I was a child. My last time skating on this ice was when I was six, I think. Dad and the team had won the Cup, and we had an after party. I outskated everyone. I wasn’t getting off the ice, no matter what. Too much fun.
As I pepper the goal with pucks, I think I am alone. But then I hear, “You’re dropping your shoulder too late and not leaning back on your back leg.”