Pucking Strong: An MM Workplace Hockey Romance (Jacksonville Rays Book 4)

“Hey, there he is!” A tall Black man rises from the couch the moment he sees me enter the WAG room. “Great game. Really fun to watch.”

He nudges the Latino man next to him, who also rises. “Uhh … yeah. Hey, yours was the best goal of the night.”

“Thank you,” I say on reflex.

Something’s off. Tension hangs heavy in the air. Have I interrupted some private moment? Their pinched smiles give them away. Ah, I see. They were all just talking about me. I look to Teddy, but he has his back turned, nodding as his mother says something low.

In an instant, all three sisters rise from the nearest sofa and turn as one. There’s a flurry of introductions as I shake the hands of Shae and her husband, Marcus. He’s the taller man. Then there’s Jayla and her husband, Rafael. Jayla is the one who was screaming at the game, telling everyone in their section that Teddy is my husband. Her hair is long and braided, with a few colorful strands woven in to make a rainbow effect. Her complexion is fair, like Teddy’s, while the other sisters have darker skin, like their mother.

The willowy athletic-looking sister is Natalie. She doesn’t shake my hand because she’s holding a sleeping baby. Her boyfriend Darius shakes my hand. He’s short and lean, with a wide smile.

Why do I get the distinct impression that they’re keeping me cornered, buying Teddy time to speak to his mother alone? I can feel the tension flowing off him, even from here. Did they upset him?

“And those are my kids,” says Jayla, pointing across the room. “We have Bastian, the only boy cousin in the family. We all call him Baz. And see the one with the pink beads in her braids? That’s Camila. She’s eight—”

“Wonderful,” I say, extracting myself from her hold. “Please excuse me.” I duck around her, weaving past the other children until I’m free to approach Teddy.

“Mama, meet Henrik,” calls Shae.

Teddy’s mother gives his shoulders one last squeeze before she steps around him, her hand outstretched towards me. “Mr. Karlsson? I’m Keziah Wilson, Teddy’s mother.”

“Please, call me Henrik,” I say, shaking her hand. I don’t miss the way Teddy wipes under his eyes, his shoulders stiff, as he lets his family expertly handle me, buying him the time he needs to rebuild his walls and box me out. Goddamn it, what did they say to him?

“You two really know how to make a statement,” she says, dropping my hand. “Is all this attention really necessary?”

“My team’s PR director seems to think it is,” I reply.

She purses her lips. “Hmm. And you trust this woman? This Poppy?”

“I do,” I say. “Implicitly.”

Teddy finally turns. “Poppy’s the best in the business, Mama. I told you that.” He stays by her side, just out of arm’s reach of me.

Fuck.

“We all thought we’d go out to dinner to celebrate your big win,”says Jayla, stepping in at my left.

“And your big news,” says Shae. “Our baby brother is married. Can you believe it?”

Their mother just crosses her arms. “I can’t believe we had to hear about it from a stranger before we ever heard it from him. My only son, married, and I wasn’t invited to attend. According to him, y’all don’t even have a picture.”

Teddy groans. “Mama, I said I was sorry—”

“I’m afraid that blame lies with me,” I say over him.

All eyes look to me.

“Henrik, don’t,” Teddy whispers, shaking his head.

His mother’s frown only deepens. “You, Mr. Karlsson?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I asked Teddy not to tell anyone what we’d done, including friends and family. Not until we returned to Florida and sought the counsel of my PR director. I trust you watched the press conference just now?”

She holds my gaze, her eyes framed by red, thick-rimmed glasses. “We sure did.”

“Then you see how sensitive situations like this can be, given the public nature of my job. It was unfair of me to ask it of him. But I wanted us to have a plan in place first. Especially since I also have my niece’s safety to consider.”

Her lips purse. “Of course. Your niece must be a serious consideration for you.”

“She is my only consideration,” I assure her with a nod.

A smile flashes on her face as she slowly turns to Teddy, patting his arm. “Hear that, baby? What a loved and truly wanted little girl. We should all be so lucky.”

Teddy looks stricken as he turns away with a muttered, “’Scuse me.” Then he slips away, disappearing into the bathroom.

I don’t know what happened, but I feel confident I just made an error. I only meant to protect him. He doesn’t deserve to shoulder the ire of his family alone. If his mother needs someone to be mad at, she can be mad at me. “If it’s any consolation, my parents weren’t at the wedding either,” I offer.

“It’s not, Mr. Karlsson,” she replies flatly. “But thank you.”

“It was a quick affair,” I add. “Little more than a quarter of an hour spent at a Stockholm administrative building. And I believe there is a picture in the official public record.”noveldrama

Jayla pats my arm. “Honey, stop. Keep digging and you’ll be in China.”

“What?”

“I said, do you like Chinese food?”

I’m so tired, I feel like my brain can’t translate her English fast enough. What is she saying?

“Don’t tease the man, Jay,” says Marcus.

Rafael steps in behind him. “Okay, I made us all a reservation at someplace called Poe’s Tavern. They have burgers and stuff.”

“It’s Edgar Allen Poe themed,” says Natalie. “How cool is that?”

“And it’s over by the hotel,” Darius adds. “Henrik, you in?”

I glance in the direction of the shut bathroom door. “I’m afraid I can’t join you tonight. I have to go home and relieve the nurse who cares for my niece.”

Rafael shrugs. “Well, go home and get her. The more, the merrier.”

“That’s not an option,” I reply. “Not at this time. Besides, I fear I’d make poor company tonight. Game nights are difficult for me. There are routines I must attend to.”

“Hey, you don’t need to explain to us,” says Marcus with his hand on my shoulder. “I played football at Georgia Tech for two years. The body is a temple, right? You gotta take care of it.”

“Exactly.” I offer a weak smile, happy to be understood.

The bathroom door opens, and Teddy reemerges in just his T-shirt, his WAG jacket slung over his arm.

“Hey, Ted, we’re all going to get some food,” calls Darius. “Henrik’s out. You in?”

Teddy looks at me, but it’s like he’s not even there. Who is that looking back at me? Where did Teddy go? My gut twists as I fight the urge to rush to his side, grab him by the shoulders, and ask him exactly that question. The last I saw him, he stood behind the plexiglass with the biggest smile on his face, nodding at me as the buzzer sounded. Game over. Rays win. Now he looks like he was just told he has to attend his own funeral.

I can’t bear it. I cross the room and reach for his hand, but he shrugs me away. “What happened?”

“Nothing.”

Lie.

My frustration rises. He’s not going to tell me anything so long as his family is here. “Come home with me.”

He blinks, glancing up at me. “Henrik, I can’t. My family is here to see me. To see us. They came all this way. I have to go with them.”

“No, you don’t.” I take his hand, holding it tight. “You can come home with me now, and we can talk. I—we should talk, yes?” His hand feels limp in mine, like a dead fish. “Teddy—”

“Hey, Ted, you coming?” Rafael calls again.

“One second,” Teddy calls back. Then he’s slipping his hand from mine. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Don’t do this.”

He feigns confusion. “Do what?”

Before I can respond, his mother is stepping in at my side. “Mr. Karlsson, we really do need to get going. Teddy baby, come on. You can ride with us.” She holds out her hand, willing him to choose her over me.

I don’t know what happened, but I know she’s to blame. She said something. She poisoned him against me. Worse, I think she might have poisoned him against himself. Teddy looks stricken as he steps around me, letting himself be lured away.

But this isn’t what he wants. I can feel it. I know. So, I reach out on instinct, wrapping a hand around his wrist. “No.”

His mother narrows her eyes at me. “No? You don’t get to tell Teddy where he goes or who he sees. According to him, this isn’t even a real marriage. You’re playing a part to my son, pretending to love him while the cameras roll. This is nothing but a pretty handful of lies.”

I let go of his wrist. Is that how he characterized us to his own family? A handful of lies? Is that how he sees all the time spent laughing and baking with Karro? Is that how he felt when he held me last night?

I look to him, but he won’t look at me.

“Oh, come on, Mama,” says Jayla. “Don’t stir the pot.”

“I’m stirring nothing,” their mother replies. “I’m just looking out for Teddy’s best interests. Someone has to. Don’t they, Mr. Karlsson? It surely won’t be you.”

My hackles rise as I try to breathe around the rock now sitting in my chest. “And what do you mean by that?”

She squares off against me, all 5’4” of her glaring up at me. “By your own admission, your hands are already full. Your niece is your only concern, right? Well, perhaps that’s as it should be. But you don’t get to keep my Teddy underfoot, fetching and carrying for you—”

“He doesn’t fetch and carry—”

“If you needed help keeping your house in order, you should have hired a maid or a laundry service,” she says over me. “You don’t marry my son, then refuse him all the rights of being your husband.”

“Mama, stop,” Teddy begs, clutching her arm.

I glare at her. “My house is his—he knows that. My cars, my clothes, my credit cards. Teddy wants for nothing, Ms. Wilson. I take care of him. I take care of everything.”

She just scoffs. “Things, things, wonderful things. And in the end? All worthless.”

I blink, leaning away.

“You know, Mr. Karlsson, this is why you’re such a bad match for my Teddy. And if he’d told me what he was gonna do before he did it, I could have warned him off you.”

“Go on then,” I say. “Tell me how I’ve already failed him.”

She holds my gaze, her dark eyes almost obsidian. “Teddy doesn’t want a thing from you, Mr. Karlsson. And if you knew him at all, you’d know that. He just wants you.” She looks me up and down. “But that’s the one thing you’ll never offer. You can play whatever games you want with the press, but I see you now. I see behind that handsome face with all those practiced smiles. You’re an empty glass with no bottom. Teddy’s gonna keep pouring into you, and all his light is gonna rush right out. Because you don’t know how to hold on to the things that really matter.”

Her words pierce me with the power of prophecy. I want to hate her. I want her to take back every syllable uttered. I want to rage and storm away. Instead, I stand here, breathless, hands empty, heart hollow.

“My Teddy is gonna see you’re no good,” she says, hammering her prophecy home. “I don’t need to take him with me now. He’ll leave on his own. And I’ll be there to comfort him when he does. I always am.”

“Come on, Mama.” Jayla pulls at her arm.

With one last look at me, Mama lets herself be led away.

Shae stays at Teddy’s side, tears in her eyes, as she looks at her little brother. “Don’t be mad at Mama. She just wants more for you. You deserve better than this.”

Better than me. That’s what they all mean. Because I’m a drain. I’ll drag him down with me, drown him in my depths. It’s not something I haven’t thought before. I can’t be his husband, but I knew that going in. Now, it turns out, I can’t even be his friend.

His sister holds out a hand. “Come on, Ted.”

“Shae, Ted, let’s go,” calls Rafael from the door.

Teddy stares down at his sister’s hand, chest rising and falling with each deep breath. “Y’all are unbelievable, you know that?”

Natalie and Darius stop at the door, Mrs. Wilson between them.

Shae drops her hand. “Teddy, we’re only trying to help.”

He glares at them all. “You’re supposed to be on my side here, remember?”

His other sisters dare to look a little guilty. But his mother just stands defiantly.

“I’ve never asked any of you to understand my choices, but you do have to respect them,” he goes on. “Because if you’re right, if this marriage turns out to be a huge mistake, then I’m gonna need you. All of you. So don’t ruin things now by crowing over me before this even has a chance to turn bad.”

Stepping forward, he puts himself between me and his family. “And Mama, you know I love you. I respect you. And I’m truly sorry for all the hurt I caused.” Hands on his hips, he stares her down. “But if you ever talk to my husband like that again, it’ll be the last time you ever talk to me.”

Shae gasps, stepping back, as the other sisters look stricken. His mother just stares daggers at me, as if this is all my fault. I’m the reason her son dares to challenge her in this way. I’ve ruined him. I’ve made him like me.

Speech over, Teddy turns to me. Heat blazes in his eyes as he takes my hand, weaving our fingers together. “Well? I said you had to meet my family. You’ve met them. Now take me home.”