“Okay, so fair is fair—tell me something I don’t know about the Sidewinders.”
“I just did—Dax O’Day is retiring at the end of this season. And that’s something literally no one but my family and closest friends know. If you put it on social media, I’ll be forced to hunt you down and torture you.”
She giggled. “That sounds kind of…hot?”
I coughed. Holy shit, was she flirting with me?
“Oh, don’t get your knickers in a wad,” she continued, shaking her head. “I’m just fucking with you. You’re way too old for me.”
Okay, so she had a good sense of humor, but I gave her a dirty look just for fun. “So you’re saying I’m old?”
“I’m saying you’re old-er?” She laughed, and from the back seat, Axel was chuckling too.
“Thanks. See if I don’t let a bad guy get you next time.”
She was grinning. “Uh-huh. That’s what all my bodyguards say.”
Sasha was delightful. Though she was young for me at twenty, she was pretty, had a smokin’ hot figure and made me laugh. Too bad there wasn’t a twenty-five-year-old version of her somewhere.
“Well, the Protectors are pretty badass,” she said after a bit. “So that would be a great choice if that’s what you want to do going forward. I can’t imagine leaving hockey to put your life on the line for people you don’t really know, but my stepfather, King Erik, is working so damn hard to make life better for his people. I’m always a little in awe of everything he does.”
“Yeah?” I was surprised at the sincerity in her voice.
“Absolutely. He works so many hours, he barely sleeps, and there are always threats against him. The country has been a mess and he’s both king and President of Parliament right now, so his duties never end. And even in the middle of all that, he takes time for my mom and the kids, to be a husband and father. Erik is kind of my hero, to be honest. He gives so much of himself and never asks for anything. I understand now why my mother never stopped loving him.”
“He sounds like a great guy,” I admitted. “And that’s partly why I’m considering joining up. Just not sure if I have what it takes. I don’t have a military background, so it’s going to be an uphill battle for me to learn the ropes and gain the skills I’ll need.”
“I don’t know exactly how that part works,” she said, “but I do know that the Protectors are some of the best people I know. And what they do is so important, because without them, Erik couldn’t do what he does, and there are a million people or so counting on him.”
Wow.
From the mouth of a giggling twenty-year-old college student, everything was suddenly a lot clearer to me.
“Thanks,” I said quietly. “It’s good to hear a different perspective on things.”
“My biological mom died when I was eight,” she said. “And Casey is my mom now in every sense of the word, but it didn’t happen overnight, so I kind of had to grow up faster. So, I lost my mom and got adopted into this crazy rich, famous family. Then Mom and Nick got divorced—and Nick isn’t my biological dad either, my mom never told anyone who the sperm donor was—and I had a new dad, Jayson. Then Nick got married, so for the first time, I had a dad, a new mom, a stepdad, and a new stepmom. And everyone had babies.”
“Yikes,” I said. “That’s a lot for a little kid.”
“Don’t get me started on Mom and Jayson getting divorced and Erik coming back into the picture.” She laughed. “But it’s all good. Our family is kind of whacky and unconventional, but everyone gets along, all of us kids call each other cousins or siblings, and we spend all the big holidays and events together. As the oldest, I’m a little bit on the outside looking in these days, and I see how special what we have is, so I’m grateful this is my family. So the men and women who keep all of us safe are special. Just so you know.”
“I’m getting a toothache back here,” Axel complained. “I mean, yeah, our jobs are important, but I’m gonna get a big head if you keep it up.”
We all laughed and changed the subject, but I was more invested in my decision than ever. Was I really going to try to become a Royal Protector? Six months ago, I didn’t even know what that was. Now I was about to turn my life upside down to join them? Sandor had mentioned it as something to consider back when we’d met a few months back, but the more I thought about it, the more interesting it sounded.
I was crazy. No two ways about it.
Ironically, I was also stupidly excited about it.
31
Isla
As the semester came to an end, I grew more and more disenchanted with my work. Not just teaching, but even my research didn’t hold the lure it once had. In fact, nothing seemed to make me happy anymore. I went through each day on autopilot, bored with teaching, too tired to go to my lab, and not even finding my usual pleasure riding Sassy. My life had become more mundane than ever and I was miserable.
It wasn’t until Dax and I broke up that I realized just how much pleasure he’d brought to my life. How lonely I’d been before. And it wasn’t just because I worked too many hours and didn’t have a lot of friends. Men asked me out regularly, so I knew what was out there, and no one was like Dax. I missed him so much it was sometimes hard to get up in the morning. I thought about him every single day, to the point of distraction sometimes, and I was falling behind in my work.
My students were irritated with me for not grading their assignments in a timely fashion,
