The Hockey Captain I slept With is My Stepson

Chapter 11: How To Fool Absolutely No One

RAE

“YOUR ONS TURNED OUT TO BE YOUR DOCUMENTARY SUBJECT?! AND HE’S A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT?”

I brought my phone to my ear again. “Mandy, I’m pretty sure yelling was created for only dire situations.” Water from the faucet splashed as I rinsed my toothbrush and I mumbled a curse.

My parents weren’t home when I arrived and Johnie was already in bed, so I just locked myself in my room.

After the day I just had, I was hoping to sleep and wake up as a completely different species, but someone else’s body would also suffice.

“How is this not dire? Rachel Delaney Kane, did you not just hear yourself?”

Uh oh, my full government name was out.

I leaned against the sink, sporting my favorite baby pink pajama set, nose crinkled. “It’s that bad?”

“Yes! It is. Your whole life is literally on the line—“

“I didn’t know he was THAT young. Defend me a little here.”

“Defend? You could be tagged as a cougar, or worse, serve time. This can never get out.”

I held my forehead. “I know, I know…”

“I mean it, Rachel. Your trip to that town never happened. I’ll speak to Jameson and find a way to not get you fired for dropping his personal project.”

The repercussions of my earlier decision had only started weighing on me. I hadn’t met with the board. I totally blindsided Coach Stetson and everyone else involved.

There was no chance I was getting that promotion. I’d even be lucky to still have a job by morning.

Maybe this was a sign to take Tallulah more seriously.

I could be the cake lady who crashes weddings for a living. After all, chaos was lucrative in this current age… and I was beginning to ramble.

Mandy promised to call later today with updates.

After hanging up, I stared at my reflection in the mirror above the sink.

Marriage was supposed to make me glow. Instead, I had dark circles around my eyes. My cheeks looked sunken.

I swallowed an invisible lump.

The next morning, Talullah came over to my family house as planned. I ran into my mother only then.

She ignored me, of course, and pulled just her niece for a quick chat. I went into our home library to wait.

I couldn’t care less about how my parents treated me anymore. Not when I had problems the size of the freaking globe.

I threw my head back on the sofa, holding my forehead which hurt from all the thinking I had been doing since I went to that hockey rink.

Jason still hadn’t called or texted.

Someone jumped into my lap, and I relaxed when I realized it was just Johnie.

Her blonde hair had been braided into double cornrows and there was a smudge of ice cream on her chubby cheek.

“Hi!” She hugged me, smearing that smudge over my fresh shirt.

“Princess! Finally, you’ve graced your underlings with your presence!” I snuggled closer.

But she ignored our little inside joke and sobbed against my chest, “Please come back home and stay with me.”

This was the longest I had spent apart from my baby sister. She was the only reason I had persevered living under this roof in the past.

“Come back home? But I never left you, princess,” I pried her off and smiled at her baby blue eyes that had an unnatural twinkling quality. At least she wasn’t born an omega. Our parents would always treat her like a person.

Johnie frowned in confusion, her lips quirked.

“Do you want to know a secret?” I asked, and she quickly bobbed her head.

“Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!”

“Every time you think of me on a full moon night, I’ll be here with you. And if you miss me before then, I’ll find you in your dreams.”

It took her a second to understand.

Then she grinned, showing off her lack of front teeth. I bit back a laugh.

“But, Rae… I already dream about you all the time. Sometimes, you’re a queen on an island, and when you stretch out your hand? Power explodes. Just like this,” Johnie dramatically blew out her cheeks and held her hands up, fingers flickering. “Other times, you heal things.”

“Really?” I made a shocked face.

“Yes! And I think you were also very lonely.”

I threaded my fingers through her tiny ones and tried not to think about how lonely I was now.

There was nothing special about me. Maybe Johnie’s dreams were just how she perceived me as her older sister.

They couldn’t mean anything.

“Psst! Rae?”

I looked up and found Talullah peeking into the room through the crack in the door.

“Auntie wants us to eat together… or sit at the table while she eats, whichever fits.” She popped the bubble gum in her mouth and disappeared.

Johnie came down from my lap. I crouched to her height and wiped her mouth with my thumb.

“Next time, when you steal ice cream from the fridge, run to a mirror after,” I whispered.

But she pursed her lips and tried to look at her nose to avoid me.

“It’s okay!” I laughed. “Your secret is safe with me.”

We held hands and walked to the dining room together. I found out that my father was also going to be joining us and that the cook had prepared a feast.

During breakfast, Talullah leaned over and showed my mother a video on her phone from last night’s game.

My cousin could get along with even the devil. My parents loved having her around.

Even though she and her siblings could be a handful, I dared say my parents secretly wished Talullah was their daughter and not me.

I stabbed the eggs in my plate, listening to the audio of the game because I couldn’t help it.

“Sweetie, look at you shining like a star.”

“Awwn. Thank you, auntie.”

I stabbed my eggs again and became laser-focused on my plate when my father came down from his room.

“But who are they congratulating like that?”

“Him? That’s the captain of our school’s hockey team. Auntie, he’s so good, rumours have it that NHL scouts everywhere are fighting for a piece of him.”

My throat suddenly felt too dry. I reached for the jar of orange juice at the centre of the table.

“He’s quite handsome.”

Talullah squealed. “I know, right?! I’m going to make him my boyfriend very soon—“

The jar slipped from my hand and spilled over my side of the table. By the time I jerked back, the front of my dress pants was already soaked.

My parents were staring at me, their faces steaming with anger. I didn’t wait to hear how much of a disappointment I was or how I always ruined things.

I walked out on them.

Why did I even agree to come here in the first place?

And why had I been shocked? Talullah had the right to date whoever she wanted.

I got to my room and paced around my bed. I was so out of it that I didn’t even remember to change.

My mother barged in after me.

I sighed in frustration. “Please, mom. I just need a minute.”

I turned away, expecting her to leave, but she was still there, looking like she had a new list of degrading words just for me on her mind.

“What’s up with you?”

“Huh?”

“Rachel, you’re my daughter. I know when something’s not right with you.” She crossed her arms, then cleared her throat. “I mean to say, you look worse.”

“I’m fine,” I ground out.

“Are you sure you have nothing to say to me?”

“No!” It felt like my lungs had been wrung tight. “I don’t.”

“Okay. So you do know your husband is back in town?”

I blinked and she let out a small, condescending laugh at whatever she had seen on my face.

I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or worried that Jason hadn’t been in mortal danger all this while.

“You can’t even keep a man,” my mother scoffed to herself, taking her leave. “But then again, I guess you like them younger.”

I froze as my door slammed shut.

Did she… did she know?