Karson nodded along with Jordie before saying, “She didn’t want it though. She wanted the medal and a family.”

A family.

Looking away, his heart just hurt at the mere thought of Kacey being a mother. Growing the child in her belly and eating more food than the FDA would approve for a woman with child. But he wouldn’t care, he’d feed it to her as long as she was happy.

He just needed to tell her that.

“Yeah, well, she got the medal, and please Lord, don’t let that guy be my future son-in-law. I won’t be able to do it. He flinches when I cuss! What the fuck!” Karl exclaimed and Karson laughed as Jordie smiled, even though he wasn’t really paying attention.

“He told Kacey she cusses a lot.”

“Fucking right, she does! People that cuss are honest, good people. We love Jesus, so I don’t know what the problem is,” Karl said and Jordie grinned.

“I think that’s a sin maybe? Cussing?”

Karl glared. “Shh, you.”

Jordie scoffed as the screen door opened, and when they all looked up, Jordie was surprised none of them groaned. Kelly shut the door and then waved awkwardly as he sat next to Karl. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Karson and Karl echoed, but Jordie looked in his cup, wishing like hell it was empty so he could leave. He was not a Liam Kelly fan.

For obvious reasons.

“Love the hair, Thomas. Shelli and Posey must have gotten ahold of you,” he said, and Jordie looked up, a deadpan look on his face as he nodded.

“Must have,” he muttered and then looked across at Karl. “You need a refill?”

“No, and neither do you,” he snapped and Jordie groaned.

Silence fell over them and Jordie nearly choked on the tension. Pulling his phone out, he checked his Facebook and noticed that Karson was doing the same.

That was until Kelly said, “So…um. Sir, um…er, I mean, Mr. King, I’d like to speak with you. In private, please.”

Both their heads popped up and Jordie looked at Karson, confused. What the hell did Liam want to talk to Karl about in private?

Karl’s face scrunched up in annoyance. “Whatever ya gotta say to me, ya can say in front of these two. I’d tell them anyway.”

“Oh,” Kelly said, nervously moving his hands together, and Jordie’s stomach dropped. What the hell was he doing? “Well, you see, I’ve been dating Kacey for a while now with the permission of Karson,” he said, nodding his head to Karson, but Karson didn’t acknowledge him. He only stared as Kelly swallowed hard, his nerves visible. “Um…and well, we are really happy, and there is really no one I’d rather spend the rest of my life with. So, um, I’d like to ask her to marry me. But first, I’d like your permission.”

What. The. Fuck.

Kelly plastered a huge grin on his face, and Jordie wanted nothing more than to pound his fist into Kelly’s face, but he was stunned to silence. His jaw actually dropped, and when he glanced at Karson, his had too. Karl though, he was stone-faced, his eyes picking Kelly apart before his head slowly started to shake.

“What? It’s only been a month or two,” Karson blurted out and Kelly looked over at Karson, nodding.

“When you know, you know,” he said, his voice shaky.

“But she doesn’t love you!” Jordie said, his heart picking up in speed. This douche was going to offer Kacey what she wanted. What if she said yes?

“You don’t know that,” Kelly said dryly, his eyes cutting Jordie’s, which was surprising. The dude didn’t have a mean bone in his body. The guys teased him all the time because he never got a penalty, never got into a fight because he was too busy saying sorry or excuse me than actually fighting for the puck. If he didn’t have a sick-ass shot, Jordie would have questioned Elli on her decision to keep him on the team.

“I actually plan to love her and never hurt her,” Kelly said then, and that made Jordie scoff.

So she’d told him about them.

He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad.

And before Jordie could tell Kelly exactly what he thought, Karl cleared his throat, bringing the attention to him.

“Liam, I can call you that, right?”

“Why, yes, sir,” Liam said nodding, his grin directed to Karl.

“Liam,” he started, but then he paused, sitting up and then back before leaning onto his knees, his eyes meeting Liam’s. “Not even no, but hell, fuck no, you can’t marry my daughter.”

If Jordie were a man-kissing man, he’d kiss Karl King right at that moment.

Sputtering, Kelly went to say something, but Karl stood, holding his hand up as he shook his head. “Marry her. The fuck? Cold day in fucking hell.”

He then walked to the door, slamming it open before hollering, “Kacey Marie King, it will be a cold day in fucking hell before I allow you to marry this idiot!”

“Oh shit,” Karson said, hopping up to follow as Kelly ran in behind Karl.

Jordie slowly stood, a grin on his face as he headed toward the show.

He only wished he had time to make some popcorn.

Kacey saw the whole thing go down.

She wasn’t too comfortable with Liam going out to hang with the guys but he was pretty persistent, and she had to say he’d been acting a little weird since he got there. He was holding her a little too much and kissing her and being really nice even though every other word out of her father’s mouth was the f-bomb. Liam seemed to like him though, so when he got up to go out, she didn’t stop him. Even though Jordie was out there, looking utterly delicious despite the done-up hair and beard job he had. Shelli and Posey must have gotten ahold of him and, of course, that made her want to aww.