God, he was pitiful.

And this wasn’t the man he wanted to be. It was time to change.

“You’re right.”

“I know. It happens a lot. Ask my wife, she’ll tell ya,” Jordie said, flashing his pearly whites.

“You forget I know your wife very well, and she wouldn’t say that at all,” Benji teased back as his phone rang. Jordie laughed as Benji reached into his pocket, pulling his phone out. Looking at the screen, he saw it was the new captain of the Assassins, Jayden Sinclair. He liked Jayden, strong leader and cool dude. He was young, but the kid could lead like no one he had ever seen. They had formed a good friendship, especially now that they played on the same line together. He respected the guy.

“Hey, Cap,” he answered as both Vaughn and Jordie started to eat the food that had been forgotten while they all discussed Benji’s love life.

Or lack of one.

Whatever.

“BP, I need a favor.” He sounded desperate.

Benji laughed. “Should I be scared?”

“Eh, that’s debatable. And if, after this, you want to kill me, I fully understand.”

“Oh, shit, what?” he asked, even though he knew he’d do it. That’s the way the Assassins team worked. They helped each other. No matter what. Their boss, Elli Adler, was a prime example of that. She went above and beyond the role of owner of the Assassins. She was their friend, and they all followed her example.

“So I volunteered to help Adler out with his hockey team. But Baylor’s appointment got pushed back, and now we have to meet with another specialist, and, well, I’m not gonna make it.”

“Okay, I’ll go,” Benji said. He knew all about Adler’s hockey team that he had retired to coach. He loved his kids and he wanted to coach them. Benji would do the same if he had a family. “No big deal.”

“Thanks, man, really. But it’s more than that.” Again, he sounded very nervous, which kind of made Benji nervous.

“Okay?”

“My niece, Angie, is playing on the team. I’m supposed to meet my sister at four thirty to get Angie ready for the ice. I know you’ve never met her, and this is a lot to ask, but can you help her out—on and off the ice?”

“Yeah, no problem,” he said without hesitation. Jayden had made it seem like way more than that.

“Okay, awesome, but one thing…”

“Yeah?” he asked, and why was Jayden so nervous?

“My sister can be a bitch, and she’s gonna be pissed I’m not there. But I know if I tell her I can’t be there, she won’t take Angie, and Angie really wants to play. So I’m not gonna tell her, and if she attacks you since you’re the messenger, I’m really fucking sorry. But, man, Angie is awesome and you’ll love her, if that makes it any better. Did I mention the team is a bunch of seven- and eight-year-olds? Girls. They are girls. All girls. Are you sure?”

He said it all so quickly that Benji couldn’t help but laugh.

“Dude, it’s no big deal. I love kids, and I doubt your sister is that bad.”

When Jayden didn’t answer right away, the only noise coming from him one of hesitation, Benji would have been lying if he said he wasn’t a little nervous, but also intrigued.

How bad could this chick be?

“Can I just apologize now?”

Hm. That bad?

That should make him not want to go, but Benji wasn’t normal.

Instead, he was kind of excited.

Or a glutton for punishment.

Who knew?

“What’s her name?”

“Lucy. She’s tall, thin, green eyes, brown hair, and she has permanent resting bitch face. She’ll look pained.” Before Benji could ask why that was, Jayden went on. “Listen, gotta go. Thanks, bro, call me afterward.”

“No problem.” He hung up then, and as he leaned back in the chair, he found that he still wanted to know why Jayden’s sister would look pained. He knew he shouldn’t care. He hadn’t even met the chick, but for some reason, he wanted to know.

What was up with that?

Why was Lucy in a group text with her brothers? She hated group texts, she did, but for some reason, she was in one with her brothers. As each chime of her phone sounded, it only made her realize how much she really hated the ongoing messages.

Jude: Is anyone else weirded out by the fact Mom is getting married again?

Jace: Hey, at least we won’t be married to our sister. Can’t say the same for Jayden.

Jayden: Fuck you, and it is weird. That’s my wife’s dad.

Jace: You might want to get used to calling her your sister-wife.

Jude: Ewwww, Jay is doing his sister! Haha

Jace: Maybe you guys can go on that TLC show? You know, make some money for your unfortunate situation.

Jayden: Get real, how old are we? And the only unfortunate (which by the way, I’m surprised you can spell that) situation is that I’m related to you losers.

Jace: Hey, I wents to skool.

Jayden: Yeah, we can tell.

Lucy: OMG! Leave each other alone and can we not be immature children about this? Just be happy for her and Jayden’s stepdad?

She could have left off that last comment, and maybe that made her as immature as them, but if she was going to deal with this, she was going to do it the only way she knew how. Either with sass or making fun of someone. Because Lucy was far from happy about this, and she was weirded out by the fact her mother was getting married again. Though that was more because, let’s be honest, she could be a jealous, unhappy bitch.