Power Play (Nashville Assassins: Next Generation Book 2) Read online

  “Oh, easy for you to say. You can eat a whole cake and be good. I bake the cake and gain ten pounds. No. We need to stay strong.”

  “Elli. Come on, I’ll take you to PF Chang’s.”

  When I enter the kitchen, I see that my mom is ready to fight back. For as long as I can remember, my mom has been dieting. She has a thyroid disease that makes life hard for her. I have the same one, and I struggle too. Though, growing up, she never made me diet. She never limited me, and at every turn, she told me how gorgeous and perfect I am. Though, I think watching her struggle with her weight and each episode of sickness made me more attuned to my own issues and caused me to be more careful. I know what foods trigger my thyroid, and I stay clear of them. But man, if fried chicken and corn bread don’t sound damn good. With hot sauce.

  Mmm.

  When my mom sees me and her lips come together, gone are thoughts of food. My dad’s back is to me, and when he turns, his shoulders fall as his brows come in. It’s my mom who speaks first. “Well, nice to see you out of your room.”

  I nod, wringing my fingers as my dad says, “And that awful song not playing.”

  My lips twitch as I draw in a deep breath through my nose. When I look up, they’re both watching me. “Um, I’m really sorry. I made a bad choice, and it won’t happen again. I’ll pay you back ASAP for the plane ticket.”

  My mom’s arms wrap around her body as she nods slowly. “This is so unlike you.”

  “I know.”

  “If you’d asked, talked to me, Posey love, I would have flown you there myself.”

  My dad whips his head to her. “What the hell? Why?”

  “Because she needed to see for herself that he didn’t love her the way she loved him,” she says, coming to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. She kisses my temple, and I lean into her. “She always would have wondered if he did if she hadn’t thrown herself out there. Which is good. I’m so happy you wanted to take the chance.” I look over at her, and her eyes burn into mine. “I hate the way you did it, but I’m glad you did.”

  “I wanted to do something impulsive and romantic, I guess.”

  Mom gives me a small smile. “I know. With Shelli’s engagement, Amelia’s wedding, and then Maxim being traded, I can see that. But honey, he wasn’t the right one to do that for. He really wasn’t.”

  I look down at my hands. “I know that now.”

  “Honey, I love you. But if you had your choice, you’d keep going down the same route in life and be happy as a clam.” Apparently today is the day for a lot of clam witticisms. “Something needed to happen to change it up, and I think this might have been it.” She cups my face and then kisses my cheek. I lean into her as she wraps her arms around me again.

  When I look at my dad, I can see that he is not entertained or even convinced. “Or she could have stayed here and not gotten hurt at all. Something I was trying to protect her from and is why I sent the kid away.”

  Mom shakes her head. “Shea, I don’t know why you are constantly making sure Posey doesn’t get hurt but Shelli is out on her own.”

  “I protect both my girls.”

  “Posey more so,” she says matter-of-factly, still holding me but setting him with a look. “Or maybe it’s because, like I said before, she doesn’t put herself out there.”

  “She does just fine. Everyone loves her,” Dad throws back at her.

  “Well, of course they do. She is a joy, but she’d rather sit in the play-making room with the tapes than go out and be around people. I blame us. We didn’t push her.”

  Wow. My mom really makes me sound like a loner. I mean, I kinda suspected I was one, but I didn’t realize that she thought it too.

  “She’s smart. People suck,” Dad says, holding out his hands. “Unlike Shelli and the boys, she won’t get hurt. Smart.”

  “And what if I had been like this and never met you?”

  Dad scoffs. “Baby, I was meant to find you and marry you.”

  Swoon. “Yup, it’s y’all’s love that made me go to Colorado after Maxim.”

  They both look at me, concerned. I get that look a lot. I don’t consider myself the middle child, but in some sense, I am. Owen and Evan are the same person and wouldn’t accept being a middle child. I think because of that, I’ve taken on the role. It’s been an ongoing competition with Shelli, and then the boys are their own entity, and it left me on the bench, by myself. I don’t mind. I don’t even resent anyone for it, but I do know where they are coming from. Everything my mom is saying is true, and I’m not saying I’m changing right this second, but I want to do better.

  “Yes, I don’t put myself out there. Yes, I’d rather be alone with my tapes, and yes, I don’t live the life that Shelli is. Or hell, that the twins are, or even Quinn is. But with Maxim, I had to try, and it didn’t work out. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up. I know you’re both nervous about that.”

  Dad nods. “We don’t want this to discourage you. Not all guys are jackasses.”

  “Most of them are, though,” Mom supplies, and I smile, though Dad gives her a dry look. “We just want you to be happy, my love.”

  “Yeah, what she said. If you’re happy watching tapes and cutting out the world, save me a seat.” He takes my hand then, squeezing it in his large one. He’s always been my hero. The standard for all men. “We see more coming from you.”

  “Like I said,” Mom says, pinning him with a look, “I feel you needed this as a wake-up call, almost. You can’t just sit back and wait for something to happen. Maybe if you had said something earlier, then something could have happened between you and Maxim—”

  “Or not.”

  She ignores my dad and goes on. “But you didn’t, and instead, you got your heart stomped on. Or better yet, the rug pulled out from underneath you.”

  “Real funny, Mom,” I say dryly, and she laughs. “Really, though, I hear you. You’re right. I handled this all wrong, but I want you both to know I am sorry for how I went about it.”

  Dad exhales. “You can pay us back with your first paycheck from the Assassins.”

  Mom looks satisfied with that. “I’ll just hold that check since you’ll be working with Uncle Jakob as our assistant special teams coach.”

  I bite the inside of my cheek. When my uncle offered me the job, I didn’t take it. I wanted it—man, I want it. It’s a dream job. To work with professional players and help them win and dominate, yeah, that’s truly amazing. But I thought I wanted love more. Now I see the error of my ways. “I didn’t think the job would still be available for me.”

  She scoffs. “If you think I was gonna allow one of the best playmakers I’ve ever seen go somewhere else, you’re crazy. Ask your uncle. When I see talent, they don’t get away from me.”

  Dad hooks his thumb to my mom. “She doesn’t. She didn’t let me go anywhere.”

  She nods. “I locked him in and then trapped him with five kids. Oh, wait. No, that was me he trapped.”

  Dad snorts, and I grin as he pulls us both into his arms. They’re so silly. “We love you, Posey, so damn much. You’re going to do big things. You just have to do them.”

  I swallow hard as I revel in my parents’ arms. They’ve always told all of us that we would do big things. Of course, there is Shelli, a Broadway star turned owner-in-training of the Assassins. The twins have already been drafted into the NHL for the Maple Leafs. They’re said to be the next Sedin brothers, but they’re choosing college first, per my mom’s demands. Quinn has already been accepted into Harvard for their premed program. He wants to be a spinal doctor. They all have these huge dreams, big aspirations, and have made them happen. All I’ve ever wanted was to make some plays. Be one hell of a playmaker and ultimately bring home a Cup.

  Huh, I guess I do have dreams and aspirations, and the job to make those things happen is there for the taking.

  So, what the hell am I waiting for?

  Chapter Four

  Posey

  “I get