Rush the Edge: A Brother’s Best Friend Hockey Romance (Blue Devils Hockey Book 3)

A small Honda pulls up at the curb, and I check the license plate before opening the door.

As soon as I fling it open, I freeze.

Confusion hits me as I stare at a sleeping baby tucked safely inside a carseat.

“Oh, sorry. Do you mind sitting up front?” I bend down and meet the face of the Uber driver who looks to be my age.

I quietly shut the door, hopeful not to disrupt the little girl’s sleep, and slip into the front seat.

“Reese?” I say my driver’s name, double-checking that she’s the right Uber.

“Yeah.” She smiles shyly before flicking her blinker on to pull out into traffic. “Sorry about…the baby. My sitter fell through, and I can’t really afford not to work.” She glances in the rearview mirror. “Thankfully, she sleeps well in the car. She won’t scream or anything.”

“Even if she was screaming, I’d much rather catch a ride with you instead of Kane.” I sigh angrily. “He is…ugh…I don’t even know!” I cross my arms and fume in the front seat. “I knew he was just trying to get in my head, and I can’t believe I let him.”

As soon as I turn toward Reese, I slap my hand over my mouth.

Kane has me so twisted that I forgot I’m in a car with a random person—someone who clearly isn’t a licensed therapist if she’s trying to make extra money by Ubering late at night with a baby.

“I’m so sorry,” I mutter quietly through a laugh. “Ignore me.”

Reese smashes her lips together, clearly trying to hide her amusement. “It’s okay. I’ve been there and done that…” She glances in the rearview mirror again. “Gained a little something from it too.”

I peek behind me at who I assume is her daughter. She’s quite honestly the cutest thing I have ever seen with her footie pajamas and purple binky half hanging out of her mouth.

“She’s adorable,” I whisper.

The lights of the dash show off her mom’s softening gaze. “Thanks. She forced me to grow up a little quicker than most, but she’s worth the late nights and odd jobs to make ends meet.” Her shoulders drop a smidge, and there’s a sadness in her tone.

“Are you from here?” I ask, wanting to get her mind off the sad topic.

Does she have family to help her? I get the hunch that the baby’s dad isn’t in the picture, but I’d like to think that if I were to get pregnant, my family would help me in any way they could.

Though, I know not everyone’s family is good.

Take Kane’s family, for example—a brother who is selfish beyond belief and a mom who holds a grudge.

She shakes her head. “Are you?”

“No. I just moved here a couple of weeks ago. Hence why I’m spilling my guts to a random Uber driver.” I snort. “I usually spill everything to my best friend, but she doesn’t live here, so lucky you.”

I glance at Reese again. With her dark hair piled on top of her head and warm eyes, she sort of resembles Natalia. Though, Natalia has much more of a firecracker personality than what I’ve seen from Reese so far.

She seems…soft…and sweet.

“Well…” Reese veers off toward the exit. “You’re welcome to use me as your sounding board. My friends back home used to call me Mother Teresa because they said I had the best advice and made all the right choices.” She laughs quietly. “Pretty ironic that I was the one of our friend group who had to drop out of college because I got pregnant…but whatever.”

I shrug. “It’s fine. Every⁠—”

“—thing’s fine,” she finishes for me.

We both look at each other and laugh quietly, careful not to wake her daughter.

“I’m not exactly on the path I thought I’d end up on either,” I admit. “I had to drop out of college too, and now I’m the mascot for the Blue Devils, so ya know…”

She taps on the brakes and shoots me a bewildered look. “The mascot?”

I shoot her a look. “Unfortunately.”

“It’s fine. Everything’s fine,” she mutters.

We share a smile, and it only takes me a few seconds to decide that Reese is as good as anyone to delve deeper into my thoughts over Kane.

By the time I come up for air, she’s pulling in front of the apartment building with her jaw on the floor.

“I can’t believe he ripped it!” She’s just as appalled as me. “What an asshole. I am so tired of men thinking they have the upper hand.”

“Right?” I cross my arms. “I cannot let him get away with it. He’s bullying me like a child. We’re not in high school anymore.” I gaze at my apartment building with dread. Knowing Kane, he’s probably brought some girl home and is having sex with her in the elevator again, just waiting for me to step onto it.

Reese’s phone pings for another ride, interrupting our unexpected hangout session. “Oh, right. You gotta go.” I grab the door handle.

“Wait.” I turn toward her, and she’s smiling deviously. “I have an idea to get back at him.”

Her phone pings again, and her baby sighs wistfully in her sleep.

“Here.” Reese pulls a receipt out of her purse and scribbles her number on it. “Text me your number, and we can meet up.”

I latch onto the paper with desperation and tuck it into my back pocket. I climb out of her car and whisper, “Be safe!”

Just then, her baby lets out a cry, and we both snap our attention to the backseat. Her binky has fallen out onto her lap.

In a panic, I reach toward the backseat and quickly pop it back into her mouth. She sucks on it for a few seconds before she seemingly falls right back to sleep.

Reese blows out a thankful breath. “Thank you.”

I smile, and she quickly drives off.

I turn and stare at the apartment building door and pray that Kane isn’t waiting for me on the other side.

I anxiously wait for Reese to hear her idea on how to get back at Kane. The coffee shop is right around the corner from Dr. Gibson’s office, and I have forty minutes to spare until my appointment with him to review my bloodwork. I tap my fingers against my mug full of matcha until I see a stroller pop through the door.

I quickly move to stand up, but an eager man beats me to it, holding it open for Reese.

“Thank you.” She smiles kindly, and unaware to her, he’s practically drooling.

Reese is beyond beautiful—and her daughter is too.

“Hey!” I turn toward the stroller. The bright-eyed baby with the prettiest olive skin is staring at me with a toy in her hand. “Look at you! You’re awake!” I scrunch my nose at her while smiling and turn toward Reese.

“She is so beautiful, Reese.”

With admiration, she peers down at her daughter. “Thanks. Charleigh is my little ray of sunshine in the shitstorm I’ve found myself in.” She laughs and rolls her eyes before locking onto the coffee I snagged for her. “Oh my god, is this mine?”

“No, it’s for Charleigh,” I joke.

Reese’s eyebrows fold.

“I’m kidding,” I laugh. “Yes, it’s for you.”

She quickly pulls the mug closer to her face. “Oh, it’s still hot. I haven’t had a hot coffee in…”—she glances at the stroller—“eight months.”

Reese sips on the coffee before sighing wistfully. I’m not going to pretend I know anything about being a mom—a single one, at that—but Reese acts as if the cup of coffee is a million dollars. It makes me wonder how difficult her life is.

Either way, she wears the hardship well.

“Okay,” Reese places the cup down and pulls out a tattered notebook. She cradles it to her chest and smiles at me. “I don’t know if my idea will work, but since your costume is ruined, what if…”

The notebook flips open to a pencil sketch of a woman who looks a lot like me wearing a much-improved Blue Devils costume with skates on her feet, a devil-horned headband, and a trident in her hand.

“Holy shit,” I whisper. “Did you draw this?”

Reese blushes while shrugging innocently. “I was a fashion major before I dropped out of college. I minored in marketing too.”

I scan the drawing again, my stomach jittering with excitement. “This is amazing.”

“I figured instead of fixing the costume, why don’t you just get a new one? I researched the Chicago Blue Devils, and they’ve had the same costume since the team was established years ago. Their marketing needs some serious work.” She sips on her coffee. “I have no idea if you’re able to bring the idea to whoever is in charge, but”—she taps on the sketch—“this will amp up their marketing for sure. It’ll pull in new merch too. The trident can be sold in their store, devils headbands for the little girls, and as you can see, the costume isn’t overly sexual or anything. I mean, you’d still look hot, but it’s respectful enough for the little girls to look up to you.”

I nod through the entire explanation, thankful I have a plan for when I talk to Cindy. Explaining to her that Kane followed me into my dressing room and tore my costume to shreds so I would be forced to quit is going to make me seem certifiable and him unhinged.

Reese smiles over the brim of her mug. “Think Elsa but less ice-queen and more she-devil.”noveldrama

I sit back with my matcha and beam on the inside. Showing up to the game like this will definitely send a message to my own personal bully.

Kane can take the costume out of the girl, but he can’t take the girl out of the costume.

I pull out my phone and quickly text Cindy.

Me

Hi, Cindy! Could you meet up later? I want to talk to you about something before the next home game.

Reese and I take turns playing with Charleigh in between having our own conversation while I wait for Cindy to text me back.

My phone starts to vibrate with Cindy’s name at the top.

“Hello?”

Cindy’s exhale is so heavy I think I can feel it through the phone. “Please tell me you’re not quitting.”

If Kane had his way, I would.

“No! I’m not quitting. But I do have a problem with the costume…except, instead of repairing it, I think there’s a better option.”

“A better option?” she asks hesitantly.

I lock eyes with Reese while I speak into the phone to Cindy. “Can you meet up later?”

I grin at Reese, and she looks both excited and scared. I mouth to her, “Are you free later?”

A worry line works on her face, but she gives me a thumbs up.

“Let’s meet at the rink around 5?”

Cindy agrees, and I hang the phone up.

Reese and I lock eyes before bursting out into girly laughter.

Charleigh makes a noise, and when we look at her, she’s showing off her two teeth with a grin on her face.

Knowing I need to get to my appointment, I stand up to leave with Reese following after me but not before she downs the rest of her coffee.

“Don’t forget to bring the sketchbook,” I say, bending down to smile at Charleigh. “You’re getting all the credit for this.”

“That’s really not necessary.” Reese shakes her head. “I’m happy to help.”

I shoot her a look. “It is necessary. I have to go run an…errand, so I’ll see you at 5?”

She nods. “Do you want me to pick you up?”

“Sure.” I smile.

“Perfect! See you in a few.”

I wait until she heads toward her car with Charleigh and the stroller before going in the other direction toward my appointment. My stomach churns with dread the closer I get to the brick building in fear that my labs are going to show my levels rising from the added stress of moving.

Or maybe from the stress that Kane has inevitably brought me.

You don’t understand how fragile your health is until it turns to shit within the blink of an eye, and your future is dangling like a soggy French fry in front of your face.