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

Kane Barlow is still getting under my skin even years later.noveldrama

Who goes to a strip club for dinner?

No one.

No one does that unless they’re eating something other than food for dinner.

The only reason he chose this place was to annoy me. He probably still assumes I’m a goody-goody, which is what the boys used to call me back in high school. River Sullivan’s little sister: the quiet, good girl. I was the girl with her nose in a book, rolling my eyes at all the popular boys who took turns making out with the head cheerleader during the parties that my parents made River drag me to.

They never wanted me to be left out, even if I was underage at a party with copious amounts of alcohol and no adult supervision.

I sigh and bite into a carrot stick while watching one of the strippers grind against an older male in business attire.

We make eye contact, and I freeze mid-bite.

I feel like I’m encroaching on the scene.

Like, shouldn’t they get a room?

“This burger tastes like shit.” River shoves his plate away and looks at Kane for a response.

I roll my eyes. Of course it does! Kane didn’t come here for their spectacular burgers. He came here to make me uncomfortable.

Another glance at the live sex scene in front of us, and yep, I’m uncomfortable.

“Yeah.” Out of the corner of my eye, Kane leans farther back into the booth, seemingly relaxed. “It was better the last time I ate it.”

“Probably not the only thing you ate,” I mutter.

River laughs at my quiet joke, but Kane doesn’t. Instead, he leans forward and places his forearms on the table that separates us. “You’re right about that.”

I turn and meet his eye, unable to hide the disgust on my face. “Being a man-whore isn’t the flex you think it is when you’re whoring around a strip club, Kane.”

River blows a breath out. “Damn, sis. You’re on fire with the comebacks tonight.”

Kane’s annoyingly hot mouth turns up on the side, and something tightens in my stomach. “You sound jealous.”

I scoff. “Jealous?”

The only thing I’m jealous of is that burger on his plate. Even if it tastes like shit, my mouth still waters at the sight of it.

River decides right then to get up and go to the bathroom, leaving me and Kane all alone.

Thanks, big bro.

I look onto the floor and watch the girls earn some serious tips while pretending Kane isn’t breathing down my freaking neck. The booth cushion bends when he scoots closer to me, but I continue to pretend he doesn’t exist.

“Yeah…jealous,” he repeats. “When was the last time anyone ate you?”

My cheeks burn.

“The summer before I left for the juniors?”

He did not just go there.

Unable to stop myself, I turn and meet him face to face. My belly fills with heat when I stare into his ocean eyes. His features are so much more defined since the last time I saw him—a steely jaw and high cheekbones with the same faint scar right above his left eyebrow from being hit in the face with a hockey stick in the tenth grade.

I won’t admit it out loud, but god, he aged well.

The longer we stare at one another, the more uneasy I become. My thoughts spin, and everything blurs.

“Well?” he asks. “Am I right?”

“What?” I think I just blacked out.

A sly smile slides onto his face. “Summer…before I left?”

My nostrils flare with irritation as my traitorous eyes drop to his mouth. That sharp tongue of his slips out past his lips to wet them, and I grow warm. He knows I’m well aware of what he’s referring to, but I can only pray that my face remains unreadable.

I shake my head and lean a little closer to him. He stays in the same spot, not backing away even an inch. “You really think the last time I had a man’s tongue in between my legs was that summer night years ago? With you?”

One long blink is all I get in response.

He’s so hard to read. Too much time has passed.

The tension rises, and my pulse quickens. Neither one of us are willing to back down, a challenge brewing between us, but as soon as my brother slides back into the booth, we’re forced to break apart.

And just like that, things are back to being normal.

One decline of a stripper offering my brother a lap dance later—thank god—and I’m scooting out of the booth to head back to the apartment.

Kane paid for the meal, and I wanted to refuse in the worst way because now I feel like I should thank him. But to be honest, I’d rather chew my own arm off than show him gratitude after dragging me to a strip club for dinner.

When we get back to the apartment, I opt for the stairs because I can’t stand to spend another second keeping my composure intact with Kane near. River looks at me questionably, and I quickly make up some excuse about needing to stretch my legs.

“But we just walked to and from the restaurant,” he says.

Restaurant?

He means strip club.

I pretend to be deaf and hustle to the stairwell. The door slams and echoes throughout the empty space, which gives me full permission to finally breathe for the first time all evening.

My shoulders drop when I look up.

I’m going to die trying to climb these stairs, but hey, at least I won’t have to deal with Kane and his feigned smiles that turn into scathing glares when my brother isn’t looking.

One step down, a million more to go⁠—

I freeze with the creaking of the door.

It opens slowly, like I’m in some horror movie.

“Running away, are we?” Kane muses.

I take that back. I am in a horror movie.

With a slow spin, I lock onto him standing halfway in the doorway with a cocky grin on his face.

“Why would I do that?” I ask.

I mentally prepare myself for a rude remark, especially since River is nowhere in sight, but instead, he rolls his eyes impatiently. “Do you still know how to ice skate?”

Confusion fills me. “Yeah…why?”

Kane’s face twitches with humor, and then the door begins to creep shut as he backs away.

“Wait! Why?” I blurt, making him pause.

The only answer I get from him is a devious smile and a quick wink.

Which does not sit well with me.

The only thing that pulls me out of bed is the thought of a matcha latte with my name on it. I switched from coffee to matcha a year ago because of its health benefits. I’m not sure it has really helped, but now I’m obsessed with matcha, so there’s that.

After swirling a design into the cup with my oat milk, I head over to my plants.

The morning sun peeks between the two skyscrapers across the busy street, sending a stream of warmth directly onto my jade plant. With my finger, I rub the smooth leaf and smile with my mug pressed against my lips.

So far, Chicago isn’t terrible. I have floor-to-ceiling windows, and although I thought I’d hate the city scenery, it’s kind of pretty. The apartment is spacious, leaving plenty of room for me to move my plants around when needed, and with River being at the hospital so often, I hardly remember that we’re roommates. Of course, there’s the apartment above me that causes my anxiety to rise with its occupant, but I’ve done an excellent job at avoiding Kane.

I move over to my hibiscus plant and slip my finger into the soil, testing the moisture level. As soon as I pull my hand away, there’s a knock on my door that startles me so much I spill my latte.

“Shit!” I blurt.

I drop my attention to the green stain on my silky robe. I annoyingly roll my eyes and sigh.

Another knock vibrates against the door. I stare at it with irritation and grit my teeth. I keep a hold of my mug as I stride over the hardwood in my fuzzy slippers toward the door.

Another knock.

Okay, seriously?

Without so much as looking through the peephole, I whip the door open with force.

It takes half a second for my annoyance to rise to another level.

Kane, who I thought was still traveling back from his away game—which I only know about because I googled their game schedule—leans against the doorjamb casually in his Chicago Blue Devils hoodie.

He checks me out from head to toe and then lazily moves his gaze back to my face. “You ready?”

“Ready to smack you?” I ask. “Always.”

He scoffs before striding right into my apartment as if he owns the place.

I gape at him. “Excuse you?”

He ignores me and starts to move his attention all around the apartment, clearly in search of something. His tight features relax when he eyes my phone. I stand appalled as he picks it up and enters my password—something he has seemingly remembered from years ago.

I make a mental note to change it, right along with a reminder not to open the door without knowing who’s on the other side.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” I place my latte down and rush him to steal my phone back. “You can’t just barge into my apartme–”

It takes my eyes a few seconds to scan the texts on my phone, but when I read the message from River, I gasp.

River

Your interview got switched to this morning at nine. Kane said he’ll give you a ride.

“Interview?” I exclaim. “I don’t even know what the job is for!”

Kane clicks my phone off and flicks his chin to my bedroom. “We leave in ten, Daisy-Petal. Hurry up.”

There’s no time to argue with him or to call my brother and belittle him for not preparing me for my job interview.

I stomp off to my room with Kane resting his hip against my counter. “Make sure to change out of your robe. You have green shit on it.”

My jaw clenches tightly, and I slam the door a second later.