The Penalty Box (Vancouver Wolves Hockey #3)(62)

My breath came out with relief. “That’s nice of you.”

He hesitated. “He was telling some of the other guys about my invite, and then I was getting hints that they didn’t have any place to go for Christmas.”

I started to laugh. “How many are coming over?”

He rubbed his neck. “It started at eight guys.”

“Okay, that’s fine.” I tried to reassure him.

“Plus someone is bringing his sister and his mom.”

“So ten.”

“And someone is bringing his girlfriend.”

“Okay, eleven guests.”

“And then it snowballed from there.”

I spoke slowly. “What does snowballed mean?”

He winced. “Maybe twenty guests.”

I tried but failed to keep the shock off my face. “Twenty guests?”

“Tops, twenty-five. Worst case, thirty.”

“Mica,” I breathed, unsure how I would possibly cook for that many people.

“I know.” He sounded sad. “They kept hinting, and I kept inviting.”

I started to laugh. “Holy shit.”

“I can help cook.” His eyes searched my expression. “How pissed are you?”

I loved his generous spirit. I loved that he would invite people who didn’t have a place to go into his home. “Not pissed at all.”

He looked skeptical. “Really?”

“It will be fine.” I thought about the eight-pound turkey in the trunk. “But we will need to buy more food.”

He started the car and threw me one of those smiles I seemed to live for. “Okay, let’s go shopping.”





*



Two grocery carts of food later, we were at the till. I unpacked food onto the conveyor belt while on the other side, Mica bagged the groceries like a boss. My phone rang.

“Hey, Jasper.” I held my phone under my ear while I continued to unload our last cart.

“Charlie?” His voice wobbled.

I stood up straight and held the phone to my ear. “What’s wrong?”

His voice broke. “I left Mark. And I didn’t know what to do, so I went to the airport and I’m such a mess. I think he’s cheating on me.”

“You’re at the airport?” I made eye contact with Mica, who listened but kept on packing. “Are you flying here?”

“I’m already at the Vancouver airport.” He sucked in his breath. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

“I’m on my way. I’ll get there as soon as possible.”

“Thanks, Charlie.”

I hung up my phone. “Jasper just flew into Vancouver. He broke up with his boyfriend.”

Mica didn’t even bat an eye. “We can go pick him up.”

I looked at my watch. It was already 2:00 p.m. Usually, Mica liked to have a nap before he played a game. “You have your game tonight. Want me to take a cab to go get him?”

“I’m rested. We can go get him.”





*



Jasper, to put it plainly, was a mess. He had obviously been crying for most of the flight. We squished him in the back seat with his carry-on suitcase on his lap, surrounded by bags of groceries and the two cases of wine that Mica had bought.

I twisted in my seat, looking back at him while holding his hand. He sat, his face scrunched up as he worked not to cry.

“I’m sorry for showing up like this,” he wheezed.

I squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I didn’t know where else to go.”

“We’re here for each other, remember? Always.”

He nodded and his face crumpled. “Yeah.”

Jasper sniffed hard and swallowed, looking at Mica for the first time. “You weren’t exaggerating how hot Mica the Savage is. For years you talked about him and his looks, but I never really understood what you meant until now.”

I dared not look at Mica. Instead, I mouthed shut up at Jasper. “Are you drunk?”

“Completely shit-faced. I drank the whole way here.”

I tried to recover from his indiscretion. “I don’t think I mentioned Mica that much.”

Jasper rolled his eyes. “Please. For two years, every other text was about him.”

Mica looked at me, his face amused. “Two years, hey? What else did she say?”

I squeezed Jasper’s hand hard in a warning. Which he ignored. “She’d always give me these detailed updates about when you came into the office. And she was usually pissed about something you did. It was totes obvious she had the hots for you. Which she denied.”

Mica’s smile broadened. “The fact that she was pissed about something tells me this story is true.”

My neck and ears began to burn. “Jasper has a tendency to exaggerate.”

Mica geared down to a red light and then tilted his head at me. “Why Mica the Savage?”

Oh shit. “No reason.”

Jasper talked over me. “Once she mentioned that she thought you’d be a savage in bed, and the name stuck.”

I needed him to stop talking. “Jasper tends to overshare when he’s drunk.”