Faceoff Read Online Free

*
    Tag leaned against the bar at Harmony, loud music thumping in the darkness, strobe lights pulsing over the crowded dance floor. He lifted his beer to his lips.
    “I’m too old for this,” he muttered to his brothers.
    “Yeah, you are,” Matt said. “It’s embarrassing, actually.”
    Tag’s lips twitched. He shifted position and caught the eye of a girl at the end of the bar who was blatantly giving him the eye. She stood with two other girls dressed in skimpy halter tops and short skirts who were also looking at him and his brothers. She looked like she was barely out of high school. And she probably was. After living in the States where the legal drinking age was higher, coming to a bar here at home, where eighteen-year-olds were legal, was a little disconcerting for Tag. The girl smiled seductively at him. Tag sighed.
    Matt, at age twenty, fit in better with the crowd in the bar than Tag did. Even Logan, a few years younger than Tag, fit in better.
    “I’m here to keep an eye on you youngsters,” Tag said. “Mom was worried about you.”
    “About us? Bullshit.”
    Tag grinned. “Remember what Jase did a few months ago. Getting arrested isn’t a good move. I think she’s a little paranoid.”
    “No shit. What the hell got into him, anyway?”
    “He was obviously hammered,” Matt said.
    “Obviously. But that’s not like him,” Logan said. “He’s never been one to drink too much.”
    “He’d just found out that Brianne was pregnant,” Tag said, remembering those phone conversations. Christ, Jase was going to be a father. Holy shit. Tag could barely wrap his mind around that concept. “We can give him a hard time about it when he gets here,” he added, smiling at the prospect. “He flies in Monday.”
    “We can also bug him about losing the Cup to the Sharks.”
    “All the way to the finals and then couldn’t do it.” Matt shook his head.
    One of the girls Tag had noticed earlier appeared beside him.
    “Hi,” she said, fluttering her mascara-laden eyelashes at Tag. “Can you guys settle something for me and my friends? I keep telling them that you guys are famous hockey players and they don’t believe me.”
    Tag sighed inwardly and nodded. Matt smiled at the girl. “I’m not famous,” he said. “But I am a hockey player.”
    “Oh.” She looked confused, then looked at Tag. “But you’re famous, right? You’re Tag Heller.”
    “I am.” He resisted the eye roll and smiled. “These are my brothers, Matt and Logan.”
    “I knew it! I saw you on TV the other day! You play for the Jets, don’t you?”
    “Yup.”
    Tag had no intention of flirting with girls, buying drinks or dancing. But apparently Matt did. The next thing Tag knew, the three girls had joined them, introducing themselves, batting their eyelashes and giggling. He couldn’t bring himself to be rude to fans, even though these girls were probably more puck bunnies than true fans who’d be buying season tickets. He recognized the type after many years in the NHL.
    He really was getting too old for this. Why had he agreed to come out to a bar tonight? He was tired and grouchy and that week at the lake away from all the attention and the need to always be “on” was sounding better and better.

Chapter Three
     
    Kyla spent the rest of the week buried in work while fielding calls from various family members inquiring when she was coming up to the cottage, including her brother Scott, who’d called from Vancouver.
    “Hey, dude.” She’d broken into a smile on hearing his voice. “I hear you’re coming home.”
    “Yeah. We’ll be there Friday.”
    “Awesome! I can’t wait to meet my new nephew!” She’d have to find time to pop out and buy presents for both the baby and her niece Emily. Except…she swallowed…what if she didn’t get to see them to give them to them?
    “I talked to Mom and she said you weren’t sure if you were going to get up to the lake while we’re there.”
    She sighed. “Yeah.