Page 23 of Aspen's Defense

"I'm regretting giving you permission to get to know her," he mutters. "You're already moving too goddamn fast for me."

"Good thing it's not your business then, huh?"

He curses again. "Let me talk to my sister before I decide I don't like you."

I chuckle and hold the phone out to Aspen. "Your brother wants to talk to you, Dimples. He's cranky."

Aspen groans before plucking the phone from my hand. "What do you want now?" she says, exasperated. I don't know what he says, but she huffs and then smiles. "If I say no, are you going to fire him from babysitting duty?"

"He can't fire me, baby. I already quit."

I think he hears me because she listens for a minute and then laughs. "He said quitting is for vaginas."

"He would know, considering he is one."

"He says he heard that," she says, smiling from ear to ear.

"He was supposed to hear it." I climb to my feet, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'm going to check on Brick while you talk to your brother."

"Okay," she whispers, staring up at me with a soft expression, happiness shining in her eyes. I like that look on her face a helluva lot better than I like seeing her afraid and crying, that's for sure.

I duck out of the room in search of Brick, smiling when I hear her tell Nash to mind his own business and stop trying to be the boss of her and her cat. She's so fucking sassy. It shouldn't make my dick nearly as hard as it does. And yet, I love it. I don't know many people who would bounce back from the morning she had as fast as she has, but she just deals with it, refusing to let it slow her down. I know that doesn't mean she's over it. Of fucking course she's not over it. But she's coping, and that's a good sign.

Brick is sprawled across the very center of the pool table in my game room, passed out. Which is pretty much where we left him a few hours ago. He explored for a while when we got here, and then decided he preferred this room. I don't blame him. All the cool shit is in here.

Aspen's favorite room is the kitchen. I didn't even have to ask to know. She lit up as soon as she set eyes on it. I can't fucking wait to see her in it, putting it to use. I have a feeling it's her happy place, the one place where she feels most connected to her parents and where she came from.

I pour a little food into Brick's bowl—either he's dead to the world or simply not hungry because he barely even twitches—and then head down the hall to grab Aspen's phone from the bedroom. She tried to put it in the guest room, but I want her in my space. If she's not ready for me to be in there with her, I won't rush her. But I want her scent all over my pillows when she leaves. Knowing she's in my bed is the only damn way I'm going to get any sleep.

I grab the phone and jog back to the living room. She's curled up on the couch again, watching her movie. She tilts her head back, smiling when she sees me. "Hey."

"How's Nash?" I drop her phone in her lap.

"Bossy." She rolls her eyes, but she can't hide the little smile on her face. Her brother may drive her crazy, but I don't think she'd change anything about him. It's obvious she adores him. I think she's just tired of being smothered. She isn't the type of woman meant to be kept in a cage or loomed over. The allure of freedom and independence is too strong. "He said he'll call you tomorrow."

"What did he want?"

"To complain that I haven't answered my phone all day." She grimaces. "He worries more than he should."

I slide onto the couch beside her, not saying anything. After this morning, I think he has every reason to worry. But he doesn't know what happened yet. He's going to be mad as hell when he finds out I kept it from him. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. The important thing is that she's safe and she'll remain safe. I won't fail on that front.

"He worries because he loves you." I brush hair off her face. "That's not wrong, is it?"

"No," she sighs quietly. "But he's worried about me for long enough. He gave up half of his life to raise me. When does he stop worrying long enough to live the rest of it?" Her eyes meet mine, wide and earnest. "That's why I moved here. Because he was never going to stop being my parent and learn to be Nash so long as I was there."

I process this for a moment. She isn't angry at him. She feels guilty, as if raising her was a burden on him. One that he's continued to carry well past the time he should have. I don't think Nash sees it the same way. In fact, I know he doesn't.

"He didn't give anything up to raise you, Dimples."

"He did." She turns to face me. "You know he was supposed to enter the draft right after the accident? But I was in the hospital, so he skipped it. When he went to training camp the following year, he wasn't selected for a team. It took an entire year after that before he finally got a contract. That's how he landed on the Yellowjackets and then got called up to the Capitals. He would have been in the NHL a lot earlier if it hadn't been for me."

"He made the choice he could live with, Aspen," I say quietly. "I know your brother. Hockey is just a game. For most guys, playing for the NHL is just a dream. If we're lucky, we get to live that dream for a while. But it's still just a dream, a goal on a list. Family, though? That's forever. If he had to do it again, he'd do the exact same thing and have no regrets. He has none now."

"That doesn't mean he shouldn't get to live his own life. So long as I was there, he would have kept spending all of his time with me and none of it doing the things he should be doing."

"What are you hiding from him?" I watch her face, searching for an answer. "What are you trying so hard to keep him from finding out?"

"That I'm buying the coffee shop," she whispers. "I'll have enough money to buy half of it from Jack at the end of the month."