My Hockey Romance

Chapter One - Josie

"Hey, Ben, I can't talk now," I murmur hurriedly into the phone, cupping the smooth screen device against my cheek and peering cautiously around the corner of my office door before retreating back to my desk.

My boss was no doubt lurking in some shadowed corner, just waiting for one of us to slip up and make even the tiniest of mistakes. He hadn't been shy about making sure that we all know just how replaceable we are at his architecture firm. It was well known that his office was one of the most selective, demanding, and esteemed in the city. Working under Peter Tullamore had been my dream all throughout college - at least until I could open my own firm someday.

Unfortunately for me, Peter is more slave driver than employer. The hours are endless and the breaks are zilch. He might as well own myself and the half dozen other people that he hired. While in his office, and he made damn sure we knew it was his office, we could barely even breathe without permission.

There wasn't a single one amongst us who would complain, however.

Architecture jobs, especially one as highly respected as this one, were hard to come by. I'd all but put my entire life on hold to work here. That meant no vacations and no holidays. I hadn't seen my older brother in what seemed like years, though it was more like a month or two. I barely had time to even grab a coffee with him lately, which had once been our weekly tradition.

"You're working again?" Ben sighs, the distant sound of chatter and the rustle of bulky hockey equipment echoing behind him. "Lord, sis. You ever take a breather? You're going to work yourself into an early grave."

"You know I'm too high-strung for a break," I tease back, smiling when he chuckles.

Ben and I only really have each other.

Our parents were always more interested in living their dream than raising their two kids. I never really blamed them for that. Both Ben and I were accidents, as far as we could tell. They hadn't asked to be parents and we hadn't asked to be born. We all just coexisted with one another. They did the bare minimum, keeping us fed and healthy but rarely interacting with us. I couldn't even say now which island in the Bahamas they were on at the moment. Ben and I raised each other instead, though I suppose Ben did most of the raising at first. Even though he's only a few years older, he'd held my hand and walked me to school every day, making our lunches and telling me stories until I fell asleep at night. If I let him, he'd probably march right into my office and give Peter a big dressing down for how many hours of overtime my boss was having me work, but I'd managed to convince my older brother to focus on his own life for now. As an up and coming hockey star, he had plenty on his own plate. I tried to tell him that he didn't have to protect me anymore, but that fell on deaf ears.

It's not as though I was ungrateful for all that Ben did for me. It truly warms my heart that he was protective. I knew a few other sets of siblings who barely had anything to do with one another, but Ben is my best friend and the only guy I've ever really trusted.

I appreciate him, heart and soul, but I am also my own person.

Suddenly, a woman with a short red bob stuck her head around the corner, her eyes going wide with unspoken warning.

He was coming.

"Damn," I hiss, throwing a pen off my desk and then dramatically leaning down to get it to hide my head behind the mahogany wood and cautiously peer around the sanded edge, "I can't talk anymore today."

"Okay. I just wanted to check in with you. I haven't heard from you in a like a week. Are you sleeping?"

I have to resist rolling my eyes, but the sincerity in his voice is sweet. It's nice to know I have someone who worries about me, though I wish Ben didn't insist on checking up on me so much. I'm twenty-three now, living on my own and working a fancy big girl job. I appreciated his protectiveness, but I didn't need it so much anymore.