“She’s fucking wacko.” Steele shrugged, but his troubled gaze already told me what he thought more than his words ever would.

“She’s seriously messed up, dude,” Kaden said. “Are you going to tell Jock?”

“And open up a bigger rift between Jock and me?”

“Probably not a good idea, after all,” Kaden conceded.

“I’d steer clear of the entire mess. Eventually, it’ll blow over.” Steele grabbed our empties and put them in the recycle. The guy hated a mess, and Kaden wallowed in messes. He grabbed three more longnecks from the fridge, popped the tops, and returned to his seat, handing a beer to each of us. I took a long pull as I contemplated the shitty lose-lose situation I was embroiled in.

“I’ll talk to his sister. She’ll have an idea what to do.”

“Doesn’t she hate you, too?” Steele asked.

“Yeah, but she also hates her sister-in-law.”

“Well, good luck with that. In the meantime, you might want to be extra careful around the sister. I’ve seen how the two of you look at each other.” Steele shot me a meaningful glance. That fucking dickhead never missed a thing. Of course he’d noticed the sparks between Geneva and me.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I had no recourse but to deny what Steele saw as obvious.

“What the fuck, dude? You got a thing for Jock’s sister? You’re dumber than I thought. He’ll castrate you and shove your balls down your throat if he finds that out.”

“I don’t have a thing for her. Fuck you both.” I shot to my feet and stalked down the hallway, slamming the door to my room. Only then did I realize my childish overreaction only solidified what they suspected. Way to go, Vanderbuel. What a dumb shit I’d been.

I threw myself onto my king bed and stared at the ceiling, pissed at my stupidity. A guy never gave his buddies ammunition like I just had and not plan on being tortured for the rest of the season, if not longer. I was hosed.

But, damn, I couldn’t for the life of me get my mind off Geneva.

My thoughts drifted to my night with the Frontiers. I loved the kids. They were spunky, enthusiastic, and good kids. I had to give Jock credit for raising them. He’d done a great job, and I doubted Bria had played a very large part in their upbringing. She didn’t come across as a concerned mother. Esme and Eunice had played the mother roles as far as I could tell.

Then there was Geneva. What the fuck was I going to do about Geneva? Every time I was near her, an unmistakable pull of attraction taunted me. I was a healthy male with a good libido and used to getting what I wanted when it came to women. I never had to try very hard. I know that might sound conceited, but there were plenty of females happy to have bragging rights to spending a night with a pro hockey player. None of them had caused me this kind of problem. I’d had a few who’d been obsessed and read more into the act, but they’d all gone their way after a week or so and moved on to the next guy.