Family Is All It Takes

On the rink, Brandon could feel the effects of his hangover. His head was pounding and he felt a little dizzy. It probably wasn’t the best idea to be skating around playing hockey, but whatever. He hadn’t felt this sick since before he had come to Pittsburgh.

*****

Watching from the seats, she could see each player individually. Training her eyes on Sutter, she scowled. The way he had come up to her in the parking lot had been just wrong. The look in his eyes had showed he assumed she was some puck slut. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Despite the fact that everyone had assumed she and Jordan had been together at some point in time, Mackenzie had actually never been with any hockey players. In fact, the only guy she had ever been with was Langley.

She shuddered. Langley was not something she wanted to be thinking about. Shaking her head to get her focus, Mackenzie began tapping away on her laptop.

Of course, that didn’t last long. Soon, the guys were pounding pucks against the glass just to piss her off.

“What the hell do you want?” she glared.

James and Kris burst out laughing while Sidney just pointed to the side. Turning, Mackenzie saw Jake standing with his grandmother.

‘Just great,’ she thought. ‘One more thing she has to hate me for.’

******

“So, little man,” Tyler said kneeling down to the boy’s level. “You ready?”

“I wants to go with Unca Jordy!” he said with a frown.

“Sweetie,” Mackenzie sighed. “I told you, Uncle Jordan doesn’t play here anymore. He and Auntie Heather moved to North Carolina.”

“Humph,” Jake frowned. “Then I wants to goes with Kris.”

“If Kris doesn’t mind, then go right ahead,” the mother sighed.

Taking his cue, Kris took the boy by the hand and led him out onto the ice.

******

Brandon would be lying if he said that he had missed the glares Mackenzie had been sending him all morning. He must have really done something to piss her off.

Watching her smile at Jake as Kris took him around the ice with some pucks, he felt an odd pang in his chest. Ignoring any weird feelings, he turned to his captain.

“Any idea about what I did to get Princess over there so pissy?” he asked.

Sidney laughed. “Yeah. You acted like a bit of a douche in the parking lot apparently.”

“So she told you about that?” he frowned.

“Ranted about it is more like it,” he shrugged. “She’s just a little touchy right now. Her best friend just married her cousin and then they moved to Carolina in a trade with you. You’re probably not her favorite person in the world at the moment.”

Brandon nodded. “Yeah, I think her exact words were, ‘I’m not a Brandon Sutter fan.’. But whatever, I don’t think I’m too crazy about her either.”

“Mac’s a great girl; you just gotta get to know her. She’s been through a lot,” Sidney explained.