“Well, I’m just glad you get to see your first game,” Brian says enthusiastically, either completely oblivious to the tension Gray just created or choosing to divert us from it. “But you have to come sit in the owner’s box with us.”
I expect Gray to lodge an objection to this, as she was clearly against any type of participation within the family business before the DNA results came in, but she surprises me when she looks at me with a moment of calculation and says, “Yes…that would be a great idea.”
Brian looks more than pleased with Gray’s agreement and says, “Splendid. Maybe we can all go out for a drink with each other, but I’ll leave Gray to make the arrangements. I’m going to step into the locker room just a moment to wish the team good luck.”
And with that, Brian gives me a quick squeeze to my shoulder and moves down the hallway and away from us.
Turning to Gray, I tell her, “I appreciate the offer to sit in the box, but I can’t do drinks. I have plans with Roman after.”
Gray studies me a moment, her green eyes appraising me thoroughly. Finally, she takes my arm and leads me a few feet away from the doorway of the family lounge. When she releases me, she leans in to me and says, “Lexi…I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get mixed up with Roman Sykora.”
“Why not?” I ask, my head tilted to the side, although my stomach starts to tighten over the flat tone of her words.
“Well, he’s a troublemaker,” she says bluntly. “He’s got a bad reputation and you don’t want to get mixed up with someone like him.”
The disdain in her voice for Roman is heavy and it surprises me. I know he has a reputation, and hell, it’s part of the reason I’m attracted to him. But I just assumed that no matter what Roman has done in the past, he’d still have full support from the management. He is, after all, a phenomenal first-line player and a tremendous asset to the team. But the dislike she has for him goes beyond mere frustration over his antics. It’s a clear dislike of him as a person.
I clear my throat and ask her, “I’m curious, Gray. Are you warning me off as a sister or as the general manager of this team?”
“What’s the difference?” she asks, leaning back from me in surprise.
“Well, the first means you have concern for me as a family member, and the second means it’s just business,” I explain to her. “I’m trying to figure out your motive when deciding what to do with your suggestion.”
Gray blinks at me in surprise and her face actually flushes red. She steps toward me and says softly, “As the general manager, it’s none of my business who my players date. Their personal life isn’t my concern as long as it doesn’t embarrass this team. And yes…Roman has done some things that have not necessarily been reflective of this organization’s core values. But again, whom he chooses to share his personal time with is not my business. I’m telling you this as someone who likes you—”
“You like me?” I blurt out in surprise.
Gray’s face softens. “Yes, Lexi, I like you. I’m obviously still a little guarded, but I think we’re off to a good start. So my warning about Roman comes from the perspective of someone who believes that very soon she’ll be given the proof you are my sister.”
Even as it hits me in a very disappointing way that she’s warning me off from a man I very much like, and that I’ll have to give credence to her advice on this, I’m also equally warmed and encouraged by the direction from which she is coming.
From the place of a sister.
And that is something I cannot ignore, not when the entire reason I moved to this area was to reach out to my new family and develop something with them.
Still, I have to be absolutely clear about what she’s saying, so I ask, “Are you saying that you absolutely don’t want me to see him?”
Gray shifts on her feet, appears slightly uncomfortable, but she looks me directly in the eye when she says, “I would never tell you what to do, Lexi. I’m just saying I have sincere hesitations in your seeing him. I don’t think he’s good enough for you, and frankly, from what I know about him, he’s not dating material. He’s sort of a player, and not even a nice one at that. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
My heart plummets and my stomach tightens. I know some of these things about Roman, merely because I read the same news as everyone else. But that is not what I’ve seen in my personal experience with him.
Not at all.
Gray adds one other thing that causes my stomach to twist into a painful knot. “And while I’m speaking mostly from a personal concern for you, I want to remind you…once you step into the Brannon family and are held out to the world as such, you will have certain obligations to consider.”
“Obligations?” I whisper with no small amount of dread, as her words sound ominous to me.