"I'm not going to interrogate you, son, you can relax," he joked. I hadn't realized that my entire body had tensed and that I had straightened up, until I had released my muscles. "I just want to tell you that Lili is my proudest accomplishment as a person. I'm an entrepreneur, I'm the father of a comedian, and an NFL star, but my daughter is the most important thing to me. I'm sure that my sons have already given you the shake down before I got to you, so I'm not going to bother with them, but you should know that this 50 year old can still kick your ass," he said with a smile. I grinned back. "I don't think that intimidating you is going to do any good, contrary to Noah's belief." I hadn't gotten the shake down from Noah yet, but it sounded as though he would be worse than Alexander and Mr Dawson combined. "I think that you are going to be good for my daughter," he said.
"Josh!" Cooper yelled. He waved for me to go over to him, Lili, Noah, and Alexander.
"Thank you," I said to Mr Dawson as I stood up to walk away.
"If I can give you one piece of advice?" He stopped me.
"Sure," I would take any advice on how to make Lili happy.
"Get rid of the cigarettes," he told me.
"I don't have any cigarettes," I told him.
"You don't have them on you now," he agreed. "But I can tell that you're a smoker, from the way that your hand is shaking slightly. I used to be a smoker, I get it."
I stayed silent. "Lili's aunt, my sister, died of lung cancer a few years back. It really shook Lili and she begged me to stop smoking. I would do anything for her, so I did, but I need you to do the same. She can't lose another person to it."
My mind flashed back to the first night I truly met Lili. I dared her to take a puff of a cigarette. The thing that had killed her aunt. I was such a dumbass.
"Yes sir," I agreed.
Danny walked over and took my seat next to Mr Dawson and I moved over to Cooper, Lili, Noah and Alexander.
"Tell 'em how good you are at hockey," Cooper said as he nodded to Lili's brothers.
Tell the NFL star that I was good at hockey. Yeah right. "I'm okay," I shrugged.
"He's better than okay," Lili jumped in. "There are NHL scouts at every one of their games looking at him."
I felt my face heat a little bit at the complement, but I hoped it was covered by the darkness of the night despite the light from the fairy lights.
"He got hat tricks at the last three games," she told her brothers. Alexander seemed confused, but Noah seemed to be impressed.
"What the fuck is a hat trick?" Alexander asked.
"A hat trick is when-" Cooper began to explain.
"Hey," Noah said, getting my attention. "Come talk with me." It sounded like a request, but it wasn't. He walked away from the group and I had no choice but to follow. He and I stood a few yards away from both groups.
"What are your intentions with my sister?" Noah asked. His feet were shoulder width apart and his arms were crossed over his chest displaying just how many muscles he could kill me with.
"I intend to find out if we have similar ideals, beliefs, mindsets and could actually make it as a couple. If we can, great, we'll be happy together. If not then, well we tried, and I can only apologize for any heartache caused, but that's the nature of dating," I said seriously, albeit came out a bit rushed. I had been thinking about it more since Alexander had asked me and that was what I had intended to tell Mr Dawson, but he never asked.
Noah grunted. "You're going into a pro league, I know guys in pro sports. Hell, I am guys in pro sports, I don't want my sister ever having to take a back burner to hockey." He said hockey with such distaste that I was a little bit offended, but I knew that now was the absolute wrong time to pick this battle.
"Lili will always be my top priority," I said dutifully.
"Look, Josh, I'm going to level with you. Balancing women and pro sports is hell. I like ot think that I'm a good man and I fucked it up, bad. There are going to be other jersey chasers throwing themselves at you and you cannot slip up," Noah was deadly serious. He also looked a little bit regretful, but the main emotion on his face was threatening.
"I understand the risks that come with being a pro hockey player, but I can assure you that I will never pick a jersey chaser over your sister. Or anyone over your sister," I answered him with the same confidence he had shown me.
Noah hummed in response. "If you hurt my baby sister, I swear to God I will fuck you up so badly that not even your own mother will recignize you. Lili might be too nice to go after you with brute force, but I'm not. I'll break every bone in your body and Jessie can end your life with one tweet so think twice before screwing around with my sister," he threatened me. We both glanced over at Jessie who either knew exactly what Noah had just said or had no idea because she waved at us.
"I have no intention of screwing around with your sister," I told him hopefully more confidently than I felt.
"Good," was all Noah said.
Word Count: 1466
Chapter 28
Beginne am Anfang
