Shutout (Rules of the Game, #2)(91)

“Hey.” He looks around, hesitating. “Anyone else home?”

“Sera is, but she’s napping. Not feeling well.” Partially true, at least.

Chase nods and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his red Falcons hoodie. “Can we talk?”

“What’s up?” I gesture for him to sit. Is he going to ream me out again?

When he lowers onto the couch across from me, resting his arms on his spread thighs, his expression isn’t confrontational.

“Look, I don’t want to have this weird tension between us. I’m willing to admit I may have overreacted slightly.” He gives me a tired half-smirk. “But you caught me by surprise, dude. When I talked to you that night at Overtime, it was clear that you care about Sera, and that’s all I want. I freaked out a little at first because I know you’ve never had a girlfriend. I don’t want to see her get hurt.”

“You’d never had a girlfriend before Bailey,” I point out, setting a pair of socks aside.

Not sure which one of us would’ve qualified as the least likely candidate to end up in a committed relationship. It would have been a close race, to be sure. Yet here we are: two whipped motherfuckers who are loving every minute of it.

“That’s why I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. You have my blessing. Conditionally. Because if you hurt her—”

“You’ll fucking kill me,” I finish, laughing.

“I won’t make it fast, either. It’ll be long and painful.” He’s jarringly cheerful as he says this, probably because he means every single word.

“Trust me, I have no intention of ever hurting her.” Reaching into the basket, I search for another matching pair of socks. I’m nearly done folding everything, and Sera is still asleep. Poor Tink. I should go check on her.

“Good.” He pushes to stand, dusting off his hands “By the way, you’re invited to family dinner this weekend.”

I give him a questioning look. “Does Seraphina know about this?”

“She will.”

Guess I can consider that his formal stamp of approval. I’ll take it.

Abandoning the folded laundry in the living room, I opt to go see if Seraphina’s awake yet. When I push open the door to her room, it squeaks, and she stirs. Shit.

She stretches and rolls over in bed, turning to face me. “Hi, Hades.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I say, my voice hushed. “How are you feeling?”

“As okay as can be, I guess.” Pulling herself upright, she beckons to me to come closer. “I have something for you, actually.”

“You do?” I sit down next to her, the mattress dipping beneath my weight.

“It’s a birthday present. And not another blowjob.” She laughs. “I didn’t get the chance to give it to you after everything went sideways that night. I may have chickened out because I wasn’t sure if you’d like it.”

“I already know I’ll love anything you give me.”

Seraphina leans over and turns on her lamp. Then she tugs open her nightstand, emerging with something wrapped in sparkly silver paper. It’s not overly big; maybe the size of a soda can. I carefully tear away the wrapping to find a miniature replica of Northview Arena. It’s identical down to every last detail, including the logo beneath the ice. When I look closer, there’s a tiny heart rhinestone embedded in the window of the announcer’s box.

“I found a company who makes custom replicas,” she says shyly. “This way, you’ll always remember where everything started.”

“Ser.” I glance up at her, struggling to find the right words. It’s cute and thoughtful and it’s so characteristically her. There are several meanings behind it, and all of them are important to me. “This is amazing. I love it.”

“Even the heart?”

This is clearly the part that made her nervous, and it’s my favorite detail of them all.

“Especially the heart.” Carefully setting it aside, I lean in and kiss her cheek. “Thank you. It’s perfect.”

My phone rings in my pocket, interrupting us. I check it to find another call from my dad, who’s called five times already—probably wanting to know why I gave Mark the week off without telling him. I’ve been avoiding his calls while I let everything sink in. If I don’t answer soon, he’s going to get worried and hop on a plane here to find out what the fuck is going on.

“Mind if I take this? It’s my dad.”

“Go ahead. I should check online and see what I missed in class today.”

She grabs her laptop while I answer the call next to her, not bothering to step out. I don’t plan to make this a long conversation.

“Hey, Dad.” I reach over with my free hand, raking my fingers through Seraphina’s hair. She angles her head appreciatively, leaning into my touch.

“Tyler.” Concern tints his voice, laced with an undertone of restrained panic. “I spoke to Mark. Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine. Just need to take a few personal days to focus on some other things.” While my father is generally understanding, I’m not sure how he’s going to take this—or whether he’s going to press me for details.

“You thought about what I said, then?”