The entrance to heaven opens, bright packages staring up at me, just waiting to be unwrapped. Special edition Pop-Tarts, discontinued Dunkaroos, exciting new cereal flavors. It’s the best present I’ve ever received, right after the one I got two nights ago, when I saw Jennie’s tits and most of the rest of her body, ’cause her bikini was fucking tiny.
“When’s Mama Lockwood gonna send me snacks?” Carter rips open a package of Banana Crème Pie Pop-Tarts, quickly devouring it. “Dey hab dis wimited edition Oreo in da States wight now.” He struggles to swallow, crumbs littering his shirt. “It’s called the—”
“You’re not injured,” Adam reminds him.
“But she always sends him stuff!”
“Maybe she likes Gare better than you,” Emmett suggests, earning some epic sulking from Carter.
Adam and Emmett unpack my snacks and a few other care items they’ve brought over. Every time they put a snack away, Carter pulls it back out, investigating the package. They’re annoying and overbearing sometimes, but they’re my family. I’m not looking forward to staying behind, and I whine about exactly that.
“It’s one road trip,” Adam reminds me.
“The doctor cleared me to drive this morning. I could watch from the press box.”
Carter raps his knuckles on my temple. “You don’t mess with what’s in here.”
“I know it’s frustrating, but you need to take care of yourself.” Emmett gestures at the couch. “Hang out, put your feet up, watch us kick ass, and you’ll be back in for our home stretch next week to help out.”
“I hate watching hockey by myself.”
Carter doesn’t look up from the bag of Flamin’ Hot Funyuns he’s studying. “Go watch it with my sister. We just dropped Dublin off to her. She’ll be watching, and she has no friends.”
“Carter,” Adam guffaws. “That’s not nice.”
“What? She doesn’t make friends easily. She has trust issues.”
That doesn’t really surprise me. Jennie seems like a generally skeptical person—her side-eye is scary—and I’m not sure she believed that I wouldn’t sleep with Emily again.
Carter checks his phone. “We gotta head out. Flight’s in an hour, and I gotta touch base with Riley.”
Jaxon Riley is our brand-new trade, straight from Nashville, and he’s starting tonight. I hate that I won’t be there. He’s an arrogant ass, and I’m not a fan. Carter knows this, so when I grunt, he smirks.
“I’ll keep him in line,” he promises. It might sound empty, but where he can’t keep anyone in line in his personal life, he can handle an entire team without batting an eye. He’s a natural born leader on the ice and in the change room. “Don’t worry, Gare. We’ll miss you as much as you’ll miss us.”
And, really, that’s it. My family is on the opposite side of the country. Having these guys and their girls around all the time makes the distance easier. Now, being forced out with an injury, and with Cara and Olivia following along for the trip, I’m feeling more alone than ever.
Maybe that’s why I find myself standing in front of Jennie’s door after lunch.
I raise my fist to knock but shove my fingers through my hair instead. “What am I doing? She’s just a girl. She’s not gonna bite.”
I force myself to knock, stretching my fingers out and curling them into my palms three times while I wait. A door opens, but not the one I was hoping for.
Glancing over my shoulder, I find Emily leaning in her doorway, coy smile in place.
“Mr. Andersen. Long time, no see. Your saucy friend isn’t home. She went out earlier with that cute dog.”
“Saucy?” How does Emily know—
“Yeah, she keeps calling me Emma, and today she flipped me the double bird when I reminded her where she could hear my name. I might like her, and I don’t think I’m the only one.”
“What?” I understood roughly 5 percent of that.
Her grin is suspect. She gestures into her apartment. “Wanna come in? Gonna put on my cheerleading outfit and practice my routine.”
“I-I-I-I—” I close my eyes and take a breath. I’m lonely, yes, but not enough to go back on my word to Jennie. “I can’t.”
“Later?”
I shake my head.
She smiles. “Thought so.”
Before I can ask for clarification, she winks and disappears. I sigh, resigned to being alone tonight.
Until I get a text five minutes later.
Carter: Jennie ended up going 2 my place for the weekend so she didn’t have 2 take Dubs up n down the elevator 2 pee, cuz of her fucky ankle. U can hang with her there. Don’t touch my oreos or ur dead.
Great. But it’s not the Oreos I’m worried about touching.
Is there a word for being turned on by someone’s anger?
Because I’m standing on the porch, and Jennie’s overcast blue eyes are narrowed viciously at me from the doorway, her arms pinned beneath her tits, and I’m mashing my lips together to keep from suggesting we fuck out whatever tension this is that seems to be constantly vibrating between us.
“What are you doing here?” Jennie asks.
I hold up the bags in my hand, and Dublin takes that as an invitation to jump at them. “I brought food.”
Her eyes sweep over me, bypassing the bags but lingering on the rest of me, particularly my lower half. “Fucking gray sweatpants,” she mutters. “Always with the gray ones.” Her gaze flips to mine. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“Um, I brought…Thai food and snacks. Carter said you were here alone, and I was alone, and I thought maybe we could watch the game together and not be…”
“Alone?” Skepticism swims in her eyes. “I don’t need a babysitter just because my brother’s out of town.”
“No, I—can I come in, please? It’s cold as balls out here.”
“Maybe you should’ve dressed for the weather.” She’s all snark but steps aside anyway. She’s wearing an oversized tie-dye long sleeve that hangs off one shoulder and a pair of spandex shorts that can’t possibly cover her ass, but I’m waiting for her to turn around before I give the final verdict. “Do you need me to come upstairs and dress you before you leave your apartment every morning?”
I grin, because honestly, that doesn’t sound half bad. “Look, I wanted to come. My friends are gone for the weekend, and to tell you the truth, I was feeling lonely at home.”
“You were?” Something soft and vulnerable dances across her eyes. “And you thought of me?”
“I thought of you.”
“Oh. Well, that’s…” She fiddles with the messy braid that lays over her shoulder, tugging on the bright blue ribbon. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen her blush. “Nice.” Her nose wrinkles and she bites back her smile. “I’m sorry I bit your head off. It’s a bad habit.”
I’m aware, hence the nickname sunshine that’s quickly growing on me.
Instead, I smile. Then Jennie turns, and the verdict is fucking in, ladies and gentlemen. Those shorts do not cover her ass. Oh fuck, are they ever cheeky.