I grabbed my phone, firing off a text.
Me: Your place or mine?
Bubbles appeared and disappeared on the screen. Come on, baby. Don’t shut me out.
Trouble: Mine
Damn right you are.
She was mine for now, and I was going to take advantage of every single second of it. Walking into the parking lot, I headed to my truck. Nothing was going to stop me from getting to her.
I could feel the hollowness in my chest when I pulled up to her place, still struggling to suppress what my heart wanted versus what our reality was.
Me: Come for a ride with me?
Trouble: Be down in a min
Sid got into the truck and took one look at me. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
She was all bundled up in one of my enormous sweaters. Sweater stealing would typically be a capital offense, but she looked damn good wrapped up in it. Did it smell like me?
“Nothing. Just a hard practice.” Her brow raised, not believing a second of my bullshit. But I couldn’t talk to her about it. Not without pressuring her into something she didn’t want. Or worse, freaking her out and losing her for good. Instead, I slid my fingers through hers. “I just need to drive. Okay?”
She squeezed my hand and flipped the center console up, converting the front of my truck into a bench seat. She tucked herself under my arm, fitting perfectly against my side, somehow knowing exactly what I needed. She drew small circles over my arm and turned her hair elastic that was ever present on my wrist. “Want to talk about it?”
I kissed the top of her head. “Not tonight.”
She nodded, snuggling in closer, and we drove together through the night. I pulled up to her place just as the sun pinkened the sky. The air was thick with everything that stood between us. Putting the truck in park, I cupped the sides of her face, running my thumbs over her cheekbones. “Don’t disappear on me?”
Her eyes went wide. “I didn’t.”
I dropped my forehead to hers. “I don’t need an explanation. Just please don’t disappear on me.”
She sighed, her fingers twirling her hair elastic around my wrist, and whispered, “Okay.”
We took a deep breath together, neither saying anything, instead feeling the current sucking us under. We were a train wreck waiting to happen, but neither of us would get off the tracks.
TWENTY
JAX
“I did it, I did it, I did it!” Sid squealed as we exited the class. Her presentation was fucking flawless, and I knew I wasn’t the only one watching in rapt attention. Hell, even Professor. Carter looked caught up in her. I’d be jealous if she hadn’t watched me the entire time. Her eyes never left mine until the last few lines. Pride filled my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her, swinging her into the air. She squealed when I spun and tipped her head back, completely trusting me.
The other students filed out of class, bumping into us in their rush, and I guided her backward until she was protected in the hall’s corner. My broad shoulders concealed her from all the students, no doubt watching our public display.
My jaw clenched, and I raised a hand to her cheek. “You did fucking amazing, Sid.”
She watched me with shining eyes, and I nearly caved into her. I lowered my head to the curve of her neck, breathing in her citrus scent and smiling when goose bumps appeared. “I’m blown away by how good you were up there.”
Sid laughed it off, but I was dead serious.
She pulled back and giggled, practically giddy off the high of her presentation, and gave me an ear-splitting grin. “We nailed it, didn’t we?”
“Hell yeah, we did.” I searched her gaze, palmed her face, and a little thrill ran through me when she turned into it. “You’re amazing, Sid. You can do anything you want to. The world is at your feet.”
She laughed it off again. This girl needed to learn to believe me. “Says the guy who’s about to go on and become Boston’s hockey golden boy. Pretty sure people already have posters of you there.”
I shook my head, needing her to understand how proud I was of her. “It’s not more impressive than what you’ve accomplished.”
She buried her face into my chest and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Jax, you can do anything. You’re biding your time with us regular people.”
My brows pulled together as I grazed my thumb over her cheekbone until she looked at me, and I tried to infuse my voice with sincerity. “You’d be surprised how wrong you are.”
She looked down but said, “We need to celebrate.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I could go for a week off studying. My brain feels like it’s about to pop.”
I stiffened and looked away. I needed to come up with a different reason to see her, or it would be a hard-as-fuck week.
She didn’t notice my apprehension and continued. “We may be the only ones who actually passed that presentation after all.” Her fingers curled into my shirt. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have made it. Thank you—”
I covered her mouth with my hand. “There will be none of that. You helped me just as much as I helped you. We’re a team, and we fucking rocked.”
Her lashes lowered, and she bit her bottom lip. With the presentation over, would she want to study together? Because I wanted a lot more than that.
“There’s a big game this weekend. If we win, it’ll secure our playoff spot. I might know someone who knows someone that could get you and Mia tickets.” I winked, and a wolfish smile played across my face. “Then we’re all heading to Offside. There’s a pretty big DJ playing.”
She leaned in, whispering like she was sharing a secret, “Ahh, I don’t know. I heard the starting forward’s kind of full of himself.”
My arms circled around her waist, squeezing a squeak out of her. “Is that so? Well, I heard he’s what your fantasies are made of.”
If she only knew how many of my fantasies she starred in. I wet my lips at the thought, but she cut in, “Don’t you know you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet?”
I let out a shocked laugh. “You are so much fucking trouble, Sidney King.”
“So, is your girl coming tonight?” Lucas asked, tying his skates. There were only a few minutes before the game.
I saw him out of the corner of my eye. We both knew who he was talking about when he said, “your girl.”
“Who told you?”
“Piper ran into her,” Lucas said, his cocky grin aching to be punched.
“What are you getting at?”
“You guys are getting pretty serious. Are you preparing her for what pro-hockey life is going to be like?”
I rubbed my chest as a sharp pain pierced through it. “She’ll be long gone when we leave for training camp.” Even as the words came out, I could hear the ache laced through them.
He eyed me thoughtfully for a few beats before nodding and moving to walk away but stopped, turning to look at me. “Be careful that you know what you’re doing.” With that bit of nonsense, he left the locker room.
It wasn’t long before the building was echoing with our school chants, sending shock waves of energy through me. My blood pounded in my veins as my heart beat in my chest. I tipped my head back and breathed, a smile breaking through. A Cheshire grin crossed Lucas’s mouth as we shared a knowing look. There was nothing quite like the high I got from playing with the home crowd.