“No one can stop you.”
“When you’ve got a certain someone at the Puck Pad, turn off her location.” I glance beside me at him. “Little shit turned Nalani’s on in college. Nalani didn’t know it. They haven’t turned them off.”
Something to store away from a future fight I see happening.
“When we’re out of town, they share everything as they watch us play. Every fucking thing, but it’s cool because once they know you’ve got their back, they share it with you. The only issue with that is when one of your brothers is involved, and you find out from your girl first.”
“I can assure you, it is not what you think.”
He chuckles, “Oh, good, cause I was sitting there thinking, he’s been being a dick because he doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings, because he’s never felt like this. Like something uncontrollable and small is facing him off, and he doesn’t know how the fuck to handle it, so he’s again, being a dick. Like he’slooking at the sun for the first time and knows that the sun is so above him that he knows he’s going to get burned, so instead he acts like a?—”
“A dick. I get the point.”
He squeezes my shoulder, “Good. Stop being a dick or using your dick to make the girl like you.”
He walks away and me, I let him?
I’m past my twenty minutes and tell Paul goodnight.
“Don’t leave without saying something to her.” He nods to Sofie, who is looking at a book.
I force myself to do as instructed, and she smiles as she sets it down.
“You’re smiling at my misery.”
She smiles bigger on purpose. “A little bit, please, just let me have it. I swear I deserve it.”
I glance past her, at Nalani and Noelle arguing softly over ornaments. “They’re your happy place.” She nods. “Enjoy it, Tsarina. This is what matters, yeah?”
I turn to walk away, and she grabs my coat, stopping me. “Where are you going?”
“Heading back home.”
“Okay.”
“See you at the game tomorrow?”
“Maybe?” She teases.
I step back and turn, coming face-to-face with Deacon, and I step right on by, but I pause and hand Claudia a little bag. “For Savannah.”
“Thanks, Aleks,” Claudia says softly.
I’m ten feet from my vehicle when I hit my key fob.
From behind me, I hear, “Yeah fucker, I’d love a ride.”
I shake my head and don’t look back, “Stay, enjoy.”
“Why the hell would I want to be somewhere cheerful,” he says, opening the passenger door, “when I could be sulking and miserable with you?”
He drops into the seat like he owns it.
I slide into the driver’s seat and start the engine, “What?”
“Pfft. This place is nothing,” He mutters as I pull away from the curb, staring out the window at Union Square like it personally offended him. “This is not Christmas.”
I sigh. “Here we go.”
