“Shocked that you have off tonight.”
“I have to work Christmas and New Year’s Eve and day.”
“We have a stretch of away games after Christmas, but maybe when I get back we could do something to make up for it?” he says. His cheeks are either pink from the chill outside or asking me to hang out. I can’t tell if it’s friendly or a date. But talking to Owen is easy, and I find myself wanting to spend more time with him. He’s reserved, but I can’t help but to feel there’s something deeper to Owen. There’s something about him that’s always pulling me in, and I’m going to find out what that is.
“Sure, I’d like that,” I say, not holding back my smile.
“Good. Okay. Once I get back.”
I nod, and there’s a rapping noise against the glass. Charlotte is waving us inside, and I sigh. “It’s time for white elephant.”
“Right,” Owen says and gets up from his chair. We both bring our glasses inside with us. No more drinking tonight or I might say something stupid to a handsome Beta or let an Alpha rail me in my bestie’s pantry.
“There’s just enough room next to Alexi for you two,” Charlotte says, pointing to Alexi, and I glare at my best friend who just claps her hands and sits on Eli’s lap.
The couch is a tight fit with Alexi, and before I can even sit down, Owen takes the further spot, resting his arm on the couch rest.
Just fucking awesome.I gently sit down between them. Both of their thighs touch my own. Alexi’s presence is loud and overwhelming in both his personality and size. Owen isn’t small, but next to Alexi, he feels like it. With both of their thighs touching me, I’m back to not being able to think.
Alexi stretches out, his arm on the back of the couch, and I can’t help but notice his thumb landing on Owen’s shoulder too.
“You should try and get my present,” Alexi says next to me.
“Why?”
Alexi shrugs his shoulders and leans a little closer. “Mine’s the one with the candy cane wrapping paper.”
I can tell Charlotte is eavesdropping on the entire encounter as I sit back and wait until I draw a number. I’m number eight, and I wait my turn as everyone goes before me. When I have to stand up, I have to hold my skirt down. I have to do the same thing when I bend over and pick the gift that is very specifically not Alexi’s.
He just gives me a smile, knowing that there’s a whole other round and he just so happens to be the last person called who gets to choose.
Owen grabs my gift, and I hope he decides to stay with that instead of swapping. It’s the second round, and I stay with my gift. Charlotte is next, and the little meddler hands the candy cane papered gift right in my lap as she takes the gift from my hands. I look over to Alexi, who seems more than pleased with himself as the game concludes, and everyone is stuck with the gift they have either swapped or chosen.
We go in a circle opening the gifts. Mikael got a huge pair of panties, which his pack makes him put on. It gets a round of laughter and tears from the entire group. Charlotte opens up a pair of used hockey socks. And so forth it continues with a few gifts that are scratch offs or cash, but more often than not, they’re gag gifts.
When we get to our couch, Owen opens his gift, which I brought. It’s a pair of soft socks that look like kitten paws.
“They’re cute, thank you,” he says. I smile back at him and fuck am I so glad he’s here.
It’s my turn to open my gift. I give Alexi a cursory glance, and he’s just grinning. As I rip the paper, I see what it is. “No you fucking didn’t.”
“Oh, what is it?” Charlotte says, which starts a train of people asking to see the item. I hold up the box and try not to let mortification fill my body or show on my face.
There’s an eruption of giggles, and every fiber of me wants to elbow Alexi in the stomach.
“Honestly, Piper, they’re expensive. It’s a good gift.”
Charlotte Hodges is about to get her best friend card revoked as I look down at the box in front of me. This man bought a vibrator in the hopes that I would be the one to pick it at this Christmas party.
Alexi opens his gift, and it’s a signed puck by Mikael. “Great, my least favorite player’s autograph.” People laugh and start heading out to different parts of the house. Owen stays put, and I’m about to get up when Alexi says, “Didn’t want you suffering while I’m away for games,malyshka.”
He’s not quiet about it and even looks at Owen after he says it. Alexi sits back down casually, and as I get up, I can feel both of them looking at my ass, but I’m too flustered to care.
Tonight did not go how I planned, not by a long shot.
CHAPTER11
It’s my first string of away games, and I’m feeling unsettled. It probably has to do with the fact that my hotel buddy for these games is none other than our insane captain. Besides the fact that he intimidates me in a way that borders between flirting and intimidation. It’s also the fact that Alexi is far more observant than anyone gives him credit for. He might be goofy and enjoys being the center of attention, but the man is not an idiot. He’s observant and calculating when it comes to the information he gathers. It’s why he’s so good at hockey, he’s able to anticipate what other players are going to do before they do them. It’s attention that I don’t want, there’s information I don’t want him knowing, and there's a deep-seated feeling that it wouldn’t take Alexi much to crack all my secrets wide open.
