“I’ll be super good.”
He stared down at me, and I winked. He scoffed, then a smile snuck out. “You good? Never.”
“Hey, I’m a good friend.” I pouted a little. My reputation was a little wild, a little black cat, and a little fierce. I was a good time until you pissed me off. “Right?”
“You’re a brat,” he said, but his tone was soft. “Is that doubt I hear in your voice, Dan the Man?”
“Never.”
“Aggressive Uno sounds perfect. I want to win something tonight, and you’re an easy opponent.”
“Oh, fuck off, you.” I shoved him away and jogged down the street. A drugstore was still open, and I darted in. They had Fireball and the deck of cards—I purchased them with mymom’s guilt money—and called an Uber, all within a few minutes.
“I can pay for it, you know.”
“Nonsense, I’m taking care of you tonight. That’s my job.” My mind went to last night, how I took care of him then. How he needed help as he stroked himself off.Damn.My skin heated, and his gaze lowered to my mouth for a second before he glanced out the front doors. He had to be thinking about it.
He had to.
I couldn’t ask though. It had to be on his terms, that I knew for sure. “Uber should be here in two minutes.”
He nodded, his jaw tensing every few seconds. He had a great jawline. It was chiseled as hell and only made him more alluring. Preston Charming was sexy, and it was wild how he didn’t have a million puck bunnies in the palms of his hands. I never asked him why he didn’t enjoy his hockey fame like most of the guys. Preston didn’t hook up with someone different every weekend, but he also never really dated.
I filed that away for another thing I wanted to ask him. He was always just Preston, my video game buddy, my guy, the third member of our trio, but the stab of guilt hit me again that I never asked deep questions. We didn’t talk about meaningful stuff though. Inspiration hit me. “What’s my biggest fear?”
He frowned, side-glancing at me like I was a lunatic. “Being abandoned. Pretty easy to decipher that, J. Why?”
Shit. Okay, that wasn’t a fair question. “If you had to guess, what do you think keeps me up at night?”
“What is this?”
“I’ll tell you later, but answer the question, please.”
“Alright. Uh, my guess would be worrying about Logan and me and going through a list of things you could do to help us out. I’d also guess you think about your mom and how you want to succeed without her so you can show her how much she’s missing not being in your life.”
Double fuck. My chest ached. “Okay, wow.”
“Is there a reason you’re asking these weird-ass questions?”
“Uber is here!” I shouted, running toward the automatic doors and spying the Toyota. “For Jordan?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Preston joined me in the back as the driver took us toward the hotel. Preston didn’t probe with more questions, but I couldfeel his stare on me for the fifteen-minute drive. He knew deep things about me without even thinking that hard. I wasn’t sure I could answer those questions. I mean, he’d be thinking about his parents’ divorce, sure, and the team’s loss. Okay, yeah. I did know him.
Relief warmed my blood, and I relaxed, glad I was over my pity-party about being a shit friend. I still had work to do, but I’d get him a few shots first. Logan texted her and Q were doing the hot tub tonight before going back to the room. We could join if we wanted, but we had our game to play.
“Thank you,” I said, as we arrived at the hotel. I rated them five stars for not asking a single question, and we beelined it for the elevator. The doors shut, and I hit the eighth floor, all while feeling his gaze on me. “You gonna stare or ask a question?”
“I can’t figure you out.”
“I’m not meant to be solved. Have ya thought of that?” I fired back, leaning against the wall opposite him. “So don’t try.”
He bit down on his bottom lip, the gesture wildly attractive. Heat exploded on my skin as I imagined that bite on me. I blew out a long breath, thankful that I wore a puffy jacket to hide any reaction I might have—aka my tightening nipples.
“I know most things about you, Jordan, but there is a lot I don’t know.”
Was it me or was his voice a little husky? I wanted it to be husky. I wanted him to be horny and into this, but a small voice in the back of my mind saidwait.Our friendship was too important to do this without talking. Goading Preston, flirting with him was always my thing, so it was easy to fall into that habit. “There’s a lot I don’t know about you either, Preston,” I lowered my voice on purpose. “However, I learned a few things about you last night.”
