He chuckles. “You were so fucking beautiful and hot as fuck, of course, but your energy is magnetic.” He pauses. “I wanted you and I justified why I could break my rule for you.”
I sit back and look at him. “What about the night of my birthday?”
“I was watching you from the second story.”
My eyes widen. “That’s not creepy at all.”
He glances away briefly and eats some food and chews it before he looks at me again.
“My friends kept talking about you, which pissed me off since I was already having a hard time staying away,” he says. “And as you know, I broke another rule for you.”
“By hooking up with me a second time.”
“Yeah. I told myself we hadn’t had sex yet,” he says. “Ella kept telling me you were single. The other two idiots kept saying how hot you were. I didn’t even tell them about our time at Onyx, but just from our interaction at Mallory’s party, they said they knew.”
I blink. “Because you spoke to me?”
“Because I approached you, and because you made me laugh.” He tilts his head slightly. “That’s the story. Can we go home so I can fuck you now?”
I laugh. We package our food, pay, and head out hand in hand. A few people take not-so-sneaky pictures, others take obvious ones that I smile for, and I’m amazed at howrightit all feels.
45
FINN
“If you do that, you won’t have time to clear the puck!” I shout.
Preseason starts next week, and even though it’s out of town, it’ll be the Owls’ first game ever. Two days later, we’ll be back here and have our inaugural home opener. Growing up, I never thought Fairview would get a professional hockey team. Definitely not while I was still playing. Win or lose, this game will be in the history books, and that’s something the entire team seems to be very aware of. For a group that hasn’t played together before, we’re pretty in sync.
“If you can’t stop there, you need to drop the pass,” Coach P says to Gally, who’s a first-year player.
A lot of these kids are. Hamilton and I are amongst the three oldest players on the team.
“Or I can flip pass,” Gally says, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
He loves trying out fancy passes that are great in practice but may not work during a game.
“That would only work if you’re able to get it to me,” I say and skate back to the cones on the other side. “Let’s go again.”
“Let’s switch up the line,” Coach P says. “Hamilton! Fletcher! Get over here. Gallagher, move to right defense.”
I almost breathe out a sigh of relief. I’ve been trying to keep my opinions to a minimum, since I’m not the coach and Coach P has proven his worth on every team he’s worked for. It’s hard, though. Especially when I know Gally would be a better grinder than wingman. All of our practices flow better when Ham and Dame are my wings. We’re playing against the rest of our teammates, which has also been helpful.
“Jefferson was a swingman in college. He played both positions well,” Coach P says.
I feel my mouth tip up. “Trying to replace me already?”
He laughs. “I’d never dream of it. He’s one to watch though.”
“He definitely has the speed,” I say. “Maybe we should try him at left D.”
Coach nods and writes something down on his pad. We spend the next two hours going over our plays on the ice, and a third watching film of our practice. By the time we finish and hang up our gear for the equipment managers to clean, the sun is already setting.
“I’m assuming you’re going to your mom’s birthday thing,” Hamilton says as we walk to our cars.
“I told her I’d swing by. I don’t want to be there longer than I have to.”
“Are you taking Joss?”
