I shake my head, scared my voice will betray me with a quiver or a crack. I try to take a deep breath. I wrap my arms tightly around his neck and pull him to me and hoarsely whisper, “You’re the best person in the whole world, Devin.”
I pull back, but only enough to touch my lips to his. The kiss is soft, subtle and tender. Even when he opens his mouth slightly and slips his tongue past my lips, it stays gentle and sweet. And I fucking love it.
“Oops!”
We leap apart and find Cole standing there holding an empty chip bowl. His cheeks match his red hair color. He stares at me and then at Devin and then back at me. I don’t say anything; I just walk by him and head back to the living room. I don’t know what to say anyway, so I’ll just let Devin handle that. Rose walks over to me as I reach the living room.
“You okay?” She must see something in my expression.
“I feel like I might have a heart attack and die,” I tell her bluntly and take a shaky breath. “And I think I don’t even care if I do.”
She grins, her dark eyes gleaming excitedly. “Yeah. It’s awesome, isn’t it?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” I shake my head and grab her wineglass from her hand and drink the rest of it.
“Yeah. That’s part of it too,” she assures me happily.
“A part of what?” I swallow hard. “On second thought, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. Just get me more wine.”
Chapter 43
Devin
When we enter the bar, Callie jumps to her feet and yells, “Go, French Disaster, the Hip Check King!”
Everyone bursts out laughing and I can’t help but join them. Jordan shoves me angrily. “Thanks, bro.”
“Hey. He’s on my team, you’re not,” I remind him. “And besides, you looked fucking hysterical flying ass over helmet.”
“Fuck you.”
Rose runs over and leaps into Luc’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, and she kisses him wildly. He keeps one hand under her butt and wraps the other one in her hair. The two stay like that so long even the whistles from our friends and teammates stop.
“Hey!” Callie barks loudly. “PDA overload.”
Rose breaks the kiss and drops to her feet. “That hit was the hottest thing I have ever seen.”
I chuckle. “What is it with you Caplan women and your violence? If I’d known it would get that kind of reaction, I would have hip checked Jordy myself. Twice.”
The bar is packed and there is a large contingent of both Barons and Winterhawks players there. I notice Avery Westwood slide into the chair next to Callie smiling brightly, and Cole’s bachelor weekend comes slamming back into my brain.
Ashleigh and I were already solidly on the rocks at that point. I didn’t want to admit it then, but deep down I knew. She hadn’t even wanted to go to the weekend in Atlantic City but I had forced her. I thought that it had done us good. She got drunk the first night and confessed how bad she felt for not being happy and we’d actually had sex for the first time in four months that night. But the next day she was standoffish and cold to me, and then she ended up not even showing up for Cole and Leah’s wedding. We said to everyone she went to see a sick aunt in Jersey, but she told me she had gone back to Brooklyn because she needed time to herself. What I know now is she was probably seeing her boyfriend. Yeah, the summer had been a nightmare of personal drama, but what I hadn’t missed that weekend in Atlantic City was that Callie had slept with the Winterhawks’ captain.
At the time I hadn’t thought twice about it. Now, the thought makes me feel like barfing. Avery looks up at me and raises his glass. “Good goal, Garrison.”
I had beaten him on a face-off and immediately taken a shot on net, whipping it past their goalie. Still, we’d lost the game 2–1. I nod and force myself to smile at him. Luc shoves a beer into my hand.
“Thanks, Hip Check King,” I say, and Jordan hears and flips me the bird.
“That is going to make the highlight reel for years to come,” I warn Jordan. “Get used to it.”
“It’s already on YouTube!” Chooch, the Winterhawks’ goalie, announces and places his cell phone on the middle of the table.
Everyone leans around it to watch the clip. Luc has the puck and he’s skating quickly up the boards. He’s got Dmitri slightly in front of him near center ice. Jordan is coming at Luc full force. As Jordan turns his shoulder toward Luc, readying himself to check his lifelong friend backward onto his ass, Luc turns sideways and shoots the puck up ice to me. It was a risky pass but because of that no one expected him to make it and no one was ready to intercept it. Just before Jordan and Luc collide shoulder-to-shoulder, Luc crouches down and the center of his body hits Jordan in the side of his hip. Jordan flies over Luc, cartwheeling through the air skates above his head, before landing hard on his side on the ice. It’s a totally legal, perfect hip check.
“When the fuck did you ever even learn how to do that?” Jordan snaps as everyone cheers at the image of him flailing.
“Oh, I have tricks you wouldn’t believe.” Luc lifts his beer toward his best friend and winks. “Can’t wait to show you more next time we play.”
