I twist my lips with a shrug. “You’re his twin. You should know him best.”
Savannah pushes her menu away, leans her forearms on the table, and stares me down. “So, should we be good women and talk about your interview, or bad women and talk about boys?”
I laugh, twisting the gemstone on my necklace. “There’s not really a lot to talk about regarding the interview—” I shrug. “It's just a waiting game now.”
“Bad women it is then.” She smiles, lifting her drink and bringing the straw to her mouth as she waits for me to spill the details.
“Honestly, Sav, I don’t really know what to say about that either,” I admit.
“You like him.” It’s not a question, so I shouldn’t feel the need to answer, but I find myself nodding anyway, because it’s true.
With Nathan, it always felt like I was trying to earn something, because on my own, I wasn’t enough. I spent so much time waiting, hoping, and giving every single part of myself to him, but with Maverick, it’s never felt like that. I get to keep the pieces of myself that make me, me, because heseesthem. He seesme.
“Have you guys talked about it?”
“In literal words?” I pause, taking in her smile. “No.”
“That’s okay. Your bodies are talking enough for the both of you right now.”
“Oh my God,” I murmur, dropping my head into my hands and my elbows to the table.
“And Nathan?” There’s no hesitation in her voice when she asks about him and it steadies my own in return.
“A bump in my review mirror,” I say while looking up. “One that maybe I’ll eventually beat myself up over wasting so much time on, but right now, I’m too wrapped up in Maverick to care.”
“You took ‘get over him by getting under someone new,’ quite literally.”
I drop my head, letting out a laugh toward the ceiling. “Honestly, I can’t decide if I wish that’s all it was or not.”
That would definitely be the easy route, but if I’ve learned anything, it’s that while I’ve been riding down easy streets, nothing there is worth it. I’ve spent years choosing things because they were foolproof—because they were safe, but they’ve never given me anything back. Continuing with school is safe. Waiting quietly and hoping to be chosen was settling. But trying something new is a risk. A messy, uncertain risk. And while it might come with some setbacks along the way, it’ll be worth it in the end if it sets my soul on fire the way Maverick does.
33
maverick
I can’t tellif it’s because my future is no longer hanging by a thread, or the fact that I caught Chloe in the stands wearing my number. Wherever it is, I’m fucking euphoric tonight.
I shower in record time, throw on some clothes, and plow through the locker room doors. All it takes is one look at Chloe leaning against the wall in a black mini skirt with my jersey tied up, and all the blood in my body rushes straight to my cock.
“Nice outfit,” I say, making my way over to her.
“I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“Only the ones wearing my number.”
She sucks her cheeks in, hiding her smile, but doesn’t say anything.
“How does it feel?”
She shrugs a shoulder with a cocky little tilt to her lips. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“What made you decide to wear it?” I wrap my hand around her neck, running my thumb along her necklaces. “Did it say that in your horoscope?”
She grips my forearms, pulling herself up onto her toes.
“Dear Cancer, wear your boyfriend's jersey to his game and give him a hard on while he’s on the ice,” I tease her before leaning down, meeting her halfway until her lips are less than an inch away from mine.
“Take me back to your place, and I’ll tell you what it says about howgivingI can be.”
