“Don’t worry, though,” he says. “No chance of that happening. I don’t know how to do that.”
Third gut punch for the hat trick.God.What a damn roller coaster. I’m … no. I cannot start falling for Tate. If I am, I have to halt that shit. I don’t even need to think of reasons why—he just said them all.
I swallow. “Good. Neither of us wants that.”
“Neither of us,” he agrees, painfully digging his fingers into my flesh, as if he thinks I might escape him, and he won’tstop staring with those intense steel-gray eyes of his. They’ve changed. There’s something more there.
Fuck.
Stuff like that. It’s confusing. His words say one thing, but his body language says another.
He gives his head a shake as if he’s releasing a thought. “Anyway,commissionerwill be my new cover story. I need something to explain my fortune.”
“Commissioners make as much as you do?” I raise a brow.
“No.” He laughs. “Not even close. But it’s much better than my pitiful college hockey coach salary. Enough that it’ll be believable for Luke. Especially when Clarence does what I know he’ll do, and keeps my fucking money.”
“What will you do with your Lambo? Commissioner money will never buy you that.”
“No. Luke can never see that.”
I wrap my leg around him, needing to be closer, because apparently an inch of space between us is more than I can bear right now. He presses his naked chest against mine. We inhale together.
“Now that you know, will you finally marry me, dollface?”
“No.”
“Don’t like that word. What more do I have to do?”
I toy with his scar again. I need the distraction from his handsome face and smooth voice so that I can think. Tate’s right. He’s my best option. A monster to protect me from all the other monsters.
But Tate’s fucking unhinged. Ending up in a glass case next to Pearl isn’t something I’d put past him.
“You’re theno hockeyoption. Even Kline was going to let me play hockey.”
“Kline was lying. And it’s not about letting you. Being away from you for nine months of the year is not an option, dollface.”
“Travel with me.”
“I have to be here to keep everything afloat,” he reminds me. “And with how much everyone in your family’s elite circle is tied into hockey, the commissioner position has become more than just a good cover story for my brother. It’s a source of valuable connections I can use to keep you safe.”
He’s right. Having all this—the money, the name, the power—is what will enable him to protect Griff and me. Without it, we’re cooked.
I don’t know what kind of happy-ass ending I was hoping for. Rainbows and unicorns? That was never in the cards for me. It’s more apparent than ever that this is my reality. I’m going to have to make a sacrifice for my family. As long as they’re happy and safe, then I’m happy.
“Yeah, okay, yeah. I get it.”
“It’s strategy, dollface. Dominoes. One thing leads into the other.”
I nod, leaning forward to rest my head against his scar. Tate’s booming heartbeat thunders under my ear, and I swear my heart syncs with his rhythm. Is that a thing? Or am I turning into the creepy one?
No, scratch that. Tate will always be the creepy one.
“Don’t youdareput me in a glass case next to Pearl.”
“That’s ridiculous. Pearl’s rarely in her case; she’s usually with me. Just like you’ll be.”
I almost ask where he’s going to put me when I’m not “in use,” but maybe I don’t wanna know. My friends are afraid of Ethan, but Tate’s the scary motherfucker. The one I’ll be spending the rest of my life with.
