If You Want Me (The Toronto Terror #2)

CHAPTER 24

HAMMER

T he next evening, Rix is already at Tristan’s by the time I head up to Hollis’s. I text three times to make sure my dad has really left for dinner. He was disappointed when I said I had too much homework to go with him, but he was understanding—especially with exams around the corner and final projects coming due. My shame bucket is getting close to overflowing, but telling him now…it’s more pressure than I can handle. Not that I’ll admit that to anyone but myself. Sure, he’s a little overprotective and sometimes he struggles with boundaries, but he’s spent his whole life putting me first, and I’m plotting and lusting after his best friend. A man who is so expressly out of bounds. I’ve heard ‘don’t date hockey players’ my entire life. It’s shitty, especially because I don’t have any intentions of stopping, or being honest. Not about this. Not yet.

I zip the hoodie over my outfit. I’m wearing black, high-waisted dress pants, a spaghetti strap camisole with lace accents, and a gauzy pale blue blouse over the top. No bra, because my lack of one really seems to set Hollis off. I’ll never get over knowing he wants me. I grab my purse and the glass baking dish, check my reflection one last time, slide my feet into my flats, and leave the apartment. My heart is racing by the time I reach the penthouse floor. I glance at my dad’s door. A pang of guilt makes my stomach churn. I take a deep breath and knock on Hollis’s door. I half expect my dad’s to swing open and catch me in the act. But Dad’s door stays closed, and Hollis opens his. My mouth goes dry. He’s wearing black dress pants, a crisp white button-down that hugs every one of his deliciously defined muscles, and the tie I gave him for his birthday last year.