Accidentally Checked By My Brother’s Best Friend (Accidentally In Sports #3)

18. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Duncan

Coming off the ice after the game and finding Ava wearing my jersey has my blood pumping. I can’t remember the last time I felt this sense of euphoria, and my teammates are noticing.

“I need a pair of shades,” Spencer teases, walking over to me and shielding his eyes. “I didn’t know you had so many teeth.”

Tightening my lips and narrowing my eyes, I grunt. “Knock it off, Cavill.”

“And he’s back!” He laughs. A twinkle in his eyes as he punches me in the arm before walking over to celebrate with some of the other guys.

My lips lift at the corner, and I turn to my locker, but not before Viper catches it and roars with laughter.

“We all knew there was a smile in there somewhere,” he jokes. “Just weren’t sure what it would take for it to make an appearance.”

“Don’t get used to it,” I mumble, rolling my eyes and biting the inside of my cheek. “It’s not sticking around.”

“I said the same thing about Sandy.” He winks, catching me off guard. “Sometimes everyone knows before you do.”

Staring at his back I think about what he just said. It was never a question of me knowing that Ava was the one for me. The moment I laid eyes on her I knew she was my person.

Despite how young I was.

Me knowing isn’t the problem—has never been the problem. The problem is that I am in this situation and have feelings again. Pushing out a breath I remind myself what Ava and I are doing.

Faking it.

At least, we’re supposed to be, and she is. She fakes it often. It’s her job.

The lightness of the past sixty minutes drains from my body and is replaced with the heaviness of truth.

Scrubbing my face, I call on the grumpy and seal my heart with it.

When I head out of the locker room, I find Ava talking with Sandy and Tom, relaxed and safe.

The tightness in my gut releases, and my heart jumps at the sight of her.

“Remember what this is,” I quietly murmur to myself. I mentally zip up my heart again.

But telling myself to do something and actually doing it aren’t the same thing apparently, because walking toward her I’m enchanted. Her face is glowing, her eyes are bright, and a desire so strong comes over me that it grips my stomach.

I want her to look at me like that.

As if on cue, she turns her face toward me, and my knees buckle.

The tenderness in her eyes, for me , is even better than the happiness I just witnessed. The other people in the room fade away and I make my way over to the three people before me.

“Thank you, Sandy, for taking care of Ava for me tonight.” I give Sandy a nod, tilted in her direction, without taking my eyes from the woman in front of me. “I really appreciate it.”

“I’m surprised Tom didn’t tell you how big of a fan I am. You did me a huge favor by asking me to help!” Sandy giggles, putting her hand on Ava’s arm. “It was so great spending time with you. Can’t wait to do it again.”

Ava turns to Sandy and hugs her. “Thank you, Sandy. You made coming alone so much easier for me.”

“I’m glad,” Sandy says, grabbing her husband’s arm and pulling him away. “Enjoy the rest of your night.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Tom staring at me with a grin but choose not to acknowledge it. I’ve had enough teasing for one night.

“See you at practice tomorrow, Denier.” I give him a quick nod before snapping my gaze back to Ava, only to find her watching me with a grin. My heart jumps, and the corner of my lip lifts.

“Nice jersey.” I point at my number, suddenly feeling uncertain of what to do next. We’re supposed to be dating, should I kiss her? You know, for appearance's sake? Not because I want to or anything.

“This old thing,” she says, looking at it shyly. “Someone sent it to the house with my name on it.”

I raise a brow and feel a laugh bubbling up. “Do you wear things that come from unknown senders, often?”

“Only if it’s new,” she says with a shrug and a mischievous smile. Her eyes dance.

A snort escapes and I feel a smile spread across my lips. “I’ll remember to make sure my name is on anything I send you from now on.”

“This was from you?” She says playfully, pulling the jersey away from her body. “You definitely need to make that clear next time.”

I can’t help it; I throw my head back and laugh. I can feel everyone’s eyes on us, and I don’t care what they think. Taking a step closer to Ava, the scent of sandalwood surrounds me. Gently, I slide my hand partially around her waist and feel a shiver run through her body. Bringing my mouth to her ear, I whisper. “So what am I supposed to do? I’ve never pretended to be somebody’s boyfriend before. Should I kiss you? Is that what a fake boyfriend would do?”

I hear her breath catch and a thrill runs through my body.

“Do you want to?” She whispers breathlessly.

Do I want to? I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life. But should I?

The smart answer is no.

I pull my head away from Ava’s ear and look at her face. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes shine, and my glance drops to her lips.

They part slightly as a gasp falls from them. I lift my gaze back to hers and pull my hand away from her waist. A flicker of disappointment runs across her eyes.

Moving my hand to cup her chin, I pull her face gently toward me. Right before our lips touch, I lift my gaze back to hers, making sure I have permission. What I find are lashes lying softly on her cheek. At my hesitation, her lids open, and a question lingers in her gaze.

I don’t wait a second longer before covering her lips with mine.

I never claimed to be smart.

My muscles strain as I lift the one-hundred and eighty pounds of weight from my chest. The day after a game is supposed to include a light workout, but after kissing Ava last night, and the way she looked at me when I dropped her off, I need to quiet my mind.

Workouts usually help with that.

But remembering how her lips felt under mine has been delicious torture, and I haven’t been able to think about anything else since. It’s driving me insane.

The barbell rattles against the stand as I let go of the weight. My chest rises and falls in short, uneven breaths. My muscles burning is a satisfying ache that has no effect at quieting my thoughts.

Swiping the towel across my face, I lean forward, elbows on my knees, and take a long pull from my water bottle but the tension in my body isn’t fading. I need more.

Pushing to my feet, I roll my neck and head toward the squat rack, adjusting the weights with a little more force than necessary.

Maybe if I push myself harder, I’ll be able to get her out of my mind.

“James,” Coach shouts from the door. “What are you doing? It’s supposed to be an easy weight day.”

“It is,” I grouse, dropping my towel and water bottle beside the weight machine, I load it up with the max weight I can handle. “I’ve only been working out for thirty minutes.”

“That’s thirty minutes too long and you know it. I don’t need you hurting yourself. Make sure you spend some extra time in the ice bath.” I ignore him, and continue to prep the squat machine before putting my body in position. I can feel his eyes on me but he doesn’t say anything right away.

“When you’re done here, head over to PR. Stacy Mullins needs to talk to you about something.”

Reluctantly curious, I give him a glance. “PR? Did they say what they wanted to talk about?”

“Didn’t give me any details except she needed to see you. And that it’s important.”

“Important?” My eyebrows pull together. Thoughts race through my head trying to figure out what could be important enough for PR to need to see me , but I draw a complete blank.

“Ten more minutes. Then off to see Stacy.” Coach slaps his hand on the door frame before heading out.

I grunt.

“Don’t grunt at me,” he yells from the hallway. “And remember that ice bath before you leave here today. I don’t need my starting goalie pulling a muscle.”

“Yes, Coach,” I respond, my mind already going over all the possibilities of what Stacy in PR could want when it becomes crystal clear.

Nathan.

I haven’t checked social media, I never do, but I’m pretty certain this has everything to do with him and what he’s saying about Ava. And by association, me.

Because I’m involved, the team is being dragged into this. This is all about damage control.

I grab my towel and water bottle and head to the locker room for my phone. The first thing I do is look up news of Nathan Vaughn and Ava Norris.

Running a hand through my hair, I push out a breath. Everything I’m reading has me wishing I had decked him when he was here the other day. He deserves it.

My thoughts pivot to Ava, and I immediately pull up her contact and send a text.

Me: How are you? Is everything okay?

Ava: Well this is a nice surprise. wink emoji

My lip lifts at the emoji, and a wave of emotion moves through my body. Taking a deep breath and scrubbing my face I pull myself together. This isn’t the time to be distracted by feelings.

Ava: I’m pretty good. How are you?

Me: Have you heard from Nathan at all?

Staring at my phone I watch as three dots appear and then disappear multiple times. I continue to wait but after a few minutes I try again.

Me: Ava? Me: Have you heard from Nathan?

This time she responds immediately.

Ava: No. Ava: But I did text with Caroline. Ava: She wants to talk later.

The tightness in my stomach loosens knowing that Nathan hasn’t bothered her, but the fact that Caroline wants to talk to her, confirms that there is trouble brewing. My stomach twists.

Me: My PR department wants to talk to me, I’m pretty sure it has to do with whatever Nathan is spreading through the media.

Ava: Duncan, I’m so sorry.

Me: I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about you. Me: Are you okay?

She takes so long to answer that when she finally does, I realize I’d been holding my breath the entire time.

Ava: I’m okay. This has just been rough.

Me: Whatever is going on we’ll take care of it. Me: Together. Me: I’ll talk to Finn and Stacy and see what our best option is.

Ava: Thank you, Duncan. Ava: You are the best fake boyfriend ever.

Best. Fake . Boyfriend.

My stomach knots, and an ache takes over my chest. With those three words, I’m brought to my knees.