Chapter Six
Anthony
Kason is clearly in a fun mood today. He’s being even more playful than usual, innocently flirting with me in that way friends can get sometimes.
I know it doesn’t mean anything, and I’m enjoying it.
Ever since I came into my own, let myself really experience life and didn’t try to hide myself away from others, I’ve been a bit of a flirt myself.
Kason has opened the door for me to be more playful too.
He’s right, and the beach he brought us to is slower than most would be.
I can’t pretend I wasn’t slightly nervous about that, just because I don’t know how often he gets recognized, and honestly, I wouldn’t want the frenzy that might come along with it.
I’ve had enough experience with going viral or social media famous, and while the likelihood of anyone giving a shit about me when Kason is around is small, the risk makes me uneasy.
The first thing we do is set up for our yoga session. I love feeling the stretch of my muscles, the way my body relaxes into each pose, while also testing it.
I can’t say it’s easy to keep my eyes off Kason as we move into each position.
He has more muscle than me, bigger and cut in different ways.
He’s flexible, not as much as me, but more than other men I’ve been with, and…
why is my brain doing this to me? Kason is off-limits, only for the life of me, I can’t remember why this time.
Oh, because he’s my friend and I don’t want to lose him, and that’s the best kind of reason there is.
Still, we’re allowed to flirt now, apparently, which is a bonus.
“Jesus,” Kason curses as I move into sirsasana.
I keep my eyes closed but feel him watching me.
I concentrate on my breathing, resting on my forearms, legs in the air in a headstand.
When I lower myself again, moving into a sitting position, Kason is across from me, legs crossed, smiling.
“When did you start doing yoga?” he asks, looking genuinely curious.
“When I was eighteen. I’d just moved to LA, and I was looking to connect—with people, with the area, with myself. Yoga helped me come out of my shell.”
“Your shell?”
“You wouldn’t believe it, but I wasn’t always this…
loud, I guess you can say. I was shy growing up and didn’t have friends.
” There was one time I thought I had friends, thought I had connection, but they’d only been using me because of my uncle’s money.
“It was just me and dance. I got better in high school because I wanted to dance, but it was coming to LA that really changed things for me, and yoga was a part of that.” I shrug as if it was that simple.
Clearly, I’m feeling some kind of way today to be opening up, but even from that first night at Lush, Kason has been easy to talk to.
He’s so damn real, so authentic, it’s impossible not to trust him.
“At times, it’s hard to imagine you being shy, but others…I can see it. Because even now you hold things close to your chest. I think there’s a lot more going on in that head of yours than what you show to the world.”
“Isn’t that true for everyone?” I ask, though his assessment is a little too close to home, making me slightly uncomfortable.
“Yes and no. It feels different with you. You’re so open in some ways—your friendship with Hayes and Donovan, even me to a degree.
The way you like to laugh and have a good time.
When you dance…Jesus, when you fucking dance it’s like you’re putting it all out there. I think that fools a lot of people.”
But not him? My discomfort grows, but tangled around in that is this…
how do I word it…this urge to hear him say more, this desire to see myself in the way Kason is talking about right now.
I feel like if I let him, he could see things I don’t want to show, things no one else has ever found, and that, my friends, is scary as fuck.
“Race you to the water.” I push to my feet.
“It’s cold as shit.”
“Big, tough hockey player can’t handle a little cold?” I tease, and so quickly I don’t realize what’s happening at first, Kason is on his feet, lifting me off the sand and running with me toward the water. “Oh my God. What are you doing?”
“Cute, tough dancer can’t handle it?” he jokes back, easing us into the water. The first splash of cold against my skin sends a shock through my system. I tremble and hold on to him tighter.
“Fuck, that’s freezing. This was a terrible idea.”
“It was your idea,” he tosses back.
“Well, you shouldn’t listen to me!”
Kason chuckles, then sets me down, right as a small wave hits me in the chest. I splash water at him, as if he’s not already getting wet as well.
He dunks his head under and rises again, shaking the wet strands as we splash and play and float…
for about thirty seconds. Okay, it’s longer, but we don’t last more than ten minutes, my balls having pulled up due to the temperature.
“I hate you,” I tease, grabbing my towel and wrapping it around myself.
“Aw, come on. I’ll keep you warm.” He runs his hands up and down my arms, and my pulse stumbles.
It’s such a small thing, so simple and easy and…
sweet in this way not many people have been to me.
Sometimes it’s about the small things, and I haven’t had a lot of big or small things, but this moment with Kason feels like one of them.
He pulls me into his arms, his hands going to my back, rubbing and warming. He smells like saltwater and kindness, his skin warm against mine, but all too quickly it’s over.
“Better?” he asks, and I nod, unsure I have words yet. “Good.”
There are a few more people here now, but as far as I can tell, none of them are paying us any attention. We sit on the blanket he brought, not caring that we’re getting it sandy from our feet.
“What about you?” I ask. “When did you get into yoga?”
“High school. I thought it was dumb at first, but I had a goalie coach who pushed it on me. It really didn’t take long for me to fall in love, and not just because of the benefits to my flexibility and mobility. I like that all the outside shit quiets down in those moments, ya know?”
“Yeah.” I smile. “I know.”
We lie there and chat for a while, easy conversation and lots of Kason laughs that turn into Anthony laughs and sometimes the other way around.
Eventually, we pack up and walk toward the boardwalk to find a place for a late lunch.
I swear I feel like people are looking at us when we walk by, but Kason doesn’t seem to notice or mind, so I ignore it.
We settle on a small sandwich shop and take a seat by the window as we wait for our food.
We’re halfway through our meal when Kason says, “You have a little…” and points to his face.
Because of fucking course I have to be the idiot who gets food on his face when I’m having lunch with the world’s sexiest hockey player.
“Don’t mind me, I’m just a disaster on all levels,” I joke, grabbing my napkin and trying to wipe it away.
“No you’re not.” He takes it from me and wipes whatever is on my face.
I get that same warming feeling I’d gotten when he’d rubbed my back and arms by the water, my pulse pounding in my ears.
Don’t do this. Don’t get so attracted to Kason that you ruin what you have.
Even Malcolm said I was his least favorite, and he’s a terrible person.
I clear my throat. “Thank you.”
He opens his mouth to respond, but before he can, a young boy approaches our table. “You’re him, right? Mads? Kason Maddox of the LA Rebels?”
Kason grins, and I try to disappear in my seat.
“I am.”
“Can I get a picture with you?”
“Of course!”
Kason stands while I do my best to stay out of the shot.
The boy’s mom takes a couple of photos, and then the three of them talk for a moment, Kason being charming like he always is, smiling and joking and just making people feel at ease.
He says something playful to the boy before ruffling his hair like they’re old friends.
The kid beams up at him, the mom does too—can’t say I blame you, lady—and after Kason signs a napkin for him, they’re on their way.
“Sorry about that,” he says, sitting back down.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. You’re good with people. They gravitate toward you.”
He quirks a brow. “Do you gravitate toward me?”
It’s just innocent flirting, it’s just innocent flirting, it’s just innocent flirting.
“Eh. The jury is still out,” I tease, and he clutches his chest playfully.
“You’re breaking my heart here.”
I give a small shrug and have to bite back a smile. “I mean, I’m here. That’s a good sign.”
“Okay, you’re getting warmer. Just a couple more compliments, and I’ll feel my ego is adequately stroked.”
I roll my eyes, but this time, my grin is impossible to hide. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Yeah, but you like me.”
I do. I like him even more than I thought I would. “You’re growing on me.”
“I’ll wear you down, baby. Just you wait and see.” Kason winks. The word baby makes me tremble and my dick chub slightly. Maybe it’s not the word so much as how he said it, all sexy and sultry.
“Flirty Boy is back.”
“Flirty Boy never left.”
I’m at a loss for words, which isn’t like me, damn it.
I’m a good flirt. I worked hard to be a good flirt.
Even if there’s nothing else, the one thing I’m confident about is my sexual appeal and my ability to go head-to-head with any guy in this department, but those other guys weren’t Kason Maddox.
“You’re so annoying.”
He barks out a laugh. “I have to admit this is the first time someone has called me that when I’m being so playful and charming.”
Yeah, well, I’ve been known to mess things up a time or two. “Annoyingly charming?”
“That works.”
The waitress comes over and takes our plates. I insist on paying, and then we head out. Kason talks me into ice cream at this cute little stand near the beach before we drive back to West Hollywood.
Kason comes in for a few minutes but doesn’t stay long. “I should head out. The game tomorrow is home, but I’m going to the youth center early in the morning for a skate session with the kids.”
I perk up hearing that. “Is that something you do often?” I don’t know why I’m surprised. It fits exactly who Kason is for something like this to be important to him.
“It is. They’re a blast. You would love them. Does this new information make me even more irresistible?”
“I don’t remember using that word.”
“I read between the lines.”
My laughter is impossible to hold back, damn him. “I can’t with you. Come on. I’ll walk you down.”
I don’t normally do that, but today felt different. And Kason is so incredibly sweet to me, it’s the least I can do.
“Aww, I think you like me.”
The back of my neck tingles, and my face feels flushed. He’s in a mood today, and it’s doing all sorts of things to my insides. Would it be bad to hook up with Kason if he’s interested? Maybe that’s what he’s been hinting at all day. Would it hurt so much to try friends with benefits with him?
Don’t do it, Ant. You’ll fuck things up.
But the truth is, I like Kason.
I want him.
And I don’t want to lose him. Why do I lose everyone?
Just as I’m about to ask him if he has to go, my good sense kicks in and I bite my tongue. Kason seems clueless to the war going on inside me. He’s chatty and smiley as we exit the building.
“Do you want to come to the game tomorrow?”
Yes, I do, but… “I can’t. I work.” I am the boss. I could take off. That would leave the other dancers hanging, though, and I’m not the type to do that.
“Okay. Maybe next time.”
We do that annoying grinning back and forth where he starts it, and then I look at him all goofily too, and we both just smile at each other like a couple of idiots.
Before I do something stupid, I step forward and give him a hug. “I’ll see you later. Drive safe.”
“I’ll see you soon.” His smile presses to my temple in a sweet kiss, and then I stand there, watching him leave, heart beating faster than it has any right to beat.
I return to my apartment and work on the club’s budget, then send the info to my bookkeeper, but my Kason-obsessed brain does nothing but think about him the whole time.
I’m so incredibly fucked.