5. Pre-Gaming And Fake Relationships
Pre-Gaming And Fake Relationships
Bex
M y question is answered when Luke parks his car in front of the Star Sushi and Hibachi, a restaurant with an outdoor deck overlooking Star Cove’s affluent marina.
The sea is calm and blue, and yachts of all sizes are moored all around us as our hostess walks us to a table outside.
“The restaurant is part of the Country Club estate, and the owners are huge hockey fans, so they give us free drinks vouchers to support the team every time we eat here.” Luke explains. “And today we also get treated to lunch. Nothing's better than a free lunch if you ask me.”
Our table is at the end of the big deck. It’s a typical hibachi table with a cooking station on one side where a chef will cook our food and offer us a show.
My focus, however, isn’t on the decor or the breathtaking sea view. A tall, strapping figure is standing by our table, clearly waiting for us.
“Hey Cap,” Tucker Prescott, the Cove Knights goalie, greets us. “Jamie, Bex.”
I don’t understand why Tucker would buy us lunch, but the explanation comes when Tucker’s blue eyes land on me.
“Bex,” he begins, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I asked Luke and Jamie to bring you here because I owe you an apology. My behavior last night was embarrassing and unacceptable. I’m sorry if I ruined all the hard work you put into the art center’s inauguration by causing a scene.
But most of all, I’m sorry if I expressed my appreciation for your beauty in a way that made you feel uncomfortable and unsafe.
I hope to get the chance to prove to you that I’m not the obnoxious, pushy, rude asshole who tried to put his hands on you last night. ”
What do you know? When Tucker apologizes, he doesn’t do it halfway.
The tall goalie hangs his head as he continues his apology. “I’m sorry for asking to get dibs on you when Jamie gets bored with monogamy.”
If his contrition wasn’t pulling at my heartstrings, I would laugh at the difference between sober Tucker and drunk Tucker’s eloquence. Last night he couldn’t even say “dibs.”
I open my mouth to interrupt him, but the onslaught of his apologies is far from over.
“I’m also sorry for the crass way I talked about your ass. I mean glutes. They’re truly spectacular, but it wasn’t my place to say that. Especially not in public. And I’m also sorry for trying to invite you to come to my room. I know you’re with Jamie, and that was disrespectful.”
I watch as Tucker’s blue eyes flick from his own feet to my face. Despite his huge size, right now he looks like a little boy caught with his hands in a cookie jar.
“Tucker,” I say, taking his huge hand into mine. “Thank you for the apology, but I knew you didn’t mean it. You’re forgiven.”
He lifts his gaze to meet mine, his eyes wide with hope. “Really? Can we be friends even if I’m a dipshit?”
“Of course.” I smile. “And believe me, I’m in no place to judge you. Luke and I used to have a friend with a fake ID in high school, and we got into our fair share of trouble after a few drinks.”
That was before we moved to Bridgeport. Before Dad kicked Luke out of the house, and opened his talent agency.
“I’m glad you can forgive me. I promise I’ll do better.
” Tucker vows before turning his attention to Jamie.
“Dude, I really suck. Sorry for the shit I said last night. It’s so cool that you found love.
I wish we could all find a gorgeous woman like Bex.
And I’m also sorry for barfing on you and Connor last night. ”
Jamie chuckles. “Like Bex said, we’ve all been there once or twice.
But the season starts tonight, and aside from watching your diet to make sure you can perform at the highest level, just make sure you know when you’ve had enough.
To be honest, I’m surprised Coach didn’t bag skate us or invent an even worse punishment after last night. ”
“I promise I’ll rein myself in from now on. And Coach hasn’t punished us because we made a deal. He said he would not take this out on the entire team as long as I agreed to attend a series of drink aware seminars sponsored by the University. So I said yes.”
Luke claps his shoulder. “Good man. Now that we’re all good, let’s get some food into us to fuel up for tonight’s game. Let’s show UCLA what the Cove Knights are made of. Yeah?”
Our chef arrives at that moment, and I swear to God, the amount of food these hockey players can put away is insane.
If I ate that much, I doubt I’d be able to move on my skates.
After Tucker settles the check, we walk back to Luke’s car pleasantly full.
“Right.” My brother yawns, unlocking his SUV. “I think a pre-game nap is in order.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Jamie agrees, opening the passenger door for me. “Especially if my hot girlfriend agreed to join me.” He whispers that into my ear.
His warm breath causes goosebumps to scatter down the back of my neck and warmth to pool between my legs. “Don’t you need to sleep so you have energy for tonight’s game?” I giggle, ticklish as Jamie’s lips glide down the column of my neck. “If I join you, you aren’t going to get much sleep.”
I can’t see Jamie’s smile, but I can feel his lips curling as they reach the base of my neck. “Maybe practicing my skills with my stick will help me more than sleep.”
He helps me climb into the car, flattening his body against mine for a hot second.
“So? What do you think? I passed on dessert to avoid feeling too heavy during the game, but I could do with something sweet. Nap with me?” he’s leaning forward from the back seat as his teeth nibble on my ear lobe.
I open my mouth to answer, but Luke precedes me.
“Hello? May I remind you two lovebirds that I’m right here, driving you back home? I don’t need to hear about your dessert plans, thank you very much.”
Heat rises to my face, and I squirm in my seat as Jamie grazes on my ear, flicking his tongue right after showing me what he’s going to do to another part of my body once we’re alone.
“I…” my answer never comes out as my clit throbs eagerly in anticipation of what my boyfriend can do with that skilled mouth. “Oh my God.”
“Guys.” Luke groans, stopping at a red light. “Seriously. I’m glad this fake relationship isn’t quite so fake anymore, but if you continue making out in front of me, I’m going to have to skip my nap and go to Shane’s room for my own dessert. He does this thing with whipped cream that I?—”
“Ok. Fine. Stop.” I scoot forward in my seat, out of Jamie’s reach. “Message received. Please don’t tell me what you do with your boyfriend and whipped cream. I love whipped cream, and I know that if you keep talking, you’re gonna ruin it for me forever.”
I’m not surprised when Luke chuckles. “See? Two can play this game. You know I usually don’t mind hearing the filthy details of other people’s sex lives, but unfortunately I’m not one of those players who perform better after getting laid.
I need to keep all that physical tension and channel it into aggression on the ice tonight.
I don’t let myself come forty-eight hours before a game.
Even self-gratification is out of the question if I want to perform during the game.
So you two, stop saying things that will give me ideas and make me horny. ”
I cover my ears with both my hands.
“Jesus, Luke. Ok, please stop.” Jamie chuckles. “Now I’m gonna be worried about your fucking blue balls getting in the way tonight.”
Luke’s eyes meet Jamie’s in the rearview mirror. “Don’t knock ‘em until you try them.”
“Look, I love you, man. But I’m gonna stay away from your balls, blue or not.”
They both burst into laughter, and something in their easy camaraderie makes me feel wistful.
I had that same easy banter with my friends. Or at least, it was like that before we moved into the Pure Shine house. Before Dad’s rules turned our friendships into purely professional relationships.
By the end, we were too scared to laugh and joke around in case my father found it inappropriate.
I never realized how much we lived in fear of his millions of rules until following his orders landed me in Kurt’s arms the night before my arranged wedding.
Dad took advantage of that fear, of the fact that he holds his clients’ futures in his hands, to turn my friends against me.
Seeing those posts and those mean comments hurt at first, but I need to remember the reality of living in that house.
The constant brainwashing, the fear of repercussions for the smallest infractions, real or perceived.
If that suffocating environment made me cut contact with my twin brother, it isn’t hard to understand how my former friends must have felt.
My father owns his clients. He slowly and gradually isolated them from their families, from any other support network they might have had. Until he’s all they have left.
I was in their shoes until I snapped out of it and ran away. They’re still under his rule, so I have to remember that they had very little choice when they received the order to destroy my public image and to make me a target for harassment.
“Baby?” Jamie has just opened the car door, and I realized that we’re back at our condo. “We’re home.”
Home.
It’s crazy how true that rings. In the few weeks I’ve been here, I’ve formed more real connections than I ever had after four years in Bridgeport.
“I would love to join you for that nap, sweetie, but I can’t. I just remembered that I promised Candace and some of the Zetas to get ready together for tonight’s game. Is that ok?”
Jamie cups my jaw, his blue gaze soft as he smiles.
“Of course it’s ok. You don’t need my permission to hang out with your friends.
Besides, it’s probably for the best that you’re with the Zetas.
I was going to ask Luke what we should do once we have to go to the arena. It’s better if you aren’t alone.”
That’s right.
The guys don’t feel comfortable knowing that I’m on my own after what happened last night. And I have to admit that I feel safer when in the company of other people until we can determine if last night’s attack was an isolated incident or not.
“Good thinking.” Luke agrees. “Then we’ll leave Jamie to his nap and I can drop you off at the Zeta house.”
“Just one second.” Jamie runs into the house and comes out two minutes later with his jersey neatly folded in his hands. “Do you mind wearing this tonight?”
Right. We need to keep selling that Jamie’s old playboy ways are a thing of the past.
“Of course. Thank you.”
He brushes my lips with his before closing the car door. He stands in front of our condo waving goodbye as Luke drives off.
A strange feeling expands in my chest. Luke was joking about our relationship being no longer fake. Jamie didn’t confirm or deny, but now I wish he had said something.
The truth is that I don’t want to be Jamie’s fake girlfriend anymore. In the couple of months we’ve been fake dating, I got to know him better. And I don’t want what we have to end. Jamie is drop dead gorgeous, funny, caring, hot. He makes me feel safe, and he makes me happy.
I could see myself falling for him. What if he doesn’t feel the same way about me?
That isn’t the only thing plaguing my mind, though. Luke was right when he said that all three of his teammates would be great candidates for the perfect boyfriend.
After that hot night in our living room, Connor and I have been sharing little more than stolen glances. We haven’t really had much chance to hang out. I still feel attracted to him. I still feel hung up about that kiss at the Zeta party. I’m pretty sure it was Connor behind mask number six.
Jamie said he isn’t jealous and seeing me with Connor was hot. But does he feel that way just because he doesn’t see me as a potential real girlfriend?
Then there is Keene.
I thought I hated him. I thought he hated me too. To the point that I was convinced he was my stalker.
But I was wrong. And I can’t fight the feeling that I might have judged him too soon.
You’re beautiful.
The way he was looking at me when he said that makes me think that there’s a lot more to Keene than his permanent scowl and caustic verbal barbs.
I see a very different side of the hot ex-military defenseman.
In the way he watches out for his teammates.
In how tender and protective he is with his cat.
And I can’t deny the way the air crackles with electricity every time he looks at me.
One thought crosses my mind when I thank my brother and smile at the camera that serves as a lock on the door of the Zeta house.
What if Keene was the man behind mask number six?
I shake my head, laughing at that ridiculous idea as Heather ushers me into the sorority house.
That kiss was hot, but surprisingly sweet, almost reverent. I could see Connor kissing that way, but not Keene.
Besides, our truce is very recent, and if Keene had been wearing mask number six, I doubt he would have gone through with kissing me. Back then, we could barely stand to look at each other without fighting.
“Bex.” Candace hugs me, walking me to the kitchen and putting an ice cold margarita in my hand. “Let’s go upstairs. The sisters have their makeup and hair station ready. Let’s get ready to support our boys tonight.”