50. Matteo
Matteo
ICEHAWKS BITCHES
IRVING
the bunnies are losing their fucking minds about Valenti
ASHFORD
cat’s out of the bag
CRAWFORD
about time
O’CONNOR
prepare for a storm at the bar tonight
MATTEO
fucking great
My teammates have been in my ear, relaying everything they’ve seen online.
Apparently, the video of me winking at Evie has gone viral.
Personally I don’t understand the frenzy—because frenzy it is.
Irving said it’s because I’m like Bigfoot; my love life was so nonexistent that, now that there’s a possible sighting of it, the hockey world is going crazy.
In the span of a few hours, I’ve gained hundreds of thousands of followers on social media… all over a wink.
I just hope Evie is okay with all of this because they’ll figure out it’s her the moment I walk up to her in O’Malley’s. It’s why, as the team and I enter the bar, my entire body is stiff, muscles coiled tight. No matter the amount of deep breaths I force myself to take, I can’t calm my body.
I’m used to the eyes that linger on me, used to the girls who stare at me like they want to own me. I’m used to the attention but even I can admit that tonight is different—very different.
I thought that by not giving into the bunnies all these years, that by not giving them an inch, they’d leave me alone and take the hint.
They have, but it’s also done something I’m not comfortable with—it’s turned me into a prize.
I’ve made myself into a damn unicorn and I feel like I’m under a microscope.
Who can bag the untouchable? It makes my skin crawl what the bunnies say about me.
Nothing can distract me from the attention, not even when I try to think about the close win we had—a very tight three to two, where Crawford scored in the last ten seconds. That is, until my gaze roams the room and lands on her.
The electric energy of the bar seems to brush off my skin as I home in on my best friend, the girl I have loved ever since I knew what it meant to feel such unending warmth in my chest for another person.
Evie’s hair is glowing, her blonde strands swaying along her lower back as she throws her head back and laughs.
The bar’s sounds dissipate the moment I lock on and hear it.
It’s music to my soul.
Walking deeper into the bar, I’m finally able to relax the muscles in my back, finally able to drop my shoulders, finally able to let go of the tension in my jaw as I stop at the booth. Evie’s radiant smile and spark in her eye make my heart leap.
My salvation. My joy. My other half.
“Hi, Dove,” I drawl.
Evie turns those glacial eyes on me, her nose slightly red from the cold.
Oxygen seeps into my lungs, my mind jumping off the hamster wheel it has been spinning on for the past hour. Everything comes to a slow stop as her lips part.
“Hi, Valenti.”
Sliding in beside her, I don’t care for everyone else’s seating arrangements—they can sort it out. All I care about is that I’m beside my girlfriend.
I search her face for any sign of anxiety or stress but come up short. Fisting my hands in my lap, it takes immense control not to touch her, at least until I know she’s ready to take the leap into the limelight with me.
“Have you seen?” I ask.
A slow dip of her chin. “It’s everywhere.”
“Are you okay?”
Evie leans back slightly, assessing me. “I’m used to being in the spotlight. It happened when Caleb was recruited and they thought I was a bunny,” she says with a roll of her eyes and a gag.
Snorting at the memory and how disgusted both Ellington siblings were, I lean forward and lower my voice. “This is different, though.”
“It’s a witch hunt.”
That’s one way of putting it.
Her hand slides along my thigh, my skin instantly pebbling, heat rushing through my veins. Swallowing the lump of emotion in my throat, Evie keeps her hand on me, her touch marking me as hers.
The corner of her lip twitches. “You can take the kiddie gloves off, Valenti. I can hold my own.”
“Are you sure? Because—”
“I swear it.”
The buzz of the bar fades. The lights, the sounds, the people, the chatter—everything disappears and all I can see is her sitting in front of me.
Every pretense I had of trying to protect her from the chaos of my high-profile job goes out the window as she leans farther into my space and whispers against my ear, “Now stop being a gentleman and kiss me.”
“I’ll never have to be told that twice,” I say darkly before sliding my hand into her hair and pulling her against my lips.
Somewhere in the background I hear cheers and whistles but I can’t find a single fuck to give.
Not when the woman I love has her lips against my own, not when her hand snaps out and fists my shirt, pulling me closer to her, and certainly not when I slide my tongue against hers and feel her moan against me.
I rip myself off her purely because I know we can’t get carried away and I’m one second away from dragging her out of here. I’m heaving, my forehead pressed against hers as I squeeze my eyes shut in pain.
“About time you started getting more handsy with our girl,” Cindy murmurs across the booth.
All I can manage to do is grunt, the sound earning chuckles from around the table.
“There’s our moody bastard. I was worried you went soft on us.”
That has my head pulling back so I can glare at Johnson.
“Hey, don’t rain on his happy parade,” Kieran chimes in, arm firmly wrapped around Layla’s middle as she sits on his lap. Johnson just shakes his head before taking a swig of his beer.
Irving, Lewis, and Mitchel sidle over to the booth, each carrying towers of beer. My brows pull down into a frown.
O’Connor jumps in for me. “Ah, wrong table, guys. Heavy drinkers to the right.”
Irving gives everyone his classic puppy dog look. “But we never party together anymore.” Clutching his chest, he all but whines, “It hurts my feelings, guys.”
Bella places a hand on Grayson’s chest. “Well, Grayson is out for obvious reasons.”
Irving swings those eyes toward me and all I have to do is grunt with a simple head shake before he moves on to Kieran.
He lifts his beer in the air. “I’m limiting myself to one. Layla and I are taking Emmy camping tomorrow.”
“Ooh, which mountain?” Evie asks beside me.
Kieran and Evie fall into conversation about camping, all the while I watch as the veins in Johnson’s veins begin to protrude as Irving yaps behind him, trying to coax everyone into a bigger night than we all want.
Johnson silently mimics him, his eyes rolling so much I’m waiting for them to get stuck.
Evie effectively derails the shit show as she pipes up, addressing the table. “Before I forget, I’m having a small birthday dinner at a restaurant downtown this Sunday. Would you guys like to come?”
“Would I like to come?” Irving scoffs. “What a stupid question. Of course I want to come!”
Snorting at Irving’s dramatic acceptance, everyone chimes in their agreement, saying they’ll be there. All except for the one person that should be here right now. Craning my neck, I try to seek Caleb out in the bar but can’t find him anywhere.
“When’s the big day?” Grayson asks.
“Monday.”
“She’s finally entering her quarter-life crisis along with us,” Cindy teases. “Welcome to the over-twenty-five gang.”
Evie chuckles. “Thanks, Cin.”
Mitchel throws his hands in the air. “Can we go back to our problem now? What are we supposed to do, drink by ourselves?”
Irving pulls a disgruntled face as if Mitchel just said the dumbest thing in the world.
O’Connor juts his chin. “There’s a group of bunnies in the corner that look pretty lonely. You should—"
Irving snatches his large tower of beer before O’Connor even finishes his sentence. “Come on, grumpy bastard!” he calls over his shoulder at Johnson. “Show us how young you think you still are!”
Mitchel and Lewis burst out laughing as Johnson slams his empty beer bottle on the table, standing swiftly. “That’s it, I’m going to strangle him,” he grumbles under his breath.
Mitchel and Lewis snatch their own beer towers before hightailing it after Irving and Johnson, no doubt ready for a night of pure entertainment with those two.
Kieran whistles. “They’re going to give Johnson a heart attack.”
“I don’t know. One of these days Johnson is going to knock Irving on his ass,” Bella says.
“One of these days?” I chime in. “He already has in practice. I can’t even count how many times we’ve had to get Johnson off him.”
Bella’s eyes widen. “Really?” She playfully whacks Grayson on his chest. “You never told me they get into fights!”
Wincing, he rubs his chest, the gold band around his wedding finger shining off the lights. He told everyone that he wants the world to know he’s engaged, too. He proudly flaunts it, taking every opportunity he can to talk about the wedding he and Bella are planning.
“Usually I want to talk about other things,” he mumbles, and that’s when I tune them out, turning my focus to Evie and where she’s currently looking.
She’s spotted a group of girls at another table, all wearing similar expressions of disgust, as if they sucked on lemons. As I kiss the top of Evie’s head, she pulls her attention back to me. “How is your body feeling? You hit them pretty hard tonight.”
Now it’s my turn to wince. “Yeah, not my finest moment.”
Her hand finds its way back to my thigh, squeezing. “Are you okay?” she asks.
The noise of the bar fades once more, my friends around the booth disappearing as I look at the most beautiful woman in the world. Thick black lashes blink up at me, my jersey proudly on her skin making my heart leap and jump in bounds.
“Yeah, I’m okay, Dove,” I whisper. More than okay with her tucked into my side.
Her eyes flick to somewhere over my shoulder, her smile and the peaceful expression fading in an instant. Turning, I find why. Caleb stands in the archway leading to the back parking lot and bathrooms. He’s looking at my arm around his sister and at the booth with all his friends coupled up.
“Caleb,” I call out, but he just shakes his head and walks deeper into the bar, ignoring me entirely.