18. Brayden
brAYDEN
By the time we got home, my body was screaming. Knee throbbing. Shoulder tight. Knuckles bruised. Heart exhausted.
Myla went straight to her room. Seven trotted after her and then doubled back, jumping on my bed long enough to nuzzle my hand, like she knew I needed it.
“Good girl,” I whispered, scratching her ears before she padded away.
The house went quiet.
I lay there staring at the ceiling, replaying everything. The game. The fight. The garage. The bar. Myla’s shaky voice. Gavin’s bloody knuckles.
And somewhere between all that noise, my thoughts drifted to Karla.
Her laugh at the adoption event. How she’d hugged my sister like she mattered. The way she’d looked at me like I was more than just a jersey on the ice.
I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and unlocked it. Her name was already there in my contacts. I hovered my thumb over it, pulse starting to climb again. Maybe tonight wasn’t just about survival and scoreboard wins. Maybe it was the start of something else.
I opened our old text thread and stared at the empty message box, wondering how the hell to start.
Keep it simple, I told myself. Don’t overthink it.
I typed:
Hey you.
Then hit send before I could chicken out. The bubble whooshed away and my stomach dropped like I’d just been shoved face-first into the boards. Ridiculous. I fought grown men on blades of steel for a living—but texting a pretty girl made me break into a sweat.
Myla’s voice came through the door, muffled but amused. “I have frozen peas. Are you decent?”
I smirked. “Come on in.”
She tossed the cold bag and a dish towel at me. “Here you go, punk.”
“Thanks.” I patted the edge of the bed. “So… tonight was interesting.”
Myla sat, tucking her bad leg carefully to the side. “Yeah. Interesting is one word for it.”
“You kissed the captain of my team.” The words tasted weird in my mouth. Gavin Hayes—the biggest asshole I’d worked with—had his tongue on my sister. That alone should’ve caused an earthquake.
She shrugged. “You have to admit, the way you and him beat up Adam was pretty awesome. A kiss seems like a small price to pay for his chivalry.”
I snorted. “So, what do I get for mine?”
It was still strange, this version of Gavin. The one with depth. The one who didn’t hesitate to help Myla. The one who looked like he’d rip someone’s head off if they hurt her again.
“My unwavering love and devotion.” Myla nudged me with her elbow. “Now get some rest, old man.”
“Hey, Myla,” I said before she could shut the door.
She paused. “Yeah?”
“Are you really okay?” I needed the truth. Not the “I’m fine” she fed the world.
A tiny smile trembled onto her lips. “I will be. I’m just tired.”
“Goodnight, sis.”
She closed the door softly.
My phone buzzed in my hand. Before I even looked, my pulse spiked.
Karla: Hey! I was just thinking about you! Some game tonight.
Holy shit.
My chest tightened.
Me: You watched it?
Karla: Every freaking second. You fucking clocked that guy. Did he really lose teeth?
Me: Yeah… emotions got the better of me.
Karla: It was one of the most entertaining games I’ve ever watched.
I smirked.
Me: Are you some puck bunny or something? lol
Karla: Ha! Hardly. What are you up to? Shouldn’t you be celebrating that hat trick?
Me: If icing my knee and lying in bed counts as celebrating, I’m raging.
Karla: Sounds like a party.
My heartbeat thudded in my ears.
Me: I could use some company.
There. Bold. Stupid. Honest.
Karla: Well… I don’t want to brag, but all my friends say I’m GREAT company. And by all my friends, I mean… two. I know. Super popular.
I laughed out loud. God, she was funny without trying.
Me: Can’t argue with that, Miss Popular. Come join me? I could use a nurse for my wounds. I did get in two fights tonight.
Karla: Two? Did I miss part of the game?
Me: Long story. I’ll explain when you get here.
I sent my address before I could talk myself out of it.
And then I freaked out quietly inside my own head like an idiot.
I hadn’t been this nervous to have a girl over since high school. She wasn’t just some hookup. I didn’t even know what she was yet—but it already felt different. Deep. Dangerous in the good kind of way.
Before long, Karla was sitting on my bed, massaging my knee with some kind of icy-hot cream she called “hot cream,” which sounded sexual but burned like a hell-demon blessing my joints. Whatever it was, it worked. The throbbing eased.
She wiped her hands with a towel. “So are you going to fill me in on your epic evening, or am I supposed to guess?”
I rolled to my side so I could see her better. “Well, you saw the game. Gavin got a hat trick. We won.”
She nodded. “Yep.”
“What you didn’t see was Myla sitting next to the penalty box… with a date.”
Karla winced. “That’s why you looked so pissed in there.”
“Yep.” I let it all spill. Not the deep, broken shit—but the real shit. The simple version. The stuff I normally kept locked behind my ribs because I was too used to protecting everyone else. She listened like the story mattered. Like I mattered.
“It gets better,” I added, steadying my breath. “Her date turned into a fucking tool and tried to force himself on her.”
Karla’s hand flew to her chest. “Is she okay? Should I go check on her?”
She started to move, but I caught her wrist gently. “She’s fine. Sleeping.”
Karla relaxed and slid back into place.
“Long story short,” I said, “Gavin and I beat the crap out of him.”
She let out a breath. “Sounds like you had one hell of a night.”
“Hell of a shit show,” I corrected.
Her laugh was soft but full-bodied. “Yeah, that works too. I’ve got no heroic stories to match that. I just worked, then inhaled Chinese takeout while watching you on TV.”
“Your two friends were too busy to join you?” I teased.
Her cheeks turned pink. “Hey now. Don’t be jealous I have two whole friends.”
I couldn’t help it—I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. It was quick, instinctual, and somehow explosive. My mouth tingled when I pulled away.
A tiny smile curved her lips. “That was… really amazing.”
I shifted back, suddenly unsure. “I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming.”
She shook her head. “No. I just haven’t dated or kissed anyone since my ex. I’m glad it was you that… broke my streak.”
Then she knocked the wind out of me.
She swung a leg over and straddled my hips, grabbing my face with both hands and kissing me like she meant it.
My body moved on pure instinct. I rolled us over, even though my knee screamed like it was auditioning for a medical drama.
Didn’t care. Her lips were soft and addictive.
Her tongue tasted like mint and something sweeter I couldn’t place.
My fingers threaded into her hair. Everything in me wanted to let loose—to take, to devour—but something about her made me hit the brakes.
Karla wasn’t fragile. But she was breakable in the ways people who’ve survived real shit often are. I wasn’t going to rush this. I wasn’t going to ruin whatever the hell this could become.
“You’re an amazing kisser,” she whispered breathlessly.
“Was thinking the same thing,” I murmured, brushing a loose strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. My thumb skimmed her cheek and she leaned into it, eyes half-lidded like she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to kiss me again or crawl inside my chest and live there.
She tugged me back down, lips claiming mine with a hunger that damn near unraveled every bit of self-control I pretended to have. “I want you,” she whispered into my mouth, the words hot and soft and so damn sincere it nearly wrecked me.
Those three words hit like a puck to the sternum. Hard. Direct. No padding.
I felt it everywhere—low in my gut, in the back of my throat, in every tight, coiled muscle that suddenly didn’t know what the hell to do with itself.
Any other time, with any other woman, I would’ve let instinct take over.
I would’ve stopped thinking altogether. Just acted.
Taken. Given. Lost myself in the moment.
But restraint won out. For once in my reckless life, I wanted to slow down.
Not because I didn’t want her—God, I wanted her—but because there was something fragile underneath her bravado. Something that called to the protector in me louder than the part that wanted to bury myself in her sheets.
I rolled off her gently, pulling her tight against my chest. My heart hammered like I’d just sprinted a full-length drill. “There is nothing—nothing—I want more than to fuck you right now,” I said honestly, my voice rough with the truth, “but I can’t.”
She jerked away, confusion flashing across her face. “Please tell me you’re single.”
I sat up so fast my phone slid off the mattress and clattered to the floor. “Yes! Fuck yes, I’m single. That’s not it.”
Her breath hitched. “Then what?”
I raked a hand through my hair, trying to organize thoughts that were basically a fistfight in my skull. “I care about you. Like, really care. I want to date you. Get to know you. I don’t want this to be a one-night thing.”
Her shoulders slumped as relief washed over her face. “Jesus. You scared me.”
Something shifted in the room—quiet, but undeniable. Like the air thickened with possibility. Like everything in me—every piece I’d shoved into the back corner of my soul—finally snapped into alignment.
Karla wasn’t just another girl. She wasn’t even just a crush.
She was the first woman I’d wanted—really wanted—in a long damn time. And wanting her didn’t feel reckless. It felt… solid. Real. Like something I could build a life around if I didn’t screw it up.
“Karla,” I said softly, taking her hand in mine, “can I take you out Wednesday night? And then maybe a few more dates after that? And then—if you’re not sick of me—let me fuck you senseless once we’ve had a chance to actually build something real?”
Her smile could’ve powered the entire damn city. “I would like that.”
“Good. Me too.”
She leaned in and pressed a kiss to my cheek—slow, warm, lingering just long enough to short-circuit my brain. “I should go before I try to ruin your noble plan.”
I chuckled. “I mean… feel free to ruin it anytime.”
She smacked my arm lightly. “Goodnight, Brayden.”
“Goodnight, Karla.”
The door shut behind her, and I sank back into the pillows, staring up at the ceiling like an idiot who finally, finally let himself believe things might stop falling apart.
For the first time in a long damn time, I felt something that wasn’t anger or grief or exhaustion.
Hope.
Bright. Loud. Unignorable.
And it had blonde hair, a wicked smart mouth, and a smile that felt like it could completely destroy me… or save me.