Chapter 30
We’re the last of the group to make it to the arena.
As I usher Aubrey in front of me, I keep a steady hand on her waist, not ready to let her go yet.
Even after spending the last hour in my car with her body straddling mine and our lips moving together until they grew sore and swollen, I want more.
Being here, a minute away from our closest friends noticing our arrival and hounding us with questions, still isn’t enough to get my dick to soften.
Pausing just inside the suite entrance, Aubrey turns to look at me over her shoulder. With her lips pursed, she looks adorably nervous. I tighten my hold, urging her to stand against my chest.
“What are you thinking about?” I murmur.
“Do you want to tell them?”
My heart swells in time with the music that pours from the stage, the opener already performing. “About which part? I’m pretty positive they’ll notice the moment we step out of the shadows.”
“Brielle knows. About the date,” she reveals, eyeing me cautiously like she’s half expecting me to get mad.
“So does Wes.”
Her features soften a bit. “Alright. And the rest?”
“If Wes hasn’t blabbed already, we can keep it to ourselves if that’s what you want.”
“I don’t want to hide anything,” she whispers, lifting a hand to stroke the collar of my shirt. “Not from our friends. They’re family.”
I lean down and drop my forehead to hers, inhaling a gruff breath. “I love hearing you say that.”
“It’s the truth. It’s not like I have a close relationship with my blood relatives. They mean more to me than anything.”
“Don’t make me jealous of my teammates, sweetheart.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re needy? Is that an only-child trait?” she teases, grazing her mouth across mine.
I grin against her lips before pulling one between my teeth and letting go with a snap. “That’s an ‘I’m obsessed with my best friend who also happens to be so, so far out of my league trait,’ and you know it.”
She draws a hand up my side while tucking her round nails beneath my collar, scratching at the skin beneath.
I nearly purr as the pleasure from her confident touch swirls like a whirlpool in my groin.
I’m testing the strength of my zipper as my cock stiffens further, seeming to grow bigger than it ever has.
The slight hitch in her breath tells me she can feel it when I press forward. “I’m not sure the two hundred thousand followers you have would agree with that sentiment.”
“And they’d be wrong,” I muse, palming the back of her head, my fingers threaded in her curly hair. “Not to mention jealous and lying straight through their teeth.”
I don’t have a clue who’s onstage right now, but the bright lights flashing across the arena reflect off her cheeks. The blue fades to white and dances over her black hair and down the length of her body, casting her in a glow that makes her look like an angel. One that I somehow got my hands on.
She lowers her eyelids to half-mast and tightens her hold on my side, groping the slabs of muscles I’ve spent years building. Her breath is hot against my mouth when she runs her eyes over my face, not stopping until she’s examined every inch.
“For the record, I don’t think I’m out of your league,” she says, her eyes glowing with the blue and white lights. The firm press of her palm now directly over my rib cage strikes me at the knees. “We’re perfectly matched. That’s why we’ve been best friends for so long.”
“You have me wrapped around your finger.”
She lets a soft laugh slip out. I inhale her scent and rub the silky strands of her hair between my fingers, tilting her head back.
Unable to stop myself, I mouth her jaw, then her pulse, teasing the hot skin with my teeth before sucking lightly.
She tastes as good as she smells, and I lose my head a bit, picking up her soft exhale through the chords of the song blasting around us.
“Finn.”
“Say my name again,” I plead, running my tongue up to her ear, sucking harder where I know she won’t have to hide my mark.
Her head falls to the side as she pulls me closer, her chest plastered to mine. “Finn.”
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep my hands off of you tonight.”
“Then don’t.”
Need pounds at my senses, trying to steal my focus. “Don’t tease me.”
“If we’re going to do this, I want to do it right. We’re already risking everything,” she breathes out, the words heavy with a similar pull that I feel.
“You can tell me to pause whenever you need.”
“I know.”
“Come to my place with me after this.”
Fuck. I watch her carefully, searching for a flinch or flash of regret, of panic. But as the drumbeat picks up and the lights fall to a deep pink, the only reaction I get is a quirk of her lips.
She slowly leans her head up and draws me away from her throat with her fingers around my nape. “Ask nicely.”
My cock twitches. “Please come home with me tonight, Aubrey.”
“I think I can do that.”
With a rough shake of my head, I pull her in for a final kiss, letting it last too long.
The moment her lips meet mine, I’m lost, drowning in her taste and the sudden onset of rightness that settles over me the moment we touch.
It’s almost pathetic how long I went without this, having convinced myself that every time I reached for her to pull her onto my lap or searched for her in the stands at a game was solely from friendship.
I don’t believe it was always like this, but after so many years, I’m positive I buried these feelings beneath the comfort of knowing that she was going to be in my life forever, regardless of her role in it. As long as I still had her, it didn’t matter.
Now, the thought of her going on another date with any other man makes me rabid. I kiss her harder now, and she meets me with vigour, our bodies tucked beneath a veil of darkness, like even the universe agrees with me right now and doesn’t want us to separate.
God, that’s so cheesy.
“Oh! Oh, wow. Uh—” Brielle’s voice cuts through my brain fog. It grows muted when she adds, “Yeah, they’re here! Just give them a second!”
I tense when we break apart, rocks filling my stomach at the thought of Aubrey changing her mind and pushing me off.
But instead, she bumps the tips of our noses and smooths a hand down my chest, taking that fear from me.
Her touch remains firm on my body, almost claiming, when she moves to my side, facing Brielle.
“Hey, Elle. Sorry we’re late.”
“It’s totally fine. I mean, at least it was for a good reason,” she says, and I can hear the smirk in her voice.
I keep my back to them for another few seconds and steady my breathing before turning around. Aubrey’s hand drops to my belt loop before she slips a finger through it.
“At least it wasn’t your brother that went looking for us.”
“Good point. He’d have taken his phone out and started recording. Maybe the two of you should thank me, actually,” Brielle suggests coyly.
Aubrey snorts. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“Well, you’re mine now, anyway. Sorry, Finny. I’ve waited extra long to dance with my bestie.”
I don’t have a chance to react before Brielle’s swooping in and hauling Aubrey away from me in a cloud of pink glitter and red hair.
My frown is immediate, even when my girl blows me a kiss over her shoulder and then disappears behind a wall.
The cheers that follow her appearance carry easily over the performer onstage.
With a sigh, I step out from the hiding spot.
The sight of my closest friends passing Aubrey around for hugs melts all the annoyance Brielle sparked.
It’s impossible to keep from smiling when even Asher stands from his stool at the small bar and envelops her in his arms. Despite the wiggle of barbaric jealousy that follows the friendly embrace, I make no move to interrupt when she squeezes him back.
It ends quickly, and then she’s rolling her eyes at something Wes says to her and tugging on his ear. He reaches up and swats her away when I start their way. My arrival is noticed by Kellan first, and he extends his hand to me before we shake and hug.
“Finally!” he shouts way too close to my ear. “We were debating sending a search party out.”
“And who would that have been?” I ask when we separate.
“Wes, of course.”
Beck slaps me on the back, having come up the stairs that lead to a group of leather seats.
I survey the rest of the suite, noting the typical Vancouver Warriors logo marked all over the leather stools and art pieces slung up on the dark walls.
It’s the same type of branding the Havoc have throughout our stadium.
One of the biggest differences between where the hockey team plays and where we do is that it’s a hell of a lot smaller and fits fewer people.
Yeah, I’m smug.
It only takes me half a breath to be able to tell that Wes is floating on quite a few drinks when I go to his side and grab the top of his head, jostling it. His groan fills the space, followed by a rough shove at my chest.
“Do you want me to barf on you?”
“Don’t tell me you’re already feeling sick,” I mutter, bending slightly to examine his face.
He blows a raspberry. “I’m not sick. I’m staaaaarving, and Rome won’t let us get food yet.”
My brows jump into my hairline. I do a quick sweep over the bare island where the usual catering is nowhere to be seen. “He’s here?”
“Yeah, surprising, right? I don’t know what made him drag his ass out with us, but he’s sitting down there right now. Apparently, he likes whoever it is up onstage.” Beck points past Wes’ head to the stairs.
“Who is it?”
“Hell if I know.” Beck shrugs before tipping his crystal glass back, finishing off whatever he was drinking.
Wes shakes his head, craning his head around to try and look at where Roman must be sitting. “Actually, he was an ass to my sister and then put himself in a time out chair.”
“To Brielle? I didn't think I was that oblivious,” Beck says.