Chapter 14
Fourteen
Faye
I gasp, hand coming to my throat, banging my elbow against the door a second time.
This time, already sore, already open and raw and completely confused (and also scared that if I let go, even a little bit, give in to this fantasy, that I’ll lose myself…and end up alone—only this time with a broken heart) a gasp of pain escapes me.
“Fucking hell,” Gray mutters, shoving open his door and unfolding his big, strong frame from the car. “Smitty, you scared her.”
His tone is deadly, and even not directed at me, a shiver skates down my spine.
Then I’m cradling my splinted arm, watching, soaking up his graceful movements as he storms around the hood of the car, moves to the big, bearded man who knocked on my window, plants a hand in the middle of his chest, and shoves him back.
Hard enough that the big, bearded man who’s several inches taller and definitely quite a few pounds heavier (this being from his strongly muscled frame) goes back on a foot.
Then straightens, his face going stony.
“What the fuck, Smitty?” Gray growls, apparently not worried in the least about the expression on the other man’s—apparently Smitty’s—face.
“Dude,” Smitty says and it’s so loud that I jump again. “Chill.”
“Keep your voice down.” Gray’s gaze slices to me. “You’re still scaring her.”
Smitty’s head whips my direction and his expression goes blank for a moment, something flickering through his eyes. But his voice is softer, almost gentle when he dips his chin my direction and says, “Sorry.”
“Great,” Gray mutters. “Apology accepted. Now back up. Faye needs to get inside so she can rest.”
Smitty nods again and retreats a few paces, giving Gray enough space to open my door. “You good?” he asks softly as he reaches over me and unbuckles my seat belt.
Good?
He’s reaching over me, his fingers at my hip, his spicy male scent in my nose?
I’m firmly in fantasy land.
And I don’t think I’m going to be strong enough to leave it any time soon.
He helps me out, starts leading me up the driveway and toward his front door without preamble…like formal introductions. “The asshole is nosy and gossips like an old granny—“
“Make that plural. As in grannies,” Smitty says and though it’s slid in the category of speaking rather than yelling, it’s definitely still much louder than a normal person would speak, thus, I jump again.
Which makes Gray scowl, also again.
Or maybe he’s glowering because when I turn around I see there’s not one big, bearded man behind me, but four.
Umm…
Before Gray or I can say anything, a hand appears from behind Smitty, pressing into his side, and though it’s a delicate, feminine hand, one that seems almost breakable, the light touch it gives shifts him effortlessly.
Like the woman who’s appeared behind him is parting the Red Sea.
“Hi, Faye,” she says as softly as Smitty spoke loudly, “I’m Kailey.”
We make our introductions and she smiles. It’s sweet, so sweet I know why the big, bearded man adores her. It’s clear in the way he looks at her, how he loops an arm around her waist, drawing her into his side, how he presses his lips to the top of her head.
More book fodder.
More fantasy world.
Because Gray’s come close too.
And though he doesn’t snake his arm around me, he does settle his palm on the base of my spine.
“Faye is going to rest now,” he says. “Go away.”
Kailey’s lips twitch but she doesn’t speak.
Nope, that honor is given to the woman behind her, a pretty brunette with a great smile and gorgeous gray eyes. “I’m Luna. You met Kailey and that big brute—”
“Hey!” Smitty protests.
My lips twitch when Luna goes on, unperturbed, hitching her head over her shoulder at a gorgeous man with green eyes behind her.
“My husband, Aiden.” Another hitch toward another woman, or girl, really.
She’s in her late teens, at most, though her eyes put her as much older.
As though she’s seen far more than someone of her age should have seen. “That’s Bri. And those two goofballs—”
More “Hey!”s—this time from the other men.
“Are Leo and Ryan,” she continues, still not missing a beat.
I have the feeling this woman is a force to be reckoned with.
Then again, the men around us seem to be their own forces of nature too.
They need someone to reckon them.
Is that proper English? I think not. But I’d go to the mat with my editor about that one.
Leo and Ryan definitely need some reckoning.
Of the feminine variety.
Gray too, I suppose, could use a woman in his life, one strong enough to go toe-to-toe with him.
I bat away the thought…and the slice of jealousy it invokes.
But before I can speak, Luna keeps talking. “All the boys play for the Grizzlies and they’re all”—a deliberate look at the men—“going to head out to the cars and unload the stuff we brought for Faye.”
Gray stiffens. “I—”
Her brows go up.
He sighs. “Fine,” he mutters, fingers stroking lightly over the base of my spine. “Make yourself at home,” he tells me. “I’ll be right back.”
Then he’s following the others out the door and off the porch.
While I’m standing, staring after him, wondering how much stuff these women I’ve only just met have brought and how the hell I’m going to repay them for their kindness.
And trying to ignore the fact that they’ll be in line behind Gray.
Because he’s already done so much…like saving my life.
“They really do have nice asses, don’t they?” Luna says on a sigh, looping her arm through mine and resting her head against my shoulder for a moment.
“Luna!” Kailey says, exasperated.
“Ew,” the girl mutters.
I turn to face Luna as she straightens, her mouth curved. “I was just saying what we were all thinking—well, all of us except for Bri, anyway. Though…” She lifts and drops on slender shoulder. “Who knows what might happen if a cute, young player joins the roster.”
Bri wrinkles her nose. “Ew.” A beat. “Also, I told you. I’m bi.”
“Great. That means you have double the dating pool, including the age-appropriate section of the Grizzlies’ roster.” Luna rubs her hands together. “Think of all the matchmaking possibilities that await you.”
“Luna,” Kailey begins.
“I’m not dating a hockey player,” Bri grumbles. “Not ever.”
“Damn right,” Aiden says as he pushes past us, his arms laden with bags.
My pulse begins pounding in my ears as I struggle to keep track of the conversation.
“Why not?” Luna demands. “Aiden is a hockey player and he’s great.”
“He’s the exception,” Bri replies. “Smitty is too,” she tells Kailey, who shoots her a small smile.
“Definitely agree,” Leo says, one hand gripping a mitt-ful of bags. The other he uses to ruffle Bri’s hair.
Hair she quickly attempts to right.
Then fails because Ryan’s a step behind Leo and he does his own ruffling.
“No dating hockey players,” he says, carrying in his handful of bags.
Luna rolls her eyes, opens her mouth—
“Did I hear matchmaking?” Smitty booms, both arms laden with bags.
I jump.
Kailey sighs.
Gray growls as he carries his own load past me.
Meanwhile, I’m pin balling back and forth, trying to track the conversation, the bags, the entries and exits, the teasing and relationships, and knowing an instant later, that I’ll never be able to.
There’s too much history.
No, it’s just that it’s all too much.
The voices blur around me, I waver as dizziness washes over me.
I can’t do this.
I need to go.
Need my quiet.
Need my space.
Need to remind myself that I don’t have a big, loud, albeit clearly loving family.
I’m alone.
Always. Forever.
And that’s the only way this is going to end.