Chapter 38
. . .
Will
Mason
What a motherfucking speech!!!
Silas
I’m on my third watch. For me, it’s the part when he taps his chest and talks about the compass he gave Drew. I actually cried a little.
Mason
Are you serious?
Silas
Yes. I mean … tears may have appeared.
Me
Fuck off, both of you.
Mason
Hey, I was being genuine.
Silas
Me too.
Tristan
Well, I think it was the biggest pile of horse crap I’ve ever witnessed. I’m going to bill you for the five minutes of my life I’ll never get back.
Me
Only because you wish you were as romantic as me.
Mason
Do we think Drew’s seen the video?
Me
I don’t know. I posted it an hour ago, and I haven’t heard anything as of yet. My best guess is, she’s still in the meeting with Colton. I sent him the video last night, hoping he would see it before making any rash decisions about her job.
Silas
And has he seen it?
Me
Yeah, but he didn’t reply to me.
Mason
I’m so anxious that I’m sweating.
Tristan
Moving on to more important topics. Which shampoo should I use tonight? Bourbon or fresh pine?
Me
So, that’s the overpowering smell I get whenever you’re around. My two cents: use whichever fragrance will best mask your jealousy, just go easy on the quantity for the sake of my nostril hair.
Silas
Moving on again … let us know how everything plays out, Will.
Mason
And preferably today. Christ, I haven’t been this stressed out since Ross mixed up Emily’s name on Friends and accidentally called her Rachel.
Mason
My single is showing, isn’t it?
Silas
Nothing wrong with Friends or being single. But for fuck’s sake, get yourself together, Mas.
Tristan
I don’t need an update since I don’t actually give a fuck.
Setting my phone down on the counter rather than biting back at Tristan like he wants me to, I head for the fridge but stop in my tracks and skid on the kitchen tiles when my cell starts vibrating.
I scramble to answer it.
“Drew?!” I exclaim, not knowing if it’s her, but praying anyway.
“No, it’s the other woman in your life.”
I slide onto one of the stools at my island and get comfortable.
We could be here a while.
“Did you see the video?” I ask.
Mom sniffles down the phone, voice barely above a whisper. “I did, and, oh my goodness, William, it was absolutely beautiful.”
“Tell him it was so cute that I puked a little in my mouth.” My sister’s sarcastic voice filters down the phone.
“June, don’t be so gross!” Mom scolds. “Don’t you have videos to edit for YouTube?”
June grumbles something I can’t make out before a door closes, and Mom continues speaking.
“First, you and your father kept the whole secret-dating thing from me, and now I wake up to find my son pouring his heart out to the whole world!”
I’m pretty sure if I were in the same room as her right now, she’d have her arms around me. I’m also pretty sure I have the best mom on the planet—and definitely the scariest.
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” I ask her, trying to sound like my whole fucking world isn’t falling apart.
She doesn’t need to witness her only son’s breakdown if I don’t hear from my girlfriend.
Mom puffs out a breath. “I don’t have any client meetings scheduled, and I’m trying to introduce one day a week for admin, I need to start taking it easy now I’m getting older and retirement looms. I’d actually get something done if your sister didn’t make so much goddamn noise.”
I attempt a pathetic laugh and check my phone when it vibrates.
Just a random email.
“Have you heard from her yet?” Mom softly questions.
I shake my head, knowing that Drew will be done with her meeting by now. “Nothing.”
“Will …” Mom’s shaky voice trails off. “Did you … did you really mean it when you said that you’d quit hockey if Drew’s career didn’t recover?”
I close my eyes, praying it will never come to that for us both, but mainly for Drew.
“Yes.”
I fully expect her to tell me I’m an idiot for making such a bold claim, so when she says, “I get it,” I open my eyes and stare straight ahead. “And I want you to know I have never been prouder of you than I was in that moment.”
Teeth dig into my lips as I press them together. I bite down harder, anything to prevent me from losing it on the phone.
That comes after Mom concludes that I’m okay.
“I anticipated this call to play out differently.” I chuckle without humor. “Like you telling me to issue an immediate statement, retracting my intention to quit if everything goes south for Drew.”
“Will, honey …” Mom releases a forlorn sigh. “Did you forget what your grandparents were like?”
I just growl at the memory of Mom’s evil parents, Violet and Henry.
“All I have ever wanted is for my children to be happy, to love and be loved in return. Nothing—not a career, money, or social status—should ever come before integrity and what’s morally right. And from a woman’s point of view …”
She sucks in a sharp breath, and I push back my stool, now pacing the living room with blurry eyes.
“Your statement was the perfect way to align your life with the woman who I just know you will marry one day. You showed that you two are a team and demonstrated her value in the most powerful way possible—you put your own heart and career on the line, just as she did for you. Your dad and I are so damn proud, and I know Jessie and Mia will be too. Even if he’s benched you, it’s because he has no choice but to follow team protocol. ”
“And you’re slightly less intolerable in my eyes too!” June announces, obviously having reentered the room to berate me in a way that tells me she cares.
We don’t need lengthy conversations about how each of us is feeling. We instinctively know what the other needs.
Twin love at its finest.
“Fuck off, JJ.” I half laugh, half sniff down the phone.
Walking over to the large window overlooking Seattle on a bright morning, I think about where my girl is right now, praying she’ll stay here and not force me to chase her to Vancouver again. Marley and dickface Greg probably don’t have room for my ass on a permanent basis.
“I love hockey, and I will always love it. But watching my girl’s dreams end while I continue with mine?
Yeah, no, that’s never going to happen. Every time I stepped onto the ice, I’d be thinking about the long nights Drew had worked herself into the ground.
How she commanded a conversation with a brand and the caring way she looked after her clients’ needs. She’s incredible, Mom.”
“You actually are your father.”
Despite the sick feeling of dread I can’t rid from my gut, I burst out laughing right as there’s a knock at my front door.
“Why do you say that?” I ask.
Mom just blows down the phone. “You’re a boy obsessed with a Rottweiler attitude and a powerful woman has you on your knees for her. Just make sure you don’t go and get her unexpectedly pregnant—your father has a habit of doing that too.”
Drew
There’s this moment in between Will opening the door and us locking eyes for the first time in several days that melts away all the tension pulling at every muscle in my body.
“Hey,” I say quietly. “I was hoping you’d be home.”
He doesn’t hesitate, stepping forward and dragging me by the hips until I’m pressed against him, only my black suit dress separating our skin since my jacket is unzipped.
He’s bare-chested and wearing dark green athletic shorts with the number twenty-five stamped across his right thigh, and I watch as the lines creased into Will’s forehead disappear.
“You once asked me if there was anything I couldn’t do.
” He loops his hands under my ass and lifts me until we’re nose-to-nose.
“Turns out, I’m fucking terrible at waiting for you, Drew.
” He spins us around and kicks his front door shut, walking us over to the kitchen counter, where he sets me down and cups my face in his hands.
“Do you know how difficult it’s been to keep away?
I’m not built to give you space. I’m built to serenade the shit out of you. ”
I throw my head back and giggle. “You’re being very presumptive, William.”
A rogue grin spreads across his face. “In what way?”
I drop my eyes to his tented shorts, thick biceps twitching when I run my palms along them. “Pulling me into your body and standing between my thighs in such a provocative way. I could be here to break up with you for being a careless douche and putting us both through hell.”
His top lip quirks, perfectly aware that I’m messing with him. “Then tell me to stop touching you.”
I say nothing, and he moves his lips closer to mine.
“Tell me not to kiss you.”
I inch my mouth forward.
“Say you aren’t mine, and I’ll step away and let you leave.”
My breath hitches, and he notices.
“No, you won’t. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to let us die.”
Somehow, his lips move even closer to mine.
“Is that what you truly believe? That I could never let you go?”
My body hums right before I whisper, “Yes.”
“Such a clever fucking girl.”
Will’s lips caress mine, languid movements of his tongue unraveling any last knots of anxiety. I came here to talk when, really, all I want to do is kiss him. I needed to be back in his arms after the worst few days of my life.
“I need to know,” Will whimpers against my lips. “Now that I don’t need to pull on my sneakers and chase you, I need to know what Colton said.”
I rest my forehead against his and smile because I can’t help it. It’s impossible to not feel happy whenever I’m around this boy.
“I’m still on a warning, although I remain employed. He asked for my laptop and fob so he could run security updates on them. He also changed up the passcodes to enter the office building because he’s smart, unlike someone I know.”
He pulls back, actual stars dancing in his eyes. “For real?”
I nod once and drop my head into Will’s chest, inhaling my favorite woodsy cologne that transports me back to Secluded Sips and endless hours of talking about nothing.
“I was convinced Colton would hand me a box of my things and show me the door. He didn’t.
” Chin resting on Will’s sternum, I gaze up at him.
“He said the video you’d posted didn’t change his decision to fire me because that was never his intention.
What it did was make it a whole lot easier to justify keeping me to the world.
Instead of hate and shitty messages and comments on First Line’s social media, people are reaching out with compassion and understanding.
They want to know when I’ll show up to a game, wearing your jersey. ”
I set a kiss against his chest. “What you did for me was incredible.”
Will cups the back of my head in his hand.
“No, it wasn’t, Drew. It was me doing what needed to be done.
What was right and what you were entitled to.
I might be a famous athlete, but I am nothing without you.
You and me”—he motions between us—“we are the strongest team I’ve ever been a part of, and if I’m not next to you on the roster, then I don’t want to be on anyone else’s.
And now that everyone knows how I feel about you”—he gives me a panty-melting wink—“you’re fair game for me to love indefinitely. ”
Taking the chain he gifted me between his fingers, I drop my chin down and admire the compass.
“Colton told me that when he first became a publicist, he had a secret relationship with his colleague. When it all came out, he discovered that she was only using him for referrals and so she could steal his ideas. His boss never fired him for misconduct. They gave him a second chance, and now he’s a successful CEO.
He also told me that you were a keeper, and he hopes you’ll stick around as a First Line client. ”
“So long as I don’t have to work with Lydia.”
I sneer at the mere mention of her name, feeling sure that she’s loving every minute of my anguish.
“Colton also spoke about taking you as his own client with me helping him behind the scenes. Your video sparked an influx of collaboration inquiries.” I set a hand on his shoulder.
“At the risk of your head growing even bigger, I think you might be more popular now than before people found out that we were dating.”
Will brushes his lips gently over mine. “Do you know what else is growing even bigger?”
“You’re actually insufferable at times—you know that?”
He takes my bottom lip between his teeth, slowly pulling my jacket down my back.
“I know, Baby. But do you think you could suffer my dick for a while? It’s gagging for you.”
When he nips at my pulse point, I know there’s only one bed I’m sleeping in tonight.
“I could probably stand it for a short time, I suppose.”
His hands glide up my thighs, dipping beneath my dress before they halt abruptly when he finds me bare.
“Drew.”
“William.”
“Did you wear panties to the meeting?”
I nod once, a mischievous expression overtaking my face. “Of course. I’m not totally inappropriate. I removed them while riding the elevator to your floor.”
He practically chokes on his own breath when I pull a black thong from my jacket pocket and hand them to him.
“I think you’ve turned me into a bad girl, Hotshot.”
Will brings my panties to his nose and inhales, eyelids fluttering closed.
“Show me.”