16. Levi
CHAPTER 16
LEVI
“All I know is that I need a shower and to nap for at least the next two to three business days,” Cooper says as he slumps down on the bench in the locker room.
“Fucking same,” I groan. “I don’t think I’ve had my ass kicked like this since I was a damn rookie down in the AHL.”
We’re covered in sweat after Coach had us running drills for most of practice then ended it with bag skating until the whole lot of us were practically dying for water and the need to pass out. Needless to say, we are fucking exhausted. Apparently, Coach isn’t impressed with the way we’ve been playing, saying we haven’t been “playing as a team,” even though we have been doing pretty much everything right. I mean, we’ve been doing the damn thing. I’ve already scored a hat trick, and Cooper has been killing it, damn near getting his first shutout of the season—fuckers scored with three seconds left to ruin it, but we still won four to one. Yet even that wasn’t sufficient enough to keep Coach off our backs.
“What do you mean? I feel like I could keep skating for the rest of the day,” Jax says as he finally makes his way into the locker room after getting chewed out by Coach for skating too slow.
“Oh, fuck all the way off,” Nash groans as he takes his skates off and starts grabbing shit from his locker for a shower. “You’re just saying that because you didn’t actually work hard, so you still have fucking energy. Some of us skated our asses off and don’t have anything left in the tank, which is why we didn’t get yelled at by Coach.”
“Not my fault I don’t have a baby bitch energy tank.” Jax winks before practically skipping off to the showers. “You’ll be strong like me one of these days,” he sing-songs before disappearing.
Fucker.
“Y’all still coming over later?” I ask as I throw my sweats and sweatshirt back on after I get done drying off from my shower. The only thing I want right now is comfort and to get back home to see Quinn.
“Duh. It’s video game night,” Nash says before walking off, Asher and Cooper both agreeing as they finish getting their shit together.
“Awesome” I tell them before grabbing the rest of my things.
Part of me wishes they didn’t want to, that they were too tired and just wanted to crash, so I could go home and have Quinn all to myself. But unfortunately, I have to share her with my friends. Her time, I mean—definitely not her .
She didn’t have to come in today because another trainer had the day’s appointments, so she was able to spend her time at home getting stuff done and relaxing, which I think was good for her. When our previous head coach and Coach Ronnie switched jobs, they both chose to bring their Head Trainers, and when Coach Ronnie’s previous one decided to retire, he negotiated to bring Quinn.
She earned the position, had all the credentials and background for the position, but it’s sometimes hard to convince people to hire younger candidates, especially when they are in a managerial role. Thankfully they did, because although being the Head Trainer means she’s in charge of all the other trainers on staff, and it may come with a slight learning curve, she’s been doing it so well.
I feel like we’ve fallen into a little rhythm ever since we went bowling last week, sort of like that day and night were the catalysts that pushed us into some unknown territory. It hasn’t been a huge shift…well, except for her giving me the best blowjob of my life. Yeah, that night was fantastic. But nothing else has happened since then, unless you count holding hands and a casual peck here and there at work. Still, everything just feels...different.
Before that day, I was so sure that we were fake dating for the public eye, just to help us both out. What I didn’t realize was that, the entire time, Quinn had known the real reasons I tried to stay in Nashville. Not only did she keep those reasons a secret, but she also went to bat for me, tried to help me out, even when I turned down her offer.
Knowing she was doing that for me with zero expectation for her to do so…it meant more than I realized and definitely helped give me the push I needed. That night, everything changed in my mind. It was when we went from fake dating in the public eye and sort of being friends, to fake dating in public with real fooling around in private.
It wasn’t only the fooling around aspect that changed for me either. It felt like I no longer had to pretend—at all—when it came to being around Quinn. Things were easy, relaxed, and I liked spending time with her.
It’s almost scary.
I keep getting this feeling that something is going to happen, that the other shoe is going to drop, and I’m going to be left on my ass with a broken heart. I know I should be putting my guard up, but I’m tired of it. It’s exhausting to feel like I have to constantly shield myself, and I’m at the point with Quinn where I think it’s taking more of a toll on me to hold myself back than it would to just give it a shot.
But getting myself to actually follow through with it?
That’s another story.
* * *
“Will someone come revive me? I just got fucking surrounded again,” Cooper groans from his bean bag chair.
“On it,” Nash says as he runs across the map to get Coop.
“Thanks, man, I keep fucking dying and it’s pissing me the fuck off,” Cooper says, and I laugh.
We’ve been playing video games for the last hour or so, something we try to fit in at least a couple of times a month if our schedules allow it. It’s always a shit show when it’s hockey season, but we try to figure it out.
Tonight, Jax wasn’t able to make it, which actually makes things easier since there are only four people allowed in a party for this game. Usually, it’s Cooper who has to bail, but that’s just because his schedule is more than any of us have to manage—he’s a dad to little Lucas who is his entire life, so sometimes it’s hard to get him to spend more time with us. Thankfully Hailey, Lucas’s aunt, is his nanny, so we can steal him away every once in a while.
But tonight it works with four because now we don’t have to take turns like we normally do. We always make it work, especially since one of us is always fucking off to the kitchen, on the phone, or just completely sidetracked and telling a story. So we just switch off when that happens.
Quinn got home about half an hour ago and laughed when she saw us all slumped around the TV room, headsets on, snacks and drinks spread around while shooting shit and cussing at the screens.
I’m sure we looked ridiculous, so I’m glad all we got was a laugh before she slipped off toward the kitchen. I wanted to follow her out of the room, wrap her in my arms, kiss her, and ask her how her day was, but I was afraid of freaking her out. I’m terrified of making this something she doesn’t want so I’m thankful that I was in the middle of a game, forced to keep my ass in this seat.
I’ve been thinking and overthinking the other night because, apparently, watching her suck me off in the back of my truck after swapping personal stories was all it took to shift my outlook enough to see that maybe she might actually be interested in more of me than just my dick.
“Let’s find the exfiltration point on the map after this round. I need to piss and grab a snack before my stomach eats itself,” Asher says as the round switches, and we can finally leave this place.
“I’m in,” I tell them, ready to go find Q.
But she must hear my thoughts because right as we leave the map, she walks into the TV room with the biggest tray of nachos I’ve ever seen in my life, complete with bowls of all the fixings you could think of, including homemade guacamole.
“What’s all that?” I say, setting my controller down as the game ends.
“Food. You guys looked like you could use some fuel, and I’ve been craving nachos since the other night, so I whipped some up,” she says.
“Nachos? I love nachos,” Cooper says as he jumps up to grab a chip, looking at Quinn with a cheesy smile. “Will you marry me?”
I wanna punch him, but thankfully, Nash smacks him upside the back of his head.
“Let’s not give Levi a reason to get in another fight. We all know how much it pisses Coach off when he gets rowdy,” Nash lectures, always the peacekeeper. But in this case, he’s not wrong.
Before Coach left for California years ago, I had pissed him off a bit when I got into a bunch of fights. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but he was really pissed when we lost a playoff game after we got scored on in the last two minutes because I was in the sin bin.
“Aw, don’t hate me, Lev,” Cooper says with a smirk. “Food is the way to my heart. We all know how much I love to eat.”
Quinn laughs as she passes out plates to everyone and then digs in, getting herself a giant pile of nachos and guac. Before she can move to the other couch, I pull her onto my lap, plate of nachos and all, and she squeals.
“What’re you doing?” she whispers as I pull her closer, reaching around to grab a nacho.
“I’m hungry,” I tell her with a shrug before looking at the guys around us, all staring like we’re crazy.
I forget sometimes that they know this is fake, so us showing affection around them like this is probably weird. I also forget that I still haven’t talked to them about how I think things are changing between us. It’s not that I don’t want to talk to them, I just…I’m not sure I can handle it if they tell me they don’t think she’s as interested in me as I am in her.
If my best friends told me that, it’d be fucking hard for me to ignore, because hearing them say that would be the final nail in the coffin of my hope for there ever truly being an “us.”
“What are you guys staring at?” I ask as I grab another nacho. Quinn’s body is still pressed against mine, and I can feel her stiffness as she looks around at them.
“That’s a good question,” Nash says, tilting his head to the side and squinting his eyes just a bit. “What are we staring at?”
Quinn’s body tenses a bit more, but I keep my arm wrapped around her stomach, holding her to me while her hands clutch the plate of nachos as if she’s afraid they’ll disappear. I can only imagine she looks like a deer in headlights right now.
Fucking hell, I should’ve known they’d act like this. The only time they act smooth is when it’s for a hookup, but I’ve never been on the receiving end of that. Hell, I think the only women they’ve ever truly seen me around are Quinn and Ally, as fucked up as that is. But whenever they’ve seen Quinn and me together, they’ve known what we were—two friends who liked to fuck and could tolerate spending time together.
It’s never actually been just a booty call, but this…pulling her into my lap, at home…yeah, I can see why this might be a little out of the ordinary. Still, they could’ve at least helped me out a bit and played it cool.
“I’m hungry.” I shrug.
“For nachos, or for Qui—” Cooper starts.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, why are you bringing me into this?” Quinn cuts him off nervously as she tries to stand up, but I don’t let her. She’s too comfortable on my lap, plus she has the nachos.
Bonus points for the fact that she’s covering the semi in my pants from her ass pressing against my cock.
Asher chuckles. “We’re not the ones sitting in Levi’s lap, and we aren’t holding onto our ‘fake girlfriend,’” he says, air quotes and all.
Asshole.
“I’m holding onto my food,” I laugh as I reach for another chip and scoop up some guac, trying to lighten the mood so Quinn doesn’t get uncomfortable.
I need to talk to her, feel things out a bit more, even though what I really want to do is claim her in front of everyone and let them all know she’s mine.
“Enlighten us on whether you’re implying the nachos…or the girl,” Cooper adds.
“Cooper,” I growl.
Quinn leans back into me, her ass pressing firmly against my hard on, and based on her little exhale, she can definitely feel it.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Cooper,” Quinn says, surprising me. “Levi doesn’t have a big appetite, so he obviously means the nachos.”
The fuck?
The guys chuckle as Quinn looks up at me with a devilish grin.
“Called out,” Nash says with a laugh.
“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean, Q?” I ask, and she just shrugs.
“I’m not saying anything bad,” she says, wiggling her hips just enough to tease me. “One of us just has a bigger…appetite than the other.”
Here I am, worried about her getting uncomfortable, while she’s giving me shit for the other night. The night she had my cock shoved down her throat while a man nearly caught us. She’s not wrong; she definitely had a bigger appetite that night, at least in actions. I wanted to flip her over in the bed of my truck and make her scream, regardless of the man approaching us. Hell, he could’ve watched for all I cared at that point.
But that’s not what I wanted tonight.
Tonight, she is all mine.
“Is that so?” I growl, my free hand moving the plate of nachos from her hands to the side table, her eyes locked on mine.
“I mean,” she whispers, “if my memory serves me right, my point was proven just the other night.”
“I feel like there’s a story there,” Cooper says, his nosiness annoying me right now. Both Asher and Nash agree, and Quinn smirks just as I stand up, hoisting her up over my shoulder effortlessly.
“We’ll be back,” I tell them.
“Where are you going?” Asher asks.
“To eat.”