12. Wren
WREN
Leave it to me to have bad luck even at an away game. Thankfully, Harlow was able to pitch in with the twins this weekend since my mom has to work tomorrow. The elevator doors slide open on the third floor, and none of us move.
Grayson clears his throat. “This is us.”
“Excellent.” I tear my gaze away from Kai’s reflection in the metal doors. “We’ve learned our numbers. Big night.”
Kai’s mouth twitches before he looks away.
Probably for the best. I have enough problems without finding his almost-smiles cute while my hotel-room situation falls apart.
Rain hammers the window at the end of the hallway, sleet ticking against the glass. The hotel smells like damp carpet and industrial cleaner, and half the rooms have hockey players standing outside them, arguing over luggage and keys.
The entire place feels one inconvenience away from collapsing.
I relate.
Grayson taps his key card against room 318 and pushes the door open.
Then stops.
Kai nearly walks into him. “What?”
Grayson steps aside.
One king bed sits in the middle of the room.
Not two queens. Not a pullout. Not even an uncomfortable chair wide enough to pretend it could support a human body.
One singular bed.
Grayson checks the number on the card sleeve. “They gave us a king too.”
“Maybe it separates,” I offer.
We all look at the single headboard.
“Right. Never mind.”
The adjoining door is on the far wall. Walking over to it, I open it and peek through, seeing a room that is nearly identical to the one I’m standing in.
Kai squeezes past me into my room and goes to test the door himself. He barely touches it, and it opens with almost zero pressure. “So it doesn’t even work at all, and they expect someone to stay in here with nothing but a flimsy-looking deadbolt keeping the door shut? I think the fuck not.”
“Kai.”
He gestures toward the door, visibly pissed on my behalf. “This is asking for something bad to happen.”
I give him a look. “The maintenance cart and giant sign in the hallway did give me that vibe.”
His attention moves to the chair, then the adjoining door. I can practically see him calculating whether the chair would hold beneath the handle and how quickly he could get through if something happened.
A knock on our door breaks up our discussion as Kai heads to open it. Standing in the hall is a man wearing a blue shirt.
“Uhm, hello,” the man says. “I’m Alex, and I work in the maintenance department.
There seems to have been some confusion on our part, as the room adjoining this one should not have been given out.
When we took apart the lock, we realized damage had been done to both the piece on the door as well as the one on the frame. ”
He continues, nervously swaying side to side slightly.
“We’re really sorry about that, but I’ll need you guys to shut the middle door and lock it, keeping it shut for the duration of your stay tonight.
We should have it fixed tomorrow, but according to the front desk, you all will be checked out by then. ”
Alex stands there awkwardly, which I can’t blame him for. Grayson and Kai would make quite an intimidating pair if you didn’t know they were harmless underneath their large frames.
He clears his throat. “Anyway, I told the clerk downstairs that I’d take care of this, since it was my mistake in not letting them know sooner. Have a good night.”
With that, he walks away down the hall. Kai closes the door, enveloping us in silence.
Grayson is the first to speak, still leaning against the connecting doorway. “I’ll bunk with Asher and Weston.”
Kai looks at him. “No.”
“Good talk,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“They already have two people in there,” Kai argues with Grayson, completely ignoring me.
Grayson nods. “And a pullout.”
I point to the chair in my room. “I can sleep in there.”
“No,” they both say immediately.
My eyebrows rise. “Excuse me?”
“You’re not sleeping in that room,” Kai says.
“No?”
I look at Grayson. “Is he always this pleasant on trips?”
He chuckles. “Only when he’s relaxed.”
Kai gives him a flat look.
Grayson pulls out his phone. “I’m going to Asher’s. Wren takes the bed. Kai takes the floor. Everyone survives, and no one else has to know.”
“Not too sure about that,” Kai says under his breath. Not too sure if he’s talking to himself or meant to say that out loud.
“I’d rather spend one night listening to Weston snore than watch you two argue about who gets to destroy their spine.”
He calls Asher and puts it on speaker before Kai can stop him.
“How attached are you to personal space?” Grayson asks when he answers.
Asher pauses. “Why?”
“Hotel gave us one king, and Calloway’s lock is broken. I’m moving in.”
Weston’s voice carries through the phone. “Tell Mercer I charge twenty dollars for matchmaking.”
Kai closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“The pullout is free,” Asher says.
“See you soon.” Grayson hangs up and grabs his duffel.
Then he looks at me. “You okay with this?”
The question catches me off guard.
Everyone has spent the last few minutes solving the problem, but he hands the decision back to me as though my answer matters.
Kai looks down at his bag, deliberately giving me room.
I could refuse. He would find another solution, even if it meant sitting in the hallway all night before playing tomorrow.
I look at the broken lock and then at him.
“It’s okay,” I say. “For one night.”
Kai’s gaze lifts to mine. “Okay.”
Grayson hands him the key card. “Don’t make it weird.”
Kai stares at him. “It’s already weird, dude.”
“I know.” Grayson glances at me. “Text Harlow if you need anything. She’ll threaten me until I fix it.”
At the door, Kai catches his duffel strap. “You sure?”
The teasing fades from Grayson’s face. “I’m sure.”
Something quiet passes between them before Grayson smiles again.
“Besides, Weston snores, but at least he doesn’t organize his clothes in order of how they go on.”
“Get out.”
Grayson leaves laughing.
The door shuts, and then it’s just me and Kai.
One room.
One bed.
One stretch of carpet that looks much too hard for a man playing hockey tomorrow.
I grab my bag before he can. “I’m changing.”
He steps back. “Okay.”
In the bathroom, I pull on leggings and an oversized sleep shirt, then study my reflection.
“You’re a calm professional.”
She looks unconvinced.
When I come out, Kai has unpacked his clothes, and his shoes are lined up neatly beside the dresser.
He’s changed into gray sweats and a white T-shirt.
My mouth goes dry instantly, and I quickly turn my attention to the chair. “You can take the bed, ya know. I’m not the one playing a game tomorrow.”
“Nah, I’ll be fine on the floor. I’ve slept in worse places.”
“Congratulations on your commitment to terrible choices.”
His mouth curves. “Not all of them were terrible.”
The air shifts, and I’d give anything to know what memory is replaying in his mind. The time when we fell asleep on a blanket in the small patch of trees behind his house? Or the time we slept on the trampoline, only to wake up completely soaked when the yard sprinklers went off.
Either way, we are wading right into dangerous waters. I turn toward my bag. “Dinner is in twenty minutes.”
“I know.”
“Great.”
“Great.”
We’re doing exceptionally well at not being weird.
Dinner is loud enough to save us.
The team crowds into the hotel restaurant while Coach attempts to contain the noise. Kai sits across the room with Grayson, Asher, and Weston, while I sit next to Donnelly and Sarah, the team’s physiotherapist traveling with us.
I catch Kai looking at me every few minutes, each glance lasting only a second.
After dinner, I help Donnelly check the equipment trunks for morning skate. By the time I get upstairs, my feet hurt and the hallway has gone quiet.
Kai opens the door before I knock.
“You were waiting there?”
“I heard you.”
“So you’re saying I sound like an elephant walking down the hall?”
He steps aside, ignoring my question. “Everything all set for tomorrow? How was the equipment?”
“Glamorous. I counted forty-seven rolls of tape and briefly considered moving into the storage closet.”
The bed has been turned down. An extra pillow and blanket are arranged neatly on the floor near the window.
My chest tightens.
“You really made a floor bed.”
“It’s fine.”
“There’s that word.”
His eyes meet mine.
Fine has always been Kai’s favorite way to avoid admitting something hurts.
I take my toothbrush into the bathroom before the look between us becomes anything else.
When I return, he’s sitting on the floor with his back against the bed, phone in one hand. The lamp softens his face, stripping away some of the control he wears around everyone else.
“What?” He looks tired, dark circles under his eyes making it clear something is bothering him enough to lose sleep, which is saying something, because as dedicated as Kai is, he’s equally dedicated to his sleep.
“Nothing.”
“That was a long nothing.”
“I was wondering whether your trainer knows you’re sleeping on the floor before a game.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “She doesn’t need to.”
“So that’s a no.”
“My hip is fine.”
“You adjusted it twice during dinner.”
He rolls his eyes, and I fold my arms. “You aren’t nearly as subtle as you think.”
“I’m subtle.”
“You organize your socks based on the activity they’re used for.”
Kai left a brown brow at me. “That has nothing to do with my hip.”
“It speaks to your general condition.”
A real smile almost breaks through.
The sight catches somewhere beneath my ribs.
I climb into bed before he notices.
“Goodnight, Wren.”
“You’re still being stupid.”
He turns off the lamp.
The room goes dark except for the gray light at the curtains. For several minutes, the only sounds are rain, the heater, and Kai shifting on the floor.
Then he exhales loudly. I open my eyes. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’ve been down there for five minutes.”
“Were you timing me?”
“No, I guessed.”
He shifts again, and the quiet sound that follows carries the unmistakable edge of pain.
I sit up and look over the mattress.