17. Nash
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
NASH
“ H ow’s your ankle feeling?” Caleb asks me as he skates beside me at the end of practice. “Do you think you’re ready to get back into the game tomorrow?”
It’s been two weeks since my injury and even though I don’t feel back to one hundred percent, I’m close enough. I’ve spent enough time rehabbing it and missing games. We’re starting to get closer to playoffs and although we’re currently the number one seed, that can easily change. We still have plenty of games before playoffs start and it’s a hard position to maintain.
All it takes is some fucked-up games and not gaining points to set you back further.
“I’m ready,” I tell him, nodding as we reach the bench. “It’s still sore, but nothing I can’t play through. It’s definitely feeling better than it was.”
“Good,” Caleb says, his lips forming a straight line, never giving anything away, as usual. His brother skates up, along with Rowan, as practice has finished. “We need you back on the ice.”
“You’re coming back tomorrow, right?” Carson chimes in as we all head off the ice and back to the locker room. Lincoln meets us there, dropping down onto the bench next to me.
“Yeah, I’ve been cleared to come back if I feel like my ankle can tolerate it.”
“Well, try not to get hit again,” Lincoln says matter-of-factly, like it’s that fucking easy. He, of all people, should know things don’t work that way. The game moves so damn fast, you never know what is going to end up happening.
“All right, boys.” Coach Landry’s loud voice echoes through the room as he steps into the doorway. “I will see each of you here tomorrow for our morning skate.” He looks directly at me. “Don’t be late.”
He’s referencing last week when I showed up late after running back to Riley’s house for my phone. The morning she was in the tub. The morning where I’m pretty fucking certain I heard her moaning in the bath. She claimed she hit her foot, but if I was hearing correctly, it almost sounded like she said my name.
I shake away the memory, although it’s one I can’t seem to get rid of. I’m dying to know if my ears were betraying me or not. I’m dying to know what the hell she was actually doing in there. My cock twitches at the possibilities.
“Earth to Nash.”
The room comes back into focus and I glance up at Ford who’s standing directly in front of me. “What?”
He purses his lips but doesn’t call me out on not paying attention. “Rowan and I were talking about going out tonight. Did you want to come too?”
I shake my head at the two of them as I think about Riley waiting for me at home. “I told Riley I would take her out to dinner tonight.”
Ford raises an eyebrow at me. “Are you still staying with her?”
“Yeah,” I admit, shrugging nonchalantly as I attempt to brush his curiosity off and rise to my feet. “I don’t think she should be alone, especially with her getting closer to the end of her pregnancy. I like being there to help her if she needs anything.”
“I can’t help but wonder what all you’re helping her with,” Rowan muses out loud, a chuckle following his comment.
Caleb stalks over to the two of them, hitting both of them in the back of the head. “Leave Simmons alone and mind your own fucking business,” he scolds them with a scowl. “You both need to grow up and find someone to occupy your time other than the women you both pick up from bars.”
Carson cuts his eyes at his brother. “We’re just giving him shit. None of it is harmful.”
Rowan grabs Carson’s arm, giving him a look that says to not start with his brother. The two of them are either getting along or arguing about something.
It’s been four years since Caleb lost his wife and as a single dad, he’s solely been focused on his career and his little girl. He already lived through the sleeping around phase that Carson and Rowan are still stuck in. Caleb found a woman he loved, married her, had a baby with her, and then lost her all within a three-year period.
He values the time and the moments he has a little more than his younger brother.
“Sorry, Nash,” Carson apologizes, giving me a small smile. “I’m glad Riley has you there to help her. Rowan and I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”
“Yeah, I was just kidding,” Rowan adds in, shrugging as he glances around the room, but no one else saw Caleb snap at the two of them. “I know you’re helping her with a lot… and maybe helping her with your dick too.”
Caleb slaps him in the back of the head again and Carson bites back a laugh, shaking his head as he ducks away from his brother. “You guys are both assholes.”
I can’t help it as I laugh at both of them, giving them both the middle finger. “I’ll see you losers in the morning. Try not to catch any STIs while you’re out tonight.”
“I make no promises, but I’ll try!” Carson calls out to me as I head out of the locker room, leaving them behind.
Not long ago, I would have been right there with them. I never brought home women the way the two of them do, but I was never opposed to a random hookup here and there. So much has changed in the past few months, and it’s not something I would even consider now. The women from my past, they never meant anything anyway. They were all just a distraction to keep me from going after what my heart really desired.
And now that I finally have my chance, I will not fuck it up.
***
“How do you feel about delivery and a movie instead?”
I look over at Riley as she comes into the kitchen, stifling a yawn. “I want to do whatever you want to do.”
“As much as I would love to go to dinner, staying on the couch in sweats sounds amazing.”
Smiling, I pull my phone from my pocket. “Where did you have in mind?”
“Ph??” she suggests, raising an eyebrow. “The baby really wants some.”
A string of laughter falls from my lips. “Oh, does he? Did he tell you that?”
Riley’s face lights up as she nods and I swear to God, my heart practically falls out of my chest at the happiness radiating from her. “He did, actually.”
“Ph? it is,” I tell her, pulling up a menu on my phone. I add what I want to the cart, along with what she always gets, before handing it to her to double-check. Her eyes scan the phone, something dancing in her irises as she nods and hands it back to me to finish the order.
Two hours later, we’re both on the couch with empty Pho bowls on the table and rolling credits of the movie. We settled on a rom-com Lincoln told me about one day, and the highlight of my day was getting to listen to Riley laugh.
Riley turns to look at me, adjusting herself to a seated position as she lets out a yawn. “Thank you for tonight,” she says with a smile as she moves her blanket around herself. She was lying on one side of the sectional while I was on the side that met it. So close, yet I was hesitant to touch her. Hesitant to scare her away. “I needed that.”
“Always, Ry,” I tell her, turning on the couch to face her. “Whatever you need, I’m always here.”
Her lips turn downward and a touch of sadness lingers in her gaze. “What happens when you’re not here?”
“What do you mean?”
She motions to my ankle. “Well, you were staying with me while you were healing. You’re back to playing tomorrow, so I imagine you’ll be going home?”
I stare at her for a moment, my eyes slowly searching hers, scanning her expression before resting on her gaze again. “Do you want me to stay?”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking,” I retort, swallowing hard over the emotion and hope lodged in my throat. I don’t want to go. I’ve grown used to spending my evenings with her—most nights falling asleep on the same couch as her. “Tell me to stay, Riley.”
“Stay with me,” she breathes, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
Instinctively, I move closer to her, wrapping my arms around her body as I pull her against my chest. “I’m not going anywhere, Riley. I’ve always been right here.”
She pulls back, just enough to look up at my face as she scans my eyes, her expression unreadable. “You have, haven’t you?”
“I have,” I confess, with so much meaning behind those two simple words. “I always will be.”
Riley moves closer to me, wrapping her arms around me as she curls into my body. I don’t know how long we stay like that until I hear her breathing grow soft and even as she drifts asleep against me. I relish the way she feels, in her warmth and familiarity.
And the way she’s nestling herself deep inside my heart.