Chapter 42
Liam
“Hell yeah, first win of the season!”
“Way to kick it off, boys!”
“Go Wolves!”
We tell everyone thanks as we walk to a table in the back, where Aidan and Micah are sitting. They congratulate us on the win.
As soon as I sit down, Aidan smacks me on the back. “First goal of the game. And of the season. Nicely done.”
He hands me a beer, and I hold up my glass. “Thanks, dude. And thanks for coming out to watch the game when you and Micah have been so busy.”
“Of course. We wouldn’t miss it.”
Aidan comes to almost all my home games. When he and Micah got together, she started coming too. If we’re all free and feel up to it, we’ll meet for a drink after the game. Sometimes a few of my teammates join us too if they’re not busy.
Aidan pours beers for Mack Mason and Wes Casey. Everyone holds up their glasses.
“To starting off the season with a bang!” Mason hollers.
We all holler, tap our glasses, and sip our beers.
“Did I miss the toast?” I turn around when I hear Kendall’s voice.
When I see her standing there wearing my jersey, I almost pass out. Just like I did when I was on the ice and saw her.
When she asked if she could come to tonight’s game, I had no idea she was going to do this.
I just thought she wanted to watch me play, which meant the world.
She used to come to my games in college, until junior year.
When I started playing pro, she came to a couple of my games with Aidan, but she eventually stopped going.
So to see her tonight, wearing my jersey, cheering me on, makes me feel like the luckiest guy in the world.
I stand up and pull her close to me. “Nice jersey.”
Her smile is sweet and giddy all at once, like she couldn’t wait to show me. It makes my chest ache.
“You like it?” she asks.
“Fuck yeah, I like it.”
I can’t take my eyes off her. There’s probably some weird primal reason why I like seeing her wearing my name and number so much. I don’t care though. All I care is that this amazing woman is wearing my jersey for everyone to see.
“Every time you come to one of my games, I want you to wear my jersey.”
She beams. “Of course I will. I was thinking I’d wear it tonight too, when we’re in bed…”
Her voice is soft and low, so only I can hear her. Heat flashes in those beautiful saucer eyes. My dick twitches.
A feral noise rips from my throat. I cough to cover it up. A teasing smile plays on her lips.
Micah asks if Kendall wants a drink. She says sure.
I lower my mouth to her ear. “One drink and then I’m taking you home so I can fuck you while you wear my jersey.”
Kendall giggles and says “okay” before sitting between me and Micah.
I sit back down and take a sip of my beer in an attempt to cool off. Just thinking about all the filthy things I want to do to Kendall in my bed tonight has my entire body feeling like it’s on fire.
“So. You and Kendall finally worked out your differences, huh?” Aidan says.
I nod. “Yup.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“You two officially a thing?” he asks.
“We’re just having fun.” Even as I say it, it feels wrong. Because yeah, hooking up with Kendall is a fucking blast. But that’s not why I’m with her. I’m with her because I don’t want to be with anyone else.
When I look up at Aidan, I notice his gaze on me has turned focused. “So it’s not serious?”
I hesitate for a second. “We haven’t had that talk yet.”
He glances over at Kendall, who’s chatting and laughing with Micah, Wes, and Mack. He turns back to me. “Do you want it to be serious?”
I huff out a breath, annoyed at how nosy my older brother is being. “What’s with all the questions?”
He doesn’t say anything at first. He just looks at me and goes. “Huh.”
I frown. “What?”
“Every other time I’ve asked you about a woman you’ve been with or dated, you never reacted like this.”
“Like what?”
“Guarded. Like you don’t want to say how you really feel,” he says. “In the past, you always joked or played it off like you were only interested in a good time, nothing more. But that’s not how you are now. The way you’re acting with Kendall is different.”
I’m quiet for a moment. I didn’t even realize that.
“You like her, don’t you? You really like her. In a way you haven’t liked anyone before.”
I flick my beer glass. I huff out a breath. “Yeah. I do. And I want to get serious with her. But she’s not interested.”
I look away for a second, feeling weirdly vulnerable. I can talk to my brother about anything. But we’ve never talked about relationship stuff.
Aidan frowns. “I’m sorry. That sucks.”
“Yeah. It does.”
He looks like he’s about to say more, but then he looks down at his beer. I get pulled into a conversation with Mack and Wes.
A minute later, Kendall glances at me. There’s a teasing look in her eyes. She holds my gaze as she picks up her half-full glass and downs the rest of her beer.
She leans her mouth to my ear. “I wanna go to your place now.”
Raw desire swoops through me. I down my beer, grab her hand, and stand up.
“We’re taking off.” I lead Kendall out of the bar, take her to my car, and speed home.