Chapter 75
LINCOLN
Istand in the middle of a storage unit I’ve rented and take in everything we’ve done.
“She’s going to lose her mind over all of this, you know that, right?” Rett states beside me.
His flight leaves in just over an hour, so he really needs to get moving, but he wanted to come and help with this. I think it’s his way of apologizing for the past couple of days.
He may have accepted that Parker and I are a couple now, but he’s still in a dark place.
“It’s nothing,” I muse, nerves already running rampant as I think about Parker’s reaction.
“No, Linc. It’s everything. She’s going to love it. And hey, you never know, you might even get laid. Shit…no. Fuck. Forget I said that,” he rambles as he combs his fingers through his hair. “Fuck.”
I can’t help but chuckle.
“I do really love her,” I confess, the words tumbling out of me without instruction from my brain.
“Yeah,” he muses, dragging his hand down his face. “I can see that. She loves you too.”
“I hope so,” I say with a shrug, which I pray looks less vulnerable than it feels.
I hate being out of control. All my life, I’ve known exactly what I’ve been doing.
Playing in the NHL was the goal, and my sights were firmly set.
But suddenly, everything is different. Sure, the game is still there, along with the strict schedule and traveling, but Parker is there too, and she changes the dynamic of everything.
For the first time in my life, I don’t really know which way is up, and I fucking love it.
“What did Coach say to you last night?” I ask. The question has been nagging at me since the moment they appeared together in the friends and family suite.
James has always been somewhat of a mentor to all of us. Growing up, he was there for us with advice just as much as our fathers were.
Rett shrugs one shoulder. “Just some shit I really needed to hear.”
“Care to elaborate?” I hedge.
“Just the usual stuff.” As he says the words, I know he’s lying. But I don’t push for more. Rett will talk when he’s ready and not a second sooner. We just have to be patient and hope he doesn’t make us wait too long. The sooner he gets himself over this hump, the better.
“You should probably get going, or your coach will be ripping you a new one.”
A self-deprecating laugh erupts from him. “What’s new there?”
“Aw, he loves you really,” I tease.
“Hmm,” he mumbles as he gathers his stuff.
“You’re going to turn it around before the end of the season,” I tell him, trying to leave our time on a positive note.
“Maybe, but it’s a bit late now. We have no chance at the playoffs from the bottom of the division.”
He’s right. But there’s always next year.
“You guys are going to do it, though. It’s about time the Vipers got the cup.”
“Hell yeah, it is,” I cheer, only able to imagine what it’ll be like to live out that childhood dream. It’s just a shame we won’t do it together like we always talked about.
“Right, well. I’ll…uh…see you soon, I guess.”
“Yeah,” I mumble, my mood instantly souring.
Rett stalks toward the roller door we’ve opened with his duffel swung over his shoulder.
I watch him go with a heavy heart. I hate that he’s suffering and that there’s nothing I can do about it.
He’s about to walk out of the storage unit when I call for him.
He looks back, and his eyes widen when he sees me racing toward him.
“Wha—”
His question is cut off when I wrap my arms around him.
He tenses in my hold, but I don’t let go.
“Love you, man,” I say.
The last two days might have been some of the worst our friendship has seen, but how I feel about him will never change. One day soon, he might become my brother-in-law, but really, he’s always been my brother.
After a few seconds, he relaxes, and his arms wrap around me.
“Love you too, bro,” he says before we part.
His words have a lump of emotion crawling up my throat.
“I know you’ll take good care of her, and not just because I’ll kick your ass if you don’t.”
I scoff, but if the last two days have taught us anything, it’s that I’ll let him get his punches in if he deems them necessary.
“Thanks, man. I’ll do everything in my power to make her happy.”
I glance at my watch briefly. “Shit, you really need to go.”
“Jesus,” he mutters as he checks his cell and books a rideshare. “Talk to you later, man. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
The second he’s gone, the nerves really kick in.
“Fuck,” I breathe.
Casey and Alison picked Parker up from work earlier and have taken her out to a spa I booked for some pampering. As far as I know, both of them have kept the secret and are going to be delivering Parker here in a few minutes.
I lower the roller door so she can’t see in the second she arrives, before spinning on my heels and taking in the scene before me.
I really hope Rett is right and that she loves it.
Needing to keep busy, I tidy up again and shuffle a few things around, but before long, my cell buzzes with a message from Alison, letting me know that they’re two minutes out.
“Jesus Christ,” I breathe.
Get it together, Storm.
It’s just Parker.
That’s the thing, though. She’s never been just Parker.
She’s Parker.
She’s…everything.
Standing by the door, I wait with my heart in my throat, and it only gets worse when the rumble of an approaching engine hits my ears.
Three car doors slam next, and then soft, female voices float in the air.
“What the hell are we doing here?” Parker asks, confusion thick in her voice.
“It’s Kodie’s,” Casey lies. “He just wants me to pick something up.”
The door rattles as someone grabs the handle, and my mouth waters. Shit, I’m going to vomit right here and ruin everything.
“We’ll just be a minute,” Casey explains. “After you…”
The second Parker steps inside, I stop breathing.
She gasps, her movements freezing the moment she sees me.
“Linc, what—”
“Okay, I’ll see you guys later. Have fun,” Casey calls as Parker continues to stare at me.
The door closes behind her, and silence falls.
Parker leans slightly, looking around me at everything.
“Linc, what have you done?”
“I promised you that I’d take care of everything,” I explain.
“B-but…behind you. That’s…that’s my apartment.”
“Yeah, babe. Well, some of it. Not everything could be salvaged.”
She moves closer, her eyes darting between me and her things.
“But…how. It was trashed.”
“I found a company to clean it all up.”
Tears flood her eyes, and she shakes her head in disbelief.
“I knew you didn’t believe me.”
“W-what?” she stutters.
“When I told you that I’d do anything for you.”
I move closer to her and take her face in my hands.
“Parker,” I say, my voice low and serious. “Nothing will ever be too much for you.”
Finally, her tears spill over, racing over my fingers that cover her cheeks.
“You really did all this?”
“Well, I had some help. The guys and I cleared your apartment, then a company took everything and delivered it back here.”
“Thank you doesn’t feel like enough.”
I brush my thumb over her bottom lip.
“Do you want to see it all?”
“Yeah, but first I need—” I cut her words off with a kiss.
The second I lick across her bottom lip, the saltiness of her tears hits me, and I lose my mind.
My tongue pushes past her lips, seeking hers out as I hold her tight.
I kiss her like I’ve wanted to every single day for the last six years.
By the time we part, we’re both breathless.
“Do you want to see now?”
She blinks up at me in a daze as she battles to remember where she is and why she’s here. But the second she rips her eyes from mine and sees her couch just behind me, it all comes flooding back.
She steps around me and takes it all in.
We’ve set it up like an open-plan apartment. We’ve got a living, dining, and sleeping area displaying all her things.
She trails her fingertips across the back of her couch before walking over to her bookcase, her eyes scanning her photographs that span all her life.
“I can’t believe you managed to save all of this. I thought it was all gone.”
I follow, my eyes glued to her as I take in her reactions.
“Open your closet,” I instruct, and watch as she walks over.
“Oh my god, my clothes,” she cries happily when she finds them all hanging from the rail.
Spotting something on the bottom shelf, she drops to her haunches and reaches for it.
I was curious about the box with the little padlock on it when I first found it, but now that she’s reached for it, I’m even more desperate to see what’s hiding inside.
She carries it over to her bed and lowers it down beside her. After rummaging inside her purse, she pulls her keys out and then unlocks it.
“What’s in there?” I ask, waiting for her to open it.
“Come and see,” she says with a smile.
I take a seat on the other side of the box as she flips the lid.
Inside, there’s a stack of books in all different sizes and colors. Each one has a school grade written on the front.
“I didn’t know you kept a diary,” I say, guessing what they are.
“I don’t anymore,” she says as she begins looking through the pile.
When she finds the one with senior year on the front, she pulls it out. Clearly looking for something specific, she flicks through the pages. Inside, each page is filled with multicolored writing, little doodles and stickers.
Discovering the page she wants, she opens the book wide and brushes her finger over her neat script.
“Here,” she says, passing it over.
I take it but don’t look down straight away.
“Are you sure?”
Parker may no longer be an eighteen-year-old high school senior, but this still feels like an invasion of privacy.
“I have nothing to hide from you, Linc.”
Accepting her words, I look down.
Dear diary,
Yesterday was both the worst and best day of my life.
It was my senior prom.
And just like I planned, I lost my virginity.
But it didn’t go how I expected it to.
Seth…Seth cheated on me, and this is the last time I’m ever going to write his name in here.
So, who did I spend the night with?
I can’t believe I’m about to write this, but…
I lost my virginity to Lincoln Storm.
Squeeeee.
Can you believe that?
The Lincoln Storm.
It was incredible.
Linc was everything I’ve always hoped for and dreamed of.
He was sweet, and gentle, and caring.
He didn’t mind that I didn’t know what I was doing, and I wasn’t embarrassed when he undressed me and saw me naked for the first time.
It was everything I ever wanted.
But I’ve messed it all up.
I did something this morning that I know I’ll regret for the rest of my life.
I walked away from him.
I told him it couldn’t happen again.
I’m scared, and deep down I know I’ve done the right thing, but…it’s Linc.
I’ve loved him forever, and now he thinks I hate him.
“Parker,” I breathe, my eyes burning with tears.
“You’ll find your name written in every single one of these books, Linc. You’ll probably also find a good number of doodles of things like Mrs. Parker Storm and PD loves LS,” she confesses shyly.
“Do you still regret that morning?”
“Yes and no.”
Pushing the diary aside, I shake my head as I reach for her hand and tug her into my lap.
“You shouldn’t. We weren’t ready back then.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m ready to make you mine in every single way. I love you, Parker. I alwa—”
Her kiss cuts off my words, and I fall back, taking her with me.
“I’ve got another surprise,” I confess when she breaks our kiss.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, but we’re going to need to get up.”
“I don’t know, I quite like it here.”
She circles her hips, grinding herself against me, and I grunt.
“Yeah, same. But I’m not making you mine in a storage unit, pretty girl.”
She giggles. “It would be a great story for the grandkids.”
Her words light something up inside me, and for the first time with a woman, I can see it. A future with a family. A life together.
Fuck. I want it.
I want it so fucking much.
“I’ve got an even better one waiting for you.”
“I’m not sure you’re able to top this,” she says, looking around again.
“Well, let’s see about that…”