Chapter Twenty-seven Lacey
Chapter Twenty-seven
Lacey
The party at Doyle’s camp is bigger and louder than any other night I can remember.
* * *
Walking in with Vaughn, I feel on top of the world. The guys are all happy and light and that mood seems to infect everyone else.
“Sorry,” Vaughn says after he’s pulled into another conversation with teammates. They all want to recap the game or talk about how they’re going to win State.
“It’s fine. You’re the man of the night.”
“You mean, Austin.”
“I mean, you. That pass was incredible.”
His mouth molds into a smile. “It’s because I had my lucky charm.”
“I told you that pom-pom was lucky.”
“I meant you.”
My face heats. “I will admit, I did some of my best work cheering for you today.”
“I heard you.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I absolutely did,” he insists. Then his face softens. “It was nice. I’ve never really had anyone in the stands cheering for me.”
“What about Claire?” I ask, and then we both laugh.
She isn’t really the yell and scream type. Although since she’s joined the hockey cheer team, that’s changed.
“Well, I am happy to be your cheerleader for the rest of the season.”
“Good.”
After we make the rounds to say hi to everyone, we find a seat around the bonfire. It’s cold tonight, and I huddle closer to him for warmth.
He smiles and then moves his hand to rest on the top of my knee. His fingers dangle, lightly brushing the inside of my leg.
My pulse speeds up at the light touch. It feels like a silent claiming. We haven’t talked about what we are, but being with him like this feels right, so I decide not to overthink it. At least not this second.
I link my arm through his and we sit like that, joining side conversations but holding on to each other.
More of the team crowds around to talk with the guys. They all glance at Vaughn and then me. I can feel their questioning gazes at the two of us, but no one says anything.
At some point the conversation turns from celebratory to more solemn. The start of the game was rough, and they’re all noting that tomorrow’s practice is probably going to be rougher. Which then dissolves into talking about all the mistakes they made early on against Mountainview.
Barrett, the senior goalie, steps up with a beer, mid-conversation. He looks like he’s already had several. When he hears his teammates still taking about the game, Barrett groans.
“You guys need to let it go. It’s over. No sense in rehashing every mistake. It won’t change anything.”
“I hate that he’s right,” Rowan says nodding.
“Of course I am. We were all off today. It happens.” Barrett raises both arms out to his sides.
Vaughn scoffs, not bothering to show his disagreement. “It shouldn’t happen. Not this late into the season. We were lucky we pulled it together in time.”
Barrett eyes the guy next to me carefully before he lets his gaze slide over to me. My skin crawls as he takes in the scene—Vaughn’s hand on my inner thigh, me hugging his bicep.
Slowly, a grin spreads across the goalie’s face.
“Ooooh. Now I see why your head wasn’t in the game today, Collins,” Barrett jokes. “You got a new girl.”
Vaughn growls low in warning. Barrett doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. My skin pricks with a hint of embarrassment. Not at being with Vaughn, but at being the target of Barrett’s taunting.
“Wait. Aren’t you and blondie best friends?” he asks me, as if it’s suddenly just occurred to him. His stare moves from me to Claire and back again, and then he laughs maniacally.
I don’t respond, though a thousand retorts sit on the tip of my tongue. It feels like a trap, like he wants to goad me, and I’m not giving in.
“Well, shit, Lace. Who needs enemies with friends like you?” he asks, still laughing way too hard at his own jokes.
My face heats. I know it isn’t true, but it still hits a nerve.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Claire start to stand and Austin holding her back.
Vaughn’s mouth falls into a hard line and a muscle in his cheek flexes. His grip on my leg tightens. “What the fuck did you say to her?”
“Ah, don’t get all bent of shape. I’m kidding. Laugh, Collins. It was a fucking joke.”
“It was a dick thing to say, and you know it,” Vaughn says, tone low and sharp.
Everyone else is quiet, waiting to see what Vaughn will do. And what he does is glare so icily that even I shiver.
Barrett holds up his hands defensively. “Damn. No one has a sense of humor anymore.”
He walks off, muttering something about Vaughn needing to fuck his way out of the bad mood.
I can’t tell if Vaughn hears him, but his expression stays the same: pissed.
Conversations slowly start back up around us.
“I’m sorry,” Vaughn says to me.
My cheeks are still hot with embarrassment, but I don’t want Vaughn to feel bad. “Barrett’s an asshole. Everyone knows that.”
“Not completely wrong though.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
My brain is stuck on Barrett’s parting words about Vaughn needing to fuck his way out of a bad mood.
A dick thing to say for sure, but that has me thinking about sex.
Specifically about us having sex. I had always planned to wait until college.
I’m not sure why. Something about it being a few years off made me think I’d have time to mature and find the right guy.
Now I wonder if I was just using it as a convenient excuse to put it off because I hadn’t dated anyone who I’d wanted to have sex with before now.
And realizing I already want to with Vaughn after a week of kissing is a little frightening.
“I wasn’t playing my best today either,” Vaughn says.
“Oh.” A small laugh slips out. Of course that’s what he meant.
He looks at me curiously.
“Sorry, I thought you were referring to needing to, you know, fuck your way out of the bad mood.”
His brows shoot up and by the shocked look on his face I’d say I, well, shocked him.
“That isn’t…” He seems to struggle to find the words.
Fresh embarrassment warms my face. “No, of course not.”
I stare at the ground, hoping it will swallow me up.
Vaughn dips his head to meet my gaze. “No wait. That’s…” He trails off as if he’s considering his words carefully. “It isn’t what I meant, but I have thought about it.”
“You have?”
“Of course I have. You’re beautiful and sexy, and we’ve been making out every chance we get. It’s basically all I’ve thought about outside of soccer.” He gives me a sheepish grin.
“I’ve thought about it too.”
His dark blue eyes search my face. “Just because we’ve both thought about it doesn’t mean we need to jump into anything. Besides, this isn’t how I’d want it to happen. You deserve better than my crappy mood after Barrett got me all riled up.”
My stomach dips, and I think I fall a little more for him.
“Even in a bad mood, you’re pretty cute.” Or really cute.
The first real smile since Barrett opened his mouth finally curves up Vaughn’s lips. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“You don’t know how I do what?”
“Pull me out of my negative thoughts so easily. Any other night I’d be left stewing about Barrett’s words for weeks, but I already feel better.”
“Good. You’re too hard on yourself. And you won.” I move my leg, which has his bouncing too. “It wasn’t the best you guys have played all season, but you still found a way to beat them and keep the dream alive.”
He nods ever so slightly. “I channeled your optimism.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. The guys needed to know we could win. Once they knew I believed it, they did too.”
“That wasn’t me. That’s all you. You’re a good captain, Captain.”
He chuckles.
“Hey, I have an idea,” I say.
“What’s that?”
“How about we take one of the four-wheelers out so I can kiss the rest of your bad mood away?”
“I’m not in a bad mood anymore.”
“Good.” I stand and pull him toward the four-wheelers. “But I still want to spend the rest of the night kissing you.”