Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
ZACH’S TONGUE IS ZACH’S BUSINESS
“Denny! Zach!” Lex, one of Dopie’s servers, greets us from the stand made from the body of an old bumper car.
In a past life, Dopie must have worked in a scrapyard with the amount of refurbed vintage ‘junk’ he has decorating the diner.
“Hey, Lex.” Zach’s busy scoping out the place for people who can kickstart the rumor trail. “Can we have our usual booth, please?”
She sweeps our menus against her chest. “Sure thing! Same drinks as always?”
“Please.” Zach shifts his arm around my shoulders before pressing a kiss to my forehead.
Inside, I’m squealing. Far too busy doing an internal dance to notice that Lex’s mouth has curved into a broad smile. The first I know of it, she’s punching him in the arm. “You finally opened your eyes, huh?”
“Lex!” I sputter, taken aback by her friendliness when she’s one of the quietest on staff. ‘Aloof’ about sums her up.
“What?! He’s been at OC for a hot minute and everyone was wondering what the deal is between you two. Dopie owes me a hundred.”
Zach and I gape at her.
“You were taking bets?!”
“Do you know how boring it is serving you lot? We have to get our kicks somehow.” Lex strides over to our regular booth and drops the menus on the table. “In fact, your first sodas are on me because, boy, does Dopie owe me big.”
When Storm Lex sweeps away, we share a look before breaking out laughing as he slides onto the bench so he’s near the wall, and I slip in next to him.
Beside his head, there are a bunch of old license plates, and the reason this is his seat is the small ledge where he rests his arm.
Not that he lets go of me with the other.
“How are you going to eat?”
“You can feed me.”
I hoot. “Who died and made you king?”
“I’m the king of the ice.”
“College ice. This booth is not your kingdom. You can feed yourself or me. Those are your only options.”
“No way you’ll let me feed you.”
My cheeks immediately burn. “Shut up.”
“You’re the one who offered.” I don’t trust that gleam, especially when it’s combined with him turning to face me. “I’m so ordering chocolate-covered strawberries.”
“Shut up!”
“Why, Denny, are you lost for words?”
“I still have two. Shut. Up.”
He cackles. “Third time isn’t the charm.” When he presses a kiss to my lips, I fall into it, finding comfort in this even if it’s public.
There are a whole host of insecurities tumbling around inside me. The cocktail isn’t conducive to passion but it’s fine.
In fact, no, it’s better than that.
Because he kisses me like there’s no one else on earth and that’s empowering. My heart races and my body stirs. Craving more, craving him, I lean into him, wanting the press of his torso against mine. The pressure. The heat. Fuck, I could—
A gasp ricochets around the diner.
I’ve heard the boy come way too many times for comfort, so I recognize that stunned gasp—Pecan’s here.
I tense but Zach doesn’t. He maintains the kiss for a good long while, even slips me some tongue before finally making a retreat. I’m not as into it as I was, not when I’m fully aware we have an invested audience, but holy fuck, what that boy can do with his mouth should be a crime.
By this point, when we pull away, me bright pink and breathing heavily, Zach looking like the cock who got the cream, there are five massive hockey players standing by our booth.
Pecan, Alec, Mason and Gregg (two solid D-men,) and Joker (alternate captain and a forward).
Pecan’s the first to blurt out, “Why the fuck are you kissing Denver on the mouth, Zachary Bradley, when we haven’t had the talk yet? What about looping me in first? HUH!”
“Because Denver Parilla wants him to?” I counter, eyes narrowed. “And no talk is required unless I’m involved.”
His focus flicks between us before he lets out a massive whoop, making me jump in the process, while he fist-pumps the air. “Just you wait ‘til I tell Logan. He owes me three hundred bucks.”
“PETER CANARD, YOU DID NOT ENCOURAGE MY BABY brOTHER TO GAMBLE?”
“He came to me. What’s a man to do? Turn down free money?” He sinks into the booth beside me. “Tell. Me. Everything.”
“Ew, no!”
“I need to know the details. I gotta share with my mama. She’ll want the deets as well.”
I gasp then spin to face Zach, who’s looking cockier than is healthy for his already massive ego. Also, could he manspread anymore?!
The slightest whisper of unease filters through me until Pecan grouses at my continued silence, “I know nothing! As your official mutual BFF, it’s a crime against humanity that I don’t know anything about you two hooking up! Especially with how hard Zach was fighting filming the—”
When he breaks off, Zach shrugs. “It’s fine. D knows about the reel.”
Alec butts in, “Did you—”
“Shut up, Alec.” Zach hauls me even closer. Another forehead kiss makes my heart flutter and dispels my earlier anxiety.
“I don’t want you to tell Aunt Helmie, Pecan.” I rest against Zach. “No gossiping allowed.”
He plants his hand on his chest. “You’re mean!”
“Nothing new there,” Zach chirps.
“I need to tell her. She likes to be kept updated—”
“If you tell her, then I’ll have to tell Mom!”
“And? No way you can keep this under wraps. Not when he rolls up for Thanksgiving and his tongue’s stuck in your mouth half the trip and…” He studies Zach. “He suddenly has a penchant for wearing your lipstick.”
My brows lift at ‘penchant.’ Who even knew Pecan had that word in his vocabulary?
“Peeks,” Zach chides, but he sounds amused. Damn him. “I’m not going to devour Denny in front of her mom.”
“Just in their den, huh?”
The pair of them cackle and, these little shits, fist-bump in front of me!
I karate chop their forearms with my hands. “You two need to shut your traps before I shut them for you. Anyway, what’s this about the den?”
“Your brothers take their girls there.”
“THEY’RE KIDS!”
Both men snort.
“No, they’re not.”
“They’re hockey players,” Zach points out.
I groan. “Fucking hockey players. What is it about you morons that girls love?”
Pecan pouts. “You love us.”
“Yeah, but I loved you before hockey and I have no interest in seeing more of your dick than I already—”
“How have you seen his dick?! His ass is one thing, but his dick?!”
Lex turns up before I have to answer Zach’s outraged question.
“Actually, I want to know why too.” Lex taps her pen onto the order pad. “How have you seen Pecan’s dick, Denny?”
“Hello?! He’s an exhibitionist.”
Mason snickers. “You don’t say.”
“That’s why we keep catching you and Hailey in the locker room, huh?” Joker flings his arms behind the booth and spreads out. “I knew you were a kinky fucker.”
“Exhibitionism is perfectly normal!” Pecan retorts, completely unflustered.
“It might be when you’re four,” I say dryly.
Pecan rubs his middle finger along his nose with a wink then rattles off a massive order. As does the rest of the team. For myself, I grab avocado toast because I’m not that hungry and I have yet another day in the library before classes in the afternoon to nourish.
Gregg bats his lashes at Lex. “If you make my coffee the way I like, I’ll propose.”
While the rest of the team heckles him, she rolls her eyes. “I’ll make sure it’s extra shitty today then.”
Ah, Gregg and his propensity to propose for the dumbest of reasons.
Lex and food took some of the attention off us, but when she disappears, we’re back front and center.
I definitely feel bad for the fish at the aquarium. Unfortunately, the gaping lulls me into a false sense of security.
Alec leans into the table once we’re alone again, his fist balled as he bangs it on the surface.
“I don’t believe that you didn’t film the video after I repeatedly asked you to.
I told you to kiss her and film it, not—” Alec looks me up and down and I get the picture that I don’t measure up to his oh, so high standards. “Whatever this is.”
Zach’s tension increases exponentially. I’m almost relieved that Lex appears with coffee mugs and a pot of coffee as it dispels the testosterone suddenly flooding the air.
Honestly, I grew up with this nonsense and I’m still coughing and choking on it.
Only when Lex disappears again does Pecan insert, “What the fuck’s it gotta do with you, cap, where Zach sticks his tongue?”
Mirroring his captain, Zach looms over the table. “The man asked you a question.”
Alec’s jaw tightens. “Why didn’t you take the video?”
“Because I told you I wouldn’t! I’m not leveraging my relationship with Denver for your bullshit idea of a marketing campaign.”
“For fuck’s sake! You do know you’re only a walk-on, Zach,” he snipes, but he doesn’t get much further than that.
Zach laughs.
It’s a cold, dark, bitter laugh. And damn if it doesn’t mess up my insides. Because it’s not him. Not really.
Sometimes, it’s easy to be lulled into the idea that he’s fine. But he’s not. He’s grieving his mom. The parent he loved and had a connection with.
It’s at moments like these that I feel his pain, but there’s nothing I can do to ease it.
“What’s our record this season, Pecan?” Zach rumbles, sounding cocksure and like the jock he is.
I hate it when this side of him comes out. They all have it. This belief they’re God’s gift. He and Pecan just know not to show it off around me or we’ll have a repeat of the glitter incident two years ago.
Pecan told me he was shitting glitter for three days!
I can aim for five next time…
“Ummm, lemme see.” Peeks flicks off their recent games on his fingers. “Statistically speaking, we never lose if you’re in the lineup, Z. You have a goal average of 0.78 and—”
I hold up a hand to stall him. “Interesting.”
Pecan might look like an idiot, but if it’s hockey stats, he’s the next Einstein.
Well, if Einstein were a mathematician.
He can’t help himself from adding: “Fun fact, the only time we lost is when you had that stomach bug.”
“Even more interesting. So, are you saying that I’m worth more to the team than as a face on a video, Peeks?”