SIXTEEN
Lincoln
Five Months Ago
Slicing through the ice in full gear with my adrenaline pumping, I felt everything click into place. Life could not be more fucking perfect if I tried.
Cassie texted me before the game to wish me luck, and I replied that it would be luckier if she were here cheering me on.
I could not even believe that the night before, she’d been wrapped in my arms and let me hold her nearly naked body to mine for the entire night. Until she shoved me off in her sleep and rolled to her other side, making me chuckle at her need for space even in sleep.
But I’d gotten to wake up with her. I got to make her breakfast and shower her with kisses before I had to leave.
It was quite possibly the best morning of my life.
It was almost the end of warm-ups when I looked out into the crowded stands, my eyes scanning for someone that I knew, and I blinked when I saw the flash of blonde hair that sat next to my sister.
She was actually there.
She sat, her book propped up on her legs and a shy smile across her lips, staring at me as I warmed up.
I waved, and my sister, obviously thinking I was waving at her, waved back. I smiled at my sister, but my eyes shifted back to Cassie. Making sure Mick’s gaze was elsewhere, I winked at Cassie and placed a hand to my chest.
Her blush had been instant, and my grin just widened.
Until… “Fucking hell, she’s here.” Crew breathed hard after his warm-ups, smiling at the same woman who I held in my arms last night.
I glared at him. “She’s not here for you.”
Crew, cocky and kind of a dick, at least recently, turned to me and said, “Oh yeah? Then who is she here for?”
I swallowed and wanted to shove it in his face. Wanted to tell him that she was only here because I’d asked her to come, but I shrugged. “She’s here with my sister.”
“Nah.” He shot his own wink at her. “She’s here for me. I’m almost there with her.”
I knew for a fact this wasn’t true, that she’d seen me nearly every day this week. And I knew Cassie, she wouldn’t have laid with me last night if she was dating Crew. “You need to back the hell off.”
“Oh?” Crew asked, pretending innocence. “Who’s going to make me?”
I gritted my teeth and got in his face, our chests bumped together. “You don’t want to fucking go down this road, Thatcher. I won’t go easy on you.”
He lifted a brow. “Are you staking your claim?”
Before I knew what I was saying, my mouth moved. “You bet your ass I am.”
Finally, after staring at me for a long moment, my once-best friend patted my fucking cheek and said, “It’s about fucking time.”
I blinked at the words glancing between my friend’s retreating back and the woman in the stands, but before I could clarify, the whistle was blown, and it was time to start the game.
The high you felt after a game was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Granted, I hadn’t experienced a whole lot yet, but there was nothing better than winning a game that you trained hard for.
Unless, after said game, you had plans with the woman who made you lose all train of thought.
Then that won out every time.
After the game and the celebrating in the locker room, the victory speeches, and the slaps on the back, I’d showered in the locker room, being thorough before getting dressed and slinging my bag over my shoulder.
“Come on, man! Let’s go celebrate!” Crew threw his arm over my shoulder, back to being my friend after his whole speech on the ice.
“Nah, man. I can’t.” I glanced around the player’s lot, even though I knew Cassie got a ride home with Mickey. I was way too eager to see her, and I knew that I should tone it down a notch, not wanting to scare her away, but a bigger part of me wanted to express to her how excited I was to spend time with her.
“Dude, we just won.” He turned, grabbing on to my shoulders and shaking. “You’re not seriously going to bail on us, are you?”
The guilt trip was nice, but I nailed him with a look. “Really? You’re using that?”
“What?” Crew pretended innocence, pursing his lips like he had no idea what I was talking about. “Are you mad at me?”
“A little, yeah.” I nodded, thinking about how he was fucking with me the entire time about Cassie. “Pretending to be close to Cassie to make me, what? Pursue her? I didn’t need that.”
“Yeah, you did.” He shook his head. “I’ve watched you pretend to hate her guts since freshman year. It was about time you got your head out of your ass and acted on your feelings.”
“What about jerking her feelings around, huh? What about that?”
He rolled his eyes and glared down at where I slapped him on the chest. “I wasn’t. She and I hang out and talk about books, you dick. Nothing more. I’ve never gone there with Cassie. I know she’s yours.”
I know she’s yours.
The words shouldn’t have made me stand taller, prouder, but they did.
“And Cassie knows you’re not interested?”
He shook his head. “Fuck, dude. I’ve never put the moves on her. We’re friends. I like talking to her, that’s it.” He looks around, as if he doesn’t want our teammates to hear us talking, and says quietly. “She and I are into some of the same books.”
Our conversation from the last game she came to hit me, when she didn’t have a clue what I was talking about and how she felt Crew was manipulating her. Fuck. Now I had to set that record straight.
“What’s that look for?” he asked, looking worried.
I bit my lip. “I may have said something about you guys dating.”
His eyes widened. “What? Why?”
I glared at him. “Why the fuck do you think?”
“Shit. So that’s why she’s avoiding me?”
“I don’t know,” I said, feeling bad but pissed he tried fucking with our relationship. “You need to just back off messing with people’s feelings. It’s not fucking cool.”
“I didn’t have any intention of hurting either of you, I was just trying to push you.”
I shook my head again, so frustrated but also eager to just get on with my night. “Well, leave that relationship to me.”
He smirked and nodded his head. “Fine. I’m just glad you two are finally in one.”
“You and me both.”
Finally, I had my chance to make my escape and got in my car to get to Cassie’s. I had a whole night planned for us to hang out, and according to her, Mick was going to be gone with her new boyfriend this weekend.
I had a bad feeling about that situation, but I kept my focus on Cassie. Now that I had her, I wanted to prove I was worthy of her.
She answered the door with a shy smile, her hair down around her shoulders the way she wore it when she was home, and her body covered by a big sweater. I couldn’t see anything on her legs, so I guessed her shorts were short.
I set down my box of things and my hockey bag and turned to her, grabbing her hand and yanking her into me. She softened and giggled at the move, making me grin. I loved her like this. No defenses, no walls to break down—the way she was looking at me made me feel like I finally had the real Cassie in my arms.
“I missed you, Sunshine,” I told her, pulling her even closer to me.
She wrapped her arms around my back and melted right into my arms. “I was just at your game.”
“Yeah? Come to watch your guy play?” I teased, and I loved it when her eyes rolled.
“My guy? Really?”
“Yup.” I nodded, tightening my hold on her and lifting my chin, looking at the ceiling as if I were picturing what that would be like. “You show up, cheering me on, rooting for me, unable to stop yourself from screaming at the other players when I get checked into the boards.” I sighed and looked down at her. “Sounds pretty good to me.”
“Oh, I’m sure it does.” She smiled and shook her head. “I don’t think I can ever bring myself to scream during a game. Or any other time.”
I lifted a cocky brow. “Is that a challenge?”
She gaped and whacked me on the chest. “Shut up.”
I reached down and lightly tapped her behind, the sweater covering it was enough to make it slightly less intimate, but I said, “Can you sit on the couch for a minute and let me into your room?”
She furrowed her brow and asked, “Why?”
“I have a surprise for you, but I need a few minutes.”
Reluctantly, she let me go, and I hustled in there with my box of things. Her star lights were already on, and a small lamp was clicked on by her bed. I set my box on her bed and started to pull things out, placing various things here and there. I pulled out a tray and unloaded the snacks I brought. My laptop came out next, and I cued it up on the bed.
Then I took the drinks out and set them on her nightstand.
I stepped back and surveyed the area, smiling at the setup. Moving the box off the bed, I then went out and grabbed Cassie. She smiled at me, and I said, “Ready?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m slightly scared.”
“Don’t be scared,” I said, then I opened the door and led her in. What she saw under those starry lights was the tray with snacks on the bed, the laptop propped for a movie, a tiny bouquet of red roses on her nightstand next to the drinks, and candles lit on the desk to give the room a romantic feel.
“I’m new at this, so don’t judge me too hard,” I said, stepping further into the room and pulling her with me. Her silence made me nervous, so I kept speaking. “I just thought about how I wanted to have a fun hang out night with you—no work, no tutoring, or school talk, just…” I shrugged and felt my hands growing damp with every second of her not speaking. “Us. Hanging out.”
“Muscles,” she mused, looking around at the room. “Are you trying to make me fall for you?”
A relieved breath whooshed out of me, and I nodded. “Yes. I am.”
She bit her lip and pointed at the drinks. “Juice boxes? Nice touch.”
I grinned. “I tried.”
I watched as a blush worked its way over her cheeks and smiled. I think I nailed it. “Okay, what are we watching?” she asked as she carefully climbed onto the farthest side of the bed, leaving space for me.
I kicked my shoes and pants off, tugged my shirt off, and left it all in a neat pile by the bed. Cassie eyed me as I crawled in, careful not to disrupt the food.
“Like what you see, Sunshine?” I asked, fully expecting sass back.
But when she stayed silent for a few moments longer, I glanced over to see her still staring at me. She licked her lips, and I saw the moment she got brave. When her eyes met mine, she said, “Yes. I do.”
Damn. Just a hang out. Not going there…yet.
“Good,” I replied, trying to act nonchalantly at the way she was ogling me.
I grabbed the laptop and cued up a movie, smiling at her gasp of delight. “I love this one!”
It was one of the more popular movies from the nineties, that if you watched it, you couldn’t help but love it. “It’s a good doomsday movie.”
She slapped my shoulder. “He’s actually crazy, you know that, right?”
“His whole family would have died if he wasn’t,” I pointed out, loving that she was into this with me.
I didn’t know how tonight would go, if she would revert to the hate that we loved to pretend we had for each other, or if she would kick me out of her apartment the moment she saw me, or, hell, if my sister had been there, if she would have told me to get lost for that reason.
I wondered briefly about her coming to the game. “So, did Mick have to drag you to the game?” I asked, my eyes on the screen, but my attention was fully on her. I grabbed a grape from the tray of food and popped it into my mouth to distract myself.
“Um, yeah,” she replied, her own eyes on the movie. Her hand reached for a piece of chocolate.
“Did you say anything about my tutoring?”
She smirked at my question. I could just barely see it out of the corner of my eye. “No. She didn’t ask. She’s…got a lot going on.”
So did Cassie, with work and school and her thesis, plus tutoring me on top of that, but I didn’t bring any of that up. “Ah. Well, next game maybe.”
“Next game?” she asked, finally turning her head to look at me. “Next game, what?”
“You can tell her,” I said, a grin desperately tugged at my lips, but I held it back.
“Tell her what?”
Her tone made it even harder to hold back. “You could wear my jersey; we could announce we’re together.”
“Oh yeah, you think it’s that easy?”
“To tell everyone how I feel? Absolutely.”
I don’t think she was expecting that kind of bold statement from me, and I waited with bated breath to see what her response would be. I expected a snappy comeback and would have been fine with that, but after a couple minutes of her silence, I turned to see her staring at me with a slight smile on her face.
“What?” I asked nervously.
“You’d want me to wear your jersey?”
I stilled, swallowing hard, and sat up a little more against the headboard so I could look at her.
“Yes,” I replied firmly, taking her hand with mine and interlacing our fingers. “I would.”
Her small, soft smile turned wider. “Okay.”
The easy acceptance of it turned my head upside down. I’d thought she would have fought, would have said no, would have begged me to keep my feelings a secret. But no, she was in.
She was in.
“Sunshine,” I started, but she leaned closer to me, pressing her lips to mine and taking the words from me without me having to say them.
She knew this was a big moment for us and a huge step forward in our relationship. The fact that we both were in and wanting this to move forward after all the hate and animosity meant that she’d forgiven everything from before.
Cassie Grayson didn’t hate me anymore, and it felt fucking amazing.
I threaded my fingers into her hair, pulling her tightly to me, careful not to hit anything on the bed.
It was probably a good thing it had been there in the way of the two of us, because as much as I wanted to flip Cassie onto her back and explore every inch of her body, I knew in my heart she deserved better than that. She deserved everything.
And I was going to give it to her.