Chapter Twenty
Ashton
“Where are you going so fast?” Rhett stood there after practice. He was the other half of my defensive pair. He had red hair and brown eyes and stood a little shorter than me.
“I’ve got places to be,” I told him with a shrug.
A smile crossed his face. “Does this have anything to do with the bet Steven lost?”
“Maybe.” I checked my phone again.
“Is it going well? Marilyn seems happy.” He leaned against the wall.
“They’re amazing, but they live in Hawai’i. We’re just activity partners.” My heart twisted a little at the just, especially after the amazing night we had.
He made finger quotes. “Just.”
“Marilyn didn’t set us up on a date. We’re supposed to show a visiting omega a good time. This is probably the last time we’re getting together, considering they go back Sunday, though they’re coming to our game tomorrow,” I replied.
He continued to look amused. “That’s why Carys texted me that you ordered a giant bouquet of purple gerbera daisies from Blush and Bloom? Because you’re just ‘activity partners’?”
I shrugged. “Kai stole my scrunchie. The flowers are ransom to get it back.”
Rhett continued blocking my way. “Kai slept over?”
He was having way too much fun with this. But I sort of deserved it for the shit I’d given him.
I shrugged again. “I’ve gotta go pick up those flowers before I get Kai.”
“It’s okay to like someone,” Rhett added.
“I know.” But why did we have to like somebody completely geographically incompatible, not to mention career incompatible?
A PhD program lasted about as long as we hoped our careers would continue.
Could we really do long distance for that amount of time?
Even if they somehow could switch PhD programs, there’s no guarantee we’d be in Nashville that long.
They’d probably need to go to Washington state for stability, but even then that was still across the country. And not fair to them.
“Kai’s coming to the game? Want me to ask Carys and Billie to watch out for them?” he added.
“That would be great. Just a warning, Kai’s four aunts are coming, too, and while I haven’t met them, they’re probably going to be a lot for Billie.” But I had a feeling Kai and Carys would get along.
With a wave, I left.
I drove to Blush and Bloom, picked up the flowers with some minimal smirking from Carys, then went to the hotel, anxiousness in my belly.
Flowers were a good ransom weren’t they? Kai said they liked purple gerbera daisies.
Kai was waiting outside of the hotel today. Their hair was down, sunglasses in it and they were wearing a shirt with dragonflies on it, with a little skirt, and the sandals they’d worn to the zoo. They had a small sack with them, too. Kai got in and paused at the flowers on the seat.
“Are these for me?” Kai’s face lit up.
Relief flowed through me. I’d made the right choice.
“Ransom for my scrunchie,” I replied.
“Ransom accepted.” Kai took the scrunchie off their wrist and put it over my hand onto my wrist. “Scrunchie returned. Also, I hope you weren’t mad. It was Steven’s idea. Ooh, front seat!” Kai picked up the flowers, buckled themselves in, and put a bag on the floor by their feet.
“That sounds very Steven. I’m not mad. Did I get the right flowers?” I continued to be a little anxious without Steven here as a buffer.
“I love them, they’re beautiful,” Kai told me.
“You look great. How are you feeling today? What do you need?” I asked. Kai looked cute. I was just wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
“I’m feeling good, especially because I have some tea to spill.” Kai grinned and cheerfully told me about everything that had happened since Steven had dropped them off.
“Sidepiece’s dad called?” My eyebrows rose. But this was a freshman omega. Running to daddy made sense.
“The plot twist I didn’t expect. She probably gave my number to him thinking he’d yell at me. It might have even been Logan’s idea.” Kai held the flowers tight, like they were precious.
“Do you think they’ll get back, or do you think they’ll be stranded in Bali forever?” I joked.
“I’m sure Logan’s mom bought him a plane ticket. Drea, I don’t know.” Kai shrugged.
“Why would she yell at you if she could simply cover it? Why did he not pay you if he could cover it himself?” I got the idea that Logan’s family might be pretending to be well-off, but wasn’t actually, and he needed to find a wealthy omega or packmates to keep up appearances.
“I think his mom just wanted to shame me. It’s more of the idea that I dare do anything to her baby boy than the actual funds. It's all about control manipulation. Something I can now see Logan was very good at.” Kai’s scent went bitter.
Reaching over I squeezed their knee. “Well, now she won’t be your mother-in-law. And it’s all over.”
I worried a little about Kai being ganged up on and their mental health spiraling back on campus, between her ex, ex friends, and campus gossip in general.
“Oh, his advisor had some questions for me, too. I don’t want to get Logan in any trouble. But there might be some ethics violations or something.” Kai sighed. “His doctoral program contacted me, too, with questions. I haven’t replied to them.”
“You’re staying on the island because you wanted to and not him, right?” I added.
“I’m staying because I like the program and my professors. I also got a really great aid package that covers just about everything and pays me to help with research. Auntie will help me with my education, but I like to try to pay for as much as I can myself.” Kai looked pleased with themselves.
“A good aid package is very important. Good job.” I’m not sure how much PhD’s cost, but I knew how much law school cost. It was easy to see how Kai would be a great part of a team. I’m sure a research team was a lot like a sports team.
Kai beamed even more. “Thank you.”
“Your family is really important to you. Isn’t it?”
Kai nodded. “I like having people around me that care about me. I’m not adverse to going elsewhere. I just like having a support system.”
“I understand that. When I ended up in Nashville, it was a lot for me. I knew no one here. I’d really been hoping to end up on the Seattle Strike, which was my home team–or the Puck Panthers which is geographically closer,” I replied.
Kai chuckled. “The one you had to beat to make it to the finals and the one you have to beat to win the playoffs?”
“Yes.”
We parked and entered the shop. It was bright and airy with lots of murals on the wall, paper rings hanging, with wooden, white tables, and booths.
Kai looked around. “This place is really cute.”
“I thought you’d like it. I come here sometimes to read. The comic book shop Steven likes is two doors down,” I said as we went to the counter.
Kai looked at the menu. “Ramen and cereal with my coffee? This is my kind of place.”
I knew it. There was also a pastry case.
“An iced mocha latte sounds great. So does some ramen,” Kai replied.
“I’ll take a caramel latte and a cake pop,” I ordered.
We sat down at a small table near the window, with the mural of a pink rabbit.
“How was practice?” Kai asked.
“Our meetings went well. I’m definitely glad I took some time to study the other team. While we might not win, I do think we’re gonna go in pretty prepared,” I replied, feeling good about everything.
“I think getting all the way to the finals is amazing, regardless if you win or not,” Kai said.
“It is. Coach told us how proud he was of us, and he’d still be proud of us regardless if we win or not.” Our coach was tough, but fair, and he meant every word.
“How does tomorrow go?” Kai asked. “What's game day like? On meet day for the swim team, I’d have a really good lunch and pack my water bottle and snacks. Though we also had the best snacks. Team Mom would have a whole tent. It wasn’t just juice boxes and string cheese.
She’d have actual food for us too. Chili on a bag of corn chips after a meet was something. ”
“That sounds pretty delicious,” I replied.
“When it’s a home game we usually have morning skate and then we go home for a few hours to relax and get ready.
Often we take a nap. I’ll make a protein smoothie.
Steven usually eats a hotdog, sometimes with chili, it's tradition. I guess growing up one of his teammates’ parents owned a hotdog shop and would usually provide dinner for them. ”
They called my name and I went and got our coffees, Kai’s ramen, and my cake pop, then sat back down.
“Where was I? Oh, we’ll head to the arena, eat as a team, and have a little meeting. We’ll warm up, get dressed, and go out on the ice for warm-ups, and then there’s the game,” I explained, taking a sip of my latte. “It’s slightly different when we have an afternoon game, but not that much.”
“Do you have any superstitions? Steven always wears the same socks, right?” Kai grinned and took a bite of ramen.
“Yes. Though I make him wash them.” I laughed. I relaxed and ate my cake pop as things between Kai and me grew easy.
It was nice having a moment with just us. Kai smelled so good. I really hadn’t been attracted to someone’s scent like that before. Not even Steven.
“What are you working on for your PhD? Can you tell me?” I asked, fascinated by what Kai was studying.
“I haven’t figured that out yet. But I have pictures of the work I’ve been doing with my professor.” Kai showed me photos of the fishponds they’ve been working on all year.
“That looks amazing.” I took another sip.
“I’ve had a lot of fun at my college. Where else can I take classes on volcanoes and the leadership of hula, and have it count towards my degree?” Kai finished their ramen.
Kai’s phone buzzed. They looked at it and laughed.
“More gossip from the lab group chat?” I asked.
“My cousins. I bought a car for my ex. He said he was going to pay me back, but he never did. Since my name is on the title, my cousins took it, relocated it to Auntie’s, rekeyed it… and now they’ve given it a paint job.” Kai showed me a photo of a car that was purple with flames on it.
“I love it. It was really nice of your cousins.”
“Right? Now when he goes looking for it he won’t even find it,” they laughed.
I remembered a conversation Steven and I had at lunch today and got out my phone.
“Um, I have some dates if you are still interested,” I said tentatively, texting them to Kai.
“This is when the Renn Faire is and then there’s another festival that you might like as well.
No pressure if you don’t want to do any of this.
It’s totally fine. It’s just that we’d like to see you again,” I confessed.
“I want to see you dressed as a pirate. Steven and I were talking about costumes this morning.” Kai took another sip of coffee.
“Should I be afraid?” I leaned in conspiratorially.
“No. The costumes are great. I’ll take a look at the dates and see what fits. Now that everything’s different, I did tell my brother this morning that I wanted to do that graduation trip. I'm also going to try to go to LA,” Kai said.
“I’m glad you’re doing both of those things.
Hey, not to pry, I don’t know if you’re on suppressants full-time or not.
But if you need safe heat partners during our off-season, you can come to us.
We can use our cabin. I’m not trying to cross any boundaries, but I wanted to offer.
Our feelings will not be hurt if it’s not an option for you.
” I put a hand over theirs, because they were looking a little tense.
They relaxed a little. “I’m honored. Thank you. I have to think about it.” Kai’s lower lip quivered. “Not because I don’t feel safe with you, but because I do. Your job is here, and right now my life is in Hawai’i.”
“I understand and I feel the same way. It's too bad Hawai’i doesn’t have a hockey team.
Rhett would kill me if I got my ass traded.
” I laughed. “I’m grateful for every moment that I do get to spend with you.
I know you have a lot to figure out, but I’m still hoping you’ll at least come be a pirate with us. ”
Oh, how I wanted to see Kai in a pirate outfit.
“All of this means a lot, and yes, I definitely want to go to Renn Faire if the dates work. I may just stay on suppressants for the summer. I don’t know.
I became an omega right around my parent’s death and my body was in such shock that I didn’t go into a heat for a while, and they’re really irregular.
The campus clinic got me heat suppressants, because irregular heats and classes don’t mix,” Kai admitted.
“I did have one with Logan, but it was… not what I expected.”
Well, no, because he was selfish.
“Whatever you need.” I squeezed Kai’s hand. “Do you want to put together a puzzle?” I nodded to the shelves of games, puzzles, and books.
Kai beamed. “I’d love to.”