10. Avery #2
For all our efforts to stay away from one another while giving our best to our respective teams, I was on a collision course with Gray in the final minutes of the game.
He was covering Cole, who led the puck across the rink.
My guys rounded on Cole in a show of brute force.
Beckett’s bait-and-switch tactic was old news and the Breakers had learned to expect it.
I was the closest to Gray and he was the biggest threat to my team. After him, Spencer was the danger, but Jordan was on top of that task.
With no good choice, I skated fast to the thick of it, engaging my boyfriend in a skirmish and buying Beckett and Caden the moment they needed.
With his impressive strength, which I had experienced in far more pleasurable encounters over the last few weeks, Gray carried me to the side, twirling and locking limbs with me. We crashed into the boards, the air almost completely kicked out of my lungs.
He pressed me hard but spoke in a low voice only I could hear. “You good?”
I grunted my ascent.
“Stick around after,” he said, his weight still on me for a moment longer. The sheer love for the fun of this game glimmered in his eyes. “I got you something.”
“See you in front, loser,” I said, my voice light with humor as the Titans scored the winning point, and the rink erupted in a battle of cheers and desperate, frustrated curses.
But Gray never despaired over a lost game. He had put up a great fight and we both knew it. “Fair enough,” he said, winking at me. “I’ll be winning elsewhere tonight.”
My stomach fluttered at those words. He had earned it fair and square.
I couldn’t wait to slip away from the celebrations and meet him.
It always felt the best after a hard game, winning and losing alike.
The testosterone ran high and the longing to dominate was strong.
We were in for a long night of settling scores.
My arm throbbed where Spencer had slammed me against the boards even while I showered.
The bruise seemed worse than it should have been, aching deep under my skin.
I didn’t complain. It was a physical sport, after all, but knowing that Spencer had problems with me dating his best friend added to the injury.
It also gave me an extra reason not to tell Gray.
He would flip if he suspected foul play.
And I didn’t want to get in the way of their friendship any more than I already had.
I dressed in warm clothes after showering, promised the guys to join them at the Thinker for a round of drinks, and left the locker room.
Gray was waiting for me, his back turned to the exit, and his shoulders slumped.
He had an orange beanie with a fluffy ball perched on the top of his head.
His hands were in his pockets, his dark blue winter jacket tightly hugging his broad shoulders.
When my feet crunched the frosted grass as I crossed the small path of the lawn to get to him, Gray turned around. His smile was instant and genuine. “Congrats,” he said.
“Oh,” I said. “I didn’t expect that.”
“It was a fair win,” he assured me. “But I’ll get you guys next time.”
“I’m sure you’ll try,” I said. My breath steamed as we laughed and I melted into his arms. We hugged each other despite the bulk of our jackets and kissed with enough heat to keep us warm through the entire winter. The tip of his nose was adorably red and cold. His cheeks were pink, too.
“Oh, right, I almost forgot,” he said as he pulled back from me.
“I love that earring you have. Don’t get me wrong.
It suits you, and the fact that it’s a little cross makes things so much more ironic for me.
” He gave a short laugh. “Especially when you’re inside me.
” This, he added quietly, almost teasingly.
I couldn’t stop my laughter. It broke out of me before I could contain it. “Weird, but alright.”
“Eh, they say He’s always watching,” Gray explained casually, rummaging through his pockets while he spoke. “Methinks that’s called voyeurism, but nobody’s ever accused me of kink-shaming.”
“Blasphemy,” I hissed. Not that I was religious.
My mother was a second-wave feminist and my father had been in the middle of the LGBT fight for equality since he was a little boy, following his own parents to the protest marches.
Our family didn’t have the tradition of believing in or respecting a higher power aside from one aunt who celebrated Pyanopsia, honoring Apollo.
“Nah, that’s what it says He does. Like Santa.” He found something in his inside breast pocket and produced it on his open palm. It was inside a small black box, obviously jewelry and, predictably, an earring, but my heart hammered so hard that I had to take a moment to steady myself.
“How sweet you are,” I whispered. “I don’t know how I lucked out this hard.”
“A whole month since we were at that resort,” he said. “Almost. Next week, to be exact.”
I remembered the date, but I hadn’t expected us to celebrate. It hadn’t crossed my mind. A bummer. I should have done something for him, too.
Gray chuckled. “I can hear your thoughts, Avery.”
“What?” I looked into his eyes.
“Well, I can tell what they are from the way you screwed your lips up,” he said, laughing.
“I bought this the week after our first date, but it was too soon. Everyone says I’m obsessive, that I rush.
So I waited. And there you go. It’s not a gift to mark a monthiversary, but a month of officially dating feels like the right amount of time before I’m allowed to shower you with precious metals. ”
“That’s dangerously close to saying you’re gifting me a golden shower,” I pointed out.
He laughed so hard that I realized it hadn’t been his intention at all. “It’s silver. Goes well with your eyes. Open it.”
I took it from his hand and then opened the small box.
It was an earring, of course, but it was a breathtaking one.
Done in silver, it had a thin hook much like the one I already wore, but instead of the delicate little cross that dangled from my ear as part of the aesthetic and not a sign of any devotion, the new earring had a little tear-shaped net, holding in a small, glimmering emerald.
“Holy shit, Gray,” I whispered.
“Put it on,” he said. I could tell he was amused, even happy.
His voice was higher and softer as he took the box from me and suggested I take the cross earring off.
“And if you like them both, just get the other ear pierced.” But we both knew I wouldn’t do that.
Nothing could compare to the emerald tear he had found.
Its pure green color caught the light of the streetlamps and reflected it brilliantly.
Its value was plain even to an untrained eye.
While I couldn’t even begin measuring its worth in money, I quickly decided that it was priceless in what it meant to me.
I hooked it through the hole in my earlobe and Gray helped screw on the little safety bit, then narrowed his eyes as he examined my face and my new earring. “Yeah,” he said with satisfaction. “I knew green would suit you.”
“You’re crazy,” I whispered. “You’re mad.”
He bit his lip and grabbed my arms, then pulled me in for a long, passionate kiss. “Crazy about you,” he murmured over my lips, then kissed me harder.
Guilt filled me when we stopped kissing and pulled away from each other. “Gray, it’s beautiful. Thank you,” I said.
“Why do you sound sad about it? Shit, did I rush?” He wore plain panic on his face, batting his eyelashes in quick blinks.
“No,” I said and cleared my throat. “Not at all. That’s not…” I breathed for a moment and looked straight into his eyes. “I can’t do stuff like this for you. Not yet, at least. When I’m a famous NHL winger, it’ll be a different story, but now…” I shrugged.
He closed his hands around my face immediately and spoke with urgency.
“Baby, that’s ridiculous. Don’t even think like that.
You’re my boyfriend, remember? I wanted you to have it.
It’s not a debt. It’s a gift.” He kissed the tip of my nose, then my lips.
“I won’t reveal your secret to others, but I know that you’re the sweetest guy on Earth.
And if I can get you something that makes you feel pretty, you bet your ass I will. ”
I choked on a laugh and shook my head.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad,” he said.
Just pretty, I thought. “You didn’t,” I insisted. “But I wish I could make you feel what I feel now, too.”
He grinned. “That, you can.” His lower lips moved between his teeth in a cheeky smile and his eyebrows danced. “Kiss me again.”
Easy enough. I was burning with desire to kiss him.
And when our lips met, I gave him my all.
I gave him the best kiss I could offer. Every cell in my body was focused on it and every shred of me felt it.
We kissed and gripped each other like it was the last time we would have that chance, but I promised myself to make chances for it for as long as he wanted. And longer.
Mine. All mine. Only mine. The possessive, competitive nature kicked in. Haters could hate all they wanted, but this person belonged to me. I wasn’t giving him up.