Chapter 6
Six
Liam
We shower and change in the locker room and Luca shows me and Ashton a text on his phone.
Dante: It’s done.
I glance at Luca. “Does that mean Bristol can crash with us tonight?” Just last night, I’d been stressed over it. Hopefully, it had all been for nothing.
“Sure, can’t promise how quiet it will be. Zeke was up half the night screaming.”
“Was he?” I smile weakly, trying not to worry Luca.
“You didn’t hear him?” Ashton’s eyes widen. His bedroom is farther than mine from Harper and Luca’s bedroom.
“Oh, I heard him.”
“Did the thunderstorm scare Zeke?” Brooks asks, catching the tail end of our conversation. He’s still in his hockey gear. I swear he’s always the last to shower after a game.
Luca gestures for him to take a step back, the smell noticeable now that the rest of us are clean.
“Fine, I get it.” Brooks holds up his hands. “I’ll go shower.”
“Please, do that!” Ashton chimes, holding his nose.
I elbow Ashton. “Don’t be a jerk.”
“What? He stinks.” Ashton shrugs and drops his fingers from his nose. “So, you and Bristol, huh?” He waggles his eyebrows at me.
“We are taking things slow,” I say. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Giving her time to hate you and change her mind?” Luca quips.
I laugh under my breath. “Something like that.”
“Well, if you can get a good word in with her father for me, before you two hate each other again, that would be appreciated,” Luca says.
“I haven’t even met her father,” I say, deciding not to tell them that we’re having dinner together tomorrow night.
I’ve spoken with him once on the phone and mostly via text, when I was keeping him informed of Bristol’s visit to the hospital. Plus, there was that other time, when she called me in a panic about her boss taking her to a hotel room.
What was that?
Later, she laughed it off as a misunderstanding.
That’s one hell of a mix-up.
“Are we going to Chase’s house tonight to celebrate?” Ashton asks, glancing from me to Luca.
Luca looks conflicted. I can see he wants to go out and celebrate, but he’s married and has a kid. He bites his bottom lip, and I throw my arm around his shoulder.
“How about we go for an hour?” I suggest.
“Can’t.” Luca forces a smile. “Harper and Zeke.”
He doesn’t have to say anything more. He doesn’t want to leave them alone, and after last night, I’d like to think whatever danger has passed but not working for Dante, I don’t know that for certain.
Luca glances at Ashton. “Besides, we have to be up early and out.”
“It’s just an hour, please, Daddy, can we go?” Ashton jokes, glancing up at him with wide eyes, holding his hands together like he’s pleading with Luca to give him permission.
“You both can go, but I need to be there for Harper and Zeke.”
Chase barrels around the corner, is hair still damp from showering, but he’s in jeans and a sweater. “You’re coming out tonight. All of you.” It isn’t a question. “We have to celebrate our victories.”
“I’ve got my kid at home,” Luca says.
“Bring the little monster and your wife. Come on, don’t be a sourpuss.”
Chase has no idea about the attempted kidnapping of Zeke or the attack. He doesn’t know my father is mafia or that Luca and Ashton work for Dante. No one else on the team knows any of it, the secrecy is for their own protection.
Luca sighs and I pat his shoulder. “It’s just an hour and they’ll be with us.”
“Let me talk to Harper and see if she’s up for it.”
“Great! Glad you’re coming,” Chase says and heads across the locker room to chat with Rowan and Miles.
Rowan is our second-line center and Miles is our goalie. Those two seem to have hit it off more recently after Chase needed another roommate and Rowan was looking for a place to live.
I head out of the locker room and Bristol is waiting outside in the hallway for me with Nova, Harper, and Zeke.
I’m the first out, with Luca and Ashton a few feet behind me.
“Hey, congrats on the win.” Bristol throws her arms around my neck, and I pull her against me, dropping my bag to the floor.
She’s wearing my jersey.
It’s one hell of a surprise, a pleasant one.
My lips crush hers, drinking her in, wanting to feel her body nestled against mine. My arms wrap around her waist, and she drags her fingers through my damp hair.
She breaks the kiss apart and I rest my forehead against hers, breathing hard. “I like your jersey,” I rasp, glancing down between us at her Narwhals attire.
Honestly, I was a little worried she’d wear a Penguins jersey and support the rival team tonight. It definitely seemed like something she’d do to irritate me.
The girl knows how to get under my skin. It’s one of her superpowers.
“Want to get out of here?” I ask.
“You’re letting me come over? I thought you had some weird plans for tonight—”
“No plans. Just you, me, and my very comfy mattress,” I say, cutting her off before she can recant what I told her last night in front of the guys.
She rises up onto her tiptoes and drops a quick kiss to my cheek. “I don’t know what you’ve got planned, but you’re sneaky.”