Chapter Thirty-Nine
Leo
I zipped up my pants and Sophia rose from the bathroom floor, fixing her clothes.
I had not enjoyed spending nearly three weeks without her during winter break.
Even hockey had been less fun without her there.
I’d gotten used to having her on the bus for away games and in the stands cheering.
Every time I’d stepped out of the locker room and she hadn’t been there, my heart had dropped.
Even when Jace or Dad and Aunt Lavi had been there instead, nothing quelled my ache for Sophia.
I had, however, enjoyed the rapid fucking we’d just done in the airport bathroom against a wall, followed by the blowjob of a lifetime, all in response to our horrendous time apart.
As if her absence alone hadn’t been bad enough, Devon’s anger at the situation with his brother had only continued to grow.
Apparently, Harley’s lawyer was trying to talk him into taking a plea deal, but that would still mean jailtime, and Devon seemed to be intent on blaming me for the fact that his brother was a drug dealer who’d roofied my girlfriend.
He was constantly running into me on the ice during practice and making lewd comments about Sophia and me in the locker room.
I hadn’t told Sophia about any of the trouble with Devon and I had no intention of worrying her with it.
He’d put her through plenty already and I could handle his shit.
The team had slowly been catching on to the tension between the two of us.
Most of them had been too absorbed in their own shit to see me punch Harley and get Sophia out of the party, and I hadn’t explicitly told them anything.
While rumors had flown about Harley’s actions, the team hadn’t seen or figured out how involved Devon had been.
He wasn’t even remotely hiding his disdain anymore and was going to end up being the reason they found out if he wasn’t careful.
“My parents want me to bring you over for dinner this week,” I said as we stepped into the bitter winter air. My car was right on the curb where I’d left it and there was no ticket, which felt like a win because I definitely deserved one.
I tossed Sophia’s bag in the back seat and opened the passenger door for her. “Okay, I’d like that,” she said as she climbed in.
“You would?” I asked.
“Yeah, I really liked spending time with them. I even missed them while I was gone.”
I laughed and shut the door, rounded the hood, and got in the driver’s seat. “They’ll be thrilled you like them and they’ll ask us to come more often. My mother was pretty convinced I’d never have a real girlfriend, let alone one who she likes. I was asked several times when you were getting back.”
Sophia rested her head on my shoulder. “My family’s Sunday-night dinners are my favorite thing in the world, Leo. If I can’t have weekly dinner with them, weekly dinner with you and your family sounds like a perfect alternative.”
I kissed her head. “Whatever you want, Hawaii.”
Guess we’ll be doing weekly dinners with my family now. Cause whatever this woman wants, she’ll get from me.
“You sure you want to do this, Hawaii?” I asked, hesitating outside the townhouse, sounds of the party thumping across the yard.
The guys were clearly throwing a rager. Devon had stopped hosting parties, which most people had attributed to the Harley situation.
The current one was taking place at a townhouse rented by a few of the juniors on the team.
Sophia grabbed my hand and bobbed her head once in a confident nod. “Yep. I won’t let that one night define me. I can do this.” She looked at me and took a deep breath. “I need to do this.”
“Okay, baby, let’s do it.” I pulled her against my side and kissed her head as I pushed the front door open and was immediately assaulted by the smell of stale beer and the sound of ska music pumping through the speakers.
A game of beer pong was taking place in the living room to our left, and there was someone—Reynolds maybe—lying face up on the kitchen counter to our right with shots of tequila lined across his chest and several eager girls waiting to do body shots.
“Christ, I fucking hate this scene,” I mumbled.
I’d never loved coming to parties, but I disliked it even more now that the alternative was hanging out in my dorm with Sophia curled up against me.
We’d spent nearly every night together at my place since she returned from Hawaii last month.
Alyssa had accused me of stealing her roommate and I wasn’t in the least bit remorseful about having done just that.
She was in her own romantic bliss with Abena these days anyway.
Sophia looked around the party, surveying it cautiously. “Okay, I probably don’t need to be here too long, right?”
“Hawaii, I am not the expert on exposure therapy. What did your mom say?” I asked.
Sophia and her mom had talked a few times about the incident from last semester and the only lingering fear Sophia had was drinking in public again, which frankly, wasn’t avoidable forever.
Laura had suggested that Soph slowly ease her way back into it, so here we were, doing whatever she felt comfortable with before hopefully getting the fuck out of here so we could curl up together with a movie.
“She said just making it through the door counts for the first time, but I want to do more than that,” Sophia said, taking my hand and pulling me toward a keg and cooler at the end of the counter.
As we got closer, I confirmed it was Reynolds having salt licked off his chest by three different women.
“Of course you do. My girl is an overachiever,” I teased, pinching her ass.
She stopped in front of the cooler and stared at it apprehensively. I bent down and fished out a seltzer and held it up. “You want to drink this?”
She nodded and swallowed audibly. “Yep.”
“Okay,” I said, tipping the can so she could see the sealed top. “Take a look at it. Closed.” I popped it open in front of her and held it out.
She took it from me and slowly took a sip before looking at the top of the can and frowning. “I just don’t know how he could have slipped it in.”
I took a deep breath and suppressed the rage I felt toward Harley and Devon at her apprehension.
I wished I’d punched Harley multiple times that night instead of just the once.
“He probably did it while you were talking to someone else or playing beer pong. But I tell you what, we can talk to anyone you want tonight, and I’ll be watching that drink the entire time. ”
“Okay,” she said, looking around. “There’s Alyssa and Abena.”
I waved my hand in a sweeping motion toward them. “After you, Hawaii.”
Sophia gripped her can firmly and started walking in their direction.
“Well, there you are! Haven’t seen you in days,” Alyssa said, pulling Sophia into a hug and shooting me a look.
I smirked and shrugged. See, no remorse.
I watched Sophia’s drink as they fell into conversation, while she played a quick round of beer pong, and while we chatted with a few of the guys from my team.
I watched her and her drink until it was gone.
I was pretty sure she wasn’t the only one getting some much-needed exposure therapy because I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to leave her alone in a place like this again.
As soon as she finished her drink, she looked at me proudly. “I want to go now.”
“You sure?” I asked. I would have left the second we arrived, but I’d also stay here as long as she needed.
“I got the exposure I needed, but what I really want is to go home and watch Modern Family with you,” she said, pressing a soft kiss to my lips.
My heart skipped a beat. She’d just called my dorm home, a word that I knew held such significance to her. But rather than say anything and ruin it, I took her hand in mine and brought her home.