Chapter 44
FORTY-FOUR
CONNOR
Ollie
*Ollie sent a photo attachment*
Packing sucks
Finn
It would go by faster if you stopped complaining every five mins
Me
Why the fuck are you bringing condoms?
Ollie
You never know who you’re going to meet
I’ll let you borrow some if you need
Luke
It’s official, you’re uninvited
The end of the season means we finally get our first full break from the ice in what’s been four long months of grueling training rituals.
I love this time of year, when summer is so close you can almost reach out and grab it. Except this year I wish I could slow everything down.
Daisy lowers her window beside me and rests her head against the car door, eyes closed and soaking in the sunlight.
Her blonde hair is flying everywhere in the wind as I speed down the backroads.
She’s got this little content smile on her face that I’ve never seen before—it takes everything to look away from her and back on the road.
I reach for her instead, my hand crossing over the console and finding hers.
Without opening her eyes, she turns her hand over, letting me slip my fingers in between hers.
And something settles within me, like a rubber band that’s finally been let go after years of strain.
I’m going to spend the next four days pretending that everything isn’t changing around me.
Lakeview is a two-hour drive from Southbay if you take the direct route. I’ve been taking us down backroads, stealing an extra hour just to get a little extra time with her before I have to share her with the rest of our friends.
I’m not delusional—I know our rules still stand, despite her letting me touch her under the table that night at Tipsy’s. I just really wish those rules didn’t apply at all anymore, because the thought of not being able to touch her all weekend is making me want to turn the car around.
It’s not even about sex.
It’s the way that every time some part of me is touching her it feels like the never-ending storm around me calms down for a little bit and I can actually think.
When the GPS alerts our arrival, I reluctantly let go of her hand so I can punch in the access code to the gate around the Conway lake house.
The house is more of a mansion, if you ask me—way too big and over the top for any normal humans to own. But I can’t really complain when Luke’s parents let us stay here for free a couple of nights every year.
“This is Luke’s cabin?” Daisy asks, head turned and staring wide-mouthed out the back window at the giant mansion behind us. I can’t blame her, the two story, seven-bedroom house is definitely not what I had in mind when he invited us up here the first time.
“Pretty far from a shack on the beach, huh?” I chuckle, parking next to Aiden who is pulling his overnight bag from the compartment on the back of his bike.
“Just exactly how rich is Luke’s family?”
“Filthy,” I tell her before popping my door open and stepping out.
“I’m starting to think I chose to hook up with the wrong guy,” I hear her mumble behind me. I know she’s joking, but I still don’t like the thought of Luke’s hands all over her.
I pop my head back into the car and narrow my eyes at her. “I heard that.”
“My bad.” She grins, not looking all that sorry about it, when she climbs out of the truck.
As if on cue, Luke appears in the door opening to the house, looking like a king stepping out to greet his subjects. “I told you I would beat you.”
“It doesn’t count when you drive up the day before, asshole.” Aiden rolls his eyes, climbing the steps up to the front door. He snatches the baseball cap off Luke’s head and breezes past him into the house. Luke follows him in, his loud laugh billowing through the house.
I shake my head at the two of them. Luke is probably the only one who isn’t scared shitless of making fun of Aiden.
They’ve known each other since they were in high school, and from what I gather Aiden didn’t have the easiest time back then. He once told me that Luke saved his life. He was pretty drunk then, so I’m not sure if he meant it literally, but he’s never brought it up again and I’ve never asked.
“How often do you come up here?” Daisy appears beside me.
“Once or twice a year since we met.” I shrug, grabbing our bags from the back seat. “It’s a nice break from the pressure of school.”
I always love our trips up here. It’s the one place we go where hockey isn’t the center of attention, and it feels like everything will be the same between us even when I don’t go to the drafts.
Things have been better between Luke and I since we cleared the air, but I think we both need this time to prove that nothing has changed.
“Are you ready for the madness to begin?” I ask her, gesturing up toward the house.
“Bring it on.” She smiles, eyes bright with excitement. It makes me want to touch her.
The thought of walking into a room full of our friends with her hand in mine is something that’s been running through my head on repeat lately. I think I want that more than anything right now.
Instead I tighten my hold on our bags instead, leading the way up the front steps and through the open door.
I dump our bags in the hallway next to Aiden’s and follow the sound of laughter through to the living room. The room opens up to a back wall full of glass panels framing the view of the wooden patio and the shore beyond it.
Daisy’s breath hitches at the sight, and I feel it like a shot straight to my chest. I stare at the view like I’m seeing it for the first time too. I always forget how pretty it is up here, even with the slight cloud cover outside.
The glass doors are open, letting in the warm spring air. Finn and Tanner are stretched across the couch pushed up against the wall on our right, a nature documentary on the TV to our left. I’m surprised they haven’t invaded the pool yet.
“Right, who’s ready for the big tour?” Luke asks, spotting us by the door.
He’s beaming like it’s the first day back in school after Christmas and he can’t wait to show off all his new toys.
If my dad was hockey legend Tom Conway, I’m pretty sure I would be wearing that smirk every day of my life too.
“Mandatory for first time visitors. Optional for the losers who have been here before.”
“In that case, I’m staying,” Finn declares, gently notching Vanessa off the couch even though she’s already been here twice before. She swats him gently on the thigh before crossing the room and hooking her arm in the crook of Daisy’s.
“Ladies first.” Tanner gestures in front of him and Ollie does a silly little bow, letting the girls pass them. Lauren ruffles his hair as she passes him, and they all follow Luke back out toward the foyer.
I slump down on the couch, next to Aiden, trying to ignore the tug in my chest that has me wanting to follow the girls.
“Any news about the rink?” Aiden asks, tearing his eyes away from his phone long enough to see me refreshing my inbox for the fifteenth time in the last few weeks.
“Not a peep.” I sigh, tossing my phone on the cushion between us. It’s been four weeks of no contact, each week passing having me checking my inbox more frequently. I’m starting to think they’ve forgotten about me. “What if they tear it down?”
“You’ll figure it out.”
“I’m going to have to tell the kids. That’s fucking brutal.” I groan, sinking further down into the couch. “Do you think it would’ve helped my case if I had showed up with fifteen crying kids?”
He winces. “Probably not.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” I sigh.
The thought of coming clean to the kids makes that gnawing feeling in my gut return.
I try my hardest push it away, determined not to think about the mess that is my life for the next few days, but it lingers while Aiden changes the channel to a rerun of the Oilers game from last night.
I stare at the screen without really seeing everything, until Luke’s house tour finishes and Daisy steps around the corner and straight into view, the sight of her snapping me out of my wallowing guilt.
Lauren is leaning in to whisper something in her ear that makes her laugh.
No doubt slagging off Oliver, who is being carried into the room by Tanner piggyback-style right behind them.
Then Lauren links her arm with Vanessa and the two of them disappear into the kitchen, promising drinks and getting started on dinner, the boys following close behind.
“Lauren has me in the room next to hers,” Daisy says as she makes a beeline for me, taking a seat beside me and tugging her legs up under her.
I raise a brow. “Oh yeah?”
I offer her my beer, and she takes it, taking a sip.
“If it was up to her, I’m pretty sure she would have all three of us sharing a room.” She laughs, handing the bottle back to me. I let my fingers run over hers when she passes it over.
“Kinky,” I joke. She narrows her eyes at me, her lips rolling between her teeth in what I think might be an attempt to hide her laugh.
“I’m talking about the girls.”
I shrug, the grin still on my lips. “Still kinky.”
She swats my shoulder, then she snatches my beer out of my hands before she heads for the kitchen, stealing my drink away with her.
I push off the couch and follow behind under the guise of grabbing a new drink, when really it’s just an excuse.
She is leaning with her elbows on the kitchen counter, her fingers playing with the label on the bottle as she watches Lauren measure out tequila in a blender.
I pull a fresh beer out of the fridge and brush by her on the way back to the living room. My head dips low, mouth skimming across her ear while Lauren turns to grab ice out of the freezer.
“For the record, I’m glad you’re not sharing a room,” I tell her, my breath fanning against her ear, feeling the shiver run through her. Then I’m straightening and making a beeline out of the kitchen, just as Lauren dumps a bag of ice on the counter.
“What has you smiling like that?” Finn asks when I drop down in my spot on the couch again.
“Just happy to be away from real life for a moment.”
After dinner, the girls decide to dip their toes in the water, and like the absolute mess I am, I head for the railing on the porch just so I can watch Daisy squeal when the cold wave hits her a little too high.
I’m leaning against the railing, when Luke comes up beside me. He takes in the girls then turns his back and leans beside me, watching the guys in the room behind me.
“So this is what’s got you so distracted lately,” Luke mumbles next to me. I glance his way, but I don’t say a word. He hasn’t really asked me a question. “Does she know?”
“Know what?”
“That you’ve gone soft for her.”
I snort, rolling my eyes. “I’ve always been soft.”
“Not like this. Not like you are with her.” One look at him and I know he sees right through me.
I sigh, running a hand through my hair and tugging at the ends. “She doesn’t want to know.”
“Maybe you should tell her anyway.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” he says, gesturing toward her with his beer, before adding jokingly, “Don’t forget about me when you get all loved up, okay?”
“As if that could ever happen. Who would sponsor our weekend getaways if not you?” I joke, earning myself a solid shove to my shoulder.
“Careful or you’re going to end up sleeping on the beach,” he jokes, sidestepping me and heading down the stairs.