19
Conor
An hour later, the three of us get to Josh and Olivia’s apartment.
This kid is hilarious. I got a stitch in my side from how much he made me laugh. Sasha is gonna have frown lines on her face and her eyes will be permanently rolled to the back of her head because she was not amused by either me, or her little brother. She’s one more sigh away from murder.
The whole way up in the elevator, Liam decided to ask endless questions about sex after walking in on whatever the hell happened between Sash and I. I was willing to answer a few of his questions but the daggers Sasha was aiming in my direction made me shut the hell up.
She’s a scary little pocket rocket when she wants to be.
I don’t understand why we’re standing outside the door, waiting for someone to open it.
Sasha has warned me about walking into people’s homes without being invited in first but I don’t get what the big deal is.
She says it’s an invasion of privacy. I say it’s just common courtesy so people don’t have to go through the effort of walking to the door.
I’m getting better though. I actually knock now before I walk in. Sometimes.
The door swings open revealing Josh mid yawn. He pauses, his eyes moving between Sasha, Liam and me. “Have you two adopted a kid or something?”
“I’m not a kid, douchebag.” Liam fires back. He definitely gets his attitude from his sister and if looks could kill, Josh would be lying on the floor any second now. Sasha aims the same look at her brother.
Sasha pinches the bridge of her nose. “Behave.” She warns before turning back to Josh. “This is my brother, Liam. He’s staying with me for a few days.”
“Nice to meet you, Liam.” Josh says, sticking his hand out for Liam to shake. “I’m Josh.”
Liam just stares at it with a look of disgust as if touching it would give him a disease. “I know who you are, dick.”
“Liam!” Sasha scolds but he just rolls his eyes.
This crush he has on Olliepop must be a lot bigger than I thought.
I suppress the laughter that wants to bubble up.
“Just go in.” Sash says, nudging her brother’s back and making him walk.
He shuffles his feet, not once taking his glare off Josh’s face.
“What the fuck did I do?” Josh asks me, his confusion making my laughter rise to the surface. This is fucking brilliant.
“Dude, you stole his girlfriend.”
His brows knit together. “What?”
“Just come see.”
We step into the living room at the same time as Olivia walks down the hall towards us.
Liam’s face lights up, hearts are practically bulging out of his eyes and his cheeks turn a violent shade of red.
“Oh.” Josh grumbles from beside me. I shake from silent laughter, biting my knuckles to keep the sound from coming out.
“Liam!” Olivia beams when she spots him. He rushes over to her, wrapping her in a bigger hug than he did his own sister. “Oh my God, you just get cuter every time I see you.”
“I’m not cute, Livvy. I’m hot.” His voice is muffled against Olivia’s sweater.
“Of course you are.” She ruffles his hair anyway.
“I am.” He pulls back, puffing out his chest. “I’m a man now.”
“Don’t worry. I believe you.” Liam smiles proudly at her before turning towards Josh, his smile disappearing and turning into another glare.
Fuck, I wish I brought popcorn. This is hilarious.
Sasha looks to be having as much fun as I am.
When she meets my eye, her laughter stops.
Heat flickers between us, and everything from this morning moves to the forefront of my mind.
The whimpers, the moans, the way she moved against me.
God, this woman is gonna be the death of me.
The need to grab her, spin her around and make her grind her pussy against my cock while I devoured her mouth was so fucking strong. If Liam hadn't come into the room, I think I would have. And I don’t think Sasha would have stopped me.
Shit, I’m getting hard again just thinking about it. “Where’s my Connie girl?” I ask, attempting to take my mind off the sexy woman across the room.
“I just put her down for a nap.” Olivia replies, moving to the kitchen.
“What?” I groan, “She’s the only reason I came.” I don’t need to see Olivia’s face to know she’s glaring at me.
“So when can I meet more of the hockey team?” Liam asks me.
Before I get a chance to reply, Sasha speaks up. “You just did.” She nods her head in Josh’s direction.
“He doesn't count.”
Josh looks genuinely offended. “I’m the captain.”
“Not in my eyes.” In the many years I have known Josh, I have never seen him as speechless as he is right now. I think he might cry.
“I can take you down to the arena later.” I offer. “There might be a few of the guys there.”
Liam’s head whips towards me. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, buddy. As long as it’s cool with your sister.”
Liam turns towards Sash, giving her massive puppy dog eyes.
They look so similar when he does that. They look similar anyway, but with those big, round, brown eyes looking like that, you’d swear they’re the same person.
How could she ever say no to him? “Please, Sashabear. I swear I will never run away again.”
“You shouldn't run away again anyway!” Sasha exclaims before turning towards me. “Are you sure that’s okay?”
“Of course. It’ll give me time to bond with my baby bro-in-law.”
Olivia bursts out laughing across the room. “Your bro-in-law?”
I shoot her a warning look. “Yeah. My baby bro-in-law because Sasha is my girlfriend.”
“Oh right.” She says, barely containing herself. “I forgot.”
“It’s true.” Liam pipes up, “I even walked in on them having sex this morning.”
Silence. Complete silence. Every head in the room slowly bounces between Sasha and me. Josh’s mouth drops open. Olivia freezes. Sasha looks like she’s ready to evaporate. And Liam is standing there as if nothing happened.
For fucks sake.
This kid is gonna get someone in trouble someday with that mouth of his.
I wonder if I was this exhausting when I was Liam’s age.
He hasn’t shut his mouth since we got to the stadium.
Knight thinks he’s awesome. Coach is pretending he doesn’t think the same.
But judging by the tiny smile he keeps trying to hide behind those glares he’s aiming at me for bringing Liam here, I think he’s failing miserably.
It’s entertaining as hell. But underneath the laughs and jokes, I can see something that hits a little too close to home.
Every time he says something, his eyes flick around the room, checking everyone’s reaction.
Making sure they laughed. Making sure he wasn’t too much.
Making sure he didn’t just say the wrong thing.
I used to do that. Hell, sometimes I still do.
The regret flashes across his face the second he thinks he’s gone too far. I know exactly what that feels like. The gears in his brain seem to be working a mile a minute. Just like mine does.
So I let him borrow some skates. I thought it would be a good idea to let Liam go onto the ice and hit the puck around for a bit. It usually helps me calm my racing thoughts so maybe it would help him too.
For a kid who has never been skating before, he’s a natural. His foot work is precise and his aim with the puck is better than most adult men. I should talk to Sasha about this. If Liam joined a hockey program now, he could be something special.
“Hey, Knight.” Liam shouts from center ice. “Can I shove you against the boards?”
“Only if you can catch me!” Knight takes off down the ice with Liam on his heel. Jesus, the kid is quick. Give him a few years and some proper coaching and he’d outskate most of our team.
Everyone except me, of course. I’m fast as fuck, blink and you’ll miss me. Am I cocky? Maybe. Accurate? Definitely.
I settle into the stands and pull out my phone, finding a text from Sash.
Angel: How’s he getting on?
I smile to myself as I tap out a reply.
Me: Really good. Your parents should get him into hockey.
She replies instantly, as if she’s been staring at her phone since she messaged me nearly an hour ago.
Angel: I don’t think so… too much money.
Me: Well I could help with that?
Angel: I can’t ask you to do that.
Angel: He’ll probably forget about it once he’s home anyway.
Me: How long is he staying for?
Angel: My parents are flying over in a few days to get him.
I know this is breaking her heart. She worries about Liam constantly.
Her parents seem to be useless with him.
They say they don’t understand how to help him, but according to Sash, they’ve never really tried.
That’s just so fucking sad. My parents weren’t the most supportive, but they tried and that’s more than I could have asked for.
Me: You’re gonna miss him.
Angel: I am.
Angel: But I will be glad to have my bed back. My back is killing me. I’m gonna go for the best nap of my life.
Before I can overthink it, my thumbs start flying over the screen.
Me: Come stay with me.
I stare at the message the second it sends. Shit. Where did that come from? I quickly type out another.
Me: Both of you. I have a spare bedroom.
The three dots appear when Sasha starts typing but they disappear just as quick. They reappear and disappear four times before she finally replies.
Angel: We couldn’t. Thanks though :)
Me: Why couldn’t you?
Again, the dots appear and disappear multiple times before a reply comes through.
Angel: Because it would be against our rules.
Me: Relax, Angel. It’s only sleeping.
I’ll sleep on the couch and
you can take my bed.
Angel: I’ll think about it.
She’ll think about it.