Chapter 24 Dominic #2
I drop to the couch next to Briar. Well, nearly on top of her, and when she giggles and shifts, I pull her legs into my lap. Once she’s comfortable, I rest my bowl on her thighs to resume refueling.
“Congrats on the win tonight,” I tell Griffin. “Don’t expect more of the same tomorrow. We’re gonna kick your ass.”
He lifts his head but only opens one eye. “Why? You gonna actually play tomorrow?”
I could argue that I played tonight, but we both know the truth. Actually, as I look around the room, I realize everyone here knows. Even Harley is looking at me like, What the hell, Dom?
I sigh and hold up a finger. I shovel in one more big bite, barely chew, and swallow, before diving in, telling them about the Blizzard locker room battle royale, both pre- and postgame.
“I thought things were better after the zoo fundraiser?” Briar says.
I shrug. “They are, for most of us. Anderson’s just a—” I catch myself, glance at Harley, and finish, “Jerk.” He’s a lot more than that. He’s an asshole, a motherfucker, and worse, he’s steadily becoming even more of a danger to what I’m building here.
“Sounds like you’ve successfully completed your mission,” Griffin offers. “Kipson’s doing better.”
I chuckle and then say with a smirk, “Of course. Did anyone expect anything different? I mean, we’re talking about me? Dominic Lee, the therapy whisperer.”
“Oh God, I forgot how insufferable you are,” Penny moans, rolling her eyes.
But she’s smiling. We give each other a hard time, but it’s all in love.
Our particular love language is just a bit “affection through shit-talking.” Don’t be fooled into thinking that either of us would let anyone else say the same things about our sibling, though.
Penny would snap right back if someone had something to say about me, and I’d go even further for my little sister if necessary.
“What about next season?” Griffin asks, his tone merely curious, but there’s a million inherent factors at play to answer that question.
I came here with every intention of fixing Kipson’s shit and going home.
To Griffin and Penny. To the brothers on my team, the Hawks.
It was supposed to be a one-season side quest, a quick in and out, just an asterisk on my career before I returned to the life I’d carefully built.
But now? I’ve built an entirely different life, here .
. . with the Blizzard and more importantly, with Briar and Harley.
I have a family here, a brotherhood, and a home.
Not in this short-term rental, but at Briar’s side. Wherever she is, that’s home now.
I look at the woman who has changed everything for me, seeing the doubts trying to bloom in her eyes.
She would never ask me to stay. Hell, she probably expects me to leave.
So I pin her fidgeting hands with my own, stare deep into her soul, and never look away as I answer Griffin, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here.”
Briar’s smile spreads slowly, the hopeful belief gradually drowning out any remaining demon whispers.
Griffin’s reaction is much louder. “Thank fuck,” he rumbles. “I was so afraid I’d need to physically yank your head out of your ass.”
Laughing, I finally turn to him. “What?”
He holds his hands up toward me and then Briar, exclaiming, “I mean, I would’ve done it.
I’d have to return the favor since you did it for me once.
” Sounding much more relieved, he adds, “But I really hoped it wasn’t gonna be necessary and that you could see what a good thing you have going.
” He lifts his chin toward Briar, then glances toward Harley.
I nod, running my thumb over Briar’s hand. “I see it.”
“Probably need to put out an announcement to the league, though—Dominic Lee, asshole whisperer, is out of the business of fixing your screwed-up players,” Penny suggests, waving a hand through the air like she’s writing that on a marquee.
She probably would literally do that. Or send out an email newsletter or make a social media post about it.
She’s good at that stuff since she does marketing for her own business.
Griffin groans, telling my sister, “He’s gonna be even more stubborn and arrogant now.”
“Well, can you blame me?” I joke. “I fixed you, Kipson, a whole damn team . . .” I count them off on my fingers proudly.
“And me,” Briar whispers.
I freeze and catch her eye. “Nah, you fixed you. I just helped you knock the dust off the shine so that you could see how much you’d already done,” I say with a wink.
“Made the reward worth the risk too.” My voice is filled with sexy promises, but I mean it so much more deeply than that.
Briar broke every rule she had for herself for me, and I intend to make that gamble pay off in every way I can.
“Dom,” she whispers, a pink blush coloring her cheeks as she dips her chin. I see her check on Harley, to make sure he didn’t hear us, but he’s passed out asleep on the floor in a post–sugar rush crash.
“You two are so cute,” Penny coos.
“Not as cute as us,” Griffin corrects.
I cut my eyes his way. “You are not cute. You fucked my sister behind my back,” I remind him. I don’t care anymore. That ship has long since sailed, but it’s a nice screw to twist every once in a while. Again, affection through shit-talking.
He grins wolfishly. “Yeah, I did,” he says unapologetically. “And you wanna know something?”
Before I can ask, Penny finishes for him. “We lovvvvvvvvvved it.”