Chapter 7
MILES
I ’m not usually a go-out-on-a-weekday guy because I treat my career like any other job. Regardless of practice times, I’m in bed early, early to rise, and a workout to start my day. But I should’ve figured when I agreed to move into the same building as Damon that I’d be going out during the week.
When he presented me with hockey tickets to the Tundra, I figured it’d be fun to go to a sporting event I’m not playing in.
And I fell in love with hockey the first time Lee Burrows took me to his brother Kane’s game.
He’s retired and coaching the Florida Fury now, but he was one helluva player.
The way the hockey players are so agile on skates makes me look pathetic that I can’t catch a football in the air before my opponent does.
I walk into the Tundra arena with Damon and Cooper.
“Where’s Ellery?” I ask.
“She got called in, but she says she’ll make it after shift change.”
“Are you going to survive without her tonight?” Damon asks.
I shake my head. He’s always razzing Cooper about his feelings for Ellery. Damon doesn’t understand why some things aren’t his business.
“Fuck off,” Cooper says as we arrive at our private box.
Although no one told me how we got the tickets, I have my suspicions that it has something to do with a certain brunette who started working for Sportsverse Magazine .
Sure enough, we enter and there she is, talking to some girl in the corner about something with a carrot between her fingers. The other girl has a short dark bob, and it swings as she nods profusely at whatever Bryce is talking about.
“B!” Cooper bellows and a few heads turn in our direction.
Some of their eyes widen, others act indifferent. If this is mostly Sportsverse employees, seeing a professional athlete out in the wild isn’t anything they haven’t seen before.
Bryce turns to us, and the mouth of the girl she’s talking slowly opens and hangs there as she looks at each of us. We’re big guys and take up a decent amount of space in a small box like this one.
“Hey, Coop.” She eyes me. “I see you brought guests.”
Damon laughs and slaps me in the stomach. “We’re not guests. We’re friends.”
After Cooper releases her, Damon hugs her, bringing her up so her feet hang off the floor. Jealousy pricks at my skin like a needle.
“My friends know not to pick me up.” She pats his back. Once her feet are planted back on the floor, she grants me her attention. “Miles.”
I wouldn’t call it a welcoming smile that crosses her lips, but it’s a smile, nonetheless.
“Hey, Bryce. Thanks for the ticket,” I say, playing nice.
“Sure. The more the merrier.” She gestures to the woman she was talking to. “This is Rachel. She works for Sportsverse . ”
Damon is quick to approach with his hand out. “I’m the only available man out of these three. Damon?—”
“Siska. I know.” The girl giggles just like Damon likes them to.
Obviously Damon’s pissing on his territory here if he’s telling this woman both Cooper and myself are taken when that’s not the case, not that I care.
“Last I checked, I was available,” Cooper grumbles.
Bryce pats his arm. “It’s so cute you actually believe that. Excuse me.”
She walks away to mingle with anyone other than me, and Cooper looks at me with a perplexed expression. Does he really not understand why everyone thinks he’s not available?
“Come on, let’s go sit outside the box and see why some women love hockey players over us,” I say.
Cooper groans. “I wish that were true in my case.”
“Yeah, your life really sucks.” I roll my eyes.
He laughs and we grab some waters before sitting in the seats provided with the box. The game is just beginning, and the Tundra take control of the puck.
“Man, they’re fast,” Cooper says.
They shoot, and the goalie blocks the puck from the net.
“Why do you think it’s only one point per goal?” I ask. “Like, who decided how many points per score for each game? Why are we six for a touchdown? Basketball two per basket?”
“You’d think a hockey or soccer goal would be worth more than a touchdown. I mean, they’re harder to get,” Cooper says.
“Right? These games are tied a lot too.”
We sip our waters, watching all the players skate around.
“Not to mention the endurance these guys have to have.”
“Huh,” Cooper says.
“What? ”
“I don’t know, I figured you’d spit out some reason. Like the names of who invented what sport or some mathematical equation.”
My forehead wrinkles. “Why?”
“Dean’s list.”
I shake my head because that’s what everyone thinks. And I can’t deny it—I am smart. I worked my ass off to be able to get an academic scholarship in case I was injured or hurt playing football.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
He props one ankle on the other. The crowd starts booing and I look up to see the red light lit up on top of the home team’s net.
“Do better next time.” Cooper laughs and boos along with the crowd.
It goes to commercial break and Ellery and Bryce come down to join us. Having no other choice, either Ellery sits by me and Bryce by Cooper or vice versa, since we’re in the middle two seats of four.
“Elle,” Cooper says, and she bends down to give him a hug. “How was your shift?”
“Exhausting. I need a massage.” She sits down next to him, and Bryce looks as if she’s about one second from bolting.
“Here, let my magic hands do some work,” Cooper says.
Ellery turns her back to face Cooper, and he massages her shoulders while she moans about how good it feels. I raise my eyebrows, and Bryce bites her lip to keep from laughing.
“B, sit. I’m sure you’ve networked enough,” Cooper says.
She hems and haws.
“I don’t bite,” I say, and her face turns red because we both know that I do. “Well…”
She slides by everyone and sits down, turning her body away from mine .
Before I can think better of it, I lean forward and whisper, “You’re the only one here who knows I bite.”
She sucks in a sharp breath and doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t look at me. Just pretends I never said a word.
As Ellery moans and tells Cooper how good it feels, I gulp down the rest of my water.
“Look!” Ellery points at the Jumbotron.
I don’t want to look because I’m pretty sure we’re on the screen, but if I ignore it, I’m the asshole football player who doesn’t acknowledge the crowd.
My gaze lifts to the screen and it’s worse than just the camera operator recognizing us—it’s Bryce and me on screen with a heart around us and Kiss Cam blinking underneath.
“Fucking hell,” I murmur.
Bryce waves and shakes her head. “You’d think they’d be on you two over there. I mean, you’re moaning like he’s getting you off.”
“Jeez, B.” Ellery glares down the row at her friend.
“Sorry.” Bryce continues to wave for the camera to move on.
The crowd boos and heads in the arena turn in our direction.
“Just kiss me. It doesn’t have to be a big deal,” I mumble.
She flips her head in my direction, eyes scathing. “I’m not going to kiss you on national television.”
“This isn’t a national team.”
She huffs. “Is that some kind of dig?”
“I just meant, hardly anyone is going to see it, if it’s that you’re ashamed to kiss me.”
She faces me, her small hands balled into fists. “Why would you say that? Because I didn’t fall on my knees begging for a relationship after you fucked me?”
“Whoa, what?” Cooper turns his attention to us.
“Coop, you were just getting the knot out,” Ellery whines and cracks her neck .
“Did you not hear what I just did? When did the two of you have sex?” he asks.
I shake my head. Thank God Damon wasn’t down here to hear it. I’d never hear the end of it from him. “Why are you bringing it up when you’re the one who wanted to forget it even happened?”
I am not going to tell her I’d thought maybe it could’ve been the start of something. Hell, I’d never had chemistry like that with anyone. Her reaction to my hands on her was addicting.
“Just forget it.” She leans forward to address Cooper. “Pretend you didn’t hear that. And don’t tell anyone.”
“But I did,” Cooper says innocently, and I almost laugh, until something catches the corner of my eye.
The abominable snowman mascot runs down the short stairs and stops beside Bryce. She looks at him and her cheeks turn pink. He has roses in his hand and everyone around us is staring because we’re still on the big screen.
“Fuck, man. They don’t mess around,” Damon says from above us where he’s standing in the suite.
He’s right.
The character they call Tundra hands me the roses, and my eyebrows go up to my hairline. I forgot that they do these things to make the outing fun for the fans. I’m not usually a spectator. Who knows how long Tundra is going to be up here bothering us?
I accept the roses, and the mascot signals for me to give them to Bryce.
“Don’t give them to me,” she says so low I’m the only one who hears her.
“Just put on an act and smile,” I mumble back.
“This is ridiculous.” She huffs again. “I should never have sat here.”
Tundra takes my wrist and forces me to move the flowers in front of Bryce then guides my wrist back to my lap, signaling that that’s what I’m supposed to do.
As if I don’t know how to hand a woman flowers.
If it were any other woman, she’d already be holding them, but Bryce always has to make everything more difficult than it needs to be.
I move my arm over in front of her and drop the flowers in her lap.
The mascot turns to the crowd with his thumbs down, and everyone boos. I’m in fucking hell, and I can hear my buddies cracking up beside me. Pretty sure Cooper wouldn’t like it if he were the one on the spot and having to do all this for Ellery.
Tundra picks up the flowers and gives them to me again. This time I hold them out to Bryce, and she yanks them out of my hands.
When Tundra turns to the crowd again, everyone boos. He puts up his two pointer fingers and brings them together telling us we should kiss.
“Give it a break, buddy,” Bryce says. “I’d hate to write a story about the Tundra mascot for Sportsverse .”
“You give me a break, lady. I’m just trying to make the fans happy. You think I want to wear this ridiculous thing?” Tundra says so only we hear him. “Why won’t you kiss a professional football player?”
“Because I shouldn’t be forced to kiss anyone.” Bryce crosses her legs and arms.
“You’re a real buzzkill,” he says and turns around to the crowd, holding his hands up in the air as though he can only do so much.
Everyone is pointing their thumbs down and shouting at us now. Jesus.
“They take the Kiss Cam pretty seriously here,” Cooper says. “You’re gonna be all over the news tomorrow as the people who can’t play along.”
He’s right, and Bryce might not thank me for this now, but she will in the future .
I slide my hand to the back of Bryce’s head and pull her toward me.
My lips land on hers and she stiffens, her one hand landing on my chest, pushing me back.
Then she relaxes into my hold just like that night in San Francisco.
She shakes for a moment as if all the tension is leaving her body before she sinks into our kiss.
I don’t attempt to use tongue because I don’t want her to punch me in the balls.
Satisfied, the crowd goes crazy, screaming and cheering.
She ruins it when she pinches my nipple.
I release her, grabbing my aching chest. “Fuck.”
We both stare at the screen and there we are, kissing. I hate to admit it to myself, but we look good together even though we’ll never be a couple.
“I can’t believe you.” She stands once the game starts and the fans’ attention is drawn back to the ice.
“They weren’t going to stop until we kissed. Problem solved.”
“And now my boss is going to think I just go around kissing athletes.”
I stand and step in front of her. “Keep acting indifferent to me, Bryce.”
Her chest rises and falls, but she says nothing. We both know what we felt in that kiss. She can deny it all she wants, but our desire for each other is still living under the surface of our hatred, and I’m pretty sure it’ll stay there until the top blows off again.