Page 54 of Hockey Boy

Brooks: Aiden, you still planning on meeting up with us? If not, then I’m gonna head home. War’s been staring at his phone all night. Cam and Hall are going shot for shot, and Fitz is flirting hard with the bartender. Parker already left, and Gavin never showed up. ??

Beckett: Gee, thanks for the invite.

Gavin: Ha, like you would have gone.

Beckett: Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t appreciate being invited. Where are you anyway?

Brooks: Karaoke bar on 7th. Wanna come?

Fuck,I’ve been working hard to ignore my phone, instead focusing on my brooding, but not responding is making my hand itch.

Beckett: Pass.

Gavin: You can sing I Will Survive. We know that’s what you sang in the shower while living in the house of horrors.

I snort, imagining Beckett belting that out in the shower when he first moved in with his wife and her three best friends. Despite what a grump he can be, that is probably an accurate representation of him during that time. Barely holding on while he lived with four women and seven kids in a brownstone that was literally crumbling around them.

When I feel Lennox’s eyes on me, I school my expression and push my phone back into my pocket, the many replies I’ve concocted instantly a distant memory.

“Everything okay?” she asks, her tone tremulous.

She’s been that way since I lost my fucking mind and showed all my cards tonight. Kissing her. Fucking her with my fingers. Making her come on command. Any second now, she’s going to tell me she’s abandoning the plan. Obviously, I can’t handle doing this without getting feelings involved.

“I’m fine. Areyouokay?” I risk looking at her. Despite doing all I can to hide my feelings, I need to know what she’s really thinking.

She was quiet for the rest of the night, and as soon as they cut the cake, she was making the rounds to say good night, explaining that she had an early appointment tomorrow morning. Now we’re in the back seat of the car that delivered us here, and we’ve been awkwardly silent.

“Of course.” She pushes her hair back behind her ear as the car comes to a stop in front of the elevator bank in the parking garage of our building. She doesn’t wait for me to help her out, and I can’t make myself feel upset about it. And there’s no fucking way I can get in that elevator with her. I’m liable to babble out a string of apologies. If I do that, then I’ll have to explain why I acted the way I did, and none of those things are signs of someone who can handle the arrangement we have.

She walks ahead of me, and I force myself not to stare at her ass. At the elevator bank, she presses the button and faces the doors, silently waiting for it to open.

“Will you be okay going up by yourself?” I ask, digging my hands into my pockets to keep from reaching for her.

For the first time since we were behind the curtain, she really looks at me. Fuck, she still looks so perfect. It pisses me off that she cleaned herself up after I had her. That her cheeks aren’t still flushed and her lips are barely swollen. Her hair and makeup remain in place, as if I never touched her. Such a fucking perfect princess for her family. Will she do what they ask now that the man they’re pushing on her isn’t a polo-wearing Chad who golfs on the weekends? Is being with him, maybe marrying him, appealing to her? If she did, not only would it make them happy, but she’d get what she wants.

Brows drawing low, she frowns. “Are you going somewhere?”

I nod toward my car. “It’s Camden Snow’s birthday. The guys went out to dinner, and now they’re at karaoke.”

“Aiden, why didn’t you mention it earlier? You didn’t have to miss your friend’s birthday to come to my cousin’s.”

The elevator opens, and I lean in to hold it for her. “I wanted to. You sure you’ll be okay going up?”

With her lip caught between her teeth, she steps closer, pressing her hand to my chest. The heat of her palm sends an electric jolt through me like a defibrillator. “I’ll be fine.” Her blue eyes hold mine asshe pops up on her toes and brushes her lips against my cheek. “Just feel bad I couldn’t return the favor. Night, Hockey Boy.” With that, she shuffles into the elevator.

I’m only beginning to process her words as I step back. As the doors slide shut between us, she catches my eye and smiles.

I clear my throat, searching for control. “Night, Princess. Sweet dreams.”

Even as the doors lock tight, her laughter is audible. “They’ll all be about you.”

Fuck. I gape at the metal doors, contemplating ditching the guys and running up the sixteen flights of stairs so I can be standing there when Lennox gets out.

But I’m playing it cool. This is a long game.

And if she’s dreaming of me, then I’m already a hell of a lot closer to winning than I thought.

“My boy, my boy, my boy,” Daniel croons into the microphone while Cam sits on a barstool next to him.