Page 47 of Falling With You
“He does something else, I’ll deal with it. But no one gets to call you that, Sienna. No one.”
She cupped my face and looked at me with warmth in her eyes.
“Thank you. Now, let’s have our own beers, and watch the Avalanche maybe actually beat Detroit. Hopefully.”
“From your mouth to God’s ears,” Derek said from behind us, and we all laughed, the tension easing out.
The guys in front of us didn’t look back, but they did keep drinking. A lot of drinking. I may own a bar, but I didn’t drink as much as most people might think. I had one beer and called it a night. I wanted to drive Sienna home, and frankly, I wanted to keep my wits about me because I didn’t trust the guys in front of us.
The Avs got the puck at the first spray, and we cheered, screamed, and cursed out the opposing players for a clear icing that hadn’t actually been called. I loved sports, loved almost every sport out there, except for golf. I’d tried to get into golf, I even attempted to learn how to play, but I just couldn’t deal with the motions.
Maybe when I got older, I would figure out what was so great about the sport.
“I’m so glad that we’re here,” Sienna said, grinning at me. She’d had just the one beer as well, and was now drinking water, but she was still bouncing and dancing along to the music during each of the breaks.
“I’m glad I could get tickets.”
“These are pretty good seats for last minute. How on earth did you get them?”
I leaned over and kissed her temple. It was nice to just kiss her, keep touching her as if I had the right to do so. She didn’t back away, and constantly wrapped her arm around my waist if we were standing or put her hand on my knee when we were sitting. “I have my ways.”
“Sure, you do. Are you sure Diego is fine alone?” she asked as the ice girls came out with their little shovels to scrape off some of the ice.
“Dillon’s stopping by to feed him and hang out with him. I’m pretty sure the kid and Diego are best friends at this point.”
She smiled widely at that. “So, he has a key to your house and everything? That’s a big step.”
I shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal, even though it was. “I gave it to him a couple weeks ago. Mostly because the other brothers already have a house key, so I wanted to make sure that he had one, too. Plus, if I didn’t, I was pretty sure that Cameron or Brendon would’ve just done it to get it over with.”
“It’s good that it’s the four of you now, not just the three of you, you know?”
I squeezed her hand, swallowing hard. I didn’t like the ball of emotion in my throat. I didn’t like to feel much of anything.
“I’m figuring it out. Probably a little slower than the others want me to, but I am.”
Sienna just shook her head and leaned into me. “You’re doing it on your own time, and you might’ve been an asshole before, but you aren’t now. You’re allowed to have your own reactions, and you’re allowed to figure out what you need.”
I just looked down at her in awe. Everyone else thought I was an asshole for the way I had treated Dillon when we first heard about him. And for the fact that I hadn’t known about him for far too long because I had cut ties with Cameron. Yeah, Brendon had done it too, but I was pretty much the one who had done it first. Because I had been pissed off at my twin for leaving me, for abandoning me for our addict mother. And it didn’t matter that I thought I had been in the right. In the end, I had been wrong. All of us had. And Dillon was the one who’d been hurt because of it.
But we were learning. Somehow.
We got to the end of the second period, the Avs down by one but doing pretty well considering, and we both decided to get up and get something to snack on. Derek and Olivia came with us, as did the drunk guys in front of us. We went the opposite way from them, maybe out of instinct, or perhaps just because we didn’t want to deal with the guys who had been screaming throughout the entire match and practically spilling beer on one another. I didn’t know why they were still allowed to be there, but whatever. I wasn’t going to let them ruin my date.
“So, how long have you two known each other?” Olivia asked, leaning into her husband. “And I’m totally being nosy. Sorry. I heard you say ‘first date,’ but it looks like you’re friends, too.”
“Olivia,” Derek whispered, kissing the top of his wife’s head. “You don’t have to know everyone’s histories. And you should know that more than anyone.” He winked at her, and she blushed.
Seriously, this couple had so many layers that I kind of wanted to figure them out, but Derek was bigger than me, so I wasn’t going to ask. The fact that he was a tattoo artist with full sleeves and could probably bench press me was not lost on me. However, I knew where I was going to get a tattoo the next time I needed one. I’d heard good things about Montgomery, but the fact that I now knew one of the artists was probably a plus for me.
“We’ve been friends since we were in high school,” Sienna said, looking at me. “Seems like forever.”
“Yeah, it kind of has been.”
“And this is your first date? Oh, how sweet,” Olivia said as she clasped her hands in front of herself. “But I’ll stop asking more because you’re both looking a little awkwardly at me, and I realize I’m a little pushy.”
“I think I just found a new friend,” Sienna said, looking up at me before going back to talk to Olivia. I just met Derek’s gaze, and we each shook our heads.
Apparently, our women were going to be fast friends, and the fact that I had just said “our women” was a big step for me. I had asked Sienna out for more than one reason, but it had been so I could talk with her. So I could figure out exactly what was going on inside my mind. But we weren’t acting like this was a first date. Because maybe it wasn’t. We’d already had sex—very, very good sex. We’d already been through a whole hell of a lot together.