“Come with me for one hour. I miss you. I don’t want to go home and leave things like this.”
“Okay,” she whispers, peeking up at me with wide blue eyes. “One hour and then I have to study and pack.”
“I’ll walk you back to your dorm in one hour,” I promise.
She smiles.
One hour is all I need to get her back.
Chapter Nine
Dean
When we walk into the game room, my teammates are engaged in several heated air hockey tournaments with the football team. Of course, none of the tables are open, all of them booked for the next hour. Per school rules, each team of players has to reserve a table. The clipboard on the wall indicates I won’t be playing at all. Not unless I want to come back after dinner.
I hold out my hand to Kat, and she takes it without a fight. “I need a drink. Walk with me to the cafeteria.”
She glances up at the clock on the walk to check the time.
“We have forty more minutes.” I lead her out of the room. “I even set the alarm on my phone to get you back to your dorm on time.”
“You’re taking this hang serious, huh?”
I nod. “I’m a man of my word.”
“That you are,” she mutters.
“I still need to talk to you, Kitten.”
“Can we do that later? Let’s not spoil this.”
Confused, I shake my head. “Spoil what? I just want to talk to you.”
“I know what you’re going to say.”
“Unless you’ve developed the ability to read minds in the past two weeks of ignoring me, then I doubt you know what I want to say.”
“Two weeks ago, that was a mistake. I shouldn’t have asked you to… I wish we never went into that stupid basement… Kissing you changed everything.”
“I wanted to be with you. I don’t regret anything we did.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “You don’t?”
“No, not at all. What I regret is losing you over a kiss. You know me better than anyone. I don’t go around campus and hookup with any girl who talks to me.”
She chuckles. “Don’t let anyone hear you say that. It might ruin your street cred.”
“Let people think what they want,” I snap. “I don’t care what they say about me behind my back. The only opinion I care about is yours.”
Once we reach the cafeteria, I grab two cups and hand one to Kat.
“I’m not sure what to say, Dean. After what we did, I feel differently about you. I have no idea how to process everything.”
She slips in front of me to add every brand of fountain soda on tap to her cup.
“Gross,” I say, filling my cup. “Why can’t you choose one brand of soda like a normal person?”
“Because I can never make up my mind.” She turns around, with the cup in her hand, and takes a sip from the straw. “Maybe you would like it. You don’t know until you give it a try.”
“I didn’t know how much I would like you until we gave it a try.”
A blush creeps up her neck and to her cheeks. “Dean,” she whispers as I brush my fingertips along hers and move closer. “We graduate in a few days. It’s too late.”
“We should’ve had this conversation sooner.” I sigh. “Please don’t shut me out. I’m not some random guy you hooked up with at a party.”
“I’ll tell you what,” she says, our mouths only a few inches apart. “If by some miracle we end up in the same city after the NHL Draft, then we can see what happens. I grew up with a dad who traveled from city to city and was never home. I can’t handle the constant disappointment that will come from you never being around.”
“We don’t even know if I’m getting drafted. Do I have a good chance? Yeah, of course, I do. But there’s no guarantee.”
“It’s a definite, Dean. My dad said there’s no way you won’t get picked up. You have a few teams that want you. You could end up anywhere.”
“We still have the summer together,” I point out.
She shakes her head. “No, we don’t. You have to go back home to help your mom, and I have an internship waiting for me.”
She’s right. I already have a job lined up with the plumbing company I work for every summer. Digging ditches in the hot Florida summer sun is no joke. It’s hard fucking work, and it pays very little. But my mom needs the money.
I lead Kat toward the register. On our way, she grabs a bag of Cheetos from the rack and adds them to our order.
“We can still be friends,” I say. “Don’t let a kiss change our friendship. I still need you in my life. You’re my best friend.”
“I need you, too,” she says in a hushed tone. “But now I want you in ways I never did before. I can’t handle seeing you with other women. In that regard, our relationship has changed.”
“Then, I won’t even talk to another woman.” I hand the cashier money, still focused on Kat. “Problem solved.”
A smile turns up the corners of her mouth. “You’re cute.”
“And you’re beautiful. I missed you so much, Kitten. I don’t care if I have to remain celibate for the rest of my life if it means I can have you in my life. We can go back to being friends.”
She leans into my side and nudges me with her elbow. “I missed you. I’m sorry for being a bitch.”
“Don’t worry about it. I forgive you.”
Once inside the game room, we find an open space by the window and lean against the wall. The entire place is buzzing from the latest air hockey tournament. Kat tears open a bag of Cheetos and stuffs a handful into her mouth. She chases it down with her mystery soda.
I shake my head, disgusted. “You have the worst taste in food.”
“I have excellent taste,” she mutters between bites.
“Can I ask you something?”
She stuffs more food into her mouth and nods.
“Are you afraid to be with me because of your brothers?”
She sighs and then turns to me. “You’re an only child. Imagine having four brothers harassing you all the time.”
“I would’ve loved that. It sucked not having anyone to play with as a kid. Your brothers might give you a hard time about things, but they’re just looking out for you.”
“Yeah, I know,” she mutters. “But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that I will always have to walk in the shadow of my famous family. We became friends because of my dad. People treat me differently because of him and my older brothers. Even on campus, I’m still Nick Baldwin’s daughter. I want to be known as the captain of the women’s ice hockey team who led her team to two championships or the valedictorian of our class. That’s what matters to me. And if we were together—”
Now, I get it…
“Then, you would be the shadow of another hockey player.”
“Yes,” she says under her breath. “If we take our relationship to the next level, I’ll be Dean Crawford’s girlfriend. Not that it would be a bad thing but… Do you get what I’m trying to say? I don’t want to be an extension of someone else.”
I never considered how much Kat gets overlooked because of her family. Even I made the same mistake, but it’s also the reason we became friends.
“Do you remember the day we met?”
She smiles. “How could I forget? You thought you were so smooth.”
I lean down to whisper in her ear. “It worked, or you wouldn’t be here with me right now.”
She stills for a second and closes her eyes. “You still haven’t changed.”
I take a step back to gaze into her eyes. “I’m not the boy you met freshman year.”
“No, you’re a man.”
She finishes the rest of her Cheetos and soda. Then, she clamps her hand around my bicep, and I have to peel her cheesy fingers off me. My arm, along with my navy and white Strickland Senators shirt, is now covered with specks of orange.
“What the hell? Go wash your hands.”
Kat laughs. “That’s
one thing that hasn’t changed about you. You’re still a neat freak. And a germaphobe.”
I brush the cheesy bits off my shirt, giving her the evil eye. “There’s nothing wrong with liking things clean and in a certain order.”
She removes her cell phone from her pocket to check the time. “You have me for another ten minutes.”
An hour with Kat, after all this time apart, wasn’t enough. But it will have to do for now.
“Let’s just go,” Kat says. “It takes ten minutes to walk back to Jefferson Hall.”
“I could help you study,” I offer.
She shakes her head. “Nah, I’m good. Silvia already has our flashcards written out.”
Once our feet hit the sidewalk out front of the SAC, my stomach knots. The short walk to her dormitory is not enough to make up for the time we missed.
“You know, we don’t have to make things weird between us, Kitten. We can go back to normal. I don’t want you to slip away from me.”
She threads her fingers between mine. “I’m right here, Dean.”
“Then, why does it feel like you’re pushing me away on purpose? You never let exams or anything come between us before. I’ve helped you study for most of your tests, not Silvia.”
“Are you jealous of Silvia? If you are, you shouldn’t be.”
“No. But I want to be here for you, and you won’t let me.”
She stops walking once we reach the library and turns around to face me. “Do you want me to lie and tell you that things are the same? You know they’re not. Do you have any idea how hard this is for me? I hate saying goodbye. I’ve done it all of my life my with my dad. He’s never around long before he has to leave again. I can’t take the pain of being apart from you. I’m not dealing with any of this well. I know I’m not. And I’m sorry for pushing you away. It’s not the same as the last three years. This time, it’s different… permanent. Eventually, you’ll leave for an NHL team. And where will that leave us?”
“I won’t accept that, Kat. We can spend the time we have left together. It doesn’t have to be like this. I’ll see you in July for the Draft. Maybe the Blackhawks will pick me. Why do we have to make a decision right now? Why can’t we wait until after we know where we stand to figure out what to do about us? About that kiss. About how I feel about you.”
“There’s no point in setting ourselves up for failure,” she says without hesitation. “We want different things.”
“I want you,” I confess.
A single tear falls from her eye and slides down her cheek. “I don’t know what to do, Dean. I asked you to take my virginity, and you got mad. How was I supposed to take that?”
“I’m sorry. I acted like an asshole. It’s just…”
I want more than you can give.
“Maybe if we stop now and put some time and space between us we can go back to being us.”
“I need you in my life.” My voice sounds so desperate I almost don’t recognize it.
She hugs me, and her tears wet my shirt. “This is so hard.”
“We’ll figure this out,” I promise.”
The NHL Draft has to swing in our favor. Otherwise, how will we ever make this work?
Chapter Ten
Kat
The night before graduation Dean and his teammates decide to throw a party at the their house. Music thumps through the old Victorian, the bass vibrating beneath my feet. The air stinks of sex and sweat, a nauseating mixture that causes my stomach to turn as if this house doesn’t smell bad enough on a normal day.
Dean and the twins have amassed a crowd around them, a mixture of their teammates and girls who want the chance to hook up with them. I guess that makes me the gatekeeper once again. I’m always the shrew who has to beat the skanks away from my men. Most of the time, I do it knowing they want my help. But Travis looks interested in the brunette dangling on his arm, though I’m not sure whether she has decided if she wants Travis or Theo.
They play dirty twin games, as I call them, when it comes to girls and even school. It’s hard to tell the twins apart if you don’t know the differences in their personalities, and they take full advantage of the situation. I yell at them all the time for duping people. My brothers are idiots.
Surrounded by a flock of eyelash batting hockey hookers, I spot Dean pounding another beer. He’s been going full tilt since this afternoon to make up for all of the parties he missed during hockey season.
Dean looks up from the crowd around him, and our eyes meet. He smiles and waves me over, moving the people around him to the side. The girls he pushed away glance over their shoulders at me and give me the usual evil eye I get anytime I’m with Dean. Having four brothers has given me a thicker skin when it comes to dealing with catty girls, so I pay no mind to them as I elbow my way through the throng.
“Kitten.” Dean slurs his words as he takes a strand of my hair and tucks it behind my ear.
“Oh, my God. You’re so hammered.”
“It’s a party.” He taps the cup in my hand and then lifts it to my mouth. “Drink up.”
I tilt my head back and finish the rest of the beer in the plastic cup, and then grab Dean by the hand. “I need a refill. You’re coming with me.”
As I steer Dean toward the kitchen, I laugh to myself as the girls mutter rude comments under their breath to me. “You were done with them, right?”
Dean narrows his eyes at me. “Who?”
“Those girls.”
“I wasn’t even paying attention to them. The only girl I see is you.”
I flash a closed mouth smile at him. “Real smooth.”
He slides his arm across the back of my neck, weighing me down. “I don’t have to be smooth. I have a big dick and can shoot a puck.”
His stupid comment makes me laugh. “I don’t want to think about your dick. Stop talking like Dirty Dean. I hate when you get like this.”
“It’s not like you haven’t seen it.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me. “I can show it to you again if you need a refresher.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Keep it in your pants.”
He strokes my jaw with his thumb, his blue eyes glassy and burning a hole through me. “If I were to kiss you right now, would you let me?”
“Dean, after our talk, do you think that’s a good idea?”
“I’m kinda drunk, Kitten. My ability to think this through is fading by the minute.” He releases my face and takes a step back from me. “Let’s get another beer.”
“I could use a drink.”
Or ten.
Dean drags me into the kitchen. We run into my brothers and their girls of the hour, who are throwing back shots of vodka. The brunette makes a quick hand gesture toward the boy behind the makeshift bar. He slides four shots across the counter in front of them. The girls scream over the music to each other, not paying attention to whatever my brothers are about to do. They look like they’re up to no good.
“Watch this.” Dean points at the twins, who are trading places without the girls knowing it.
I shake my head in awe. “This always amazes me. How do girls not realize Trav is wearing a red polo shirt and Theo dark blue?”
Dean shrugs. “They’re puck bunnies. They don’t care.”
“Because you speak from experience.”
My stomach turns at the thought.
“I have much higher standards than your brothers,” he counters. “You know that better than anyone.”
We laugh as the blonde bobs her head, her hair billowing around her face as she grinds on Theo to the beat of the rap song cranking through the speakers. She glances up at Theo and then at her friend and shrugs as if she noticed they swapped places and doesn’t care.
“I’m ready for that drink now,” I tell Dean.
He raises his hand to the bartender and holds two fingers in the air. A few seconds later, his teammate slides two plastic cups down the bar in our direction.
Dean hands me the beer with a wink. “I’ll race ya.�
�
“Are you trying to get me drunk?”
“You could use a good buzz.” He takes a sip from his cup, leaving a layer of foam on his top lip.
Without thinking, I wipe it away with my thumb. Dean grabs my hand and sucks the foam from my finger with a sensual look in his eyes. He’s doing this on purpose.
Damn him.
We’re better off as friends. He knows this. But I can’t help how my body for responds to him. I turn away from him and chug the rest of my beer. Then, I throw back a shot of vodka the bartender left in front of Travis and pound Theo’s after that.
“Hey, Kit-Kat,” Theo says. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I have big sister privileges. That means I get to steal your drinks.”
Amused, Theo shakes his head. Travis smiles and orders another round of shots for everyone. Over the next ten minutes, we consume a remarkable amount of alcohol until the burning in my throat matches the rising temperature in my stomach.
“Do you want to dance?” I ask Dean.
He nods with a mischievous look in his eyes.
Past drunk two beers ago, I lead Dean into the living room. With my head foggy and my judgment clouded, I stop thinking about everything—including my unwanted feelings for Dean. I throw my arms in the air, swaying my hips back and forth to the music. Dean digs his fingers into my hips. We stay that way for the next three songs, my mind drifting out of consciousness, until his hand slides beneath my shirt and his fingers graze my stomach.
I love the way he touches me. How his muscular body feels pressed against mine. His long, hard cock digs into my ass. This takes me back to the night at the hotel. I wanted so badly for him to take my virginity. I wanted him to be my first. But he pushed me away. He acted like it was wrong for me to want that from him. So, why is he torturing me now?
Dean dips his hand beneath the waistband of my jeans, making me wet in anticipation. Crammed between at least a hundred people, no one can see as I push his hand lower. I’m drunk and horny, a mixture that doesn’t work well around Dean. He’s like a walking orgasm. One look at him is enough to add to my lady spank bank for a year.
Dean (Face-Off Series Book 6) Page 5
