“But the only one of the season,” I added in.
Will Crosby cocked his head to the side. “I don’t know you.”
“I’m Olive, but you can call me Liv.”
Griffin winked at me as Crosby got another beer from the bar and Jordan joined him, still wearing his jersey.
“Bates!” Crosby scooped Jordan up into his arms, twirling her around.
I leaned in closer so only Gavin and Griffin could hear me. “Are they together?”
Gavin grabbed his stomach as he chuckled. “Fuck! I wish. They have each held a torch for the other for too fucking long. They need to just fuck and get it over with.”
Another player walked up, agreeing with Gavin. “Preach, brother.”
“Olive, this is Brayden.” Myla pushed past her brother and husband, shoving Griffin off of his seat. “Let the pregnant chick have your seat.”
Griffin got up, helping her onto the barstool next to me. Brayden shook my hand. “Olive, it’s a pleasure.”
My jaw hung open as I mindlessly gripped his hand for way longer than was appropriate. “Sorry…a little star-struck.”
Myla put her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, it goes away after a while.”
Everyone in the bar began to cheer as we all started to look around to see what the fuss was about.
Gavin and Brayden high-fived as Myla squealed, “About fucking time!”
I looked past Griffin to see Crosby holding Jordan up against the far wall of the bar, lip-locked.
“The loss was worth it for those two to finally hook up!” Gavin yelled.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw a message from Shaw.
Shaw: Simon and I hopped in a cab and are heading to his place. I’ll figure out a way to get home. Love you. Don’t wait up.
Me: Love you, make good choices.
“I lost my partner in crime.” I grabbed Griff’s hand, pulling him closer to me.
Holding me, he looked down. “Shaw and Simon are really hitting it off, aren’t they?”
I tensed my shoulders. “We’ll see. Seems like it.” I sighed in his arms.
“What’s up, Liv?”
“I don’t want to leave, but it is getting late and I need to get home to Otis.”
His face pulled down and he practically frowned with his entire body. “Are you sure you can’t stay with me and drive home after you sleep for a few hours?”
I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. I only had a few beers in the beginning of the game and have been drinking water ever sense. I just need to head out before it gets any later.”
Walking around, I said my goodbyes to the team and the rest of Griffin’s gang—except for Crosby and Jordan. We left those two alone for fear that if we brought too much attention to them, they might revert back to awkwardly flirting again.
Griffin walked me to my car, keeping me as close to him as possible for as long as he could.
“I hate this,” he murmured as he lifted me off the ground to hug me.
“Me too, but this just means I get to miss you until I get to see you again.”
“Missing you is an understatement. I miss you now and you haven’t even left yet. Once you drive away, I am going to long for you, crave you.” He set me down and opened my door for me. “You better get in the car now, or I might not let you leave.”
“Bye.” I kissed his cheek. “Love you.” I stopped. We both froze, except for the huge smile that took over Griffin’s face. It had just slipped out because I always said, Bye, love you, to Shaw whenever he left and when we got off the phone. It was instinct.
Griffin crushed his lips to mine. “Don’t worry, babe. I know what you meant.”
I breathed a sigh of relief as I kissed him back. “I’ll call you when I get home.”
“Please do. I’ll be waiting up.”
About an hour into my drive, the sleepies started to take over quickly. Usually, I was fine driving late at night for long distances, but I could not stop yawning for the life of me. My eyes were heavy and the road kept getting harder and harder to concentrate on. My head started bobbing. I put the air on full blast, cranked the music, and rolled down every window.
“Just about halfway there.” I cheered myself on, saying, “You got this.”
My head kept bobbing.
My eyes were struggling to focus and stay open.
And then everything went black in an instant.
Griffin
I hated that Olive had to leave but it was better that she got home safely. Every few seconds I glanced down at my phone hoping for a text from her saying that she was home already.
“She’s really great, man. I’m happy for you.” Crosby slouched in the seat next to me as he eyed Jordan from across the bar. Both of them were effervescent with shit eating grins consuming their entire face.
“Thanks.” I clanked my beer bottle to his. “And I think a congratulations is in order for you. About damn time you and Bates locked lips.”
He started laughing. “That it is. It’s been freaking years of buildup to say the least and fuck me because that chick can kiss. If I had grown the balls to do that years ago, I might have dodged the bullet with my cheating whore of an ex-wife.”
Harding took a seat on the other side of Will. Obviously feeling no pain, he smacked Crosby on the back a little harder than he probably intended. “Way to go, brother.” Chase Harding was one of the players that I didn’t know too well, but he seemed like a nice enough guy.
“How’s it going, Chase?” I asked before ordering another beer.
“Pretty damn good. Can’t complain. I mean this was our first loss in a while, so life is pretty good.” I was impressed with how well all of the guys were taking their defeat. It was true that the Otters were an overall winning franchise and they all carried themselves like it.
“Cheers to that, man. How’re Nikki and the baby?” Crosby questioned.
Harding ordered a water before answering. “Fucking fantastic. I wish Nikki could have come out tonight but she had a late dance class and with the baby and all, it’s not the easiest.”
Jordan ran up and gave Crosby a quick kiss on the cheek before rushing off to the bathroom with Myla.
“You taking her home tonight, bro?” Harding asked.
Crosby shrugged. “Honestly, after a game like tonight the last thing I want to do is fuck. I want a hot shower and to ice my knees.”
Harding chuckled. “You have to mattress fuck her, dude.”
I raised my eyebrow and shifted to look at Harding.
What in the ever-loving fuck is this kid talking about?
Mattress fucking? What in the damn world?
“The fuck, Harding? No, I can’t say that I even know what the hell that is.” Crosby responded. I was glad that I wasn’t the only one that thought this guy was off his damn rocker.
“You know, when your girl’s on her back, you’re on your knees with her legs in your hands, you use your arms to push her into the mattress and let the momentum of the bed do all the work for you because it is bouncy. It’s an easy way to get her to fuck you while you’re still in control.”
I shook my head. “Dude, you’re crazy but that does sounds amazing.”
We shot the shit for a bit as I constantly checked my watch.
“Any word from Olive?” Myla asked as she squeeze in between Crosby and I to get to bar and get another Sprite.
“Not yet.” I pursed my lips. “I am starting to get a little worried.”
Sean and Jessica were not too far away, so Myla called them over.
“Do you guys think that we should try to figure out what is going on with Olive?” Myla asked them.
“Have you tried calling her?” Sean questioned.
I nodded. “Yeah, twice.”
Jessica whipped out her phone. “I’ll call a few people and see if there were accidents or anything.
My heart sunk. “Wait, like should I be worried?”
Sean put his han
d on my shoulder. “Let us do our jobs and figure out if there is any reason to be worried before you start freaking out.”
Even though they told me not to worry prematurely, I was a wreck inside. I was never one to freak like this but I just had a terrible feeling—a sinking in the pit of my stomach that I couldn’t shake.
Jessica rushed back over to us. “We need to go. Sean, call some cabs.”
“On it.” Sean and Myla both had their phones in hand and dialing within seconds.
Jessica waved to the bartender with her credit card already in her hand. “We need to close out. Put the tabs on here.”
I tried to protest and Sean stopped me. “Dude, let’s get going.”
My mind was racing. “What is going on?”
Jessica grabbed my hand as the rest of our group started to follow me out of the bar. “There’s been an accident.”
Olive
My eyes fluttered open and I flung my arms around. Glancing around the room, I realized I was not in my own bed. An IV was in my arm. The light gray walls looked all too familiar. My entire body hurt.
“You’re awake.” Griffin’s soft voice came from my bedside.
I sat up as best as I could to see everyone crowded in my tiny hospital room. Myla was sleeping, curled up with Jordan and Jessica on the floor in the corner of the room. Gavin, Griffin, Crosby, and Brayden were all sitting in a row in chairs next to my bed. Sean, Simon, and Shaw were standing in a little group, all clutching paper coffee cups.
“What happened?” My voice was weak as I coughed a little.
Shaw sank down on the end of the bed. “You fell asleep at the wheel and hit a tree.”
I gasped. “Oh fuck.”
Griffin grabbed my hand. “Other than a banged-up car and a dislocated shoulder, you’re all right. The doctor said if you had been going any faster, you might have really done some serious damage. Thank God you’re okay.”
“Otis!” He had been left alone for way too long.
Shaw patted my leg. “Rhonda has him. I called her right when Griffin got ahold of me.”
“Thank you.” I looked at Griff, who was wiping his eyes.
“Anything, babe. When you didn’t call, the gang sprang into action and got here as they were doing their initial tests.”
My heart filled with so much love for all the practical strangers crowding around to make sure I was fine. “You guys didn’t have to come here.”
Myla rubbed her sleepy eyes. “You’re part of the family now, Liv. You better get used to having us around. For better or for worse, you’re stuck with us.”
Griffin kissed the back of my hand. “That is, as long as you’ll have us.”
Chapter 18
Griffin
Over the next few months, Liv and I worked on getting into a good rhythm and made the best we could of the distance. She was spending almost every weekend in Queens with me in my townhouse. The row was conveniently owned by my father, so having Otis come was no problem.
After stuffing our faces with Indian takeout, Olive and I settled on the couch to watch the Otters game. It was the first night of the playoffs and Myla had tried to convince us to watch the game at her place, but there was no way I was going to share my time with Liv after not seeing her for a week and a half. Otis weaseled his way between us and was lying with his head in my lap.
“He’s such a damn cock block,” I complained, interlocking my hand with Olive’s and letting them rest on Otis’ burly back.
“He really is.”
The Otters won their first playoff game and I flicked off the TV, stretching. “Bed time?”
Liv hopped up, grabbing Otis’ collar. “Come on, time for sleepies, big guy.”
He sluggishly trudged over to his bed in the corner of the living room.
Olive hopped into bed. “I want to try something.” She threw her hands in front of her face, giggling a little bit.
“Yeah babe. Whatever you want, I’m down.” I got down to my boxers, crawling under the covers.
“Are you sure? Anything?” She gave me the cutest smirk ever as her face lit up.
“Yes. Anything. Anything you want to try, I am game for.”
She hopped out of bed and ran to her bag in my closet.
“Why don’t you just start leaving things here?” I asked while I waited for her to return.
“We’ll talk about that later. I have seriously always wanted to try this ever since I heard about in high school.”
I laughed. “Oh God! What do you have in store for us today?”
She pulled out a few black packages with bright red lettering on them.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I couldn’t control my laughter as I realized what she was holding. “Fucking Pop Rocks.”
She giggled and bounced back in the bed. “Yes. Apparently they make blowjobs fucking incredible. Don't you want to see if it's amazing?”
I put my hands behind my head, leaning back on my pillow. “Go for it, my dear.”
Olive started to kiss down my stomach, still giggling so hard that I could feel her stomach and chest heaving. “Here goes nothing.” She smiled as she ripped open the packet and poured the candy into her mouth. Stroking my dick, she started to play with the head, and the sensation was the strangest and most incredibly weird shit I’d ever felt in my life.
All of a sudden, Liv started gagging. “Oh God,” she mumbled as drool and sticky slime started pouring out of her mouth and down my balls, all over the sheets. I couldn’t control my hysterics as I grabbed my shirt off the floor to try to clean her up a bit. She sat up on her heels, a look of disgust plastered on her face as bright red foam bubbled at the corners of her mouth.
“Holy fuck, babe.” She grabbed the shirt from me to wipe off her mouth, spitting the remainder of the candy out. “There’s no way that is going to work. Your dick’s a little too big to fit all the shit in my mouth and not choke. Well, we can mark that one off as a fail on the bucket list.”
I grabbed her, licking her sweet lips to get the remnants of the candy. “I wouldn't say that was a fail, but I do think we need to take shower.”
The next morning, I sat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee with my calendar open on my laptop.
“Morning.” Liv staggered in, grabbing a mug and filling it to the brim.
“What day is a good day for me to have my stuff delivered?” I throw it out quickly.
“Wait…what?” Olive furrowed her brow as she slid into the seat across from me.
I shut the computer. “I’ve decided I am going to move in with you.”
“Oh, did you now?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“There’s no other place on this earth I want to be more than next to you. If that means moving up there and living above the garage, then so be it. If that means moving to the damn moon, just let me know when the shuttle is scheduled to leave and I will be there. All I care about is you and me, us and we, for the rest of our lives.”
“And you just decided this without even thinking about asking what I want?”
I was shocked by her frustration. “Yes, yes I did.”
“What about the fact that I have a roommate—don’t you think I need to discuss it with him first?”
I reached over the table, grabbing her hand. “I should have asked, not demanded. I just don’t see the point in us making that drive a couple times a week when there is a perfect solution to it.”
“Don’t you think this is all a little too fast?” She got up and started to pace around the small room.
“Maybe? It doesn’t feel fast to me though. It feels right.”
She sat down on my lap. “I would like it if we lived together. It would make things a lot easier.”
I grabbed her, hugging her as tightly as I could. “Perfect, and I will wait to make any plans until you have a chance to talk it over with Shaw.”
“Thanks. He’s been spending so much time at Simon’s anyway, I bet he wouldn’t even notice.”
“It’s crazy how all of this just came together, isn’t it?”
She put her hand on my chest. “It’s crazy on so many levels. Who would have thought our lives would start because of my dad? And he doesn’t even know it.”
“It’s serendipity, baby. There’s no such thing as a coincidence in this life. Finding you proved that to me the moment I met you.”
“He would have really loved you.” She sniffled as she threw her arms around my neck.
My grip tightened as I breathed in the sweet smell of her lavender and rosemary shampoo, basking in the simple moment where we could both feel each other’s hearts beating, practically in sync. Amazingly, I had all of this because it all started with an end.
Epilogue
Griffin
“That’s it. Watch for his feet!” I called into the ring as Mickey kept his little gloved hand up, protecting his face just like I had shown him.
“How’s our boy?” Liv came up from behind me, one hand on her growing belly, the other on my shoulder.
“Hey momma.” I tucked my wife into my side, resting my hand on her belly just in time to feel our daughter kick at my palm. “Mic is a natural.”
“Just like his daddy,” she purred, making her way over to the ropes. “Hey little man, ready to head home?”
Our son violently shook his head. “I want to keep sparring.” He bounced around the ring as Skelly playfully practiced with him.
“What have you created?” Liv glared at me.
I threw my hands in the air. “You knew this day was going to come eventually.”
“He’s only five, for crying out loud.”
I pointed to our kid as he threw a perfect, quick combination. “No age is too young, as long as he is having fun and doesn’t take it too seriously yet.”
Her voice caught as she grabbed her stomach. “Shit, Griff.”
I grabbed her. “Is it time?”
She bobbed her head frantically. “It’s too early. We need to get to the doctors.”
The Shots On Goal Series Box Set Page 29
