Last month, everyone on campus found out about Tucker and Trent dating the same girl from The Queen’s Dethroned post. But no one could confirm for sure it was Jemma until she started officially dating Trent. I’m surprised she took him back considering she accidentally had sex with him and his twin brother. It was a complete misunderstanding, but still, I can’t imagine how I would have handled the situation if it had happened to me.
Jemma moves through the cold rink and leads us up the stairs and to the row where Bex Bryant and Taylor Bradshaw are huddled next to each other. They occupy the same seats every game as if they’re reserved for them. Maybe they are.
Taylor is bundled up in a winter jacket, thick gloves, and two scarves, one she has stretched across her mouth, the other around her neck. From what she’s told me, she’s from California and hates winter. She looks ridiculous compared to Bex, who’s only wearing jeans and a thin sweater. Bex’s dad is the coach of the men’s hockey team, so she’s accustomed to the temperature inside the building. It’s still freezing outside, and being a native New Yorker, I’m no stranger to the harsher climate during the winter months.
Jemma raises her hand to catch Bex and Taylor’s attention. The two girls look up and wave to us as we take our seats on Bex’s right side. She’s a pretty blonde and unusually tall for a girl. So is Taylor. They’re on the women’s basketball team together. Over the years, I’ve run into them on campus, though I didn’t know either of them well until I started sitting with them at Killian’s games.
“I don’t feel so hot,” Jemma mutters, rubbing her hand over her stomach.
“Morning sickness?” I say under my breath.
She bobs her head.
Not many people know yet that Jemma is pregnant with Trent’s baby. She found out just after we returned to campus from winter break.
Jordan hooks her arm through Jemma’s and says, “C’mon, I’ll hold your hair.”
Jemma has been sick for the last week or so. Her bedroom is next to mine in the chapter house. Lately, I’ve heard her running to the bathroom. She was surprised when she found out she was pregnant. Apparently, Trent wore a condom but something happened with it, and now they’re having a baby. He hasn’t been around much since she told him, which hasn’t made it any easier on her. But she’s convinced he’ll come to terms with it.
Jordan and Jenna move past us in a hurry and head down the stairs toward the bathroom.
Bex slides along the bench until our thighs are almost touching. “So, what’s the deal with Killian?”
My cheeks flush for a second, and I have no idea why. Just the mention of his name does this to me every time. “What do you mean?”
“He’s so quiet,” Bex hedges. “I rarely see him when I’m over at Preston’s house. He’s either out or hiding in his bedroom. You’re the first girl I’ve ever seen him with. So, what’s up with him?”
I shrug, unsure of how to respond. Killian is private for reasons only Jamie knows. “I don’t know. He keeps to himself. It wasn’t easy for me to get to know him either.”
She bites the inside of her cheek and then smiles. “How did you two get together?”
Why does she want to know more about Killian and me all of a sudden? We never talked much about my relationship before. So, why is she so curious? Did Killian say something to Preston about me?
“We were in the same class last semester,” I admit. “I had to work with him on a paper, and things just sort of happened between us.”
I hate that Killian has turned me into a liar, but his lifestyle forces me to conceal the truth from everyone. Bex can’t know the truth. No one can.
“Oh my God,” I say pointing at the players on the ice. “They almost got the puck in the basket.”
Bex lets out a deep chuckle, blush creeping up to her cheeks as she tilts her head back and laughs. “Did you just say basket?”
Now, I’m the one who’s blushing. “Is that wrong?”
“You shoot a ball into a basket. A puck goes into a net.”
“Oh,” I say, now feeling stupid. “I don’t really follow sports. Killian tells me about hockey sometimes, but I don’t understand most of the stuff he talks about. It sounds like gibberish to me.”
Bex laughs again. “It’s okay. I can teach you.”
“It must’ve come easy to you with your dad being a hockey coach. Did he teach you basketball, too?”
She nods. “Yep. My dad taught me everything. I’m an only child, and since he wanted a boy and got me, he pretty much always treated me like a boy. But I never minded. I loved sports as a kid, and as I got older, I wanted to learn more.”
“You think you’ll try to play professionally? They have women’s basketball teams, right?”
“Yeah, they do. But I’m not interested in playing after college. I want to be a sports agent. Preston’s mom said she’d help me. She runs one of the largest sports agencies in the world.”
“Oh, that’s awesome.” I smile at Bex. “Sounds like you have everything planned out for after you graduate. I still have no clue what I’m doing.”
“What’s your major?”
“Journalism with a minor in business.”
“You write for the Strickland Gazette, right?”
“For the last two years. But my boss never gives me anything good to write about. I wish he would let me write about something other than social activities on campus. It doesn’t give me much to show my future employers.”
“Isn’t your grandfather a congressman or something? Couldn’t he hook you up with a job?”
I shrug off her assumption. “I guess so, but I’m sick of my family getting involved in my life. Whatever I do, I want it to be on my own terms.”
“So, what do you want to do, then?”
I bite my lip, mulling over her question. “I think I want to be a journalist, but no one ever gives me enough responsibility for me to figure out if that’s what I want to do.”
“You can’t wait around for someone to hand you what you want,” Bex counters. “If you have a dream, you need to make it happen. You have to go for it and don’t let anyone stop you until you reach your goal.”
Bex slides closer, her gaze more intense. “When I first met Preston, I knew who he was because of his mom. I had no interest in him, even though I thought he was the hottest guy on campus. And then, when he asked me to come with him to meet his mom, I saw it as an opportunity to make a connection with someone who I’d idolized for years. It was a way for me to get closer to someone who could help me with my career. Don’t get me wrong, my motives weren’t completely selfish. I did like Preston, but I really wanted to meet his mom. I thought if I could make a connection with her since she’s a former basketball player and now agent, that I could have a shot at working with her in the future. That’s what you need to do. Go after the person who can help you move the needle. If I hadn’t taken a risk on Preston, I wouldn’t have an internship lined up at DMG for the summer. I also wouldn’t have him in my life. It was the best risk I ever took.” She smiles as she says the last part, with her eyes now traveling back to the ice.
“I guess I have a lot of thinking to do, huh?”
She flashes a polite smile. “You’ll figure it out, and when you do, you’ll go after it. You have a few more months until you have to decide.”
What if I never do?
I’m so used to having my life planned out for me that I’ve never stopped to wonder where things are headed.
What am I going to do? Follow Killian or my sorority sisters wherever they go.
When I’m home, my parents control everything, and on campus and in my sorority house, Abby has say over that aspect of my life.
Even Killian has a say in it. He tells me where we’re going and when, and I’m always too eager to do as he requests. I don’t mind letting him coordinate our schedules, but I also never realized how much everyone in my life pulls the strings. It’s as if I’m here for the ride with no real say in anything that goes on
around me. That needs to change. I have to make a plan for myself and stick to it. I’ve got to put my foot down with my parents, figure out what I’m doing with my life, and stop letting Killian move me in whatever direction he sees fit.
Bex cups her hands around her mouth and cheers for the Strickland Senators while I have no idea what’s going on. Before today, all I needed to know was the Senators wear navy-and-white uniforms but so does Penn State. So now, I’m super confused as to who’s where and if we’re even winning.
I can’t tell which players are skating in front of us. All I can see from this distance is the numbers on their backs. Killian is number seventy-six, and when I see him jump over the ledge where he was sitting with his team and onto the ice, a wave of excitement shoots through my body. I keep track of Killian and every move he makes, afraid to lose sight of him.
Bex had previously told me the players don’t spend much time on the ice. It’s not like other sports where they play for extended periods of time. So, I understand that Killian’s time is more limited, which makes it more important that I follow along.
A black dot slides across the ice so fast in his direction I can barely keep up. He taps the puck with his stick and skates down the ice switching it from one hand to another. I blink a few times to refocus, the black dot still visible, and when I do, Killian passes the puck to another player. It moves back and forth between Killian and his teammates as they try to dodge their opponents until number seventy-six has it again.
My man is good, that much I know from what people tell me about him. I wish I understood the game well enough to follow along, but no matter how much Bex tries to beat the information into my brain, it never registers. Hockey just doesn’t interest me the way it does her.
For Killian’s sake, I hope he can make his passion a career. His life is so dangerous and hard right now, I want him to get his big break with the NHL. I pray for him to find a way to make his dream a reality, which reminds me of what Bex just said. I’m always so focused on everyone else that my dreams get pushed aside. I’m a few months from graduating and still have no clue what I want to do with my life.
I’d always assumed I would become a journalist because that was the major I chose freshman year to annoy my father. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps and take finance followed by an MBA. But I have no desire to run a bank or a business. That was his vision for life, not mine. And I sure as hell can’t become a socialite like my mother. I have no desire to do any of the trivial and vain things she considers work as if she ever knew the meaning of the word.
A loud horn sounds throughout the rink, and by the looks of the crowd that goes go wild, the Senators have just scored. Bex and Taylor shoot up from their seats to cheer, and I follow suit, clapping my hands.
I feel so out of place among these sports lovers. The more I think about what Bex said, I wonder where I do fit in. I feel like no matter where I am, I can’t find any form of comfort, always on edge. Except when I’m with Killian. I can be myself when I’m with him because I can lower my guard. He doesn’t judge me. Killian makes me feel safe and loved. When we’re together, it’s as if no one on earth exists. The world and everything in it falls away until we’re lost in each other.
“We won,” Bex informs me, and my smile matches hers. “You and Killian have to come with us after the game to celebrate.”
“Where?”
“Gio’s, the pizza shop on Broad Street. It’s pretty much tradition to celebrate there with the team. Killian hardly ever goes, but I know Preston and the guys would love it if you were to drag him there. Force him to come out of his shell. Will you?” she says that with a goofy smile which produces one from me.
“We’ll be there.”
Chapter Seventeen
Killian
“I have to do this job,” I tell Jade, hating the look on her beautiful face.
She gives me a pouty look and then says, “Fine, but I hope you mean it when you say this is the last time.”
“It is.” I kiss her forehead and sigh, hooking my arm around her back to press her body against mine. Her sweet scent fills my nostrils, and she smells amazing. “I promise, baby. I already told my crew I’m done after this. My tuition is paid, so are my mom’s bills, and I have enough left over to take you somewhere next weekend.”
She perks up at the mention of the mini-trip I’ve been mulling over for the past week. “Really?” She clasps her hands together and smiles up at me. “Where are you taking me?”
“I was thinking the Pocono’s. There’s a cabin I’ve been looking at for us. They have a huge outdoor hot tub, and the entire place is nothing but windows that overlook the lake. So, you’ll see the sunrise and sunset right from the bedroom. Would you like that?”
Her entire face illuminates. “Would I like it? Oh my God, Killian, I would love it. Are you serious?”
“Yes.” I hug her once more, hoping this isn’t the last time I see her. This job has me so nervous I want to crawl out of my skin. I’ve never had such a bad feeling before. “After I wake up tomorrow, I’ll book the place for us.”
The house I share with my teammates is cramped, to say the least, and fucking Jade in my car and on the hood isn’t the best of places. Not when I’m falling in love with this girl. Every day I spend with her, I know she deserves better. She can do much better than me. And yet, she settles for sex in my car or sex in an empty classroom. It’s about time I show her how much I care about her.
“Please be careful,” she says, squeezing me as hard as she can. “I don’t want to lose you, Killian.”
“You won’t,” I say, even though it’s not something I can promise. “We’ve done this before. It’ll all work out.”
“Keep me updated, please. I’m going to be worried sick.”
“I won’t have much time to talk, but I’ll do my best.”
She nods. “Just text me when you can. I’ll be in your bed, naked, and waiting for you when you come home.”
“Don’t get me all riled up before I have to leave.” I press a quick kiss to her lips, wanting to take so much more from her, but I stop myself, peeling my lips from hers. “Chase will be here any minute.”
She sucks in a deep breath and lets it out, her head resting on my chest, hugging me even harder than before. Her nerves shake through me. I hold her in my arms for a few seconds to comfort her before a text from Chase dings in my pocket to alert me he’s in front of the house.
“I gotta go, baby.”
She unhooks herself from my body and stares up at me with those wide blue eyes I get so easily lost in. “Good luck.”
“I don’t need luck,” I joke, even though this time I have a feeling I might need it.
“You’re such a cocky bastard.”
I wink. “You know it.”
She laughs as I exit my bedroom.
In a matter of months, Jade has somehow wedged herself into my dangerous and crazy life. I never thought we’d be here right now, with her waiting behind for me, and me walking away to go steal another batch of cars.
* * *
A chill runs down my spine when I hear sirens behind us. Chase looks into the rearview mirror clutching the steering wheel, biting his bottom lip as he switches gears. He takes a sharp turn around the corner, the wheels screeching as they hit the asphalt. I had a bad feeling about this job. Last night, when the buyer had added the Maserati we’re currently stealing to the list, I knew something was wrong. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was as if I had a sixth sense about how tonight was going to pan out.
We’re stuck in a subdivision that neither Chase nor me have ever been to before whipping in circles and hitting dead ends. Since we took the car from the garage where it was stored, the GPS has been a complete asshole forcing us to make one wrong turn after another.
“Fuck.” Chase slams his hand on the dashboard. “This was supposed to be one of the easier cars on the list, and it’s turning into a complete shitshow.”
“Pull into
someone’s driveway and kill the engine,” I suggest. “We can wait until the sirens die down. Eventually, they’ll give up and go back to Dunkin’ Donuts.”
Chase laughs, and then parks the car in a cul-de-sac, the car now hidden between two others, providing us with some time to relax and wait out the cops.
“It’s always the last one,” Chase groans, leaning his head back against the headrest, tugging at his short blond hair. He blows out a breath of air, irritated. “You’re making the right decision, Kade. Get out while you can. You’re too good for this shit.”
“Hey, don’t talk like that. We’re the same. Brothers.”
He shakes his head. “No, not even close. You’re too good for this life. Between school and hockey, you can get away from here, away from all of this. Rome, Nate, and me, we’ve never had a chance at anything else.”
“That’s not true.” I fold my arms over my chest and sigh. “You guys are way better at fixing cars than me. And you can drive anything with wheels.”
“So can you. It’s nothing special.”
We sit in awkward silence for another ten minutes before the sirens disappear, and Chase pulls out of the parking space. This time, I double-check our route home and tell Chase how to navigate the small town outside of Philadelphia.
“Make a right,” I tell him. “And then a quick left.”
He does as I instruct, his attention focused on the dark road ahead. As we’re headed out of the subdivision, Chase blows past a cop who’s hidden under a tree, most likely sleeping.
“Shit, that was a cop,” I say.
“I didn’t see one.” He glances in the rearview mirror. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
A few seconds later, headlights flash through the back window, and the cop’s siren is blaring behind us. Chase mutters a few curses and punches the gas.
Kissing Killian: Face-Off Legacy #5 Page 11
