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Pulling back, I use my thumbs to wipe away the rest of her tears. “Let’s go home, baby.”

She nods and leans in to kiss me again. “Yeah, I’m not really in the mood to go shopping now. I’ll figure something out for my parents.”

With one last kiss, I close her door then walk around the front of my truck. My head is down, but I can feel her eyes on me. When I reach my door, I look up and give her a smile to let her know everything is okay. That we’re okay. For now.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

BECKHAM

A few weekshave passed since our conversation in my truck. I’ve tried to show her every day how much I love her. I still leave her little notes. And I even found a florist that keeps pink fucking peonies in stock, so I still surprise her with those as much as I can. With all these little things I’m doing to prove myself, I can tell she feels better about putting the past behind us.

But the guilt is eating at me. I need to tell her all of it, but the timing never seems to be right. The team is in the middle of playoffs season. We won our division after Thanksgiving, so we’re prepping for the quarterfinals now. Since our game is just after Christmas, we have to stay on campus during the holidays. Most of our families have come to visit, but our free time has been limited. Classes are over until January, but our training, studying film, eating, sleeping—that’s all we have time to do really.

My dad and sister and the Kings came down for a few days. They rented a house near campus, and we had a small Christmas celebration with them two days ago. Liam’s parents came up for the day a few days ago too. Archie’s though, they couldn’t make it. With the size of his family and the ages of his brothers, it’s hard for them to get away. I think his parents are planning to be at one of the playoffs games though, depending on how far we make it.

Tonight, Charlie’s put together a Secret Santa party for us. She got a tree for the house and tried to make it look nice, but Liam and Archie added beer-tab garland, and they taped unrolled condoms to the tree one day when she was at class. Dumbasses didn’t think about the heat from the lights and the latex condoms, and a few melted right off the branches. Charlie suggested that they were better off just hooking them on the tree because they wouldn’t be able to use them anyway if they were exposed to heat for too long. After she said it and looked over at Liam, he had a grimace on his face.

She said, “Please tell me you aren’t actually plucking them off the tree and using them.”

“I mean … maybe? But, look, in my defense, I didn’t think about the lights being an issue. If you think about it, it’s really your fault. You got a tree with fire hazard lights, Little King.” He stood there, pleading his case, and we couldn’t help but laugh.

Fucking idiots.

I do hope he was joking though. He’s a smart guy, but sometimes, we don’t think with the right head.

Liam also decided it would be a great idea to have an Elf on the Shelf. But instead of the little guy in the traditional elf costume, he bought the Snoop on the Stoop and Martha on the Mantel elves. The first night he brought them home, he propped them right on the bookshelf next to the TV. The Snoop elf has a joint hanging out of his mouth, and the Martha elf looks all prim and proper. I have to admit, shit’s funny.

When we woke up the next day, we found someone had leaned Snoop against the toaster in front of a piece of paper with oregano scattered on top while Martha was hanging from a mixer attachment, dangling over a mixing bowl with flour inside. It was funny until Archie turned the mixer on.

“Look, Martha’s a stripper.”

But then poor Martha got tangled in the attachment and lost an arm.

Charlie’s also been taking care of a lot of our meal prep since we’re gone most of the day and dragging ass by the time we get home. But for tonight, I offered to get us a premade meal from the grocery store in town. It comes with ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, mac ’n’ cheese, some green beans thing, and some rolls. The guys and I are getting it all warmed up, so all my girl has to do is sit her pretty little ass in her favorite chair and watch Christmas movies.

She wanted her girls to come over, but Lily went home for break, and Arbor and her family went away on vacation, so they won’t be coming. Charlie and those two have gotten really close, and I’m glad because Charlie really hasn’t had true loyal girlfriends before.

Casey invited Noelle to come down for the night, so we included her when we picked names for Secret Santa. She could go stay at her apartment in town, but she’s going to stay with us tonight after we open gifts. I heard Casey on the phone with her earlier, insisting on it. I can’t wait for the day he finally tells her how he feels about her.

From the kitchen, we have an open view into the family room. Charlie is sitting in her chair and turns to look my way, catching me staring at her. She blows me a kiss, which makes me smile, then turns back to watch her movie.

“Let me know if I need to come in there and rescue dinner.”

“Chuck, we got this under control. I’m like Betty fucking Crocker. You know I make the best meals in the house on my days.” Archie moves to stand next to me. Oven mitts on both hands, raised in the air.

He’s a big guy, so seeing him in gym shorts, a T-shirt, and oven mitts is pretty fucking funny.

“Excuse me! I’m the best cook in the house, Arch. How dare you?” She scoffs playfully. “And for the love of God, pull your hair back so I don’t have your hair in my food.”

Archie folds one arm across his stomach and slides one mitt off. He grabs the other with his now-free hand and sets the mitts on the table behind us. “Sugar, my hair doesn’t fall out. These locks make every girl on campus jealous. But for you, I’ll tie it back.”

His hair isn’t really long, but it is long enough that he can pull the sides back. And he just so happens to have a ponytail holder around his wrist, which he pulls off to tie his hair back. Charlie has turned around again, watching us.

He winks at her and asks, “This better, Chuck?”

“Much. Thank you. Besides, now I can see your handsome face.” She winks at him.

And I’ve had about enough of the winking. “Okay, let’s break up the winking, you two. Arch, go check on the ham. Boss, kick those feet up and watch your movie. Do you need more Christmas in a Cup?”