Page 40

PRESTON

I was so fucking proud of my girl.

She walked out of the brick building, her head held high as she scanned the area, clearly looking for me. I jumped from my car, heading toward her until she saw me. Her face lit up when she saw me, and like every single time before, my heart skipped a beat. We were doing this. We were together.

Three weeks after our confessions to each other and everything had been easy.

Her defenses had held us back from being like this, and once those came down, it had been as easy as breathing.

Sure, she was a pain in the ass, pushed my buttons, and was way too sassy, but she was mine, and she was perfect.

“I’m proud of you,” I said, opening my arms and pulling her into a hug.

It was her third therapy appointment, and each one gutted her, yet she wanted to keep going.

I kissed the top of her head, inhaling her citrus perfume and shampoo.

She also loved wearing her hair down more once I told her how sexy it was.

She did it to tease me, so I let myself enjoy the feel of her silky hair, dragging my fingers through it as we embraced. “How can I reward you today?”

“That is honestly the sexiest question you could ask me.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me, her cheeks pink and her eyes a little red.

“I’m debating between a striptease right here versus a dance-off in the library when Logan is working.

Or, maybe we play video games and see who can get the other to lose first.”

Oh yeah. We still played video games, and of course we still shit talked, but we took it to a new level. We’d strip and tease and touch until someone said fuck it and lost the game. I couldn’t imagine a better situation.

“Or I could treat you to coffee like a normal person.” I laughed, taking her hand and leading her to the front seat of my truck.

“Uh, if you wanted normal, then you shouldn’t have fallen in love with me, my dude.” She hopped into the front seat, and I couldn’t stop myself from leaning over and cupping her face.

She stared up at me with those wide, expressive eyes, her lips curved on the side like she was about to quip something back at me.

I knew every expression she had, and I loved the new ones, where she looked at me with the same awe and tenderness I always had for her.

I bent down and kissed her, slowly, taking my time because I could.

She tasted a little like salt, like she’d cried, and mint, and I slid my tongue in her mouth, wishing I could suck any sadness from her body.

I couldn’t do that, I knew. She was on her own journey of healing, and all I could do was be there for her. Which, I always would be. “I love you, J,” I whispered between kissing her. “You’re fucking amazing.”

She shuddered, and my grin grew. “It’s a good thing you’re sitting, or you might pass out on me.”

“Shut up. My knees go weak one time and you let it go to your head.” She rolled her eyes, but there was no real depth to her words.

“Twice, but who’s counting?” I winked and shut her door, quickly going to my side and sliding in. She rubbed her hands together and blew into them, so I adjusted the heat. “Where to, baby?”

“I don’t know, I’m feeling a little… wild right now.” She stared at the window, her fingers twisting in her lap. “The session was good. We got to some deep shit.”

Sometimes she shared what she talked about, sometimes she didn’t. I didn’t push her because it was her journey, even though I wanted to know. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I think I’m finally starting to understand why I did the shit I do. It’s not an amazing place to learn your brain makes you act like an ass as a way to protect yourself.”

I reached over and squeezed her knee, noting how she leaned into my touch, like she needed it.

She took a few breaths. I stayed quiet, giving her space to figure out what she wanted to say.

She was trying. I could see it in the way her shoulders curled in like she was trying to make herself smaller, in the way she kept tapping her fingers against her knee like she was measuring out the weight of her words before dropping them.

She let out a shaky breath. “It’s… a lot.

Good, but a lot. It’s not just about what happened with us.

It’s about everything. My past, my patterns, the way I let fear run my life.

” She glanced at me before looking away again.

“I’m starting to realize I’ve spent most of my life reacting to things that aren’t even happening yet.

My therapist says I live in a state of preparing for worst-case scenarios, like I can control them before they happen.

But all I end up doing is pushing people away or making myself small so I don’t get hurt. ”

I clenched my fists, swallowing down the immediate urge to tell her that none of that was her fault. That she was enough, that she had always been enough, but this wasn’t about me talking. This was about her getting it out, and I had to let her.

She continued, voice softer now. “We’re working on it, though. I’m working on it. It’s not about fixing myself because I’m not broken—but I need to stop living like I have to earn love. Like if I do everything perfectly, people won’t leave.”

I nodded, my chest tightening. “You don’t have to earn anything, J. Not with me. Not with Logan. Not with anyone who really loves you.”

She exhaled, like she was still trying to believe that.

“I know. Or—I’m trying to know that. That’s the part I have to work on.

Believing it. Trusting it. Not just with you but with myself too.

We also talked about the relationship with my mom and the professor, and I’m making the choice to let it go.

I did my best, and even if she gave me a B, I know the event was fantastic and will help me in the future.

I don’t need my mom’s or professor’s validation. I’m proud of my fucking self.”

Silence stretched between us, thick but not suffocating. It was the kind of silence that held weight, that wasn’t empty space but something fuller, something real.

Then she let out a laugh, softer this time, more tired than bitter. “God, my brain is exhausting. I just—I need a break from it. From myself. From picking apart every emotion like it’s a puzzle I have to solve.”

I smirked an idea forming that I knew she’d be down for. “You wanna turn your brain off for a bit?”

“Yes, please. That would be fucking great.”

“I have just the idea.”

“Oh, I know that tone.” Jordan’s energy shifted. “I’ve missed this tone. Chaotic, wild Preston is visiting, and I love him.”

I chuckled. “He never left. He just hid for a little bit.”

I took a turn, and instead of going home, I went toward the quad. It was slow this time of the afternoon, and it took seconds to find a parking spot. “We’re playing hide and seek, and if I find you within ten minutes, you do whatever I tell you to. ”

“Oh fuck.” Jordan’s eyes widened with glee. “Okay, and what if you don’t find me?”

“I will.” I scanned my credit card on the meter, my heart racing with adrenaline. “But we can pretend for a minute.”

“You’re getting too cocky, my man. Ten minutes is plenty of time to fool you.”

“Sure, but I know you, J.” I bent down and ran my finger over her lips, loving how her breath hitched. “If I can’t find you, then I’ll do whatever you want the rest of the night without question.”

“Even if it’s cleaning my bathroom?”

“If that’s how you want to use me, then yeah. But be more worried about what I’ll do to you.”

“Is it weird I’m turned on right now?” she whispered. Students and bikers were all around us, but when I was with her, it was just her and me. Everything else faded.

“That makes two of us.” My eyes flashed. “Timer starts now.”

“Wait, I can go anywhere?”

“Any building on the quad. That’s the rule.” I started the timer on my watch. “Go, Jordan. Better run.”

She huffed in a breath and took off, her purple coat standing out in the crowd, and I just smiled.

This totally pushed her out of her head, and yeah, it turned me on too, thinking about finding her.

I wasn’t fully cleared to play hockey yet, but I was working out and jogging.

I could find her and play without worrying.

While I waited, I scanned an email from J.D.

, who wanted to talk more about my insight.

He and I had gotten closer since I couldn’t be on the ice, and he showed me a different side to the sport.

I still itched to play and be there for the guys, but the future wasn’t as worrying for me. I had choices.

If I made it to a team, hell yeah. But if I didn’t, then I’d go for coaching. Win-win in my opinion. It wasn’t an either or situation, rather, whichever path was right for me and Jordan .

My blood heated in anticipation of finding my girl, and I checked my phone. In her haste to run, she’d forgotten to disable the location setting on her phone. Her, Logan, and I agreed to always share our location, and it seemed my beautiful woman forgot—like I knew she would.

Scanning it, she was somewhere in the math building. Why? I had no idea. The building was large and probably haunted, but then again, if I was going to tease her, she would be down for ghosts to watch.

I started walking there, waiting for the timer to hit zero, and when it did, the same feeling I got when I was on the ice hit me. Challenge.

I was gonna win.

The math building had three stories with a lot of classrooms. I started on the first floor, but that would be too easy.

She wouldn’t do that. She’d go too crazy sitting and waiting.

Plus, like a psycho I was, her perfume wasn’t down here.

I’d know her scent anywhere, and I followed it up the stairs.