Page 29

noah

I fucking love away games.

The booing that erupts the very moment my skates hit the ice is the gasoline that lights my fire.

It’s the complete opposite of how I’m treated on campus.

That’s my home turf. Off of it, I’m used to people not liking me.

Hating me, even. Because if I’m not your favorite player, I’m likely laying your favorite player out and polishing the ice with them.

“Hey, can y’all run the clock please?” Maverick laughs, skating over to the bench.

“Aye, you don’t get to run your mouth when your teammates are the ones doing all the work for you.” Number forty-four calls out.

I follow alongside Maverick as the seconds count down on the other team’s time-out. “Check the clock, my guy, we’re four minutes into the second period and up six-nothing, about to be a shut out,” I call out.

“And somehow only one of those goals came from you. Some bust ass captain you are.”

I know he’s trying to get a rise out of me. Unfortunately for him, it’s not going to work. Unfortunately for me , it does work on my best friend .

“Bold statement coming from you, ya fuckin’ duster.” Mav turns around and points a gloved hand in forty-four’s face, and the idiot doesn’t back down.

“You.” He shakes his head. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“Google me then, bitch! Better yet, just ask your girl about me. She’s probably at home right now, rubbing the devil's doorbell while she watches me.” He lifts both his arms and blows a kiss in the general direction of the cameras.

That must be a sensitive topic for forty-four, because his lips curl into a snarl as he starts to charge for Mav. I squeeze my way between the two, backing my guy up. After losing him in the last game due to the fight a few weeks ago, we can’t risk him getting another suspension.

“Cole!” The Panthers captain calls our opponent over, and he obeys like the dog he is.

Thirty-five minutes and two more Lions goals later, I’m skating over to the bench and riding the high that comes with absolutely destroying the Panthers tonight. They beat us the last time we played them by one goal in the final minute of the third period, and that loss was a tough pill to swallow.

My usual post game shower and debrief is cut short tonight, since my parents are out of town visiting Ivy this weekend. A brief pang hits me when I think about Ivy having to deal with our dad over the next two days. Her eyes are liable to get stuck glaring up at her eyebrows by the time they leave.

Our game was early enough tonight that as I make my way out to the bus, I catch the sunset that covers the sky.

It's one of those rare winter evenings where the sky is painted in various shades of purple and deep pink.

I load my bag on the bus and pull out my phone, dialing Savannah.

I smile to myself when she answers after the first ring.

“Hey, Golden Boy.”

“What’s up, Savvy girl?” I regret not FaceTiming, just so I could catch a glimpse of those dimples that I know are forming on her face right now.

“Come over to the house tonight. We’re celebrating.

” She’s quiet for a moment, and I can practically see her biting down on the inside of her cheek, trying to come up with a reason to say no.

“Come on, Sav. We won a huge game tonight. No, you know what? Fuck that. We brutally destroyed them.”

“I know.” I can hear her teasing smile through the phone.

“Goddamn. It makes my dick hard when you watch me.”

“Oh my god.” Her soft laughter hits me through the speaker and I drop my head back, taking in my new favorite sound.

“Come hang out. The ride back is under an hour. I’ll pick you up, and you can drive us over to my house.”

I wait a beat, with my hand clenching the strap at my shoulder. “Fine. But I have to be at work early, so I’ll drive myself over.”

“Already planning on staying the night? So forward of you.”

“No. I didn’t mean?—”

“It’s okay, you can stay with me any night you want.”

“Noah!”

“I’ll see you soon!” I quickly hang up before she can argue.

“Damnit!”

“Yes!” Silas flicks his hand, slapping his fingers together and shoving his goal in my face.

Any other night, I’d be annoyed, but tonight, I’m distracted by a soft knock at the door. “Here, play for me.” I throw my controller to Gabe before jogging and sliding across the living room floor.

Savannah stands outside, dressed in her usual comfortable outfit of black leggings and a dark gray sweater. She wears tall Nike socks just like Silas, but on her, they do something completely different to me.

“Hey.” I press my back to the door, giving her space to come in.

My fingers grip the doorknob behind me, threatening to rip it right off.

God, I’m desperate to touch her. I want to take her face in my hands and kiss her feverishly.

I want to pick things up right where we left off yesterday morning in my bed.

I want to scoop her up in my arms, with her legs wrapped around my waist and my face buried in her neck as I parade her in the living room, announcing to the world—or at least to my team—that she’s my girl.

Instead, I follow behind her to the living room with my hands in my pockets, trying to keep my feelings hidden.

“Hey boys. Congrats on your win.”

“Sav.” Silas nods his hello. “Thanks.”

“Sup.” Gabe doesn’t take his eyes off the TV, likely scared he’s going to lose to Milly while he’s playing for me.

Maverick hops off the barstool, lazily draping an arm over Savannah’s shoulder, and pulls her in close. “Savannah, sweetie, where’s your hot roommate?”

She pulls her head back just enough to look him in the eyes. “Hate to break it to you, Hall, but it’s never going to happen.”

“Come on Sassafras,” he coaxes. “Put in a good word for me.”

“Do you even know her name?”

I watch his brows furrow and his lips pucker.

I love Maverick. He’s like a brother to me, and I would do anything he asks of me without judgment or question, but he has no interest in women outside of the bedroom.

Or a bathroom. I’m pretty sure the driver’s seat of his 4Runner and the back row of a movie theater are also places he’s been interested in them, but other than that…

“Leave her alone.” I finally give in, pulling Savannah out from under his arm by her elbow .

“Hey, King! You going to take this controller back any time soon? I’m sweating bullets over here.”

“You’ve got it, Gabe.”

His mouth hangs open, eyes glued to the screen.

I turn around, laughing as I guide Savannah into the kitchen.

“Can I get you a drink?” When she doesn’t respond, I look over and find her eyes scanning the room with confusion etched between her brows. “What’s wrong?”

“Umm where—where is everyone?” she asks in a hushed tone.

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you were having a party?”

I hand her a water bottle from the fridge, noticing that she didn’t bring hers with her tonight. “We don’t do parties at the house during the season.”

She takes it, slowly uncapping it, but her eyes stay honed in on me. “Didn’t you ask me to come over because you were celebrating?”

“I said some of us are hanging out.” I look over at Silas and Gabe on the couch. Maverick is now texting on the lazy boy. “Parker went out to pick up the Chinese food, but we’re here. Celebrating.”

“Oh my god, Noah.” She drops her head to her hand with a sigh.

“What?”

“You don’t think they’re going to think it’s weird that I’m the only other person here?” she whisper-shouts at me.

Honestly, I didn’t think about anything besides getting her here. We just won a huge game, I didn’t have to have dinner with my parents, and the first person I wanted to see tonight was her.

“You want to go out?”

“What?”

“If you don’t want to be here with them, we could go out. ”

“I—”

I close the fridge and grab her hand in mine. “I’ll be back later,” I call over my shoulder, pulling Savannah toward the door.

“What about your celebration?” she asks, like she wants to make sure I know that I used the wrong word.

I close the door, and in the privacy of my front porch, I grip her waist with one hand and cradle the back of her neck with my other. “I missed you.”

A soft moan escapes her, but I catch it by pressing my lips to hers. I kiss her softly and without rush, despite the burning need I feel for her. I pull back and find her eyes are still closed, so I drop my forehead to hers. “Let me celebrate my win tonight with you.”

“Where are we going?” She smiles.

“You’re driving. I guess we’ll find out when we get there.”

Savannah drives us just out of town, pulling up to another snow-covered lake. One that I know well. Not that there’s a lake within sixty miles that I don’t know well.

Silver Lake is 1.6 miles long. I know this because my dad dropped me off on the far end once with a shovel and had me carve a path down the length of it.

Once I was done, he met me on the other side in his truck, took the shovel, and told me to meet him back at the start.

If I didn’t beat him back, I’d have to go again.

It took three tries and the luck of every red light to finally be able to beat him, and even then, it was only by mere seconds.

“How’d you get out of dinner with your parents tonight?”

“They’re are out of town visiting Ivy.”

“Your sister?”

“Mhmm.”

“She’s not a professional hockey player like you, I take it?” she asks, turning in her seat to face me .

“No. She probably could be, though. She’s got a mean bark and an even meaner bite. She’s kind of like you in that regard.” I grin and tap her knee with my fist.

“I don’t like a lot of people, but she sounds like my kind of girl.”

I laugh, thinking of the hell I would be stuck in if those two were in a room together. “She doesn’t really get along with my dad, and she doesn’t fake nice either.” I absently rub a fist over my chest.

“Is she your only sibling?”

I shake my head. “My middle sister, Lana. She doesn’t really have much of a relationship with my dad either, but she chooses to focus on the one she does have with my mom instead of the one she doesn’t.”

“Sounds like it's a Mr. Kingston problem.”

The engine stays running, and the hum of the heat on low soaks up some of the silence. I lean back in the passenger seat, looking over at Savannah, whose gaze stays on the front window.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“Why don’t you let people drive you?”

She looks down at her lap, but not nervously; it feels more like shame.

“Control issues?” She laughs but not in a humorous way, and quickly shakes her head.

I study her eyes, not saying anything, hoping she’ll continue.

“I don’t know, I—” She drops her head to the seat, looking up through the moonroof. “I was in a car accident when I was younger.”

My stomach plummets. I sit up straighter, nausea rolling through my stomach at the thought of a single hair on her perfect head ever being in danger.

“There were other…factors. Other issues. Trauma is what my therapist called it, but that word just seemed so big and heavy that I never wanted to use it.” She looks down at her hands but my gaze doesn't follow. “Anyway, long story short, being in control of the car has been a lingering issue that I can’t figure out how to let go of. So now I only go to places I can walk to or drive myself.”

She casually runs her hands over the steering wheel, and I think about the times I’ve tried to drive her home from the bar, but she’s insisted on walking, and the night we met when she hadn’t been drinking because she wouldn’t have been able to walk home from my house.

I cover her hand with mine as a silent thank you for putting another crack in that shell of hers.

“My turn to ask a question?”

“Shoot.” I smile, mimicking her.

“Why are you still single?”

“Am I?”

She drops her head to her shoulder, raising an eyebrow at me.

“Say the words, babe, and I will happily be a man in a relationship.”

“I mean it. Leo says he notices the special treatment at his school and the way people treat him differently, but I—” She shakes her head as if she can’t understand it. “I can’t imagine it’s like this. Women literally fall to their knees before you. You could have anyone you want.”

“Sure. But I don’t want just anyone , Sav.” I reach over, tucking a wild strand of her hair behind her ear and then cover her thigh with my palm. “Plus, you’re the only one I want to see on her knees before me.”

“Noah.” She drags out my name and she blushes. “I’m serious.” She shoves my shoulder and I grab her hand, like I do every time she can’t help but touch me.

I lock our fingers together in a way that feels second nature at this point, drop them in my lap, and look at her.

I never considered a relationship before.

If I can’t give my all to something—or in this case, someone—I don’t want to do it.

It’s been instilled in me since I could walk that if I’m not willing to be the best at something, someone else will be.

There’s no point in doing something if you aren’t all in.

“It’s not anything juicy, really. My focus has always just been on hockey. I’ve set new goals to achieve each year, but the end goal has always been the same.”

“To play for the NHL,” she finishes, and I nod my head.

“I’m an all-in kind of guy. When I want something, and I make it my goal, I get tunnel vision and I’ll stop at nothing to achieve it. So if it wasn’t a puck and skates, I didn’t give it much attention.”

Savannah gnaws on her bottom lip, with a deep crease between her brows, and I’m suddenly very aware that I just confirmed all of her fears about me.

I reach over, cupping her jaw. My thumb drags along her bottom lip before I set it free from her bite. “But Savannah, I’m willing to be all in with you.”

Her expression is unreadable, and I don’t know if she’s there yet, but I know that I meant that without hesitation.