Page 37 of Misbehaving With Minotaurs (Haven Ever After #8)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CATHERINE

N ormally, I adore skyball. And while the crowd was insane over the game, I recognize poor sportsmanship when I see it. I can’t imagine how frustrated Manorin likely is. When he asked me to come to the locker room, I sensed it in his tone.

I pass Gil Stoneswallow with a gaggle of female monsters surrounding him, peppering him with questions. He catches my eye and waves, but all I can manage is a quick purse of the lips as I skirt past the group. I run right into another monster in my haste to get out of Gil’s view.

“Oh my word, my apologies,” I manage as I bounce off the bigger-bodied male and try to right myself.

“No worries, Catherine.”

My mouth drops open as I look up into Rip Shorthorn’s ruggedly handsome face. He winks. “Quite a game, huh?”

“What are you doing here?” I blurt out. But I already know.

“Came to see Hadrian play.” He gives me a cagey look. We both know that’s not entirely true.

Oh shit. Oh shiiiit .

I clear my throat. “Alkazar played a professional game. He’s a good kid.”

Rip smiles. “He is.” He glances behind me toward the busy hallway. “Well, I’m goin’, Catherine. Have a good one.”

“You too,” I manage as he strides past me. My chest heaves with tight anxiety. He was here for Nor, I know he was. Which means he’s retiring and making sure Nor gets offered that job.

Anxiety piles on until I have to suck in great gaping breaths to fill my lungs. I tuck my Ever Misfits sign under my arm and lean against the wall as I think about workarounds and alternatives and any possible future that would easily allow us to both have our dreams.

Heading into the depths of the stadium, I find the locker room assigned to Manorin’s team. His deep voice echoes from the inside.

Pushing the door open, I find Ohken standing there leaning against the wall with an ice pack strapped to one big thigh.

He shoots me a quick smile as I enter the space, sliding my arm around his waist. He puts an arm around my shoulder as we look into the packed locker room.

Every player is here, staring at Manorin at the front of the room.

Manorin stands there with a half smile on his face, both hands slung low in the pockets of his athletic shorts. His whistle hangs between both pecs, glinting in the room’s low light as he looks around, capturing each player’s attention.

“I am incredibly proud of each of you,” he says.

“That was a rough game, and not because of this team. You persevered through a metric assload of bullshit from the other team. You could have stooped to their level and you didn’t.

” He pauses, looking around. “It’s rare that I’m proud of a loss, but I’m proud of that one.

I don’t wanna win if that’s what we have to do to secure it. ”

Murmurs of assent rise from the group.

He nods. “Most of you aren’t full-timers, either, and it means a lot to me that you gave it your all today regardless of your skyball dreams. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.” He looks at Ohken and dips his head respectfully.

A beat of silence becomes two, then three.

The players stare raptly at Manorin.

He smiles, removing his hands from his pockets and lifting them.

“Another huge thanks to my academy friends for coming to support. I don’t know what’ll happen tomorrow or the next day, but this opportunity to be part of the Ever Misfits has been an absolute highlight for me.

Thank you, Evertons, for being so welcoming.

Hope you keep me around.” He winks, and shouting and whooping rises from the crowd.

The happy noises echo off the ceiling as the players stand and one by one greet Manorin with hugs and handshakes. They begin to dissipate after that, and I stand by the door, watching as he does the post-game wrap-up.

It irks me for the other team that Gil didn’t seem to do anything like this. I don’t use a lot of curse words, but that male is an absolute dickhead.

As the players filter out, Manorin comes to me and pulls me into his arms, resting his forehead against mine. “What a shitshow,” he murmurs, his nose ring jiggling against my chin.

He slides his hand up the front of my throat and grips it lightly, a deep sigh leaving him. “Missed you the entire time.”

I brush my fingertips along his tapered ears. “Well, the good news is that if anybody here wanted to hire Gil, I’m pretty sure he ruined any chance of being Ever’s pick.”

I mean the comment in a lighthearted tone, but Manorin grumbles anyhow. “The day I miss out on a job opportunity to a jackass like that is the day I’ve truly lost my mojo.”

I can’t think of anything to say to that. I want to mention that I saw Rip Shorthorn, but I don’t know?—

“Shorthorn’s here,” Manorin says softly, parting from me but pulling me toward one of the benches. He straddles it and sits me across from him, pulling my thighs over his and holding me steady against him. “Offered me the Punishers job. He’s officially retiring soon.”

Dread fills me so fast, I choke on it, sputtering as I attempt to drum up an answer that sounds supportive. I knew when I saw him, but to hear Nor say it…

“I know,” Manorin says with a heavy sigh. “I think part of me was pretty sure he was kidding when he mentioned retiring.” Crimson eyes come to mine.

“Do you have an offer?” It’s all I can manage.

“Forthcoming,” he says with a grumble.

I roll my shoulders, trying to center myself as I consider what this means. Can I ask him to stay for me? Should I? Could I forgive myself if I asked him to do that, knowing he wants to be in Pine Gulch?

He strokes my hair over my shoulder. “I’m not taking that job, Sunshine. I can’t lose you. I won’t. Not this time.”

Hope fills me right along with the dread and upset. “This is your dream job, Nor.”

“It’s not the job, really,” he says. “That program’s rock solid and built.

What originally interested me about Ever was building from the ground up.

The main thing attracting me to PG at this point is just that it’s home.

” His eyes go soft at the edges. “But it won’t feel like home to me without you.

I love you to the ends of this world, Catherine. I’m staying right here with you.”

I press myself against him, brushing his snout with my nose as I stare up into those dark eyes. “I love you too, harder and faster and deeper than I could ever have imagined loving someone.”

He beams at me. “Good. ‘Cause you’re stuck with me, Sunshine. And you better give me the Ever job because I’m not ready to be retired.”

I laugh. We both know he’s got that job locked and loaded .

But as he dips me backward and kisses down the front of my neck, discomfort niggles its way through my mind.

He’s giving something up to be with me, something he’s wanted for his entire life.

I just can’t have that, not at all.

I have to find a way to fix this for him.

I want his dreams to come true. I know I’m one of them, but it’s not enough. Not for me. I will fix this…somehow.

His comm watch rings just as he tugs my tee down and closes his mouth over my peaked nipple.

Manorin growls and rights us, staring at the blue leather band around his sizable wrist. His brother’s name hovers above it, flashing incessantly as he groans and wipes a big hand over his face.

“We aren’t catching a break today, Sunshine.”

When he directs the comm watch to answer, his brother launches right into a story about his nephew, Alarion, and some trouble with the gargoyle sheriff.

I don’t follow the entire thing because his brother speaks in shrieking, run-on sentences that don’t make any sense to me.

But Manorin seems to follow, his expression darkening by the minute.

By the end of the call, he’s tense and tight in my arms.

“I’ll be there in a bit, brother. Calm down.”

“Just get home!” his brother shouts. “Before Rygold kills Alarion!”

“He’s not gonna kill Alarion,” Manorin rumbles, “but I’m on my way.”

The brother hangs up without saying goodbye, and Manorin sighs. “Gonna have to rain-check that dinner, Cath. I’m so sorry.”

I tickle my fingers along his jawline, admiring the strength of it. “Crazy as Alarion’s antics seem to be, he’s family. I’ll be here when you get back. ”

He smiles, even though there’s tension in it. “Because you love me?”

That pulls a smile to my face. “Because I love you.”

I have to find a way to fix things for him. I want to keep him, and I don’t want him to give up a single thing for our happiness.

Even as I think that, an idea starts to form in my mind, bits and pieces of info swirling into a slowly forming picture. When I get home, I’m calling Betmal. He might be just the monster for what I need.