Page 102 of Save Your Breath

Old Sport

Aleks

She wanted to hit me.

I wanted to kiss her.

That was how it had always been with us.

“This is just… great. Just fucking perfect,” Mia said, throwing her hands up in disbelief before she sank down into my giant bean bag with a huff. As soon as she realized where she was sitting, she hopped up with a frustrated growl before stomping over to the couch, instead.

She hated that fucking thing, and I really wanted to laugh.

But nothing was funny in this moment.

The news about the hurricane shift had surprised all of us. It wasn’t unheard of, but the drastic shift toward Tampa had been highly unlikely.

No one like Mother Nature to remind us thathighly unlikelynever meantimpossible.

We were just finishing up our morning skate, most of the team heading back to our homes for a nap and to load up on carbs when the news broke. Coach had quickly met with management, and before we knew it, the game had been canceled, our opponents told to shelter in place while our team was told to go home and prepare to evacuate if we were in an evacuation zone.

With so little time before the storm would hit, evacuation would be difficult.

Daddy P and Vince were definitely in those mandatory zones, one of them on Davis Island and the other right on the beach. Fortunately, they both had places to go that were more inland. Will, Chloe, and Ava would go to Will’s uncle’s house, and Maven and Vince would go to Mave’s parents’.

The rest of us would shelter in place, and I’d had the good sense to stock my condo with hurricane prep supplies just in case. I’d be good.

But I knew the second I picked Mia up and saw the mix of fear and anger on her face that I was in for a rough night whether the storm was bad or not.

She buried her face in her hands, shaking her head.

“What am I going to do?”

Under normal circumstances, I’d toss a smart-ass remark at her and smirk as that perfect mouth of hers gaped open at me, as her cheeks turned red and that little vein in her forehead popped. I knew exactly how to push her buttons, how to make rage pour through that normally put-together woman.

But right now, I just wanted to comfort her. That side of me I always kept tied up in the basement of my cold, dead heart was thrashing, urging me to go to her, to pull her into me, to hold her and find a way to make it right.

We’d barely talked in months.

She’d iced me out.

And selfishly, I was a bit happy about the sudden change in plans if it meant I’d get a night alone with her.

Maybe I could get her to talk to me. Maybe I could get her to tell me what the fuck has been going on since the day she firmly shoved me away.

Her dark hair fell over her shoulders in a silky curtain as I took the seat next to her. I hovered one hand over her slender back before I carefully, slowly, rubbed it. “I’m sorry.”

Mia froze under my touch.

There it was again, that shock of electricity between us, that zap of heat I felt any time my body made contact with hers.

But just when I thought she might melt into that touch, Mia yanked away, uncovering her face so she could properly glare at me. Those sharp blue eyes of hers narrowed into slits. “Well, you should be. This is all your fault.”

And just like that, we were back to sparring.

“My fault?” I gaped at her, smirking even with my mouth open because I wanted her to feel as ridiculous as she was being. “Mia, it’s a fucking hurricane. What the hell am I supposed to do about it?”

“You’re the whole reason I’m here instead of in New York to begin with. I’m doing all this to save your ass! And now, I have to cancel a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden.”