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“Uh, yeah.” I run a hand through my hair, nervously turning back to Cami and shrugging. “I’m in the market for a new mattress.”

“What is it with you boys and used mattresses?” Cami throws her hands up with a disgusted look on her face. She then points a finger at me accusingly. “I know you can afford a new mattress, Grant Anders. Don’t be stingy.”

“I’m not stingy,” I defend myself before turning to Brooke; she already thinks enough bad stuff about me. I don’t need her adding cheap to the list. “I’m not! I’m not.”

She’s biting her lip, holding back laughter, and I can’t help but smile even though she’s thrown me under the bus again. Footsteps pound down the hall as Adam appears behind Cami; he’s more than a foot taller than her, so that he can see into Brooke’s room easily.

“I’m not allowed it, but Grant is?” he looks outraged at Brooke. “Brookie, I called dibs.”

“For God’s sake,” Cami shouts, pushing his hands off her shoulders where he's trying to lean over the top of her. “No one is getting that damn mattress.”

“Darn it.” I shake my head with my hands on my hips, putting on a bit of an extra show. “I knew I should have spoken to you after the party.”

Brooke covers her mouth, laughing.

“He’s trying to swipe that mattress out from under me in a dirty deal,” Adam complains as Cami marches him out of the room down the hall.

“Oh my God, Adam, can you hear yourself? You sound insane.” We hear Cami tell him as they walk away, and Brooke and I burst into laughter; I throw an arm around her shoulder and pull her out of her room.

“See? We are having fun already.” I smile down at her playfully, but she shakes my arm off, laughing.

I watch her walk over to join the girls at the door, getting their jackets ready to leave.

“You ready?” Gunnar asks, handing me a shot glass. I take it and wince, tasting the cheap tequila Brooke and Cami have had to buy since Adam keeps finding the nice bottle they hide from him.

I’m still staring at Brooke, and she turns toward me and winks.

“Yup, I’m so good,” I reply, smirking.

“I don’t want the mattress,” I growl at Adam for the tenth time since we got to the bar. “We were just joking around.”

The bar is crowded tonight, and we picked a corner near the dance floor where the girls have been dancing since we arrived, and I smile at Brooke with the girls in our group as they spin and sing at each other.

Bear, Gunnar, Adam, and I are sitting with some other team members, keeping an eye on the girls.

“See, that’s what’s hurtful.” He sighs, looking down at his pint glass. “You can tell I’m passionate about it.”

“Passionate? About a mattress?” Bear asks slowly, looking confused, like he isn’t sure what he’s asking exactly. You and I both, Bear.

“Did you hear that judgment?” He gestures to Bear and me while speaking to Gunnar, “Our so-called friends.”

Gunnar’s holding a fist over his mouth, trying to keep in his laughter, and I shake my head at Adam’s dramatics.

“Not that I’m not enjoying whatever this is, but why are we on the same side of it?” Gunnar asks, taking a sip of his beer and leaning back.

“You would never try to take the mattress from me,” Adam says, putting on a shit-eating grin. “Sasha wouldn’t let you.”

“Asshole.” Gunnar shoves him, standing and heading towards the bar even though his beer is full. I’ve heard Sasha and him fighting more than usual recently.

“Really?” I shake my head at Adam. “Cut him some slack.”

Adam just shakes his head, ignoring me, and turns to talk to some guys on the team.

“So.” Bear nudges me. “Want to talk about why you were in Brooke’s room if you weren’t going to buy her mattress?”

“We were just settling a misunderstanding.” I brush him off, taking a deep pull on my beer. “We hadn’t talked for a few days, but we are all good now.”

“Well, that explains it.” He nods, draining his beer and crossing his arms, sitting back in his chair.

“What explains it?” I look over at him, confused.

“Why have the two of you been so down?” He shrugs, and I’m about to ask him what he means when Cami throws her arms around him from behind.

“Bear, can you clear a path to the bar? I need water.” She slumps, putting her weight on him, and he barely moves. Laughing, he stands up with her still clinging to him and walks off with her.

“Careful, Bear, I don’t want you injuring yourself,” I shout after him, and Cami flips me the bird hanging off his back like a monkey.

Brooke drops herself down into the now-empty seat next to me, lifting her long hair off the back of her neck, which must have fallen out of its ponytail at some point and fanning herself. “It’s rough out there,” she says, out of breath.

I look at the dance floor and can’t help but laugh. It’s just a bunch of girls and guys dancing normally, and she’s acting like it was a break-dancing competition.

“Yeah, looks hellish.” I snort, picking up the glass of water I got for her and passing it; she chugs it while patting my arm. I’m assuming gratefully, and I chuckle at how cute she is.

“Excuse me for not wanting to be the reason Cami becomes a monster by leaving the dance floor early.” Brooke narrowed her eyes after finishing the water, setting the glass down and going back to fanning herself. I lift her hair again for her, and she smiles at me gratefully.

“She once made me try to lift her like in Dirty Dancing at a party.” I chuckle at the memory. “She kept shouting, ‘I’m doing it, I’m doing it,’ before realising that Gunnar was holding her legs up straight.”

“No.” Brooke bursts out laughing, holding my arm. “What did she do when she realised?”

“What do you think? She yelled at us and wouldn’t let it go for the rest of the night. Gunnar bought her a burger to make her happy again.”

We both laugh, and she leans her head on my shoulder.

“Feeling tired?” I ask, picking up my beer and offering it to her. She shakes her head.

“No, just missed you,” she murmurs next to my ear, getting a little closer. “I hope that doesn’t sound weird.”

“Not at all.” I rest my head against hers, not caring if anyone sees. No one’s paying attention anyway, with Cami, Bear, and Gunnar near the bar and Adam having moved to play darts with the team; it’s just us at the table now.

“I just feel like I didn’t have to overthink before, and now all I’m doing is thinking and over-analysing everything between us.” She sighs, moving back to look at me. “I don’t want to be one of those crazy girls Cami talks about.”

If this were any other girl, I would have run already or not even been in this position, but her words don’t make me panic. I want more. I want her to know I feel the same. But I’m not this guy, I’m supposed to be focusing on being captain and getting to the NHL.

I can give her what I’m offering, fun between the two of us.

“I know you’ve heard all the stories about how I’ve messed around and I don’t take these things seriously, but it’s not like that with you.

” taking in the hopeful look on her face.

“I don’t know what this will look like, but if you want to keep it between us, we can do that and just have fun.

But I don’t want to do this with anyone else, Brooke. ”

“Grant!” Adam shouts over to me, “What were those two girls’ names you were seeing at the same time before summer break? He didn’t realise because their names were so similar, and they looked alike.” He laughs with my teammates, and I groan and turn to glare at him, of all the times to ask me that.

“Seriously?!” I shout back over to him, glaring at him, and he throws his arms up, looking confused towards the other guys. I turn back to Brooke, but she’s pushing her chair back.

“You say that now, Grant.” She sighs, and before I can grab her hand, she’s heading to the toilets across the bar.

Giving her a minute before following her, the toilets are down a long, darker hallway, and I lean against the wall opposite the ladies.

I’m not waiting long as she comes back out and jumps when she sees me.

I check up and down the hallways before stepping forward and pulling her towards me by her hips, and she comes willingly, like she always does.

“If you want us to go back to the way we were, just say, and I’ll stop.” Pressing my forehead against hers, I'd feel relieved as she threads her hands behind my neck and leans up to kiss me, pushing me into the wall.

“I don’t want you to stop, but if we do this, I need you to go slow with me,” she says, pulling back, leaning her forehead against mine again. “I’ve never done casual before.”

“We go at your pace, okay?” I try to keep the grin off my face, rubbing my hands up and down her hips. I don’t want to freak her out.

She moves her head to subtly look down the hallway towards the bar before grabbing the front of my shirt, kissing me, and I grip her hips tighter as she pulls me with her into the toilet.

“Um, you’re going to have to give me the guidelines for slow here.” I laugh, lifting her onto the sink.

“Just some quick ‘fun’ before anyone notices we are missing.”

She smiles, pulling me towards her by the back of my neck, playing with my hair teasingly. I step between her thigh.

“Just a little fun?” I whisper, ghosting my lips up her neck, sucking lightly.

She hums, running her hands through my hair, tugging it to bring me closer.

“You sure?” I move to her mouth, kissing her, and she nods against my lips as I deepen the kiss.

My fingers ghost up her thighs and I know I’m screwed.