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SEVENTEEN

Owen

NOW

H aving Ellie here in my space was a terrible idea.

For one, because we were trying this friends thing, and it was so hard not to touch her. Ever since I’d walked into her apartment to find her crying, that shitty apartment flooded, I’d been fighting my need to go tell the landlord what was up. Especially considering how long it took him to get the standing water out of there.

A lot of her stuff had been soaked, but I thought we could save most of it—at least, the stuff that wasn’t on the floor. Some of it had gotten tossed immediately. After I’d gotten everything carried up to my apartment, we’d started the first load of laundry, trying to get any clothes that were wet in so she’d have stuff to wear tomorrow. It was mostly her bottom drawers of the dresser and what was at the bottom of the closet, but still.

If I’d have known she was moving here, I never would have let her rent an apartment there. It already wasn’t in a great area of town, and to make matters worse, it hadn’t been kept up very well. There was probably a reason the rent had been cheap enough that she could afford it.

But the icing on the cake for all of it was Ellie telling me I could have women over and she’d go elsewhere. Didn’t she know there was no one else? That I didn’t want anyone else? That had always been the problem. I scoffed at myself, trying to remember when I’d told myself I’d moved on. Moved on my ass. The guys were right. And I hated it.

Would there ever be a day when I didn’t want her? Probably not.

Ellie yawned, stretching her arms over her head as she stood from the kitchen island. “I should probably get to sleep. Today was a lot.”

Wasn’t that the understatement of the century?

I nodded. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Her lips titled up into a sad smile. “I will be. I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here.”

“Least I could do,” I reassured her. For her? I’d do anything. That was how it had always been. “I can throw your laundry in the dryer for you, if you want.”

“Oh.” She blushed. “You don’t have to do that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “It’s no problem, really, El. I know it’s been a long day. Let me help.”

What, did she think I was going to freak out about seeing her underwear? As if I hadn’t been there when she loaded all of her belongings up. Sure, maybe she’d snuck some of those boxes into her car without me seeing, but… It was nothing I hadn’t seen before.

“You’ve already helped so much,” Ellie whispered. “I just feel like there’s no way I could ever repay you for this.”

“Well, that’s the good thing about being friends, isn’t it? You don’t have to.”

“Owen…”

“Night, Skater Girl. Get some rest. The home opener tomorrow is going to be fun, I promise.”

She nodded. “Night, Hockey Boy.”

Then she quickly disappeared into my guest bedroom, leaving me confused, with my emotions all over the place. No one else had slept in that room besides my parents or my sister when they came into town, but I had to admit… I’d enjoyed having Ellie here tonight.

Even if it was the dumbest decision I’d made in a while, because I couldn’t have her.

How long would I be able to keep being her friend before I broke? I had no idea. But I had to try.

The energy in the arena was incredible, and we hadn’t even stepped foot on the ice yet. You could feel it, even in the locker room. We were all pumped.

Now that training camp was over and all the guys had been sent back to our AHL affiliate team or dismissed, we were back to having our normal number of guys on the team. There were some fresh faces, thanks to trades and free agents we’d picked up, but we had a strong line-up this year—maybe we’d stand a chance to win the cup.

And damn, there was just something that felt different about this season. Maybe part of it had to do with the fact that Ellie was here. When I’d come back from morning skate, I’d found her sitting on the couch, cross-legged with a pile of books in front of her. What was she doing? Working on lesson plans.

It was a- fucking -dorable. She chewed on the end of an eraser and I watched her for a few minutes until she noticed me. Then her cheeks turned my favorite hue of pink. God damn, but I shouldn’t find her so cute.

Not when her being in my apartment was going to drive me insane. You can look, but you can’t touch, I reminded myself. We’d dated for a long time in high school without ever having sex. My hand would have to suffice.

God knows it had for the last five years .

My teammates had no idea that I’d only ever slept with one woman. Most of them probably thought the same thing as the media: that I was with the women who went with me to events, the ones hired to stand by my side and smile for the cameras. None of them had been anything more than a one-off here or there. I wasn’t interested in dating. Honestly, I hadn’t felt a connection with any of the women I’d met. Not since—well, I wouldn’t let myself go there. It was in the past.

Coach Donovan came into the room, dressed in his suit, and looked across at all of us. Almost everyone was fully dressed and ready to go. A few of the guys just needed to pull their jerseys on over their pads, but liked to wait until the last minute. Athletes were too damn superstitious for their own goods. Thought I’d learned that a long time ago.

“Alright, who’s ready for the starting line-up? Kovac’s going to start us off for the season. Let’s hear it!”

We all clapped and cheered, Brooks giving a few extra hoots as our captain stood up, half-dressed with just his pads on. I loved this little tradition of announcing the line-up in the locker room before each game, and it was even more fun when a special guest was brought out to share the starters.

“In net, number thirty-three… our legendary scot, defender of the goal… Reid MacKenzie!” Stefan fist-bumped our goalie, the two sharing a half hug, before he jogged back to the center of the room.

“Forwards, we’ve got number fourteen, Jonah Campbell!” He repeated the same motion with each of the forwards he called out. “And number seventy-three… Carter Meyer!” The team clapped three times, cheering for each of our starting players. “Can’t forget number thirty-one, Finn Evans!” Another fist bump. Jonah was a new addition to the team this year, while the other two had been rookies last year. They were some of the younger guys on the team, but they had grit and tenacity, which was needed on the ice.

“And on defense, we’ve got our killer duo… number se venty-nine, Brooks Hendrix, and number eight, Owen Harper!”

After Brooks, Stefan got to me, slapping our hands together. “Proud of you, Harps. Can’t wait to see you kill it this season.”

“Thanks, Cap,” I said, feeling so incredibly blessed to be here.

It was an incredible honor to be on the starting line-up for the first game of the year. There was something about standing out on the ice during the national anthem next to our Junior Seal—the youth hockey player who got to be a part of the opening ceremony of the game—that was so incredibly energizing.

Tonight would be extra special. And not just because of who was out there for me.

“Are we ready to do this fucking thing?” Coach shouted, and we all cheered. “Go out there, and kick some ass, and remember what we’ve practiced. You’ve got this. Keep those pucks out of our zone and get them in the Warrior’s net.”

“Hell yeah!” Campbell shouted. He was a left winger on our second line, and an all-around great guy. He was a few years younger than me, and last year had been his rookie year after graduating from University of Michigan. “Let’s go kick some Warrior ass!”

I chuckled as I stood up, pulling my jersey on. Winning tonight would be a great start for the season, and it would feel great to do it in front of all of our fans.

Plus, I wanted to win for Ellie. Maybe it was me wanting to show off, but I wanted to impress her.

“Someone’s happy tonight,” Mav muttered. “Is it because your girl is here?”

“Again,” I said, repeating my sentiment from the other night. “She’s not my girl.”

“No?” He smirked, crossing his arms over the Seals logo on his chest. “Then why do you look so goddamn happy?”

“I always look like this,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Brooks punched his brother in the arm. “Leave Harps alone. You know how he feels.”

I rubbed at the back of my neck. “About that…”

“What did you do?” Maverick asked. At the same time, Brooks said, “See, I knew that just friends thing wouldn’t last.” If there was one thing about the Hendrix brothers, it was that they loved to give me shit. But I knew it was just the way they showed their love.

Shaking my head, I looked down at the floor. “It’s not like that. I meant to text yesterday. It’s just that with everything that happened, I didn’t really have a chance.”

“What’s going on, Owen?” There was actual concern in Brooks’s voice now, and I let out a breath.

“Ellie’s apartment flooded.”

“Oh, fuck. Does she need somewhere else to live?” Mav frowned.

A low growl came from me before I could think better of it. Because, of course, I was still possessive about this girl. Nothing had really changed, had it? “No, she doesn’t need somewhere else to live, Hendrix, because she’s living with me.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “And everyone’s going to keep their hands to their damn selves.”

He chuckled. “You’re kidding. So you’ve got your ex living under your roof now?”

I nodded. “Yeah. And you fuckers better not give her a hard time over that.” There were a lot of things I would put up with, but not Ellie upset. And the way she’d looked when I came into her apartment, tears staining her cheeks and devastation in her eyes, had almost broken me.

Of course, I’d offered to let her move in. There was no way I was leaving her there. But it was more than that. I wanted her to feel safe here. To feel welcomed.

Five years ago, she’d made the choice to walk away from me. When Ellie had chosen not to come to college in Seattle, not to be with me, she’d done more than broken my heart. She’d stomped on all of our plans, tearing my heart into little pieces. But this was different.

Everything was different now. I didn’t want her to go back to Portland. Not when her living here meant I got to take her hiking like we had when we were younger and have her at my games.

“We would never.” Brooks grinned. “Now, you , on the other hand…”

Rolling my eyes, I picked up my gloves and helmet, shoving the latter onto my head and getting ready to head out onto the ice for warm-ups.

“Let’s just go play some damn hockey,” I said, starting to understand why Rhodes Larsen was one grumpy son of a bitch after playing on this team for so long. He was probably so tired of them needling him that he’d stopped smiling. Especially considering he was still single and one of the guys who never had a wife or girlfriend at the games for him.

Though, Maverick and Brooks were also single, which might have explained why they felt the need to intrude into my dating life. Or lack thereof. I snorted as I headed out to the tunnel, stick in hand—freshly wrapped, just the way I liked it—and ready to go.

Nothing else mattered.

Not my new roommate, and not how much I wanted to kiss her at any given moment.

Definitely not.