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Chapter Three

Bash

The next morning, my hand freezes in midair when Lainey walks into the kitchen, my mug of green tea in limbo.

“Good morning,” she says breezily.

“Morning.”

She’s wearing fitted black pants and a sleeveless, vibrant green shirt with a scoop neckline, the outfit hugging her curves.

Her thick hair is sleek and straight, the ends just brushing over her shoulders.

She has makeup on today, her eyes rimmed in dark shades and the light pink of her lips matching her cheeks.

The only time I’ve seen her like this was at her engagement party to Shitty Shane in June. She had on a blue dress that night and her hair was swept into a neat knot at the nape of her neck. Shitty Shane wore jeans and an ugly polo. Who’s surprised?

It’s a shock to my system to see Lainey looking sexy, and it’s even more of one to see her looking that way in my kitchen . When she came to my games a couple of years ago, she was wearing a Crush hoodie and jeans.

“There’s apple kale and carrot ginger juice,” I say as she opens the fridge.

She looks over her shoulder at me and smiles. “I’m not taking your juice. I’m just grabbing my water bottle.”

“No, take it. Seriously. I had the chef make extra since I knew you were coming.”

She furrows her brow. “I don’t want to spoil my midmorning breakfast of frosted cherry Pop-Tarts.”

“Jesus. With a Dr Pepper, I’m sure. Don’t you study this stuff and know better? How are Pop-Tarts for gut health?”

“Not great, Mom. Sugar thins the mucus lining of the gut and it can actually make my IBS worse. I have no idea when I’ll be home, but I’ll grab dinner on my way.”

I cup my hands around my mouth as she heads for the door. “Eat some protein today.”

She looks back at me. “Is there protein in Twix bars?”

I set my mug on the counter and glare at her. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

She grins. “Yeah. I’ll have a salad for lunch. Promise. With protein.”

After slinging her enormous bag over her shoulder, she blows me a kiss and leaves through the door that connects the kitchen to the garage.

I sigh heavily, then take a sip of my tea. That was really fucking...domesticated. Add a kiss and an ass slap at the end and we could’ve been a couple. I don’t know what to do with that, because I’m not a domesticated guy.

My home isn’t open to women I sleep with. And I don’t expect to go to their homes, either, but I have before if that’s what worked best. If I want to spend the night with a woman and I know about it ahead of time, I book a nice hotel room.

Lainey isn’t one of those women, though. She’s...Lainey. Eric’s sister. She’s like family.

I shake it off, walking over to the fridge to get out some eggs and juice. Carter, Leo and I have leg day with our trainer, Ollie, today. I need to get fueled up and mentally set for it.

Leo sprints about four yards, then jerks to a halt, dropping to his hands and lying face down in the grass, then bounces back up and jumps high in the air.

I follow, not wasting any energy on bitching, though I want to.

Leo’s a grinder, and he’s a beast of one.

He’s not a polished player who just fires goal after goal into the net, like Carter.

He’s the workhorse of the first offensive line, and he’s in the best shape of anyone on our team.

Leo uses his imposing size, strength and speed to disrupt our opponents.

He checks. He forechecks. He boards. Leo is the most relentless grinder I’ve ever played with, and he’s arguably the most important member of the line he, Carter and I make up.

His aggression is what keeps Leo’s spot on our team secure, and he stays sharp. He may not score a ton of goals, but he makes opportunities for me and Carter to.

His physicality makes him the worst person to be behind in mirror drills. We’re on the football-field-sized grass area outside our team’s training facility, and I drew the short straw in this round of drills.

Carter is mirroring Ollie on the other side of the field. Ollie focuses entirely on speed. He stops, starts, and dodges to the side, Carter repeating every movement from about ten feet behind him.

Leo, though, won’t just do a typical hockey mirror drill. He adds karate kicks, push-ups, hurdles, burpees and even the occasional backflip.

By the time he turns around and backflips across the finish line, I’m practically wheezing. I shake my head, unwilling to risk hurting myself with a backflip when I’m this gassed.

“Did you keep up?” Leo asks me, grinning.

I flip him off.

“We’ll switch leaders after you guys get a drink,” Ollie says.

My breathing has returned to normal by the time I get over to the bench where our water bottles are. I swipe mine and take a long swig from it.

“How was the cookout last night?” I ask.

“Yeah, how was it, Leo?” Carter scowls at him.

Leo shrugs. “Fine. The steaks were killer.”

Carter rolls his eyes. “I thought Mara might actually punch you.”

He shrugs. “She’s a loose cannon.”

“Because you intentionally bait her.”

“She makes it too easy.”

Carter shakes his head and turns to me. “How was dinner with Lainey?”

“Good.”

Leo screws the cap back on his water bottle and stretches into a lunge. “How many times did you criticize her fiancé?”

“Only twice. I was feeling reserved.”

“How was it seeing her?” Carter asks.

I feign nonchalance. “Same as always. Lainey’s Lainey.”

“Just a pal you hang out with, right?” Leo says dryly. “Just like us.”

“Well, she’s not a dick, so...not just like you guys.”

“Let’s go!” Ollie calls from across the field.

Carter and I set down our water bottles.

“Bring her over tomorrow night,” he says. “Suki won’t let up about meeting her.”

“If neither of us has plans, I will.”

He hums a single note of laughter. “You already know you don’t have plans and she just got to town yesterday, so she doesn’t, either. You just don’t want Suki, Mara, Dex, and Harry to see you with her because you know they’ll see right through you.”

Agitation tightens against my breastbone. “Suck my dick. You don’t know what you’re talking about. She tried to get with me once and I told her no. If you guys say anything that embarrasses her, I’ll be fucking pissed. I mean it.”

“No one will do that. You know Suki and her friends.”

We walk over to Ollie, who’s warming up with jump squats.

“I’ll bring her over, but you need to tell Suki that if anyone pries for information, we’re leaving and I won’t bring her back.”

Carter frowns at me. “Yeah, because you’re better at making people feel welcome than my wife is? Cut the shit.”

If he thinks anyone is being critical of Suki, Carter turns into a defensive caveman. I drop the subject and go to the spray-painted white line in the grass, where we start mirror drills.

Leo yawns dramatically behind me. “Do you need me awake for this, Bash? Or can I take a nap during?”

I take off my baseball hat and run a hand through my sweaty hair, replace the hat and give him a shit-eating grin. “You’re fucked, man. I stashed some sticks and pucks and nets down there. I’m gonna shoot goals and we all know you can’t mirror that shit.”

He narrows his eyes. “So you want to stand still, granddad? Are we going to practice sitting on the bench, too?”

“Let’s go!” Ollie calls, already following behind Carter.

I spin around and give Leo double middle fingers, then start sprinting. This drill is good for me. It takes all my energy to do it, so there’s no room left to think about the way Lainey’s round ass looked in those pants this morning.

Not much room, anyway. It creeps into my mind every few minutes, and so does a replay of her blowing me a kiss.

So weird. I have no idea where these thoughts are coming from because, like I told Carter and Leo, Lainey’s Lainey . My childhood best friend’s younger sister. She’s pretty much the last person whose ass I should be thinking about.