Page 40 of Tempest

Odette

Ican’t remember the last time I laughed this much. Which must really say something about my life, right? The crowd I’ve ran with my entire adult life doesn’t have birthday parties like this. They aren’t casual and relaxed with everyone teasing everyone else. They don’t reminisce about the silly adventures they’ve had in the past because they’d be more ashamed or afraid of appearing uncouth. Class and sophistication are everything in high fashion.

Here, with all of Gavin’s friends and teammates, it’s another world. I’m realizing that maybe I played the part too well, but never really had fun. I had success, I made money, and while I had plenty of great moments, overall, my life hasn’t been fun. That wasn’t something that mattered much before, I was focused and driven. But now?

Everything is different. With more time on my hands, will my life be boring without friends like these? Will I become boring? What a horrible fucking thought.

When I said yes to coming here, I had a vision in my head of what it would be like. Hockey players are wealthy and that typically comes with a certain way of life. But these men and their wives have tossed that on its head. The women are all polished and beautiful, but they’re also down to earth and real.

Then there’s Gavin.

He hasn’t been clingy, instead he’s let me be pulled from one conversation to the next naturally. Though he’s checked in on me in subtle ways. His attention is never fully averted. I guess mine hasn’t been, either. He’s so easy-going with everyone. How the men respect him, and the women seem to genuinely care about him.

It’s a stark reminder of why I fell in love with him. Before. He’s kind, he’s endearing, he’s loyal. So loyal that I lost him because of it.

When he asked if I would come with him today, my initial reaction was to tell him no. Of course, no. But something Tori said made me reconsider. She thinks he’s lonely. It reminded me of a conversation I had with him once.

He said it was hard living with his mother and mental health issues. He saw the toll it took on his dad and he worried about the decisions he made because of it. His dad loved his mother, but he was lonely at the same time. She wasn’t the same person she’d been when they fell in love, and he missed her. Gavin had once come home to find his dad drunk and crying about how he’d almost had an affair.

He’d told Gavin that lonely people do stupid shit.

Aren’t I living proof of that?

I can’t trust my heart to Gavin. But I can be his friend. And maybe, in the process, neither of us will be as lonely nor as stupid.

Just maybe.

I’ve spent so much time pretending I hate him for my self-preservation that when he came back into my life, I forgot it was a lie. I never hated him, I hated how it hurt to lose him.

Or maybe this is the biggest mistake I’ll ever make.

“Do you have any embarrassing stories about Vaughn growing up?” Axel Wallin asks. He’s one of the handful of single men on the team, they’ve all been very upfront about their status, and I get the feeling it’s for Gavin’s benefit in some way. They’ve hardly let him get close to me, every time he tries another one of the guys comes to grab my attention.

“He hasn’t told you about the time he and a few friends were dared to streak across the field at halftime during a football game?”

“Odette,” Gavin says from the other side of the room, hanging his head.

“He did not,” Cillian says. “The Vaughn we know would never. He’s the classiest twat out of all of us.”

“Oh, he did. He was known to never back down from a dare. Four of them stripped behind the concession stand to nothing but a sock on their dicks and ran from one end zone to the other. The principal tried catching them, but she was in heels that kept sinking into the grass.”

“She broke her ankle,” Gavin says amidst the laughter. “For whatever reason, she didn’t suspend us, but we had detention every day until she was out of her cast.”

“I bet it was a small sock,” Letty says. “Like one of those baby ones.”

“Fuck you,” Gavin says.

“She’s not denying it,” he says, pointing at me. “It’s okay, you can tell us, Odette. We won’t tease him too much.”

“It wasn’t…” I start to say, when I feel the heat on my cheeks. Being well endowed is one of Gavin’s gifts, something I remember all too well.

“Well, fuck,” Letty says. “That’s no fun.”

Gavin is suddenly standing behind me.

“Thank you, Ode,” he whispers in my ear. His hand comes to rest low on my hip. “I’m glad you remember. I remember some things, too. Like the way you taste.”

His whispered words send a shiver down my neck. I’m sure he didn’t miss it, just as I don’t miss as his palm slides slightly lower to the curve of my ass before he walks away.

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