Page 119 of Power Play

“Guess I should listen to Doris,” I say hoarsely.

“You better. She wasn’t happy with me.”

“Wouldn’t want that to happen again. What were some of the ways she said you can take care of me?”

“Well, I got a whole lecture on photophobia. Then I got scolded for not tracking your medication, but when I told her I got your headache hat for you, she told me I was doing a good job. Made me feel like a million bucks.”

“Who knew you were so into praise?”

“Only from seventy-five-year-old nurses and you, apparently. Everyone else can fuck off.”

I laugh and bury my face in his shirt. “I think I need a shower. I haven’t rinsed off since yesterday morning, and I feel disgusting.”

“What about food? When’s the last time you ate?”

“Um, breakfast yesterday? I think? I haven’t been hungry, but I should try to eat something.”

“All right, Pipsqueak.” He stands and lifts me in his arms. “Let’s get the ball rolling.”

“Liam. It’s the middle of the night. You have practice tomorrow and need to get some sleep.”

“No practice. Coach canceled morning skate. I don’t have anywhere to be until the weight room in the afternoon.”

“Okay, forget practice. It’s still the middle of the night, and I can fend for myself. Really. You don’t have to do all of this.”

I catch a glimmer of heat in his eyes as we walk down the hall. His jaw is tense and the frown on his mouth makes it feel like there’s a pit in my stomach.

“You’re doing it again,” he murmurs, and I lift my chin to stare at him.

“Doing what?”

“Pretending your shit isn’t as important as my shit. It is, Piper, and it really pisses me off when you think I’m doing this for any reason other than because Iwantto. I get that you think you’re being a pain or too demanding—that people have made you think like that before— but I’m fuckingbeggingyou to ask for help from someone who wants to be here with you. When you do, you’re going to learn there are a lot of people out there who would drop everything. Including me.”

His words consume me. They wash over me, a tidal wave I have no idea how to respond to.

I’m not sure I can.

It’s too raw. Too real. Too much outside the labels we’ve curated for ourselves, and thinking of him as anything other than the grumpy goalie who is my friend and bedroom coach terrifies thehellout of me, because I’ve seen what I could lose. I’ve seen the man Liam is and the ways he measures up to Steven, far outweighing him in every single category.

Hewantsto be here.

Hewantsto help, and this is all so new.

I want him here too.

“Okay,” I whisper, gripped by the fear of rejection but shoving it aside because I trust Liam. I trust him so much it hurts. “Would you stay and help me?”

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” He makes his way to my bathroom, only setting me down when the water is running and steam billows out of the shower. “Take off your clothes.”

“You take yours off first.”

His fingers deftly unknot the tie around his neck. Pull it free from his collar and toss it on the marble floor. The buttons of his shirt come undone next, one by one until he’s bare-chested and staring at me.

My hands shake as I tug my sweatshirt over my head. I’ve been naked in front of him a dozen times now. I’ve had his fingers inside me and my mouth on his cock, but there’s something startling about this moment that makes it feeldifferent.

Monumental, almost.

He’s seen me when I’ve been at my most vulnerable. When I’m hurting and weak and small, he stuck around.

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