Page 26 of Catch Me

She looks down for a moment and I twist a lock of her hair around my pinky finger.

“I got into the Royal College of Music you know?” She blurts, finally meeting my gaze. “I’m a pianist.”

“Really? I had no idea you could play piano. Why didn’t you pursue it?”

She shrugs, it’s heavy with sadness and regret. “My parents thought gymnastics was a better path for me, with Sean being a hockey player and all.”

I take her face in my hands. “You’re not Sean though, you’re Lois and you’re worth just as much as your brother whether you want to be an athlete, a pianist or a fucking astronaut.”

She breathes a slightly watery laugh. “Thank you. I don’t blame my parents, they were just trying to do what they thought was best for me at the time. I was always good at gymnastics, I had natural flare and it was an easy choice to make to follow Sean to Redwood on a scholarship. But the piano is where I'm happiest and I'm good at it Nick, I'm really fucking good at it.”

“I know baby, I believe you.” I kiss the tear from the tip of her nose. “I’d love to hear you play sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe…” She smiles coyly, tiptoeing up to press her pouty lips to mine. “Thank you for coming over this morning. What’s the plan for tomorrow?”

“Ah,” I wink, smacking a hand to her ass cheek. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

I make my way out of her bedroom and towards the front door, she follows behind me like a puppy nipping at my heels.

“Nick come on, just give me a hint, pleeeeease.” She whines and I turn to face her as I yank the door open.

“Ok,” I sigh, “we’re going into Camden Town, staying in a hotel and going to see a show… among other things.” She opens her mouth to speak, but I push a finger against her lips to silence her. “No, I'm not telling you anything else.” With a lingering kiss against her lips I leave her dorm, feeling a little more satisfied than I did when I woke up this morning.

It’s Saturday and my stomach is suddenly awash with nerves for today’s date with Lois. I have the whole weekend planned, we’re going into Camden Town, away from campus and any wandering eyes who might snitch to Sean if they see us together. I stayed up way too late last night texting the girl who’s taken over every inch of my brain, which means I'm tired as shit this morning. To make things worse I'm needed at the rink for an hour this morning before we can head off on our date. Sean roped me into helping the under 10’s team who use our rink on Saturday mornings. I don’t even like kids, I only agreed to this two weeks ago because I’d already fucked his sister and I felt guilty for keeping secrets from him. Sean, Kyle and Lewis are the only real friends I’ve ever had. When I was at school I had a few friends here and there but nobody ever stuck or stayed around me when they found out about my dad. Not many people wanted to be associated with the kid whose dad was in prison for battering him. I can’t say I blame them to be honest, but it left me pretty lonely a lot of time. The only attention that I could rely on was from girls and it’s something I’ve come to lean on I think, that’s why I was always flitting from one girl’s bed to another. That’s definitely something that’s behind me now. I couldn’t even imagine looking at another girl and wanting her like I want Lois.

The rink is echoing with the slapping of pucks and high pitched voices when I arrive. Sean is already on the ice with the children, they’re gathered around him, gazing up at him in awe like he’s Father Christmas.

“Right, let’s split into pairs and practice passing from across the rink.” He spots me and grins, “Nick is here now too so you better get moving before he kicks your asses.”

“Taylor!” Coach throws him a warning glare from the sidelines where he sits, tapping away at his laptop. This under 10’s teamisn’t even his so I have no idea why he’s hauling his players into helping out on a fucking Saturday morning.

I shove my skates onto my feet and glide across the ice to Sean. He has his back against the plexiglass, stick in one hand, throwing a puck into the air with the other, then catching it again.

“What the fuck is that grin for?” I look over my shoulder as the boys pass the puck to their partner, most of them clumsily. “Also, where the fuck is Ky? Why hasn’t he been roped into this crap?”

“Davis is a bit…” he tilts his head once, “preoccupied this morning.”

“Oh, ok, great. So just because he’s balls deep in Molly Crawford that means he gets to skip this shit,” I sigh hard. “So unfair, I don’t even like kids.”

“Hey! You like my kid.” He stands straight, hazel eyes blaring into me in a familiar way.

I nod fast to placate him. “Of course, she doesn’t count though because she’s yours.”

His features soften and he nods. “Yeah, good. Anyway we better start setting up some drills for these boys before Coach frisbees a few pucks at our balls.”

I spend the rest of the morning clearing away equipment at the rink after the under 10’s finish their training session. Much to Sean's annoyance I tell him I need to leave by midday. He has way too many questions about where I’m going and what I'm doing. If he knew what I was going to do to his sister this weekend he’d keep his questions to himself and mind his business.

I’m knocking on Lois’ door at 12:30pm, my car waiting downstairs with an overnight bag fit for a borrower. What can I say? I pack light.

The door swings open and a pair of bright hazel eyes gleam back at me. She holds a large gym bag in one hand and a wheeled suitcase in the other. I did tell her this was only a one night stay didn’t I? It looks like she’s packed for a two week trip to the Bahamas.

“Hey,” she pants, pulling the door closed behind her and rising on her tiptoes to drop a peck to my lips. “Ready to go?”

“Are we going to Camden, or to Spain for two weeks?” I laugh and she rolls her eyes, swatting a hand at my chest.

“Fuck off,” she mutters and my dick twitches, I love her sassy side.

She walks ahead of me and I take the opportunity to snatch the bag from her hand and swing it over my shoulder. She turns, fisting her hip with a dragon like annoyance in her scowl.

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