Page 8 of Catch Me

With a flicker of a wave and a swish of blonde hair she’s gone and my bedroom door closes softly behind her. I clamber onto my bed and lie back, finally closing my eyes and forcing my mind to focus on tomorrow, on the tactics Coach wants us to deploy. He’s drilled into our skulls how important it is that we beat Preston tomorrow, they’re one point behind us in the university league and they’re almost always our biggest rivals. But of course, it doesn’t take long for my mind to wander back to the girl who’s suddenly crashed into it and made it her home overnight. Jesus, this is going to be a long week, waiting to kiss her again.

Chapter 5

LOIS

The arena is bitter cold as usual. I don’t even know why I'm here, why I let Molly drag me along under the premise that she’d buy me unlimited popcorn and that Callie would be here with Lily. I don’t know why I believed the last excuse, when I know full well that Sean and Callie only got home yesterday and will still be adjusting to life with a newborn. I’ve contemplated chickening out since midday when Molly called and albeit begged me to come tonight. I’m a coward, I know, but I don’t know how I'm supposed to face Nick Andersen after our kiss the other night. It’s all I can think about and I'm not exaggerating when I say it’s taken over every crevice of my brain. I’ve tried so damn hard to shut the memory out, to push it to the deepest part of my mindso I can simply forget about it for five minutes. But that doesn’t work, not even a little bit.

Molly crams me into the pair of reserved seats behind the penalty box, Callie and Molly’s favourite spot. I don’t often come and watch my brother’s team play hockey, I’ve never been that interested in it truth be told. Sean isn’t even playing tonight, like I said he’s staying home with Callie. Callie’s dad is here though after his weekend with his new granddaughter. I have no idea how Sean managed to live with him for two whole days, especially with him being the men’s hockey coach too. The mere thought of sharing a house with Ellen is enough to make me break my own legs so I don’t have to train with her ever again.

“Here,” Molly chimes, handing me a cold, extra large Pepsi. “The games against Preston are always my favourite, the tension is so thick you could cut it with your pinky finger.”

“Uhhmm,” I murmur, barely listening to her because my eyes have snapped like a hawk to land on the guy who’s been steadily driving me insane. His heavy set frame glides so effortlessly across the ice, his body angled to give him maximum speed and precision. He slaps a puck at Kyle who stands ready in goal. The warm ups are now fully underway and my focus can’t be pulled away from Nick, no matter what Molly is twittering on about in my ear.

Molly’s fingers click in my line of vision and I'm pulled back to reality. “You enjoying the view?” She wears a knowing smirk and I clamp my lips together, trying not to give myself away, but to no avail. Molly knows every single thought that’s flickering through my mind when I look at Nick. The way I want him to throw me over his solid shoulder and fuck me until I forget my own name. She knows and she’s grinning from ear to ear at that fact. I don’t respond to her question, which only grows her already huge suspicion.

“Did something happen between you two?” She whispers, leaning into my ear even though the arena is so fucking loud nobody within a mile radius would ever hear our conversation.

I shake my head, my voice straining at the lie that’s on the tip of my tongue. “No, you know I’ve always liked him.” I shrug, “Nothing weird about looking at someone that you’re attracted to.”

Molly’s icy blue eyes soften and just when I think I've fooled her, Nicks’ chocolate gaze lands on mine and my entire body stiffens. I want so much to look away, to break the intensity of the stare that’s like a magnet between us, but I can’t. I can’t breathe, can’t blink, can’t do anything until Molly cackles beside me and Nick finally looks away.

“Oh my god you two so fucked the other night!” She shrieks and I clamp a hand over her big mouth.

“Shut up,” I hiss, glancing over my shoulder to check no one heard that. “We didn’t have sex, I swear…” her eyes are sparkling with delight, she lives for this soap opera shit. “We did kiss though, after the party.”

“Oh my—”

I plant another palm across her mouth and dip my mouth to her ear. “Can you be quiet, please, I'm begging you.” I remove my hand from her mouth and she zips her lips, excitable grin still plastered over her face. “Sean can’t know about it and anyway none of it matters, he doesn't actually like me, it was just a drunken kiss.”

Molly waggles a finger at me playfully. “Ah, ah, ah, you’re not going to get away with that excuse. You definitely pounced on him when you had your chance didn’t you? Come on tell me everything, I need all the details.” She leans closer to me again, hand cupping her mouth. “And between me and you, I know he’s a fantastic kisser.”

Oh Jesus Christ.

I can’t hold back the eye roll that pulls at my swampy pools and Molly’s only response to that is to hoot with laugher. Luckily for me her attention is quickly pulled back to the ice the moment the whistle signals the start of the game.

The game is an intense one to say the least and I would never tell my brother this — it would only boost his already massive ego — but it was painfully obvious that he wasn’t on the ice tonight. Nick carried the team for the first two periods but he received two separate penalties for roughing, which was no surprise to anyone. The man likes the fight just as much as Sean and spends a lot of his life behind the plexiglass of the penalty box. But I can’t say watching him smash his fists into another guy’s mouth isn’t making me even more desperate to be pinned to his mattress, to have his mouth on me.

Molly drags me along behind her after the final whistle, pulling me through the crowd that always gathers in the hallway that leads to the locker rooms. A huddle of puck bunnies giggle away as some of the guys leave through the back exit, avoiding them at all costs. When Molly hauls me by the hand through the crowd I hear one of them say Nick’s name and my stomach instantly turns to lava. I don’t know if I'm jealous or hurt, even though I have no right to be either one. I don’t own Nick and I mean nothing to him, like he said, the kiss was a mistake.

Molly leads me to the back exit, the one only the players use and pushes the bar that opens the door, pulling us both out into the chilly air.

“We’ll wait here,” she says, teeth chattering a little. “The boys will be out in a minute.”

“Boys? Plural?” My voice is croakier than I'd like it to be and Molly of course spots it.

“Yeah baby, plural, as in KyleandNick.” Her grin is not welcome and I consider wiping it off with a swift slap. But I squeeze my fist to my side and focus on the sloshing in my stomach. I sweara tsunami has started in there and only seconds later the door swings open again, almost knocking me out before two huge men step out. I know this sounds strange but I can smell him before I can see him, his thick, spicy aftershave nestles into my pores and makes my mouth moist. I swallow hard and try not to let the red seep into my cheeks, but of course that’s easier said than done and I feel myself flush a shade of fuchsia.

“Hey baby,” Kyle’s deep voice permeates the semi awkward air between Nick and I as he plants a lingering kiss against Molly’s lips. “Did you both enjoy the game?” Kyle turns his face to me, a sweet smile spread across his cheeks that immediately puts me at ease.

“Yeah, the fighting was hot.” I chuckle and Molly slaps my ass playfully. “Where are you guys headed now?” She says, arms wrapped around Kyle’s middle.

Nick clears his throat and I know he wants me to look at him, so I purposefully keep my gaze fixed on Kyle and Molly.

Kyle senses the tension, I know he does because his next words are, “We were thinking about going to a bar or something to celebrate the win. With Sean out for the next few weeks I'm standing in as captain, which means it’s down to me to arrange parties and nights out.” He raises a finger, “So, as team captain I propose we head straight to The Good Mixer to get well and truly drunk off our faces.”

Molly is practically bouncing on the spot. “Yes, yes, yes,” Then she turns to me, sensing the rejection of said invite on my lips. “You’re coming Lois, so stop trying to come up with excuses in your head as to why you’re too busy.” She air quotes that last word, which kind of stabs me in the chest.

I can be busy, I have friends…well, a few anyway. Truth be told I'm far from busy tonight, my plan was to go home and do anything to keep my mind off that fucking kiss. But I guess going out with Nick, Kyle and Molly isn’t the worst idea, as long as Ikeep myself as far away from Nick as humanly possible, which may be difficult as I'm immediately shoved into the back of Kyle’s car with him. As usual his presence is overwhelming me. I stare out of the window the entire car ride, but Nick is oozing with confidence as always and I feel his fingers tracing lightly along my bare thigh as I sit stiff as a corpse. I know he’s doing this on purpose, to rile me up, likely finding the whole thing hilarious. But as hard as it is I don't budge and continue to stare out of the window until we pull up outside the bar.

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