Page 81 of What If I See You

Everyone laughs. Even Layken breaks a smile but she shakes her head pissed that she fell for my bullshit. “I hate you all.”

“Aww, don’t be mad, Naughty.” I pull her in and kiss her temple. “It was very sweet of you to worry, but I’m good. Just a scratch.”

“A scratch?” she repeats, eyeing my stitches. “Somehow I think it’s a little more than just a scratch.”

“Don’t worry.” I lift my good hand. “I wipe my ass right-handed so all is well.”

That gets her to laugh. “Thank God for that.”

“All good, Griff,” Darius tells me as he wraps my stitches in a plastic bandage. “You’re good to shower but try to keep it from getting soaked if you can for the first twenty-four hours or so. After that…” I give Darius a glaring look that hopefully saysDude, help a brother out!And then he clears his throat, his eyes moving between Layken and me, and changes his tune. “Actually, you’re good to shower now with this on, but keep your arm outside the water. Once you’re at home though,” he says, looking straight at Layken, “he may need a little help. It really is best to keep the stitches as dry as possible.”

Yep.

That’s what I needed to hear.

And that’s what I needed my wife to hear too.

Before she can even argue with his suggestive instructions, I jump down from the exam table with a hearty, “Will do, boss,” and grab Layken’s hand, ignoring any possible perturbed eyeroll she might be giving the both of us.

“That Chetlikov was an asshole,”Ledger says, tipping back his small glass of whiskey. Not wanting to go out after the game, the team traveled back to the hotel where food was waiting for us. We chowed down on steak, baked potatoes, and salads and then some of us decided to grab a much-needed drink in the hotel’s bar. Lucky for us, this bar isn’t the ritzy type with fancy seats and a stuffy atmosphere. This one is very much a relaxed sports bar with screens everywhere showing different sporting events from women’s basketball to hockey to downhill skiing. There’s a group sitting quietly in the corner booth, dressed up and likely coming from some sort of event, and there’s a group of louder drinkers at a table behind us. I’m guessing they’re college guys. Maybe a collegiate sports team of some sort.

The ladies wanted to change before coming down for a drink so I came down ahead of them with Bodhi, Harrison, August, and Ledger. Bear’s off sulking somewhere since he tends to take our losses as a personal fail on his part, and Oliver is helping Scarlett with one of her vlogs.

“No kidding,” Harrison says with a nod, replying to Ledger. “And honestly, Henning wasn’t much better. Those guys were brutal. Much more so today than I remember them being in the past.”

“Henning was just out to prove himself to the organization,” Bodhi tells us, his arm resting on the back of Corrigan’s chair at the bar. “They were talking about trading him and I don’t think he wants to go. He likes it in Boulder.”

“Yeah I heard that too,” August says. “And I guess it doesn’t surprise me that they upped their game this time around. Remember how much we kicked their asses last time?”

I chuckle. “Wasn’t it like six nil the last time we played them?”

August nods. “Yep. Most boring game I’ve ever played I think. And they didn’t have Chetlikov last time.”

Movement to my right has me turning my head to find the ladies finally walking into the bar. Next to Ella, Layken looks adorably casual yet incredibly sexy in her black leggings and pink cropped sweater that hangs off her shoulder. I stare at the part of her shoulder peeking out from the fabric wishing I could lean down and run my tongue across it. She flicks her hair back behind her and I imagine myself wrapping the long silky strands around my hand and giving it a tug from behind her.

“Dude,” August murmurs next to me. “You’ve got it bad.”

I tip back the rest of my drink. “What?”

He laughs. “You’ve got the words I-want-her written across your forehead in big bold print.”

“Psst, hey,” Harrison leans forward beside August and says to me, “I don’t know what August just said to you, but if it wasn’t something about how very obviously attracted you are to your wife, then can you pretend I said those words to you just now?”

Bodhi raises his hand. “Ditto that.”

I glance back and forth between my friends. “What the fuck, guys?”

Ledger glances down the row at me and cocks his head. “Dude. Griff. Don’t deny it.” He smiles and huffs a soft laugh. “It’s obvious. It was obvious in the locker room before tonight’s game and it’s even more obvious now.”

They’re right.

I know they’re right.

There’s no use denying it.

I haven’t done the best job trying to hide it.

“Fuck.” I run my hand through my hair, continuing to watch Layken as she laughs with the ladies while they order their drinks on the other side of the bar. Her big brown eyes find mine and somehow they pull me in like she’s some magical mystical being and I’m her prey. “I’m attracted to my wife.”

---