Page 78 of Ice Cold Rival

“Thank god for Eva,” I murmured.

“You should know she’s taking credit for all of this.”

“Let her have it if it means you don’t need time anymore.”

“I don’t need time anymore,” she confirmed.

“Do I want to know what Eva manipulated this time?”

“She’s the one who called Kiki to film me and Toby’s confrontation, and she’s the one who put pressure on the administration to correct themselves. So it kind ofwasher doing. You didn’t look over at me once, though.”

I let out a dry laugh. “I was dealing with the fact that the love of my life was trying to pull away to protect me when it was the last thing I wanted.”

“You love me?” she asked tentatively.

“I love you. I’ve probably loved you since you left my ass on the floor in Deacon’s room.”

“Does this mean I get my panties back?”

“Never. Those are my good luck panties. I don’t play a game without them in my pocket.”

“Reece,” she hissed, looking both ways down the hallway.

I didn’t care if the whole world knew. She was here. I couldn’t believe she’d come after telling me she needed time, after confronting Kane while the rest of us were at pre-game, after taking care of herself—and me—just like she’d promised. Kenzie was fearless.

And she was mine.

I cupped her neck, tracing her jaw with my thumb. “I love you more than anything else in my life, including peanut butter, and I want you with me all the time. Completely selfish, I know, but I can promise to finish off your list before we graduate. Please move in with me.”

Kenzie tangled her fingers in my shirt and raised up to kiss me softly. “I love you too, Reece, and I don’t want to be anywhere else. Neither does Boo.”

I kissed her with all the messy, complicated, vast feelings inside me, right there against the wall in the hallway. She sighed into my mouth, surrendering, and I knew I’d spend the rest of my life making sure her and Boo got everything they wanted.

EPILOGUE

One week later…

We almost missed Brighton’s wedding. Not because we weren’t getting a million messages a day from Kenzie’s mom—we were—but because when Kenzie was supposed to be lining up to walk down the aisle, she was bent over a table in a random storage room coming all over my cock.

Her in the one-shoulder dress proved too much for my will power, and I talked her into a quickie. The storage room was the first we found with a lock, and I wasn’t taking the chance on one of her family members walking in on us.

When Kenzie rushed into the waiting room with disheveled hair and an unstoppable grin, her sister raised a brow at me before slamming the door in my face. Completely worth it.

We were able to mark “walk down the aisle with cum dripping down her thighs” off her list. It wasn’t on there before the morning of the wedding, but I added it at the last second.

She looked beautiful—joyful and glowing—and her family didn’t once mention Kane despite his parents being in attendance. Her mom even came over to ask me about my season. I considered it an olive branch after everything that had happened and tried to answer her questions without holding back.

To her credit, she didn’t suddenly get nicer when she found out who my family was, but she did end the conversation saying she hadn’t seen Kenzie this happy in years. I counted it as a win.

The traffic coming back from Dallas was horrific, and all I imagined doing was curling up with Kenzie and the damn cat in front of a mindless movie. We’d moved most of her stuff into the house last week. Finals were over, Kenzie was officially no longer on probation, we had a week off from games for Christmas, and I wanted to relax.

Of course, Cole cornered us as we walked in. “We have a problem.”

Kenzie frowned, probably imagining some other nefarious scheme put in motion by Kane before he left town. “What problem?”

Cole glanced at me, his face drawn. “Mase spent the last three nights on the couch, and his truck was gone this morning.”

Everything stilled. “You think it’s like last time?”

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