Page 67 of Defensive Zone

“Uhh… No?”

“Fuck, let me find out where she sent them.” He types away on his phone, and moments later, he holds it up with an address.

“That’s his old apartment. He hasn’t lived there for a few years.”

“Fuck. Well, whoever lives there now received a nice bouquet of flowers and a box of those fancy chocolates you like.”

“I sent some too, and I didn’t want to text you because I knew you would be busy. I knew you’d reach out when you had a chance,” Palmer adds.

I rub my hand over my chest, trying to ease the ache as guilt claws at me. Fuck, these guys. I can’t believe I let myself believe they didn’t care.

“I’m really sorry for doubting you guys.”

“We’ve always cared about you, Lockwood. We only stopped inviting you to things because you never leave the house. We knew the answer would be no because you always want to speak with Zach and we don’t hold it against you. We never have. It’snot that we don’t care about you, you idiot. We knew Zach was more important to you and we accepted that.” Palmer’s face is full of sympathy. “I’m sorry it felt that way to you, though.”

“Thanks for this. I…” I let out a shuddering breath and chew on the inside of my cheek. I feel like a huge idiot. Not only was I clueless about Zach, but I also completely missed the signs of my teammates trying to include me too. “I really appreciate it, and I’m sorry for doubting you guys.”

“Nothing to be sorry for, brother. We’ll come back better and stronger. It’s gonna be our year,” Walker says, his mouth morphing into a bright grin. “So, how the hell did you not know you were in love with Zach? And also… When’s the wedding?”

A few hours later, I’m swiping the key card to our hotel room, feeling so relieved with how dinner went with the guys. Zach was right—there was no way I would have been able to wait until July to get it off my chest. And knowing Palmer also hasn’t heard anything makes me feel better too. Maybe I am overthinking the whole trade thing.

When I step inside the room, Zach’s already in bed with his Nintendo Switch in his hand. He’s watching me with questioning eyes, trying to gauge my mood.

“How did it go?” he asks after a beat.

“Really good,” I reply, kicking off my shoes. “Turns out, I wasn’t just oblivious about you. I was oblivious about how I behaved with them, too. You might as well call me Carter ‘Oblivious’ Lockwood.”

He puts his Switch down on the bedside table and gives me his full attention. “What do you mean?”

As I strip out of my clothes, I tell him everything. By the time I’m down to my boxers, Zach’s eyebrows are raised in surprise.

“Wow. I can kinda understand Ethan’s point about us being codependent.”

“I know, me too.”

“Do you feel better about it now?”

Pressing a knee on the bed by his thigh, I throw my leg over him and straddle his lap. His hands immediately go to my hips, his thumbs tracing the lines of my V as I curve my hands around the back of his neck and thread my fingers into his hair.

“Yeah, I do, and I think if Denver does want to keep me, it’ll help make the upcoming season a little more special because I know it’ll be my last with these guys, and I want to do good for them. I want to be the best for them.”

“That makes sense.”

Leaning forward, I capture his lips in a gentle kiss. He tastes like toothpaste and the lingering taste of his mouthwash. “How was your evening?”

“Good,” he murmurs. “Had dinner with the guys, then came to bed and played Pokémon for a bit. Elliot’s beating me, so I had to catch up.”

I grin against his mouth then nip his bottom lip between my teeth before pushing my tongue into his mouth. I’ll never get over how good kissing Zach is. The feel of his tongue against mine gets me hard in an instant. I roll my hips, rubbing our hard cocks together through our underwear and he moans. His hands snake around and squeeze the swell of my ass.

“I want you to fuck me,” I announce in a whisper.

Zach freezes his movements and opens his eyes. His tongue is still in my mouth, hands mid-squeeze of my ass cheeks.

A second passes, then another, before I pull back an inch. My favorite pair of icy blue eyes are filled with so much emotion as he blinks up at me.

“Really?” he asks, barely above a whisper.

“Yeah, Zach, really.” I nod. “I want you to own me in every way. I want you to take me to a place that no one has ever taken me before.”

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