Page 24 of Second Goal

“Was that... good?” she asks, looking up at me.

I groan, pulling her up. “That was better than good. It was fucking amazing.”

She smiles, a flash of pride in her eyes, and I chuckle.

“I could stay here all day,” I mumble.

Her cheek rests on my chest. “I wouldn’t mind.”

Part of me thinks about it. I haven’t missed a practice in years.

But then Pax jumps onto the bed, nudging his nose between us, and licking our faces. Kiley starts laughing, and I push the seventy-pound beast off of us.

“I think he wants us to get up,” she says.

I grunt. “Yeah. I need to feed them and take them out for a walk before I head to practice.” As much as I want to stay here, Coach is already pissed at me. The last thing I need is to be traded. Especially now that I’ve found the courage to fight for what I want.

Chapter Six

Kiley

“You’resure you don’t mind taking him?” Brynne asks, her hair in a messy bun, paint streaking both her cheeks and the smock she wears to work. “I haven’t been able to paint in days. And I could use an hour.”

“I’m not busy today.” Or any day. It’s something that’s been bothering me lately. Sure, I volunteer a few hours every week at the soup kitchen, and I finished my GED a few months ago, but I’m still kind of floundering, not sure what I want to do with my life.

Because there’s that part of me that knows all of this could be taken away at any moment.

But I woke up this morning, with Blake’s arms wrapped around me, and I felt something I’m not sure I’ve ever really felt before - hope. Like maybe everything is going to be okay. I’m not ready to tell him everything. But maybe I don’t have to. Maybe this is my world now. My family. My life. Maybe, like my brother, I can step out of the gutter and really make something of myself.

And maybe I’m fooling myself.

Because Cruz will be back, demanding more. Demanding everything.

“Are you okay?” Brynne asks, brown eyes, like always, so intuitive as she studies me.

“Yeah. I was just thinking about those courses you were talking about...” I chew on my bottom lip, my cheeks heating. I hate asking for anything. And the fact that I am right now is a big deal.

Brynne seems to get it, because I can see her trying tocontain her smile. “The design course? I still have the information if you want to sign up. Registration is open for another couple of weeks.”

“Maybe it’sa bad idea,” I say quickly. Doubts flooding through me. “I mean, I really don’t know anything about design. I can sew, but—”

“Kiley.” She reaches for my hand and gives it a squeeze. “I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

“You do?”

She nods. “We can sign you up this afternoon.”

I let out a shaky breath. “Thank you.”

“It’s me who should be thanking you. With how busy Kane is, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

A loud crash sounds behind us, followed by a small, “Uh oh.”

“I can’t look,” Brynne says, covering her face with her hands.

I chuckle and move quickly, picking up Noah from the carnage of flowers and magazines he managed to knock off the coffee table with his Tonka truck. “Damage is minimal,” I tell her. “I’ll take him down to the park for a couple hours.”

She sighs, and turns, handing me his jacket. “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

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