Page 136 of Friendzone Hockey
I nod. “Yup. Free agent.”
“I don’t think so, Dash. You aresonot a free agent.”
“Oh, yeah. Why’s that?”
“Because you’re mine.”
Chapter
Twenty-Four
NOW
Stacey
Ifucking love The Wicklow, but I don’t wanna do this in here with the smell of the deep fryers baking in the background. I grab his wrist. “C’mon.”
The clouds are dark overhead. We’re gonna get some good summer rain in a minute. If we’re still out here, we’ll be drenched, but it’s worth it for the charge in the atmosphere. The salty air wraps a humid blanket around us as my lungs heave the scent of oncoming petrichor.
I yank on his wrist, snapping him to my body. We’re trapped in another stare-off.
I want to kiss him so damn bad, but all I can do is helplessly look into his eyes, brushing my thumb over his soft lips.
“I’m sorry I made you feel like I didn’t want you for you. I love who you are, Dash. I got so caught up in protecting you—sorry, not sorry for that part—but I didn’t stop to consider that what happened to you shaped you, just like it does for all of us. I loved who you were, and I love who you’ve become.”
“I have scars,” he warns.
“Or a kick-ass road map from who you were to who you’ve become. I’m not the same either, y’know? I’m Stacey A. D. After Dash.”
He places a hand on my chest. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Be with me. You belong with me, baby,” I say, officially.
“I belong with you,” he says, resting his forehead against mine. “I’ve only ever belonged with you. I told Syd?—”
I put a finger over his lips. “Let’s never speak his name again.” Or I might decide I don’t care that we’re not on the ice and Syd isn’t a hockey player. But there’s something in his expression that makes me rethink that.
“What are you thinking about?”
“It’s nothing, it’s?—”
“Dash.”
“When I broke things off with Syd, he was in shock. His hand got a little tight around my neck, but he backed off when I asked him to.”
I let my dark eyes sear his flesh in a way they never have, in a way I’ve never allowed them to. It’s what anyone on the ice who fucked with him saw before I extracted revenge.
He shivers. “Stace?”
I show my teeth. “Were you scared?”
“A-A bit.” His voice is a tremble, remembering. “My brain just … ugh. My brain went to a dark place.”
That’s all I need to know. I don’t give a fuck how nice or apologetic Syd might have been afterward.
“If I see him again, he’s getting my fist to his face.”
The clouds open up. There’s no mild flurry of warning drops, it’s as if someone unzippered the sky and a waterfall spills over us. Dash’s hair’s quickly plastered to his face. I push it back because I need to see those pretty eyes of his.
