Page 88 of False Play
She casually shrugged one shoulder, giving me one of those smiles I was obsessed with. The one where the corners of her eyes crinkled.
Val approached us. “Uhm, I have bad news.”
Kennedy tensed beneath my touch and turned around. “What happened?”
“Matt told her the event got rescheduled, so…” Val cringed.
“No popcorn or hot chocolate for the kids.” She tilted her head back with a groan. “Great.”
“Why did Matt do that?” Fucking asshole. I knew I hated that guy for a reason. This was one of Kennedy’s favorite events, she always went all out to make it special for everybody.
“Because he has a petty vendetta against?—”
“That’s enough out of you, Val,” Kennedy said sternly.
Val clamped her mouth shut and gave me an exasperated look.
I didn’t know what the hell was happening, or why Matt decided to do what he did. But what I knew for certain was I’d do anything for Kennedy.
I turned her around and gripped her chin, forcing her to look at me. “Hey, it’ll be okay. I will go with the guys to the grocery store and buy bags of popcorn, candy, and everything we can think of. You guys have a microwave in the employees’ breakroom, right?”
“Right!” Kennedy exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.
Hell. I’d always liked her brown eyes, but the happiness radiating from them made them even better.
I gave her a soft smile and leaned forward, taking yet another risk by dropping a quick kiss on her plush, soft lips. They tasted like strawberries, and I had to hold myself back and not kiss the fuck out of her in front of her best friend.
What could I say? I liked staking my claim on my fake girlfriend.
“Perfect. Have the equipment manager bring all the tables out and everything. I’ll go right now and hopefully, we can have everything ready in time.”
Before I could turn around, Kennedy’s hand wrapped around my bicep to stop me. Her touch sent a spark through me, igniting every nerve.
My eyes found hers, and she smiled at me so brightly, it made my chest ache like cupid himself had shot me with a fucking arrow right smack in the center of my heart. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Anything for you, Kenny baby.”
Twenty minutes later,we were six hockey players scattered all over the grocery store on an early Sunday afternoon. We divided ourselves into pairs and came up with a strategy.
My goal? To make a certain five-foot-eleven, beautiful, curly-chestnut-haired woman happy.
“How’s it going with you and Kennedy?” Donovan asked as he grabbed a few marshmallow bags and dropped them in the cart.
I hadn’t exactly been updating any of the guys on what was happening. Not even Hayes. Selfishly, I wanted to keep those moments for myself. More than anything, I knew how risky it would be to divulge information. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust the guys. I knew they would take the secret to their graves, but there was too much riding on this. The less they knew, the better.
“It’s going good. How’s Aurora? Is she coming today?” I asked, trying to deflect.
“She said she wasn’t feeling well. I tried bringing Isaac with me, but you know how teenagers are. They’d rather hang out with their friends than their old man.”
“Dude, you’re only thirty-five. Shut up.”
Donovan laughed, but we had been teammates for long enough for me to notice it was forced. “Having a kid at a young age doesn’t exempt you from being called old when they’re in their teens.”
“You all right?” I didn’t press the Aurora situation any further, nor did I mention the fact we were two and a half months into the season, and we had yet to see her at a home game. She used to go to all of them religiously.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah. I’m just under a lot of stress with the season and all.”
A pang of guilt hit me out of nowhere, and I dropped my head with a nod. “That makes sense. I’m sorry.”
