Page 55 of Made For Me

“I’m just really fucking nervous,” I admit and put my hand on my head, wondering if maybe I’m feeling sick or getting a fever.

“Why?” he asks, leaning against my counter.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done this whole dating thing.” I shake my hands, hoping the nerves leave me. “Like, usually I start to date and then it evolves into whatever.” I can’t stop myself from talking. “Or always it evolves into nothing.” I throw up my hands. “But with you, all the work’s been done already.” He just looks at me trying not to laugh at my meltdown. “So it’s like I’ve already liked you before I even dated you.”

He folds his arms over his chest and I really want him to hug me right now. “It’s almost as if it’s past seven months and you haven’t kicked me to the curb,” he jokes with me. “Come here.” He motions with his head to me. I walk over to him and he opens his arms, putting them around me, my hands going to his arms. “It’s me and you,” he says softly. I look down, swallowing the words that really want to come out. Not sure either of us are actually ready for them.

CHAPTER32

Chase

“Okay, what do we have here?” I say, walking into the room. Cole, one of the defense guys, is sitting on the examining table. I can see blood running down the side of his face. “Ohh, stitches.” I clap my hands. “My favorite.”

“Fuck, bitch,” Cole says, lying down, and I see he’s cut open right on his left cheek.

“High stick to the face,” I assess, walking over and putting on gloves. “Ten minutes, you’ll be back on the ice,” I say, grabbing the needle to numb him. “This is going to pinch,” I say, just before I stick the needle right into the cut. He hisses as I stitch him up. “Three stitches, hopefully, no scar.” I put tape on it to hopefully stop them from tearing open, but it wouldn’t be the first time.

“Thanks, Doc.” He gets off the table and heads back out, while I clean up. I’m taking off my gloves when I hear the horn telling me the game is over. I hear the men start to come down the hallway. The sticks clacking together as they are put on the wall. From the sounds of it, we lost. I look up at the television screen seeing we lost by two. I wait forty-five minutes before I stick my head into the changing room.

“Cole,” I call his name and he looks up. “You good?” He nods his head. “Who needs my help?”

No one pays attention to me, so I walk to my office grabbing my jacket and keys. I take my phone out and I’m about to call Julia when Cooper walks from the changing room. His hair is wet, his white shirt unbuttoned at the collar as he carries his jacket in his hand.

“Hey,” he mumbles to me.

“How bad was it out there?” I ask him and he just shakes his head.

“Montreal will never get over us taking Dylan away from them,” he says and I laugh.

“You got traded by New York and they don’t give a fuck,” I remind him and he flips me the bird.

“The last time we were in Montreal, the whole fucking floor shook when they scored.” He shakes his head. “I will play anywhere but there.”

“Good to know,” I reply, unlocking the door of my car. “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, say hi to Julia.” I smile and nod at him. It’s been over a week since we’ve made our couple debut or whatever the fuck you want to call it, and it’s like if you see one of us, the other will be right there.

I get into the car, my head suddenly spinning. I knew dating Julia would be a big deal. The pressure of making it work just put more stress on us. I don’t even know how she feels about me, I know she likes me but we never discussed it further. Being with her is effortless. We can be sitting next to each other without saying anything and it’s okay. Neither of us pushing to make a conversation. She makes me laugh like no one else. She tells me exactly what she feels and why she feels it. She is so much fun to play games with, and even though it’s only been two weeks, I feel like we were pre-gaming all these years. The last couple of days she’s been more quiet than before. I have no idea what is going to happen, but I know that if she isn’t in my life, I will not be okay.

When I look up, I don’t even realize I’m parking in front of her apartment. I look up and see no lights coming from her place. I press the button for Susie Wong, putting my hand on the door, waiting for her to buzz me in. After two minutes I press the button again and still nothing. I grab my phone and call her. She picks up after one ring. “Hello.” She sounds like she’s out of breath.

“I’m outside,” I tell her, stepping out a bit and looking up at her balcony. “Where are you?”

“I was surprising you at your house,” she moans.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” I inform her, walking back to my car. “Maybe from now on we make plans on where we are sleeping.”

“Duly noted,” she says and I hang up, making my way over to my house.

Opening the front door, the smell of food hits me right away. “Baby!” I yell, tossing my keys on the table at the door.

“In the kitchen!” she yells back. I step into the house seeing Julia with her hair tied up on top of her head. She’s wearing sage-green yoga pants that mold to everything. My cock starts to stir while she bends down to take something from the oven. I walk around the counter in time to see her place the tray on the stove top. I can’t help but smile at her as she takes off the oven mitts and turns to me. Her white crop tank top also molds to her, her tits fucking perfect, just like everything else on her.

“What are you doing?” I take two steps toward her and pull her to me. She gets on her tippy-toes and wraps her arms around my neck. “Hi.”

“Hi.” She puts her head back so I can kiss her. I bend my head and kiss her lips. “I made you dinner.”

“You did?” I look over at the stove and see she took salmon from the oven.

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