Page 106 of Don't Look Down

Yes. Yes, she has. All this attention on little ol’ me?

Pictures surface from the yacht party. The club. Events we all attended. Savannah and Landon look close. Involved. The next photos are of us. Heads together on the yacht. Dancing at the club. Hand in hand rushing out of the club and into the waiting car.

The club photos are quite damning.

I’m honestly shocked there aren’t any photos of us at brunch. Can you imagine the media frenzy if photos got out of me feeding Landon?

Now the articles and posts run rampant. I’ve gotten a slew of new followers since we arrived at the game tonight. My DMs are full, and I’ve had a few calls from unknown numbers.

It’s mind-blowing how easy it is to find someone. I’m not hard to find, but still.

After the Bull Sharks beat Pittsburgh, Landon and I head to my place. He’s parked behind the arena so there’s no media access. We’re able to make a smooth escape.

His tension seems to grow with each vibration of my phone on our drive home. As soon as we get inside, he takes my hand and pulls me to sit next to him on my couch.

His lips are pressed together, and he threads his hand through his dirty blonde hair. His green eyes are dark and somber. “I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting this. Expecting them to catch wind of us so soon. We never even discussed going public and now you’re getting swamped with attention. I’m sorry the choice was taken away from you. It really wasn’t like this for Savannah.”

Reaching over, I take his hand and bring it to my lips. “Baby, I’m not bothered by any of this. In case you’re unaware, I’m all in here. The attention doesn’t scare me or bother me at all. The notifications are a bit much, but a few setting changes on my apps and that’ll be that. I don’t care who knows about us. They can shout it from the rooftops while I dance down the street for all I care.”

That gets a smile, his muscles slacken, and his tension visibly drains away. My chest swells. “How about we post a selfie of our own? Something that we choose to share?”

His smile grows, and he nods, scooting closer to me on the sofa. He wraps his arm around my shoulders, our heads are tucked together. We take a few so we have some options. We look through them when we’re done, and one thing is glaringly obvious. We look so happy. Cheeks flushed, eyes bright, smiles wide.

God, I’m obsessed with this man, and it clearly shows.

I think he’s a little obsessed with me, too. Inner me squeals with delight. Outer me has cheeks that ache from smiling.

Together, we decide to post a selfie of him pressing a gentle kiss on the corner of my smiling mouth. Both of our eyes are closed, but our affection is a neon flashing sign.

“May I do the honors?” I ask with a head jerk toward his phone.

Wordlessly, he hands me his phone. Selecting the photo, I tag myself, then start typing out a caption. Hashtag my new beau, friends to lovers, gamers to lovers, and finally LTBSTL as an inside joke.

“Now we’re Instagram official.” Nodding, I hand him back his phone.

There’s satisfaction in his smile. He cups my cheek, thumb rasping over my facial hair in a caress so sweet I might just melt. “Come to bed, boyfriend. I need your body against mine.”

I’m off and running up the stairs to my room in a flash. His laughter erupts behind me.

38

Landon

It’s the third period in our game against Carolina and I’m fucking wiped. Antonov is out with a suspected injury, so my shifts on ice have been more frequent. We’re scrambling to compensate and it shows. Carolina leads three to two.

Carolina slides another puck past our defenses and right into the net. Davi’s shoulders crumble, but he shakes it off quickly, ready to defend the net against the next shots on goal.

We try to rally, but it’s not enough at this point in the game.

The locker room is a very somber place tonight. I hit the showers as quickly as possible, ready to wash away the failure. It’s our second loss in a row on this road trip. It’s crushing. We haven’t lost back-to-back games since January.

I may be wiped, but I’m already looking forward to practice so we can work through what went wrong and move forward. St. Louis is a strong team, and we need to bring our A-game.

If we play them how we played tonight? It won’t be pretty.

After my shower, I dress and pull out my phone. Mom and Pops have both texted. I send them both a quick reply and diveinto Sky’s messages. He’s texted his usual stream of reactions to plays, linesmen calls, and goals. He’d sent a final message that boosts my spirits.

Sky’s the Limit: You played your asses off tonight, but I’m gonna need yours back, okay?

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