26
DID I DO IT RIGHT?
Carter
I DON’T WANNA BRAG, BUT I’m playing phenomenally.
Mending things with Olivia lit a re under my ass, and the puck I just buried in the net for the second time tonight is proof.
Emmett jumps at me with a chest bump that smashes me into the boards, and when I fall to the ice, the rest of my team piles on top of me.
It may have been the game-winning goal. In overtime.
Did I say I didn’t want to brag? Oh. Well, I lied.
“Outstanding playing from you tonight, Carter,” praises one of the reporters crowding me outside the change room when I make it back there.
“It’s a team eort, like always.” I snag Adam’s jersey and tug him over. “This guy. Where the hell would we be if it wasn’t for him?” I shake his cage before he starts pulling his helmet o. “Best goalie in the league.”
“Adam, you got that last assist tonight. How’s that feel?”
“Always nice to help lead my team to a win.” He smiles, running his hand over his pued chest. “Carter’s always ready for a pass up the boards, waiting to take o.”
Take off. Ha. Reminds me of what I did to Olivia’s clothes last night. I wonder what she’s doing right now… Adam nudges me in the side, sending a pointed glance toward the reporters.
Oops.
“Sorry, can you repeat your question?”
“I asked if the girl you were seen out with yesterday has anything to do with your stellar performance today?” The reporter gestures with his hand like he’s trying to remember her name. I doubt he’s forgotten; it’s splashed all over the sports world today, along with her breathtaking smile. “Olivia, I think her name was.”
I smile, straightening o my stick as I clap Adam on the back. Olivia doesn’t want the world to know her, but I want everyone to know she’s mine. “Have a good night, everyone.” I wink at the camera. “Hi, Ollie.”
My mood sours when I pull out my phone in the change room and nd there’s still no word from her.
Soured isn’t the right word. I’m anxious, I think. Should she be messaging me more? Did I message her too much today? Am I being overbearing? Is this how this goes?
I glance at Adam. He’s wearing the same expression as he stares down at his phone: disappointment. He sighs and stus his phone away; there’s no word
from Courtney again.
But that’s dierent, isn’t it?
Or is it?
Emmett strolls out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his hips, eyeing me. “Everything okay?”
“I don’t know. I think maybe Olivia might be mad at me?” I shrug. “I don’t know.” I already said that. “I haven’t heard from her very much.” If I was in town, I’d simply show up at her house. But I’m, like, seventy-two hours away from seeing her, which I hate.
I get a face full of Emmett’s dick when he drops the towel, reaching for his boxers.
“Fuck’s sake.” I shield my eyes with my hand. “Tuck that thing away.”
He chuckles, giving his hips a little roll. “Cara said Liv was upset because the article said she wasn’t enough to keep you interested.”
Olivia? Not enough? Well, that’s fucking ridiculous. “But she—”
“I know, but she’s a girl.” He taps his temple. “This shit gets inside their brains and lays eggs. Anyway, Care said her brother wasn’t happy and was making her go over. Probably why you haven’t heard from her more.”
“Not happy about what?”
Emmett levels me with a look but it’s Garrett who snorts and answers.
“Somebody would have to restrain me if you tried to get with one of my sisters.”
That’s unnecessary. His sisters are way too young for me. Also, they’re basically Garrett in female form. “I don’t see the issue.”
“Put it this way. If you had a daughter, would you want her to—”
“Nope. No way in hell. Got it.” No need to nish that sentence. I would chop the dick o any man with a history like mine who tried to get near my daughter, and then I’d lock her up until she was thirty. Maybe even thirty-ve.
All-girl school would probably be a good option. Unless she likes girls. Fuck.
Nowhere is safe.
Okay, so maybe I get what her brother’s deal is. But I’m not gonna be like that anymore. Olivia’s the only girl I wanna get down and freaky with. I won’t hurt her; I know it.
But I’m distracted the entire ride back to the hotel, staring down at my phone, composing and deleting a message to Olivia three times before I nally tuck my phone away.
“Do me a favor,” Emmett says as we head into the bar in the lobby. It’s rammed and rowdy and I kinda don’t want to be here. “Remember how it looks to be surrounded by girls who throw themselves at you. Doing nothing isn’t enough. You have to actively do anything but nothing.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means it’s easy for someone to snap a picture of you standing next to a girl who’s touching your arm and headline it ‘Carter Beckett: Cheating Already.’ Be aware, that’s all. You have someone else to think about now. A picture like that would embarrass Olivia.”
“Right.” I honestly couldn’t feel more dense right now. How is it that I need to have this explained to me at twenty-seven? Either way, I’m thankful for his warning, because the second we sit, a girl throws herself in my lap.
I’m not sure my reaction is the best. I throw my hands in the air and scream, accidentally shoving her o my lap and to the ground when I rocket to my feet and yell out, “I have a girlfriend!”
After a few deep breaths and a chance to assess the situation with my friends laughing around me, I help the stunned girl to her feet. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to push you.”
“It’s okay.” She giggles, right before she attaches herself to my torso.
Uh… Gripping her biceps, I lift her gently o her feet, sidestep a shitload to the left, drop her back down, repeat, “I have a girlfriend,” and head back to my table.
“Girlfriend, eh?” Adam pumps his brows. He’s already got deep-fried pickles; how the hell did that happen? “Goin’ straight for the big guns?”
I swipe a pickle o his plate and smother it in ranch sauce. “What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “I thought you were just dating.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
Garrett and Emmett snicker, and Adam hums around his food, shaking his head. “You have so much to learn about women, young grasshopper.”
“I’m three years older than you.”
“And yet I’m years ahead of you mentally.”
“Fuck you.” I steal another pickle to distract from the fact that he’s right.
“Until you’ve had this particular conversation, Olivia’s not your girlfriend.
She’s a girl you’re dating, which means you’re getting to know each other, seeing if you’re compatible, if the feelings are real enough to turn this into an actual relationship.”
What the fuck? I already know we’re compatible. She’s not afraid to call me out on my shit and I’m not afraid to put her in her place. Which, last night, was on the ground while I fucked her senseless. Also, she laughs at all my jokes. And her smile makes my own grow. And her hand feels really nice tucked into mine.
Like, perfect. Plus, I can swallow her entire body up in my arms when I hug her.
And feelings? I know mine are real enough. It’s the only explanation as to why I couldn’t get over her after she walked away. Are hers… not?
“It also means she’s free to date other people at the same time,” Garrett adds.
“You’re not exclusive without that label, and you don’t get that label without a conversation.”
“What? No. Other people? No.” She’s not allowed. I forbid it. I re o a text to her before I can make my ngers stop.
Me: R u seeing other ppl???
My phone vibrates as soon as I hit send, and I hit accept without checking the name rst.
“Ollie?” The level of frantic in my voice right now needs to go. I clear my throat and try again with a little more gravel and indierence. “Olivia? Hey.”
“Did you seriously only pick up because you thought I was your girlfriend?
You’ve been ignoring me all damn day, Carter Beckett!”
My chest deates. “Hi, Mom.” I didn’t purposely ignore her. Her texts started rolling in while I was on the phone with Olivia earlier today, trying to tame this whole article debacle before shit could hit the fan, which it did anyway.
And then I got on a plane. “How’s the most beautiful girl in the world?” Over fifty, I add in my head.
“Don’t you try to butter me up, Carter, I swear.” Oops, she’s mad.
“You’re mad.”
“You’re damn right I’m mad, honey!”
“You sound less mad when you call me honey.” Don’t poke the bear, my dad would say. But I like to poke. “Is it that time of the month already? I’m sure I have another week before you and Jennie and your synced-up cycles start attacking.” Poke, poke.
“Oh, you little—” The words dissolve into a groan, and I can practically see her shifting her glasses up so she can rub her eyes. “Somebody needs to straighten you out, and it might be me.”
“But I love you, Mummy,” I mumble distractedly around a pickle, reeling her back in. “You’re my favorite.”
“Nobody gets on my nerves quite like you do.” She sighs. “Do you really have a girlfriend?”
“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.” I’m confused. “Apparently I need to have that conversation with her and not just assume so.”
She snickers. “You’ve always been relentless. I’m sure you’ll convince her.”
“Damn right.” I’ll fuck the answer out of her if I need to.
“Are you happy, honey?”
Heat creeps up my neck. “I’m out, Mom.”
“Answer the question, Carter.”
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
I drum my ngers on the table. I’d like to say nobody’s paying me any attention, but there are three sets of eyes glued on me. Four, if you count the girl on Garrett’s lap. And that’s not counting the people around us who can’t believe they’re in the same bar as the Vancouver Vipers.
So I hold my phone closer to my mouth and grumble out what she wants to
hear.
“Pardon me? I didn’t hear you.”
“Yes, I’m happy!”
“Oh, sweetheart. I hope I didn’t embarrass you in front of your friends.”
I LAST A WHOPPING THIRTY-TWO minutes after I hang up with my mom. Long enough to drain a beer, devour a plate of nachos, and watch Garrett make out with a random fan.
I’ve got a mouthful of toothpaste when my phone rings on the bedside table.
I dash out of the bathroom and dive across the bed, knocking my phone to the oor when I see Olivia’s name on the screen.
“Shit.” I roll o the bed and hit accept on the FaceTime call ve thousand times. “Hey. Hi. You. Olivia.” It comes out super gurgly because of the toothpaste. I hold up a nger. “Hafta spit.”
I take her with me into the bathroom to rinse my mouth out, before opping onto the bed, throwing a hand behind my head, and ashing her a grin. “Hey.”
“You’re already in bed? I thought you’d be at the bar.”
I lift a shoulder like I wasn’t pining over her down there. “I was for a bit, but I’m tired.”
“Oh. Do you want me to call you tomorrow instead?”
“No! I mean…” I clear my throat. “No, that’s okay. I want to talk to you now.”
“I want to talk to you now too.” She’s in bed, too, tired but so damn beautiful as she ddles with the strings of the hoodie she’s wearing.
“Are you wearing my hoodie?”
She tugs on the neck, her mouth and nose disappearing into it. “I like it. It
smells like you.”
“How do I smell?”
She grins. “So good, like I wanna bury my face in your chest and soak up your hugs, every single second of them.”
Sweet Christ. “You know, you’re kind of a softie. Quite the contrast from the sassy brunette who’s told me to go fuck myself who knows how many times.”
Her cheeks tint. “Shut up.”
“Like a kitten. An attitude bigger than you, but underneath it all, you’re just a big, soft ball of cuddly u.”
She rolls her eyes, but she’s not trying hard enough to hide that smile. I see it.
Her lower lip slides between her teeth as she ddles with the messy topknot on her head. “Hey, I’m sorry I kinda disappeared today. I know it’s silly, because I knew they took pictures. But I forgot, I guess, after everything else yesterday.
And… I didn’t like the way the article made me feel.”
Her honesty is refreshing, and I appreciate it. I’m tired of misunderstandings and miscommunications. I need to know how she feels so I can help her through this shit. Being in the spotlight is new for her, so I need to be patient while we navigate this part of our relationship.
Relationship. Oooh, that word tastes funny. Kinda like it.
“I should have prepared you better.”
Olivia shakes her head. “No, Carter, you didn’t do anything wrong. I kinda lost my head there for a bit, but I didn’t mean to make you question whether or not I was seeing other people.”
I wave her o. “Pt. You didn’t.” But also: “Are you?”
Her face ignites with laughter, and my insides do a little dance. Adam was wrong. This girl’s my girlfriend; I know it.
“I only have room for one goofy, demanding, arrogant man in my life.”
I run a palm down my proud chest. “And it’s me?”
“It’s you, Mr. Beckett.”
I whoop my st through the air. “Undefeated, baby!”
Oooh-ho-ho, no one’s as good at making Olivia laugh as I am, I swear.
“I miss you,” I tell her quietly. “Is that weird? Should I be telling you that? Or keeping it to myself? You don’t have to say it back. Don’t be pressured or
anything. I just—”
“Carter.”
“Yeah?”
Olivia lays her cheek on her pillow, her smile sleepy and sweet. “I miss you
too.”
“You do?”
She rubs her eyes. “Yeah. It’s rather irritating. I wish you were here with me, but instead I’m alone. Cold.” The last word is a lazy mumble that tumbles o the tip of her tongue as her eyes utter closed.
“I’d keep you warm, baby.”
“Mmm, I know. Bear.”
“Bear?”
“Mhmm.” She sties a yawn. The whites of her eyes are red, hiding behind her hooded lids, her smile dazed. “You’re like a grizzly bear. Warm and snuggly.
Cute.”
“I think you mean huge and powerful.” I ex a bicep and growl.
Her tired giggle is a slow song I want to dance to forever, restarting my heart.
“You’re gonna fall asleep on me, sleepy girl.” I turn o the light as Olivia’s eyes fall closed for the last time, her chest rising and falling steadily, face lit by the gentle glow of a lamp somewhere over there, right where I wanna be.
I can’t take my eyes o her.
“Carter?” she calls suddenly, the words thick with sleep. Her eyes are still closed, and I think she might be dreaming.
“Yeah, princess?”
“What if I fall in love with you?”
“Then I’ll fall with you, too, Ollie girl.”
