Page 171 of Unloved

He comes, moaning my name. I press kisses into his neck and jaw. He returns them, his lips meeting the sweat-damp skin of my hairline before he meets my eyes.

We gaze wonderstruck at each other, silently asking one anotherare you real?

“I love you, Rosalie,” he breathes, grinning broadly, smile lines cutting his cheeks sharply. “God, it feels so good to say that.”

“I love you, Matty,” I whisper, tucking my fingers into the gold chain and looping it around. He curls down to me, nose to nose, both of us smiling still, even as we kiss, teeth nearly clacking. Joy bubbles under my skin like champagne.

This, with him, forever. It’s the best thing I’ve ever felt. And it’s love. And it’s real.

CHAPTER 60Freddy

We spent New Year’s Eve kissing under Rosalie’s floral pastel sheets and the twinkling lights hung round her bedroom, sayingI love youuntil it wore out on our tongues.

It never does.

Our first hockey practice back is always earlier than the start of the semester, so I needed to be in Waterfell. Now we’re a week into the new semester, preparing for the first game of the new year. Ro and Sadie are both downstairs in the Hockey House—decked in their now-signature jackets, our numbers painted on their cheeks—as Rhys, Bennett, and I descend the stairs with our bags in tow.

“What’s this, Gray?” my captain says, a smirk evident in his tone.

When Ro and Sadie indulged in a girls’ night last week, Rhys spent the evening with me, sans Bennett. We grabbed burgers from our favorite local spot and he told me everything—his struggles after the hit last spring, his PTSD and night terrors, going to therapy. All of it.

And then, after several tight hugs, he told me a bit more about his angry figure skater girlfriend and her brothers.

“I should apologize to Sadie,” I told him, hand to my forehead at the high-top.

Rhys shook his head. “No. I can almost guarantee that response won’t be ideal. And she feels just as bad for judging you with Ro.”He smiles at me, reaching out a hand to squeeze my arm. “You’re both protective people. And I love that about you, Freddy. You and Bennett—I wouldn’t have made it through the last six months without either of you. I need you, just as much as I need Sadie.”

Every crack that had formed between us started to mend from there. It didn’t hurt that our girlfriends were best friends.

“Personal cheerleaders?” Rhys asks, crossing his arms.

“You wish, hotshot,” Sadie snaps at the same time Ro grins and yells, “Yeah!”

I laugh openly and jump the last two stairs to grab my girlfriend’s lanky body up in my arms. I spin her, delighting in her squeal, before kissing her forehead as we watch the other couple in the room.

Rhys mutters to Sadie in Russian, low and sultry—and though IknowSadie doesn’t understand the words, she flushes red beneath his attention.

“I’m so proud of you,” Ro says, pulling my attention. “You’re gonna kill it, Matty.”

Before we left, Ro tied one of the ribbons from her hair onto my bag.For good luck, she told me. I’m practically preening, shuffling my bag nearly into the center of the dressing room for the guys to see it. To ask me about it.

It’s from my girlfriend, I almost scream when Holden finally asks.

I’m made of smiles. Every one of them finallyreal.

As I leave the tunnel and step onto the ice for warmups, I spot them.

Rosalie, in her usual spot, but not alone—an entire crew decked in Waterfell colors surrounds her. But not just Sadie and the boys—Ro’s parents are here. Her dad is bundled up and seated, smiling. Her mom holds up a sign with Ro that says I Love 27! with hearts and stars doodled all over it.

And on Ro’s left, right at the glass, is Archer.

My stomach somersaults, memories swirling. Archer at my games; Archer and my mom at my games, together, shouting at the refs and cheering me on.

I shake my head, realizing I’m standing just off the ice, blocking everyone’s path, when Rhys gently pushes me aside.

“You good?” he asks.

“Yeah.” I smile. “Just surprised.”

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