Page 37 of Home for the Hockey-Days

I can’t hold back the satisfied hum that rolls through my body as wave after wave of her orgasm makes her pleasure leak out in my mouth.

For a long moment after the last wave crashes into her, everything falls still. The only sound in the room is our ragged breaths as we try to re-center ourselves and come back down to earth from the atmosphere.

When she climbs off me, she shuffles down the bed and grins up at me. “I made a mess of your chest.”

I nod, unable to engage the part of my brain that uses words.

She sticks her tongue out at me. “Let me clean that up for you.”

CHAPTER 17

August

“Iowe you an apology.” I hand the keys of his car back to Apollo. Artemis is beside him, they’re both dressed like penguinsagain. Rowan, dressed in the most tongue-swallowing red sparkly dress I’ve ever seen in my entire life, has already hurried into the heart of the de la Peña house to find Athena, but I need a moment alone with the twins before I join her in the belly of the New Year’s Eve party they’re hosting.

“Both of you.” My hands are shaking. I feel like such an asshole, hence the apology, but there’s something simmering inside my body that I hadn’t noticed underneath all those layers of judgment.

I don’t want to lose these guys.

In fact, I want to know them more, better, I want to let them into my life and to really build friendships with both of them.

“You owe both of us apologies?” Apollo quirks an eyebrow.

Artemis purses his lips. “Is it because you were a cabrónabout accepting the gift card for Bitches Brew? That’s ancient history.”

I shake my head, tucking my hands into the pockets of my dress pants in a bid to stop them trembling.

“I judged both of you.” I shrug. “All four of you, I guess... unfairly. I’ve held onto bitterness from my own life and let unkindness and jealousy keep me back from being a good captain to you guys. I’m sorry.”

Saying the words releases a tightness I’ve been harboring in my chest.

“I’d like to start over. I’d like a chance to get to know both of you better. We only have a few months of the season left, and I’d like to be the captain—and friend—you both deserve for me to be.”

There’s a heavy silence after I finish speaking, and for a beat I wish their gorgeous marble floor would open up and swallow me whole.

“You wouldn’t be the first person in the world to make a snap judgment about us based on what the world sees of our family in magazines and on the internet, August.” Apollo pats my shoulder with an open hand.

“He’s right, we’re used to it,” Artemis adds, like that somehow justifies my behavior, my thoughts.

“That’s no excuse. I was an asshole. I held onto prejudices I had no business believing because...” I rake my hand through my hair. “Because I needed somewhere to direct my anger, about my brother, my home life...” A lump appears in my throat that I struggle to swallow down, and I can’t finish my thought out loud.

Apollo pulls me into a hug. “It’s okay. I appreciate the apology, but it’s unnecessary. Our father casts a pretty big shadow, and people assume because he’s the way he is, that we are too.”

Artemis shakes my hand when Apollo lets me go from hisbone-crushing hug. “We try to do as much good in the world as we can.” He shrugs.

Apollo nods. “Because our father is so fucking stingy with his fortune. Speaking of which, we have a party to host.” He pats my shoulder again guiding me toward the room where the music is emanating from.

“Leave the past behind us, August. There has been no harm done. We’re a team, a family. Let’s see in the New Year together, so we can play harder, stronger, fight tougher and win the Frozen Four for your final year wearing Cedar Rapids green.”

Going out of my final year as a champion sounds pretty fucking great, especially when my girl is determined to help me graduate. Wouldn’t that be epic? “Sounds like a plan to me.”

CHAPTER 18

August

It’s the first game back after the holidays. We’re rested, feeling strong, and we’re up by two at the start of the third. I’ve done everything in my power to stay the fuck off the ice every time Johnny is on it. I don’t want drama, not here, not in my happy place, but I can’t avoid it anymore.

Coach calls the line change just as Johnny jumps off the bench, tossing me a promise-filled stare as he passes. Great. I should have known better than to think we’d behave like grown-ass adults about the fact I’m officially with his ex-girlfriend.

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