Page 42 of Pucking Off-Sides With My Brother's Best Friend

Sebastian shakes his head. “No fucking way. Jax is a fucker, especially when he’s mad.”

“Yeah, no,” Caleb adds. “Dude seriously gets unhinged. No chick is worth that.”

I don’t disagree when it comes to most women, but Aurora is certainly not most. And isn’t that a fucking crazy revelation? Am I even ready to start thinking about facing Jax’s wrath when it comes to being with his sister?

Could our friendship survive that? Could the team? There’s a whole lot riding on our ability to work, live, and play together, but damn if I’m not thinking about making that fucking leap.

“Then I suggest you memorize those faces and make sure you never comment on them again,” I say, finally happy to lay it all out for them. It’s a necessary step even beyond my situationship with Aurora.

Jax really would tear them a new asshole if he heard them saying that shit about her. The team is new. It can’t handle any shake-ups right now when it’s still trying to grow.

Caleb smacks my shoulder. “Fuck, man, okay.”

I shrug, attempting to look nonchalant when I’m anything but.

“Just lookin’ out for you. You know how intense Jax gets in the goal. Now imagine the goal is his sister.”

“Yeah, well, I had no idea that was his sister,” Sebastian squawks, “so there’s that.”

“I’m just saying, dude, I’ll never forget that time when we were in high school. He almost beat the living snot out of some kid just for teasing her. And that was before he found out lifting weights was a thing.”

It’s a true story, though I conveniently leave out the part about me joining him to set the tone.

Caleb narrows his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t just want her for yourself?” If the topic of conversation were anyone else, it would be a fair assumption. But given it’s about Aurora, I have to let them know how wrong they are, even if it is all a lie.

I want her, but wanting is going to have to be enough for now.

“I’d rather keep my face intact,” I reply, ready to change the subject. “If I were a fucking daredevil, I’d jump out of a damn plane like Gomez did a couple of weeks ago.”

That seems to get their attention. Caleb whirls around to look at Gomez.

“What the fuck, dude? You jumped out of a plane? And coach let you?”

I apologize in my head for using him to change the topic of conversation to something less personal, but by the look on Gomez’s face, I know I’m going to have to do more than just apologize. I can only hope he doesn’t want my firstborn orsomething equally horrifying, but now I need a rudder to steer clear of the incoming rocks that threaten to smash me.

Aurora’s off-limits. That’s all there ever can be.

But even as I think it, I know I’m lying to myself. Because if she’s off-limits, why the hell can’t I stop thinking about her? Why does the thought of her with anyone else make me want to punch walls? And most importantly, how the hell am I going to face Jax knowing what I’ve done and knowing that given the chance, I’d do it all over again?

Chapter twenty

Aurora

Despite my worries, thingsseem to be going back tonormal—but try telling that to my Aiden-radar. ‘Normal?’ Ha. Sometimes, I think I smell his scent on my sheets, and it sends a spike of want so strong through me that I have to clench my legs just to get through it, and it’s driving me up the wall.

The kicker? Aiden’s playing Mr. Cool, just like he always has, playing the annoyingacquaintanceto me and teammate to Jax, like nothing’s changed. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I imagined the whole thing between us.

God, when did my life become such a damn soap opera.

If this is what going crazy feels like, just ship me off to the loony bin now. At least there, I might get some peace.

I get how much we need to maintain this semblance of normalcy… It’s just got my head all the place. I sigh—How is it that guys can have sex with someone and then just go about their lives, business as usual? That’s unfair. But I guess I know some guys who can’t, just like I know some girls who can. So, the problem’s me.

It’s always been me.

I just can’t stop thinking about Aiden’s touch and wondering what it would take to feel him again.

We never made any promises. Hell, we haven’t even talked about anything, period. But whatever this is, it’s like his touch awakened a part of me that had laid dormant—now it’s awake and ravenous in its hunger.

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