Page 9 of Wanting the Winger

I feign nonchalance.“Same as always.Lainey’s Lainey.”

“Just a pal you hang out with, right?”Leo says dryly.“Just like us.”

“Well, she’s not a dick, so...not just like you guys.”

“Let’s go!”Ollie calls from across the field.

Carter and I set down our water bottles.

“Bring her over tomorrow night,” he says.“Suki won’t let up about meeting her.”

“If neither of us has plans, I will.”

He hums a single note of laughter.“You already know you don’t have plans and she just got to town yesterday, so she doesn’t, either.You just don’t want Suki, Mara, Dex, and Harry to see you with her because you know they’ll see right through you.”

Agitation tightens against my breastbone.“Suck my dick.You don’t know what you’re talking about.She tried to get with me once and I told her no.If you guys say anything that embarrasses her, I’ll be fucking pissed.I mean it.”

“No one will do that.You know Suki and her friends.”

We walk over to Ollie, who’s warming up with jump squats.

“I’ll bring her over, but you need to tell Suki that if anyone pries for information, we’re leaving and I won’t bring her back.”

Carter frowns at me.“Yeah, because you’re better at making people feel welcome than my wife is?Cut the shit.”

If he thinks anyone is being critical of Suki, Carter turns into a defensive caveman.I drop the subject and go to the spray-painted white line in the grass, where we start mirror drills.

Leo yawns dramatically behind me.“Do you need me awake for this, Bash?Or can I take a nap during?”

I take off my baseball hat and run a hand through my sweaty hair, replace the hat and give him a shit-eating grin.“You’re fucked, man.I stashed some sticks and pucks and nets down there.I’m gonna shoot goals and we all know you can’t mirror that shit.”

He narrows his eyes.“So you want to stand still, granddad?Are we going to practice sitting on the bench, too?”

“Let’s go!”Ollie calls, already following behind Carter.

I spin around and give Leo double middle fingers, then start sprinting.This drill is good for me.It takes all my energy to do it, so there’s no room left to think about the way Lainey’s round ass looked in those pants this morning.

Not much room, anyway.It creeps into my mind every few minutes, and so does a replay of her blowing me a kiss.

So weird.I have no idea where these thoughts are coming from because, like I told Carter and Leo, Lainey’sLainey.My childhood best friend’s younger sister.She’s pretty much the last person whose ass I should be thinking about.

ChapterFour

Lainey

My jaw hitsthe floor when I see an enormous pink pig waddling over to us, his curly tail...wagging?

“Darling!”Bash bends to pet the pig, who, to be fair, he warned me about.

But I had no idea his teammate’s pet would be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.The logo on the back of the Cleveland Crush T-shirt he’s wearing is stretched from him filling every free inch of the shirt.He’s snuffling at Bash, blissed out with his head in the air as Bash rubs his back thoroughly.

“Is he smiling?”I murmur.

Darling turns his snuffling my way, the little snorting noises melting me.I lean down and let him snuffle at my face.

“Don’t worry, he’s not the ugliest dude she’s kissed recently,” Bash says to someone.

I stand and flick a glare at him.

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