Page 2 of Hat Trick
CHAPTER 2
PROMISES, PROMISES
EMERSON
“Ready?” I ask Dom.
Standing from the locker room bench, he grabs his duffle and throws it over his shoulder. “Ready, Freddy.”
?1 Smiling, I shake my head as the two of us walk out of the locker room because no matter how many times I’ve told him it’s lame as fuck for him to use the term “ready, Freddy,” I hear him say it at least once a day. That, along with at least a dozen other terms I also frequently hear come out of my fifty-year-old father’s mouth. As a matter of fact, Dominic Foster and Dawson Baker like to act like they’re best friends forever whenever they’re around one another. My dad is obsessed with the man, not that I can blame him. Dom has that effect on people. The best way I can describe hispersonality is like an overly excited five-year-old at his first monster truck show, mixed with the love and affection you’d get from a golden retriever, mixed with a man who has the protective instincts of Jack Reacher.
Dominic Foster doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, but he will not hesitate to put someone’s head through a wall if they fuck with the people he cares about.
I’m not even exaggerating. I’ve seen him do it.
“Ahh fuck,” Dom groans as he sidesteps a little while we’re walking down the hallway.
“You good?”
“Yeah, it’s just my hip. It’s been bugging me since our game on Tuesday. And that last full spread I did during practice might have been a little overboard.” Dominic is our team’s starting goalie. At six-foot-six and a whopping 258 pounds of pure muscle, the man is built like a brick shithouse, but his flexibility compares to some of the girls I’ve seen on the gymnastics team. But, that comes with the job. As a goalie, not only does he need to take up space, but he’s got to be quick on his feet. He’s got to know where the puck is heading before the other team’s forwards even do. And when he doesn’t, he needs to be able to react in a way that’ll stop the puck. And unfortunately for his hips, that sometimes means full splits.
Every time he’s in pain, I can’t help but feel guilty. Because if I did my job better as a defenseman, Dom wouldn’t have to push himself so hard… and so far. “You wanna stop by and see the trainer before we head out?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, I’m good. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before. Just needs a little extra rest over the weekend.” Dom pushes open the double doors to the parking lot as he side-eyes me with a mischievous smirk on his face. “You could get down there and kiss it all better if you’d like, though.”
I raise a brow. “You expect me to get down on my knees in the middle of a school parking lot?” Dom shrugs, and I snort a laugh. Once we reach his Bronco, he opens the back door and throws his duffle inside. My house is just a couple of blocks away, so I usually walk to campus, but Dom lives in an apartment further from school, so he normally drives. After Jackson married Theo and moved out, Dominic and I briefly threw around the idea of him moving into my house since I—well, my parents actually, but that’s neither here nor there—own it. But decided that, because of our current situation, it’s best we keep that part of our lives separate.
Oh yeah, in case you didn’t pick up on it yet, Dominic and I are best friends, but we also fuck. Frequently. Now, before you get too excited, that’s all it is. Just fucking. Neither he nor I are in a spot where we’re looking for a serious relationship. And we are both perfectly content with the way things are. So content, that each of us also sees different people. The only rule is we don’t discuss our other partners with one another, and we don’t hide the fact that we’re seeing other people from each other… or the other people.
Oh, and practice safe sex, because we’re not animals.
Dom looks at the ground in front of his feet, then back up to me, wiggling his brows playfully. “I’ll tell you what, when I get back on Monday, on the floor in front of you is the first place I’ll be.”
He sighs so heavily, I swear people across campus could probably hear it. “Ugh. I forgot you were going to be gone all weekend.”
“Jealous?” I ask with a wide smile.
“You know I’m jealous, asshole. It’s fucking Turks and Caicos.” My older brother Jackson’s best friend Clay is getting married this weekend. It’s a relatively small wedding, but because Jax is Clay’s best man and we’re like a second family for Clay, the entire Baker family was invited. It’s safe to say, I am beyond excited to spend a weekend on a tropical island sipping Coronas with lime.
Not to mention the raven-haired beauty I’m going to get to sneak away with all weekend.
I feel like I should mention… the other person I’m seeing… Well, it’s Liliana Campos. Clay’s soon-to-be sister-in-law. Younger sister of Rockwell Campos. When I tell you this woman keeps me on my fucking toes, I mean it. I genuinely mean it when I say that just thinking about her too long gets me fucking hard.
Fuck, focus Emerson.
“Why don’t you go out with your other friend this weekend?”
Dom rolls his eyes. “She’s going to be gone all weekend too, apparently. I guess I’ll actually have to rest for real this time. You all suck.”
I can’t help but laugh at his petulant pouting. Fistingthe front of his shirt I pull him to me, bringing his face close enough to mine that my lips ghost his. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
His signature beaming smile resumes its usual place, and his deep brown eyes twinkle. “I’m gonna hold you to it.”
I quickly kiss him, not wanting to get too caught up in something we can’t finish. Because, as much as I hate to admit it, that’s the effect he has on me. Slowly, I walk backward in the direction of my house. “Counting on it,” I reply with a wink.
Dom pulls his bottom lip between his teeth before shaking his head and climbing into his Bronco. I can hear his groan of pain over the sound of the engine, so I yell, “Ice and ibuprofen!”
Rolling down his window, he sticks out his middle finger, and I laugh as he peels out of the parking lot.
