Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 17
LYLA
“Beer?” Banks stood up with the empty nacho tray in his hand.
“No, thanks,” I said.
“I’ll take one,” Marissa said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to stand. “Come on. We have eighteen minutes. Let’s go to the bathroom.”
“Eighteen minutes?” I stood, shaking my head. “They are so spoiled.”
Lachlan’s mother laughed as she stood up. “No breaks in soccer, right?”
“We get fifteen minutes between the first and second half, but we play for forty-five minutes consecutively,” I managed to say, without shrieking at the fact that he’d even told her I played soccer. How much had Lachlan told this woman about me?
“I prefer soccer,” his brother said.
We were walking out of our rows at the same time. At the edge, I let them go ahead of me. Behind me, Marissa squeezed my arm to stop me from walking.
“He told his fucking family about you,” she whispered. “Holy shiiiit.”
I shot a glare over my shoulder, and she returned it with a wide smile and a knowing twinkle in her eyes. Valerie wanted to keep talking to me upstairs while Liam started texting, and Marissa stood in line for the bathroom. There was a long line to get into the women’s bathroom. Of course, there was. My phone buzzed in the bag I was wearing across my chest, but I couldn’t take it out while Lachlan’s mom told me about his love for hockey. We spoke about soccer, and I told her I’d missed it initially but had grown used to living without it. It wasn’t a complete lie. I missed being on the pitch. I was competitive by nature, so, of course, I missed games, but I no longer felt like I’d wither without them.
“Maybe one day, you’ll get back out there,” Valerie said, offering me a kind smile.
“Maybe.” I shrugged, looking away briefly. “We’ll see.”
“My son never talks about girls,” she said suddenly. My eyes snapped back to hers. I felt like I might throw up, but I let her continue. “When he mentioned you by name, I knew it was serious.”
My heart dropped. “I hate that we met late. I can’t imagine how we’d be able to continue seeing each other, with him going pro and me going to med school, you know?”
“I can’t imagine how you wouldn’t,” she said. “Lachlan doesn’t half-ass anything. If he’s serious about you, he’ll go through hell and high water to get to you.”
I bit my lip. “He may not want to. There are a lot more puck bunnies when you go pro.”
At that, she laughed wholeheartedly. The way her eyes danced reminded me so much of Lach that I had to smile. “Oh, honey. I don’t think you understand what it means to catch my son’s attention the way you have. I’ve only seen him this way over hockey.” She raised an eyebrow. “Make of that what you will.”
My chest gripped tightly. “We just met.”
“Love has no logic.”
Love. My heart pounded harder. I couldn’t respond, but I nodded slowly to let her know I understood what she was telling me. I couldn’t deny that I was in love with him. I couldn’t confirm it, either. I didn’t know what being in love felt like, but if it was this persistent ache in the center of my chest, then maybe I was. When the fuck had that happened? Holy shit. We spoke a little more about where she lived and where I’d grown up before she was dragged away by Liam, who shot me an apologetic smile as we went our separate ways. Marissa was still in line, though she’d almost reached the front. I headed over, thinking about Lach. He’d been so good about having to sneak around to see me. He’d only said once that he felt like a dirty secret, and even that he’d said with an amused laugh as if he couldn’t believe that he was the one being kept secret in all of this. Cocky motherfucker. We’d be out of here soon and wouldn’t have to sneak around anymore. And this wasn’t the 1800s; we had FaceTime and airplanes. We could see each other often if we made it a priority. Maybe it could work. I pulled out my phone as I reached Marissa and saw two texts from him. My heart skipped.
Lachlan: you look so fucking hot wearing my name on your back
Lachlan: i hope my mom isn’t bugging you too much
Me: everyone is wearing your name on their back
Me: she’s so nice and I want to murder you
I didn’t expect him to respond, but it was instant.
Lachlan: i only see you
Lachlan: lol you would never. you’d miss me too much
I bit my lip and felt myself smile at the screen. Thankfully, we were in the bathroom, so no one could see me. Even though I decided to come to this game, I was still worried. I was out of my apartment, which was weird enough. I was wearing his jersey. He looked at me when he was on the ice. There were so many reasons for me to be paranoid. Initially, I’d been tuned in to my surroundings, looking around and ensuring I wasn’t being watched. At some point, I’d let my guard down, though. I let myself forget that I was a danger to us, and that alone put us in graver danger. Still, I responded the way I wanted to because no one could gain access to our text exchange.