Page 33 of Sweet Redemption

We texted. Sometimes. We followed each other’s socials. He liked to troll mine, and my teammates liked to tease me for it—because seriously, Hendrix Sinclair was as gorgeous then as he is today. Then Kroydon University got their hockey schedule, and they were playing UNC the last week in October. His game was 7:30 on a Friday, and mine was Thursday afternoon.

The stars had aligned.

Looking back, I’m tempted to say that weekend was the start of everything.

Of us.

But that would be a lie.

We’d begun years before.

Our game that week was one of the easier ones we’d have, and when Coach called me off the field with five minutes left to go in the second half, I wasn’t surprised. We were up 8–1, and I’d already played every minute. Most games I never subbed out. That was when I saw it—him. Hendrix was leaning against the fence on the opposite side of the field, my jersey stretched over his broad chest, and the smile on his face . . . God, it was everything.

I couldn’t tell anyone what happened in those last five minutes. I’m not sure my eyes ever made it back to the field. They were glued to him. It didn’t matter that he was standing in a crowd of Kroydon University hockey boys. He was all I saw. And when we won and ran out onto the field like we always did, I didn’t want to stop at my goalie. I wanted to run to him.

By the time I finally did, most of the guys were gone. Leo was standing next to him, watching my team captain as she followed me across the field. I mean, I couldn’t blame her. The Sinclair boys were gorgeous, and Leo was a few years older than Hendrix. So basically, exactly Hallie’s type.

“Looking good, Serena.” Leo threw his arm around me, but his eyes never left Hallie. “You gonna introduce me?”

Hallie moved in front of me and made her own introduction, and that was it. Leo was gone. But Hendrix was here. The sun shone down against the bright-blue sky, and his eyes matched the color, like it was there to highlight him.

“Hey.” He grinned and wrapped both arms around me in the best hug I’d ever had. His nose buried in my hair as he pulled me closer, and I circled my arms around his waist and just breathed. He smelled like the ocean and something so distinctly Hendrix, I dreaded the minute he would let go.

Until he did.

Hendrix held out a bright-green four-leaf clover.

“What’s this?” I asked, taking it from him and spinning it in my fingers.

“For luck.” His hands settled on my waist, and I didn’t care that sweat soaked my jersey and I desperately needed a shower. I was frozen in place.

“We already won,” I said softly, with a feeling wrapping around my heart like a rubber band squeezing. The moment was important. I don’t know how I knew it, but I did.

“Yeah, you did. You were awesome out there. Fierce. Badass. But the luck isn’t for you. It’s for me.”

I tilted my head and shifted, so this massive man would block the sun.

“I know we’ve only been in school two months, and I know our schedules suck, but it’s time, princess.”

The rubber band made another loop around my heart, squeezing tighter.

“You promised one day you’d say yes.”

The band snapped, and I sucked in a breath, knowing he was right. “You have to ask . . .”

“Go out with me, Serena. We’re both home for Thanksgiving in three weeks. Let me take you out then.”

I looked over Hendrix’s shoulder and saw Leo surrounded by half my team and bit down on my lower lip, grateful he couldn’t hear us. “You know how my dad is, Superman. He’s going to be all over me that weekend. He’ll never be okay with us dating. Not yet. I promised him if he let me go away to school without any kind of bodyguard or security, I’d focus on soccer and school, and that would be it.”

Hendrix’s fingers ran over the pink pre-wrap I had tied around my hair to keep the fly-aways from my ponytail out of my eyes, then angled my face up to him. “Then don’t tell him.”

I nodded as his words sank in. “We can’t tell anyone then. You know Kroydon Hills, their favorite form of payment is gossip. It spreads faster than wildfire.”

“Then we don’t tell anyone,” he agreed quickly.

“I’m serious, Hendrix. Not even your brothers. They’re bigger gossips than most of the girls I know,” I pushed harder. “If we do this, it can’t get out there. My dad will yank my ass back to Kroydon Hills in a heartbeat if he thinks I broke our deal, or worse, his trust.” My heart sped but not from fear. From excitement.

He looked over his shoulder at his brother, who thankfully, still wasn’t paying us any attention, then those eyes were on me again. “Not a soul. Just us.”