Page 23 of Never Bet Against A Hockey Player

August gave me space like this, where he watched over me. When I had bad days with Mom and wanted alone time he’d sit a few feet away, space that also included him.

There was still so much left unsaid between us at this moment that I wasn’t sure he knew what to do with me.

I pulled my earbuds out, put them in their case, and slid them into my pocket, knowing it was useless to keep them in.

“You know I’m capable of cleaning a locker room alone, right?”

“I do, but I told you, Firecracker. Things are changing now.”

“Fucking delta,” I muttered under my breath, which only made him laugh.

Good. He was meant to hear it.

“You may as well say what you need to say. You’re going to be stuck here a while. I just started.”

He didn’t say anything at first. August simply watched me push my mop around the floor, taking care with every corner and crevice like my life depended on it. I was using it as a way to avoid him.

As time went on, I found I actually liked the way August watched over me. It made me feel like somebody cared.

Maybe I was just fucking pathetic for needing that reassurance.

“Well omega, we are definitely going to talk about the fact that you think you’re not good enough for the alpha and delta pining after you.”

I dropped the mop and glared at him. “Oh, come on. You know I’m out of their league.”

“You are. You’re much too gorgeous for assholes like Flynn and Evans.”

I shot him a look. He was purposefully being dense.

“Oh, come off it. If you thought that I was ever going to agree about that, then you were absolutely delusional,” he argued. His dark green eyes were indignant. He truly believed what he was saying.

The trouble was, so did I. It wasn’t about self-deprecation, it was reality.

“Do you want them?” he questioned, his voice quiet and controlled, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

I didn’t know how to answer. The omega side of me wanted them. My logical brain disagreed. We knew what hope could do to us.

“Firecracker, you have to know what a catch you are.”

“I can’t even think about it, August. Don’t you understand?” I argued, my voice rising this time. “I can’t let my focus shift anywhere other than keeping Gavin safe.”

“Is this about your mom?” His gaze hardened at the thought.

It was always about my mom. She would always be the thing that kept me from ever being free.

“Six more years. That’s what I have ahead of me,” I admitted in a raspy whisper that echoed my heartbreak. I was in a prison I couldn’t escape. Not even he could help.

“There’s no way that you have to stay there six more years, Firecracker. We can figure this out.”

“Seriously, August. Go find an omega who can give you what you want. One that can be there for you. Hell, one that has heats.” I bent over and picked up my mop, angrily dipping it in the water and wringing it out before swiping it over the floor.

His expression hardened, and he was moving before I could react, stalking toward me and then backing me right into a locker.

The fact that it smelled a whole lot like Lachlan’s familiar scent didn’t stop my heart from pounding against my chest as August’s hand went to my throat.

Not enough to restrict any airflow. Just enough to force me to stop and focus on him.

A strange calmness settled over my brain, quieting my thoughts.