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But Gavin, his attitude never changed. He apologized, but that’d been it. He stepped back once it was confirmed I’d been telling the truth about Carrington, not that it ever needed to go there, but he made it go there. He chose his fraternity brother, and never chose my friendship again. We still partied at times, though it was a random large house party or at the bar, but those times were rare. I stuck with my roommates and the hockey house.
Zeke also came for the graduation party, bringing an entire sprinter van of some of his friends that had become friends with Cruz’s friends. Tasmin and Race. All of Taz’s siblings came, and all their friends too. Epic. It’d just been epic, and my body was sore the next day from laughing so hard.
My dad came with his new wife.
Cruz’s mother and sister came.
It’d been a whole celebration, and I never would’ve imagined that I could’ve been as happy as I had been that night. But I was just as happy today. I got happier every day with Cruz, and he kept zipping around the ice.
They’d opened up the rink to the public for the day. I thought Cruz would’ve wanted to steer clear, but nope. Not my man. When I asked what he wanted to do, skating with me was his immediate answer. It was his first year on the team, so he didn’t get recognized that much in public. Being on the ice was a different matter. I knew he’d be signing autographs once we slowed down. People were eying him as soon as we showed up, gazes skirting to where I’d been on the bench when he was waiting for me, and now I saw a handful of phones aimed at us.
Those videos would end up on social media. Cruz was getting more and more attention in the hockey and sports world.
We stayed on the ice for another thirty minutes, with the last ten skating next to each other. Or I was skating. Cruz held my hand, my elbow, my hip, my ass as he did circles around me, but he loved this shared time together.
Once we were done, a few teenagers came up, asking for his signature. That started the wave of fans approaching him. Little boys. Little girls getting autographs for their older and “too cool” brothers. Teenage girls. Older people. A few parents came over to share their support and thanks that he joined The Javelina.
I waited by the concessions, within eyesight of Cruz, because that was important to him whenever these situations happened, and I was enjoying the hot chocolate I got. He stayed until someone from the rink’s staff approached, and after that, the worker was herding people away. Cruz came over, his head ducking, and an adorable grin on his face as he dropped down next to me, except he didn’t face the table. He faced me, pulling me into his chest, his arms wrapped around me. He leaned in, nuzzling my neck. “I love you.” One of his hands moved up to my face, touching my chin and turning me his way as he lifted his head.
I melted. He sounded so carefree, and I reached up, my hand covering his before I leaned in. My lips found his, and right there. Insta love. Insta lust. Insta warmth. Insta fuzzies. I was totally gone for him. “I love you too.”
“Hmmm.” He went back to kissing me before lifting his head a little. He gave me a pat on the ass. “It’s our day. What do you want to do?”
The team had been given a very rare day off, so we were taking advantage of it.
What did I want to do? I gave him a look, and he started laughing. “What?” he asked.
I just wanted to stay in bed with him. That’s what I wanted to do, but Cruz knew those were my comfort days. I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Okay.” His hand took mine, his fingers sliding against mine as he linked our hands and he stood, pulling me up with him. “How about I plan something for tonight?”
I almost stopped, but he only laughed and tugged me after him again.
He pulled me to his side, his arm wrapping around me, sliding into my back pocket, and he took my hot chocolate. It was almost gone so he wagged it back and forth. I nodded, letting him know he could finish it. He did, tipping his head back before tossing it into the recycling as we walked past.
“Let me plan something for tonight.” He brought it up again once we were outside and heading for his truck.
I narrowed my eyes at him, suspicion lurking. “You already have something planned, don’t you?”
His eyes cut away. He was fighting back a grin. “Maybe.”
Maybe my ass. He totally had something in the works.
