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“I wear the fourP’s proud, baby girl.”
“FourP’s?” Collins chokes.
I lean my head back against the beanbag and meet his stare with cold eyes. “Yeah. Protective, possessive, proud, and packing.”
“Jesus Christ,” he mutters.
Braxton pinches my thigh and looks over her shoulder at me. My lips spread in a grin at her scolding frown.
“You’re going to get yourself punched in the face one day,” she says.
“Been there, done that a few dozen times. As long as you’ll be here to patch me up after, it’ll be worth it every time.”
My words are sincere, and when her cheeks fill with colour, I know she knows that too. I’m being overly flirty with her tonight despite the fact I know I should be toning it down.
We’re best friends. She doesn’t want a boyfriend, and I don’t want to risk ruining our friendship over my feelings. Yet for some reason, it’s getting harder each day to remind myself of all that. Especially when I see her with another guy.
Now isn’t the right time. Next year, I’ll be playing in the NHL, and she’ll be in vet school. Our next few years don’t line up how I want them to, and that kills me. I’ve debated holding off on entering the draft, but it would only earn me another year with her, and who knows what could happen in that time. I would only be denying the inevitable.
No, the only thing left to do is hope that she can find a school close to me—wherever I end up. If not . . .
Stop.I don’t want to think about that yet.
“Where did Brody go?” Collins asks, his voice like a blowhorn in my ear.
I bury my face in Braxton’s hair and close my eyes, savouring the moment before she takes it upon herself to find my drunken teammate. She can be too kind-hearted for her own good.
“Probably upstairs. I don’t know,” I mutter.
“We should help,” she says, and I hold back my groan.
“I was thinking we could leave and stop at Lucy’s diner before we go home. Maybe see if that cat is still hanging around out back.”
Braxton perks up, her eyes now lit with a healthy sense of adventure that makes my heart beat faster. One day, I hope to wake up to this feeling every morning and fall asleep to it every night.
“Yes! Let’s do that. Now? Can we go now?” she rushes out, looking as if she’s holding back a squeal as she starts to squirm.
I smile at her so wide my cheeks burn as I nod and quickly press my lips to her cheek.
Braxton Heights will be my girl one day, and when she is, there’s no way I will ever let her go.
We’ll be forever.
18
MADDOX
PRESENT
I’m watchingBraxton laugh with all the important women in my life behind the safety of the kitchen window when Dad finds me. We haven’t seen each other since we were together in Alexander’s office, and I’ve been avoiding his calls. I won’t feel sorry about it either. Not when he orchestrated this entire thing behind my back.
“How long have you known that Braxton was back in town?” I ask him, not bothering to look at him.
He moves up beside me and follows my stare to the backyard. “The moment she got a Realtor and started looking for a building for her clinic. I don’t think she knew that she chose the same one who helped Adam find his hockey arena and your aunt her dance studio.”
“So, Adam told you?”
Cooper’s dad and my mom’s closest friend since university isn’t much of a gossip, but by the raw surprise on my aunt Gracie’s face when she saw Braxton, it’s safe to rule her out.
