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“Shit. That’s where you two are.” Karma and Potato both stretch their little bodies out as they jump off my bed. I know for a fact neither one of them was in bed with us last night. Potato follows Karma as she walks out of the room and I huff a laugh and finish pulling off the sheets.
I stop once more when I catch a small rectangle on the wall next to my side of the bed that definitely wasn’t there before. Climbing over the bed, I lean in to see it’s a polaroid picture of the kittens curled up together in Baylor’s bed, fast asleep.
Is this why he was in here last night?
Something flutters in my chest and I can’t help the shy smile as I run my finger over the edge of the photo. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at it without smiling now.
twenty-seven
PRE-WORK NAP
All eyes fall on me as soon as she leaves the room.
“What?” I ask as they all trade looks but it’s Dylan who shakes his head, his eyes darting back to the hallway Tor just disappeared down. I wonder if she’s found the picture yet.
“That’s not your girl?” he asks, clearly confused, but I can’t figure out why. Haven’t we already exhausted this conversation?
“Yeah.”
Wells shakes his head. “I told you not to bother.”
Dylan looks at him with exasperation. “I don’t think I can let it go,” he admits before turning his attention back to me. “She cooks for you, you cuddle, you mark her, don’t want me to flirt with her, but she’s not your girl?”
I look around at all the faces in the room. “I’m not sure why that’s so hard to understand.”
Isla giggles, watching the whole conversation unfold. “It’s a lot easier when you just accept they’re both idiots.”
Okay, rude. “I’m going to tell Tor you said that.” She gives me an unamused look like she dares me to try. I cross my arms in front of my chest and meet her look of challenge with one of my own.
“Stop threatening my girlfriend because she’s calling you out on your bullshit.” Wells smacks me upside the head. It’s not even threatening, and I’m still telling Tor.
Dylan points at Wells. “See! It’s not that hard to call the girl you sleep with your girlfriend.”
I give him a confused look. Obviously it’s not hard to say a word. It’s just a word. “And if she was my girlfriend, I would call her that. But she’s not.”
Dylan groans and I don’t know if I have ever seen him so frustrated. “You got jealous.”
“Did not,” I defend. “It was weird because it was you.”
“So I could fuck her?” Beau asks, tilting his head to the side.
I narrow my eyes at him, trying to gauge how serious he’s actually being. “You’ve been friends for years and you’ve never been able to so I don’t see how that would change now.” Over the conversation, I grab mine and Torryn’s dishes and deposit them in the sink before walking out of the kitchen, ignoring the hushed whispers that follow my departure.
I rub my chest as I think about Beau’s question. Pft. He can try. Torryn has never been interested in being more than friends with him. Why would that change now? It wouldn’t. There’s no reason for it to.
Torryn’s door is closed when I walk by it to go to my room. She’s probably doing homework and prepping for the week before the game tonight. Wells let it slip that Isla extracted a promise from her that she would be around for just about the whole day until the end of the game.
My phone vibrates in my hand as I collapse onto my bed. It’s a text from my brother telling me he’s leaving but he will be back with the rest of the fam in a couple hours. Hopefully, he will have calmed down from seeing Torryn this morning.
Maybe I should keep my hands more to myself in front of my brothers so they have less ammunition. That’s it. That’s what I’lldo. I can always make up for it later when she’s off work. Have our own private celebration.
Another text comes through, this one in our house chat. Dammit, they’re right. I check the time and we should be leaving for the ring for our morning skate. I grab my bag to head back downstairs but pause at Torryn’s door, knocking and waiting for her reply. Once I get it, I pop my head in to find her exactly where I expected her to be. In the corner at the desk I set up for her the other day so she had a quiet place to study.
“We’re heading off to our morning skate,” I tell her. “We’ll be back before my family gets here.” At least I really hope we will be. Dylan said a few hours, and morning skate never takes long. Just enough to warm up our muscles.
“I’ll be here,” she promises and something about it makes me smile.
“Thanks,” I respond. I hesitate, not wanting to walk away for some reason. I hear my name being called from downstairs, the guys getting impatient. Ignoring them, I notice she’s not in my shirt anymore. “Did you find something to wear tonight?”
