Stick Your Landing (All In #3)

30. Zach

30

Zach

Kennedy opens the front door a second after the first ring. “Come on in,” she sings, holding her arm out to welcome me to her house with Volk, her engagement ring flashing in the light. As if there were any chance she wouldn’t say yes.

She shuts the door behind me, then heads to what I affectionately call the Alexei Volkov Hall of Fame, full of a fuckton of trophies, awards, and pictures. It looks like a room belonging to a suspect in Law Finley and I have a bigger uphill battle than I thought.

“I called it from the beginning,” Kennedy jumps in, spearing some salad. “After I saw what she did the morning after his concussion.”

“Wait—what are you talking about?”

She straightens. “Oh. Right. Well, you remember when you were unconscious?”

“Yeah. I didn’t get hit that hard.”

The hit caused me to forget a full day, but since then, my memory has been golden.

She swallows her mouthful of salad before speaking again. “You got hit hard enough, Alexei had to defend your honor all over the ice.”

Halo snorts from across the table. “Can confirm.”

I flip him off. “Kennedy, what did you see?”

“Finley was in your room, checking on you.”

“Yeah, so? Gemma told her to.”

Kennedy drops her voice, but everyone at this table can hear. I suppose it doesn’t matter when the person we need to hide our relationship from already knows. “She was smoothing back your hair with this look on her face… I figured it was only a matter of time.”

Finley’s been falling for me as long as I’ve been falling for her. My gaze drifts back to her table and snags with hers, and her smile widens. Matt snaps his fingers in front of her face when he notices.

“Does she know?” Kennedy asks.

I don’t need her to clarify the question. Does she know I love her? “Yep.”

“And she feels the same?”

“Yeah,” I say, remembering how she couldn’t find the words to adequately describe the depth of her feelings.

Volk shakes his head. “She better be fucking worth it.”

“Like Kennedy is fucking worth it?” I challenge.

He curses under his breath. “It’s like that?”

“Yeah,” I answer immediately. “It is.”

“Volkov’s been sticking it to the owner’s daughter for years,” Halo remarks casually before throwing back a shot of brown liquid. “Briggs nailing the captain’s sister isn’t any worse.”

A cacophony of noise bursts from our table. Volk demands Halo fight him outside while I shout for Halo never to talk about Finley like that. Kennedy quips, “And you wonder why you’re single.”

Halo remains unfazed, continuing to lean back in his chair with that stupid smirk on his face. “I’m single because I want to be, sweetheart. These two whipped fools are reminding me exactly why I want to stay that way.”

“Everything all right over there?” Matt calls to us, his razor-sharp gaze fixed on me. Does he expect me to answer after he’s chosen to ignore me? On Christmas .

Kennedy serves as voice for our entire table. “All good.”

The rest of dinner I keep my gaze away from Finley, determined not to make this situation even more uncomfortable. It isn’t until I’m leaving hours later that I chance a look her way. She glows beneath the lights of the Christmas tree, talking animatedly with Kennedy. I like that they get along so well, and I hope one day, Matt will accept our relationship and not put our friends in the middle of us.

Kennedy nudges Finley in the arm. I love you , I mouth when she looks over at me.

I love you too , she mouths back.

I commit this moment to memory, knowing it’ll need to last me until she’s back in three weeks.