The Christmas You Crash (Going Rogue #2)

Chapter 44

forty-four

RYDER

My muscles burn as we run drills on the ice. Chase the rabbit. Fuck, this drill is brutal when you have to do it over and over again. Which is exactly what we’re being forced to do. After we lost our last game, Coach is out for blood.

“Pick it up! Do you guys want to win or not?”

Griffin rolls his eyes. “I want to go back to bed and sleep for another hour or two.”

“Late night?” Logan asks. “I haven’t seen you hook up with anyone ever since Mira moved in with you. Strange coincidence, or is there something going on there?”

“Oh, hell, no,” Maddox growls. “I will kick your ass, Wright.”

Griffin rolls his eyes. “We’re just roommates. And friends. There hasn’t been any touchy touchy, so you can chill, Madds.”

Logan studies Griffin. “So, what’s up, then? I need my wingman.”

“I don’t know, dude. Guess it’s lost some of its luster, you know? It feels kinda hollow lately.” Griffin shrugs.

Maddox goes to open his mouth, but he doesn’t get a word out.

“Am I interrupting your little gossip session, ladies?” Coach shouts. He’s in rare form this morning. His bad mood is so profound, I keep waiting for him to call me over and tell me I’m off the team because he found out I’m fucking his daughter.

“He seems more dickish than usual,” Sebastian observes. Our goalie’s attention swings to me. “Did he find out about you and HCB?”

“God, I hope not.” I’m sweating just thinking about it. “Along those lines, I need help with something.”

That perks Griffin right up. “Oooh. Is it something sexy and clandestine?”

“Do you even know what that means?” Logan asks with a smirk.

“Shut the hell up. I’m smart.” Griffin tries to trip Byrne with the blade of his stick.

Bash rolls his eyes. “Guys. Focus. Ryder needs our help with something.”

Sometimes I think this team would fall apart without Sebastian Navarro’s steady leadership. Maddox may be the captain, but Bash is like a parent. He keeps us all on the straight and narrow. Well, I don’t really need him to do that for me, but some of these other guys sure as hell do.

I give him a nod of thanks. “My girl wants to come to our series in Chicago. She went to college there, and her best friend still lives in the city. It’s important to her that we meet.”

“Is she planning on trying to stay in the hotel with you?” Logan’s expression tells me exactly how stupid he thinks that idea is.

“No, she’s going to stay with her friend. She has an apartment in the city.” Stealing a glance at Coach, I shudder. “I don’t have a death wish.”

“You know we’ll help with whatever you need,” Sebastian says. “You two are good together. I like her.”

“She’s a hell of a lot cooler than her dad, that’s for sure.” Byrne winces as Coach shouts out another string of insults to the third stringers.

“So, what do you need us to do?” Griffin asks. He’s bouncing on the toes of his skates. For all his fuckboy ways, Griffin Wright is a hopeless romantic.

“Just run interference with Coach when I disappear to meet Oscar’s friend. Make sure you give him some kind of excuse.”

“We’ll tell him you have explosive diarrhea,” Griffin says with a completely deadpan delivery.

Maddox shakes his head and scoffs. “I can’t believe you get women to sleep with you. How do you do it? Just keep from opening your mouth, unless you’re going down on them?”

The rest of us crack up, which earns the ire of Coach, who yells at us to get your over-inflated heads out of your asses and do the work .

“Are you going to tell him at some point?” Sebastian glances at Coach. He winces, probably imagining how that conversation would go. Just like I am.

It’s the million-dollar question. Because Lexi and I can’t hide our relationship forever. But I get why she’s nervous. She’s been disappointed by her dad enough. I still haven’t completely won her mom over. She has to feel the pressure of it all.

Making sure Coach’s attention is elsewhere, I shrug. “I’m following Lexi’s lead. It’s her dad, you know? And with how rocky their relationship is, I won’t push her.”

“But you want to tell him.” It’s not a question. Sebastian knows.

“Of course, I do. I’m crazy about her. Shit, I think she’s it for me.” It’s the first time I’ve admitted that out loud to anyone but myself. It feels freeing. Which is why I say the next part out loud too. “I’m in love with her.”

Griffin pounds the blade of his stick on the ice. The other guys join in. It’s like a hockey player’s round of applause. “Hell, yeah, man. The girls are going to be so happy to hear that. Mira really likes Hot Cross Buns.”

Shaking my head, I chuckle. “Dude. Don’t ever call her that to her face.”

“You told her yet?” Logan asks.

“No. The timing hasn’t been right yet. And I think she feels the same way, but she’s kinda skittish, you know?” The last thing I want to do is scare Lexi away. I need to play this right. Maybe I can plan some big romantic gesture while we’re away in Chicago and tell her then.

Logan’s brow rises. “I still think you guys are all nuts. Relationships are too much work. And they never last.”

“Some of them do.” I remember the way my dad spoke about my mom. He never even dated after she died. He’d tell me she was the love of his life, and you only ever get one real love. She was it for him, so why settle? That always stuck with me. And I think it kept me from sleeping around the way some guys on the team do. Logan included. I always believed there was one right person out there for me. Lexi’s it. I know she is.

Our right winger doesn’t look convinced. But I’ve heard stories about his own father that lead me to believe he was shaped as strongly by his dad’s attitude toward love as I was. Logan doesn’t talk about his dad much, but we all know about Owen Byrne. The man was a hockey legend in his own day. And from everything I’ve heard, he’s a raging asshole. Honestly, it’s probably a miracle Logan turned out as well-adjusted as he has.

“You don’t have to believe me,” I tell him, “but I’ve seen it. And my girl and I have that forever love. I know it.”

“Quit talking about love like a bunch of teenage girls at a sleepover and move your asses !” Coach screams. Realizing he was close enough to overhear parts of our conversation startles me so much that I almost fall on my ass.

The other guys grimace, and we fall silent while Coach watches us. By the time practice is over, we’re all sweaty, exhausted messes. We shower, dress, and shuffle out of the locker room, cursing Arthur Cross.

Griffin steps up beside me and nudges me with his elbow. “You should get your girl a jersey with your name on the back. Give it to her before the Chicago games, so she can wear it then.” He grins at me and his chest puffs out. “It’s like fucking catnip, dude. I swear, seeing your girl with your name on her back is instant foreplay.”

I chuckle, but my mind immediately conjures an image of Lexi wearing my jersey. Only my jersey. Hell. Griffin’s right. I need to get her one.

He must see the shift of my expression, because he bursts out laughing. “Yeah, dude. Exactly. I bet there’s someone here who can hook you up with one, even if the shop’s not open.” Pushing me down the hall toward the pro shop, Griffin calls out a goodbye.

And with images of Lexi in my jersey dancing through my head, I go on a wild goose chase to track down someone that can hook me up with one of my own jerseys. It takes me almost an hour before I connect with the correct person, but it’s worth it when I watch her bag up a jersey, a Rogues scarf and hat for Lexi, and another set with a blank jersey for her best friend, Rachel. Because I am going to win Lexi’s best friend over. This is a good place to start.

Mind full of Lexi, I check my phone for the time. She gets out of class in an hour. It’s plenty of time to pick up something for lunch and surprise her on campus. And once we’re done eating, maybe I can convince her to find an empty classroom so we can enjoy some dessert.