Page 78 of Devious Obsession
Wait.
We?
Never mind that she’ll still have a year of school after I graduate, but I have two options… one, I can lean into the crazy and just fucking go with it. Or two, I can backpedal in my own head, pretend to recover from kissing her like it wasn’t my idea to stick my tongue in her mouth, and then do this whole thing again in a month.
Option one.
I release my grip on the back of her neck, but she doesn’t automatically pull back. Her teeth catch my lower lip, and she tugs. The little bit of pain doubles the urge to maul her right now. Then she sits back entirely, her face turning red.
“We’re together,” I inform her… and the rest of the table.
Her brows lower. “Um, I don’t think—”
“You’re notgoingto think about it.” My stomach grumbles. I’ve got practice in an hour, and I’m fucking hungry. So I turn back to my food and dig in, ignoring everyone’s looks.
Including Aspen’s.
“When you say together,” Willow starts. “Do you mean…”
“Whatever the fuck together means,” I grit out. My food is getting cold, and Knox was right—I don’t usually talk. I don’t like to draw attention to myself. Can I seem to help it with Aspen around? Nope. “Exclusive. She’s not seeing anyone else. Neither am I. So you can get lost, King.”
Chase snorts. “And miss this show? Nah, I’m good.”
“Steele—”
I round on Aspen. My expression is probably pretty dark, because I feel like I’m gonna lose it. Which I need tonotdo, and save my crazy for practice. And better yet, harbor more of it for the game.
“Come to practice,” I say quietly.
Confusion mars her expression. “What? Why?”
“Just come.” I lean forward and touch my forehead to hers. “Okay?”
She pauses, then nods. “Yeah, yeah. Okay.”
I don’t know why the fuck that fills me with some weird relief, but it does. So I back off and return to my food, and she does the same.
And that’s just fine for now.
22
ASPEN
Turns out I’m not the only one who watches hockey practice. Violet and Willow accompany me, sitting high above the ice opposite the players’ benches.
“Coach will close practices sometimes, but other times he likes the motivation that those girls bring the guys.” Willow points to the section diagonal to us. The group is mostly girls, all decked out in CPU Hawks paraphernalia. Some hold signs for the players, although I can’t quite make out the words through the glare of the glass.
“Puck bunnies,” Violet murmurs. “It’s infuriating to watch them line up waiting for their slice of attention. Especially when they know that some of the guys have girlfriends.”
“Like Greyson and Knox.” I sink lower in my seat.
“And Steele,” Violet adds with a smirk.
The devil himself skates out onto the ice. He glances first to the groupies, then over to where Willow, Violet, and I sit. I raise my eyebrows at him, and he scowls.
“Why’d he want me to come if he’s going to be grumpy about it?”
“Why do any of them do what they do?” Violet asks. “I’ve stopped trying to map out Grey’s intentions.”
