The Game That Breaks Us (32 page)

“Not if I die first,” she mutters, looking down at her feet.

“You’re not going to die.” I shake my head at her. I find her reaction amusing. She normally always has this take charge attitude like she can do anything. It’s funny to see her losing her shit. “Come here, give me your other hand,” I plead.

“You want me to swing around in front of you?” She gasps.

“Yes.” I chuckle.

She whimpers, actually
whimpers
. I think it’s cute but she’d be pissed if I said that.

She works herself up and pushes off with her feet to glide around in front of me, but of course, she fucking stumbles and starts to fall onto the ice again. I pull her up before she can fall and she smacks into my chest. I hold on tightly to her, balancing my weight so we don’t fall. 

“You’re good at this,” she gasps, and she actually sounds fucking surprised.

I laugh. “I
have
been doing this for years, sweetheart. Practically since I could walk. It’s like a way of life in Boston. You learn to walk and then you learn to skate.”

She shakes her head and holds onto my shoulders as I move us across the ice.

“Hey, this actually isn’t so bad.” She smiles up at me.

I laugh. “Well, it doesn’t really count as
you
skating since
I’m
doing all the work.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Thanks for bursting my bubble.”

“Anytime.” I kiss the end of her nose, and since I’m not paying any attention, we ram into the wall.

I lose my balance and fall to the ground with her on top of me.

Grace presses her lips together but can’t contain her laughter. I laugh too and it feels so fucking good to be this carefree with someone. With Grace, I don’t give a fuck about what I say or do, because I know she accepts me for
me
and vice versa. She’s just so fucking perfect for me.

I tuck her hair behind her ear, my fingers lingering on her cheek. “I love you,” I whisper.

I don’t know why the fuck words leave my mouth, but I can’t take it back, because it’s true. 

She makes the tiniest gasp and she looks at me with wonder and happiness and a million other things I can’t even begin to understand. 

The silence stretches between us and I worry that maybe I’ve scared her but then she smiles and kisses me. “I love you too,” she murmurs between our pressed lips.

I and love and you have officially become my favorite words in the English language. I know that makes me sound like a lovesick sappy fool, but when you’ve never been in love and you
finally
find someone that makes you feel like a better version of yourself, the rest doesn’t matter to you.

I take her face in my hands and kiss her deeply. My tongue slides into her mouth and she makes a soft sighing sound as her fingers tighten around my shirt. The ice is cold beneath me but I don’t give a fuck. Nothing could make me move from this spot short of the zombie apocalypse, because zombies equal get the hell out of here.

Grace pulls back and looks down at me like she’s truly seeing me for the first time. “I never thought things would end up like this,” she admits, touching my cheek. “But I’m glad they did.”

“Me too, sweetheart.” 

When I first asked Grace to be my fake girlfriend, that’s all I wanted from her—to
use
her, and that fact makes me feel slightly sick, but I can’t regret it, not when that led me to getting to know her and having her in my life. 

We finally disentangle our bodies and I stand up, holding my hands out to her to help her up.

“I seriously didn’t realize how much skill you have to possess to ice skate,” she comments as we glide down the ice—well, I skate and she holds onto me. 

I laugh. “And play a game on the ice,” I remind her.

“Right,” she groans. “Well, all I’m trying to say is you’re pretty amazing.”

“Aw,” I laugh. “Was that a compliment?”

She glares at me. “You wish.”

My laughter grows. “Really, because it sounded a whole lot like a compliment.”

“I can’t say anything nice to you, can I?” She sighs.

“Nope, sorry, sweetheart.”

“Whoa,” she cries when her feet skid a bit. “I think I’ve had enough of ice skating for the day.”

I chuckle. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” she screams when she starts to fall.

I hold her around the waist and skate over to the exit. I lift her onto the ground and then smack her ass. She stumbles onto the bench and turns to glare at me with fiery green eyes.

“Did you just
spank
me?” She looks shocked that I would do such a thing.

I grin and step off the ice. “I believe that’s exactly what I did.”

She shakes her head. “I want to say I can’t believe you’d do that, but this
is
you we’re talking about, so of course you would.”

 I hand her the skate guard for her blades and put mine on before taking off my skates. We walk back to return our skates and change into our regular shoes.

“Where do you want to go from here?” I ask her. “Back home?”

She shakes her head and bites her lip nervously, which tells me I’m more than likely not going to like what she has to say. “I was wondering if we could go by my dad’s shop. I’d like you to see it.”

I suppress my urge to groan. We’ve been staying with her parents for over a week, and even though things have moved past the awkward stage, they’re still not great. I get along fine with her mom, but I still catch her dad giving me dirty looks. And I mean, I
get
it. What he knows of me isn’t exactly the best. There are too many photos of me drinking and with various women. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what my lifestyle was, so I honestly can’t blame him for being wary of me, but I also know I’ve been nothing but respectful of him while I’ve been here and kept my mouth shut in regard to the stupid stuff—usually perverted—that I usually say.

“Please?” Grace begs when I’m quiet for too long. “It’s not that far from here.”

What am I going to say?
No
. Not happening. It’s not like I’m afraid of her dad, but I want him to like me.

“Sure.” I nod, shoving my hand into the pocket of my pants to pull out my keys. “Just tell me how to get there.”

Grace gives me directions to her dad’s car shop and then sits on her phone. After a few minutes, she makes a choking sound.

My head whips in her direction and I nearly drive off the damn road. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“There’s a picture of us online from the coffee shop,” she says, her face going beet red.

“What’s so bad about that?”

“
Bennett
,” she says my name like I’m the stupidest fucking person she’s ever encountered. “The. Coffee. Shop.”

“Oh, fuck,” I hiss between my teeth. “What does it say? It’s not us in the bathroom, right?”

“No, of course not, it’s just us sitting at the table laughing about something. Let me read the article. Give me a minute.”

I clench my teeth and continue to drive, when what I really want to do is pull over and snatch the phone from her hand so I can read it myself. I’ll be beyond pissed if somehow word got out about us having sex in the bathroom. I mean, I’ve done plenty of crazy shit before but I’ve never been concerned about it coming back on someone I care about—me, I can handle it, but Grace shouldn’t have to.

After the longest minute of my life, she breathes out a sigh of relief. “The article is just talking about you coming home for the holidays and they speculate about when you’re going to return to the team. It sounds like they think you and Coach Matthews have been planning some big return, like a publicity stunt or something.”

I snort. “Yeah,” I begin, “because everyone thinks he’s a fucking god and not a complete dickwad.”

Grace reaches over and rubs my arm, trying to offer me a small amount of comfort. I hate to tell her, but when it comes to Matthews
nothing
makes me feel better.

Grace puts her phone in her purse and says, “I’m just glad to know that no one knows about the bathroom.”

“No one but us,” I remind her with a wink.

She blushes and looks out the window. I love that a part of Grace is so shy, but she still has a wild side. 

“Is this it?” I ask, pointing ahead of us.

“Yeah, that’s the shop.” She smiles.

As we draw closer, I can see
Wentworth Wheels
spelled out across the front.

“This is the shop,” she says. “Dean lives in the apartment upstairs.”

Dean doesn’t say much to me. Whenever he’s around, he looks at me with a shrewd eye like he’s waiting for me to mess up. I guess I can’t blame the guy. I mean, I’m protective of Sabrina, but it still sucks. Lincoln, on the other hand, has warmed to me. Even though he’s younger than me, I like the kid. He’s a good athlete and has a wicked sense of humor. 

I park the car and follow Grace to the entrance.

“Dad’s probably in his office,” she says.

“Do you think we should’ve brought him lunch or something?” I ask.

Grace shakes her head. “Trust me, he’s probably already eating.”

There are several mechanics working beneath the hoods of various cars, and when they hear us they look up.

“Hey, Grace,” one says with a lop-sided smile. 

“Hey, Levi.” She waves at him.

“Who’s that?” I hiss.
I’m not jealous. Nope. I’m not.

She laughs and swats my stomach. “Are you seriously jealous because I
waved
at a guy? Mr. Stick-My-Dick-In-Anything-That-Walks.”

I snort. “Clever, and no, I’m not jealous.” She eyes me. “Okay, maybe a little bit, but … I’m new at this whole
love
thing. It’s going to take me some time.” I touch my fingers to her cheek.

I can tell my words please her, even though she tries to act like they don’t. “Anyway,” she says, stepping away from my touch, “that’s Levi. He’s the son of my mom and dad’s best friends.”

“Wait.” I grin. “Your mom and dad got married and so did their best friends?”

She nods. “Yep. Luca and Avery. They don’t really go together if you ask me—Luca doesn’t say much and Avery is always talking. But hey.” She shrugs in a whatcha-gonna-do way. “Dad’s office is this way.”

She leads me farther into the back of the shop and stops in front of a wooden door. She knocks two times and a gruff, “What?” greets us.

“It’s me, Dad. I came to see you.
We
came to see you,” she amends, looking up at me.

The door opens and her dad looks at her with a huge smile. “Well, isn’t this a nice surprise. Come in.” Then he looks at me and spits out, “Oh, and you.”

I expect him to slam the door in my face but he surprisingly lets me in without a problem. The office is small and cluttered with papers, tools, and car parts. Her dad’s arms are covered in tattoos and grease. The plaid shirt he wears hangs open over a t-shirt and he sits down in his office chair. I suppress a laugh when he picks up a cup full of fries and slathers them in ketchup. A burger also sits on the table. Grace was right, we didn’t need to bring him something to eat.

“So what are y’all doing at the shop?” he asks, shoving some fries in his mouth.

“I wanted Bennett to see the shop.” Grace shrugs and picks up a long, slender, metal tool and spins it between her fingers. “We just came from ice-skating.”

Trace snorts and looks to me with a genuine smile. “I bet she fell on her butt as soon as she stepped on the ice.”

“Dad,” Grace whines. 

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Trace chortles. 

“Yes.” I chuckle. “But I picked her right up.”

“Good man.” He tips his head at me.

Even though the conversation is good, I don’t even let myself think for a second that he might actually like me. I think he’s just moving into the zone where he knows he has to tolerate me and it’s better to be semi-pleasant. But I still wouldn’t be surprised if he slammed the door behind me on the way out.

“Do you mind if I show Bennett around?” she asks.

“Not at all.” He eats some more fries. “There’s not much to see, though.” He shrugs.

Grace laughs. “That’s probably true. But this was practically my second home growing up so I wanted Bennett to see it.”

Trace waves his fingers to the door. “Just say goodbye before you leave.”

“Will do.” She bends and kisses his cheek before grabbing my hand and pulling me out the door. I don’t miss the flash of sadness in Trace’s eyes when he sees my hand joined with Grace’s. I’m sure it’s hard seeing your kid growing up.

Grace leads me through the shop. It’s a nice size, but not large, but I’m sure in a small town it’s not necessary to have a big car shop. The tour consists of seeing the cars the guys are working on and tools, lots of tools.

At the end of her tour, Grace hops up on a work table. I place my hands on either side of her hips and lean in.

“What do you think?” she asks.

“I think it’s pretty adorable how excited you get showing me pieces of your life.”

She smiles and kisses me quickly, afraid someone’s going to see us. “You know, I’m glad you came here with me.” She wraps her arms around my neck.