Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

W hat’s the Plan?

Macklin

I’m walking into the house after an exam, feeling drained and tired. Hayden is in the family room with his laptop on his lap, sitting on the couch.

“Hey, bro,” I say to him.

“How did your exam go?” he asks.

“I think it went well. I’m beat. I just want to go crash for a few hours,” I explain. The semester is over, but we have exams before we break for Christmas.

“I have some news,” Hayden says.

“Are you going to share?” I smirk.

He rubs his chin.

“What is it, you ass?” I ask because he is being weird.

“I spoke with my agent, the Tampa Bay Hurricanes want me,” he announces.

“That’s fucking great.”

“Thanks, bro. I’m going to be heading there for the weekend. The coach invited me to hang with the team. They have a home game Saturday night,” Hayden explains.

“Wow, that’s seriously awesome and Florida is a cool place to land,” I tell him.

“At least it’s the East Coast so the plane ride home isn’t too bad,” he says because he is Hayden and he’s probably thinking of Abuela and Ruby.

“This place isn’t going to be the same without you here next year,” I state, feeling emotional about how many things are changing in my life. Hayden won’t be here and I don’t know where Ruby and I stand.

“It feels weird to leave, honestly,” he admits. “But this is what I’ve worked so hard for.”

“Yeah, I get it,” I reply, feeling choked up.

“Will you keep an eye on Ruby?” he asks.

“Of course,” I assure, feeling like a big ass. I’ve been keeping an eye on Ruby. “I’ll catch you later.”

“Yeah, bro,” he answers. He goes back to doing his work and I head up to my room to crash.

There are no games scheduled for us this weekend because of exams. Tomorrow is my last exam and then I’m free, but I’ll wait for Ruby and Hayden to head home to Abuela.

I crash on my bed for a few hours and by the time I wake up it’s dinnertime.

I head downstairs to the kitchen because I am starving. All the guys usually have dinner together. Even though during exams we aren’t always able to due to our different schedules. I find Finn and Charlie in the kitchen. They aren’t cooking together as I was hoping. Finn is in his boxers and Charlie is wearing his jersey. They are at the kitchen table eating ramen noodles.

“Hey,” I say to them, but I can’t help but laugh. “When is the last time you both ate real food?” They look at each other because they’ve been on a sexfest all week.

“Damn.” I can’t help but smile because those two are relationship goals. “I’m gonna make us some food,” I offer.

“You’re going to cook?” Finn questions, sounding shocked.

“Don’t look surprised, Captain. I got this.” I wink.

I find a bag of lettuce in the fridge that has been washed and cut. I dump it into a bowl.

“I’m seriously curious. What are you making?” Charlie smirks deviously like she doesn’t trust my cooking skills.

“I’m not telling you both. And if you continue to mock me, I won’t share,” I retort playfully.

They both laugh.

Cade walks into the kitchen. “Whoa, what is going on here?”

“Fuck off,” I rebut because he’s trying to make a big deal out of me cooking. I know how to cook, but if there is someone else who enjoys cooking in the house, why would I take their joy away?

Cade hops onto the island since things look a little too cozy with Finn and Charlie at the table.

Luc walks into the kitchen next. “If you say one damn thing, you won’t be eating,” I warn.

“Chill, bro,” he defends, and he takes a seat at the table and looks at Finn and Charlie. “You guys coming up for air?” he jokes.

“Yes,” Finn replies.

“We needed food,” Charlie explains.

Ruby and Hayden walk into the kitchen next.

“Why is everyone hanging out here?” Hayden asks.

“Because Mack is cooking and we’re all curious,” Cade explains.

“Do none of them know you know how to cook?” Ruby asks.

I side eye her. “Don’t be giving away my secrets.”

I make a fresh salsa.

Then I dump the ground beef in a pan and spice it up.

“What is he making?” Luc asks Ruby.

“Don’t tell them,” I warn her, stirring the meat. I don’t look at her because every time I do I get a semi, and I think of her coming. She keeps asking me when we are going to have sex, and every time I give her another reason why we can’t. She’s getting annoyed. I want her like my next breath, but it isn’t right. We can’t do it. Even if she keeps telling me it’s about her. There is so much more at stake, and maybe I worry she’ll regret her decision after it’s all said and done. I don’t want us to end and after we sleep together, we’ll be over because there isn’t another option.

“Mack is a good cook. We’ll leave it at that,” Ruby assures the guys.

She takes a seat at the table and Charlie asks her how her exam was. She begins to talk about her exam, and it doesn’t sound like she is speaking English with the complicated words she is using. Ruby is smart, beautiful, kind. She is the whole package.

We don’t have any hard taco shells in the house, but I find a couple packages of soft tortillas so I heat them in the microwave.

Within half an hour, dinner is served. Everyone digs in and raves about how good it is.

“If we had avocado I could’ve made guacamole,” I say.

“It’s good, bro. At least I know we won’t go hungry next year with Finn gone.” Aaron chuckles.

“True that,” Cade adds and fist bumps Aaron.

“Cade can cook,” I remind. “I hate cooking so everyone will need to pitch in. You’re all lucky I wasn’t in the mood for takeout tonight.”

Everyone digs in and it feels kind of nice to be feeding everyone. When I was growing up Abuela taught me a few easy recipes, just in case I was hungry and she wasn’t around. There were times she took Hayden and Ruby camping, and Leila didn’t allow me to go.

Thinking back to those days makes me lose my appetite, so I redirect my thoughts. I remember Hayden is leaving town tomorrow.

Just as I have the thought, he speaks up. “I’m going to Florida tomorrow,” he announces. “Tampa Bay invited me to spend the weekend with the team and watch their game tomorrow night.”

Cheers of congratulations break out around the table. We all know what an invitation like that means. It’s an early contract. Everyone is asking Hayden questions. Ruby is quiet and she looks my way and, in her eyes, I see so many words and emotions. She is telling me she wants to have sex with me this weekend.

“If you have your own hotel room then maybe we can come along,” Cade suggests.

“Bro, I’ll be busy,” Hayden replies.

“But we don’t need to be with you, we can just crash in your room,” Cade redirects.

“Who wants to come?” Hayden asks, looking at the guys.

“I can’t,” Finn says.

“Neither can I,” Aaron adds.

“I can,” Luc chimes.

“So just the two of you?” Hayden asks. He clearly knows I am not spending that kind of money on a plane ticket.

They nod.

“I guess it should be okay, if you guys don’t pull any nonsense. This is my future,” he reminds.

“We can just chill by the pool,” Cade plans.

I think Hayden feels bad for him after everything that went down with Scarlett.

“Okay, yeah, that’s cool,” he says.

Cade and Luc bump fists.

We all finish dinner and the guys clean up. And me, I’m doing the math. It means that Ruby and I will be here all weekend without her brother. We will have Charlie and Finn here and Aaron. Aaron will probably be out, and Finn and Charlie have a hard time leaving the bedroom. Besides, Charlie is Ruby’s best friend, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s told her something about us.

I head up to my room to prepare for my last exam tomorrow.

A text comes in from Ruby.

Ruby: What’s the plan?

It takes me a moment to answer because I don’t know what to say. I want her so bad but… I don’t want to let her go. I also can’t say no to her. I never could.