Chapter 39

Thirty-Nine

Rowan

The guys are going out. All the guys because Henry's got a babysitter.

When they leave, I head over to pick up Kyleigh at her place.

I knock on her door, and when she answers, my jaw just about hits the floor. "I'm not sure about that dress." I place my hands on her hips and walk her backward into her apartment, kicking the door shut behind me.

"You seem to like it." She gives me a sexy grin.

"What's not to like?"

She steps into me, and I grab her ass with both hands, my lips falling to hers. I miss her so much when we're not around one another.

I miss the way her nails run down the back of my head while we're kissing. I miss the way she rises on her tiptoes and steps into my arms. I miss the way she tips her head back and lets me explore every inch of her.

She's perfection, and she's mine.

"I think I need to remind you who you belong to tonight."

Her laughter rings out through her apartment. "I like this alpha thing."

I lift her and place her on the couch. I catch sight of her sketchpad and a few pieces of fabric spread out on her coffee table.

Her legs open with the slightest touch of my hands on her inner thighs, and she anchors herself with her hands linked behind my neck.

She's hot every day of the week, but tonight in this short tight dress, she's breathtakingly gorgeous. I'm afraid I could get into a few fights if other guys try to touch what's mine.

"Actually." I step back and untwine her arms from my neck. "We're going to wait until after."

"What?" She leans forward, grabbing the bulge in my pants.

"Yeah, I'm going to tease you tonight." I take her hand off me.

She hops off the edge of the couch. "Oh, you just wait and see who is going to be doing the teasing. You'll be taking me in the bathroom or the alley within an hour of us being at the club."

"You do know I thrive on competition, right? Tell me I can't hold out, and you'll be naked, begging for my cock, and I still won't give it to you." My hand goes to her cheek, and I nudge her against the wall by the front door, my leg between her legs, forcing her to open them.

"Game on, Landry."

I chuckle and stare at her lips. I'm suddenly regretting my decision to wait rather than taking her on the couch. "Okay, Nilsen, if you're gonna play that way." I lean forward, running the tip of my nose down the column of her neck and back up. "You just missed out on having my mouth on yours with all your smack talk."

She cups my dick through my pants again. "And you missed out having my mouth wrapped around your dick."

"Fuck, you play dirty." I cage her against the wall, wishing we could stay in the entire night.

But we've already spent too many nights in our places, in our beds. She deserves to be wined and dined, and although it's not a fancy restaurant tonight, it is showing the world that she belongs to me. That she's someone important in my life.

I step back and link my hand in hers. "Let's get out of here before we don't go at all."

She giggles, grabs her purse, and we walk down her apartment stairs to the SUV I ordered.

"Wow. Fancy. No Uber."

"No Uber," I say, opening the door for her.

We arrive at the club, and the people waiting in the long line outside watch the driver pull the tinted SUV up. I step out first, holding my hand out for her to take. She glances at the people with their phones pointed at us. I really hope she's stopped reading those hockey blogs because she could be the world's hottest model and still people will find fault just because she's mine.

I wrap my arm around her waist and escort her to the bouncers. One opens up the rope, and I tip him for letting us in.

Tweetie said they have a VIP section reserved. I know Conor will be here, and I'm hoping we can squash some of this tonight. That he'll see me with his sister, see the way I am with her, and know that she's safe with me. When Tweetie brought up this plan, Henry was just as skeptical as me.

The club is crowded and dark, so I slide my palm down Kyleigh's arm and link our hands, keeping her close behind me as I wind us through the people. Her other hand hooks into the back of my pants. There's something about the gesture that I like. Maybe she's not only mine, but I'm hers. Or she trusts me enough to keep her safe. It's a powerful feeling when you can offer someone that feeling of security. But maybe that's just my fucked-up state of mind from never feeling safe my entire childhood. I probably cherish that feeling more than most.

"Magic!" Tweetie shouts, and heads whip in my direction.

I bump fists with him when we reach him. "Thanks for being discreet."

He laughs before tipping back his glass. I pull Kyleigh to my side.

"Hey, Kyleigh." Tweetie gives her a hug, then whispers something in her ear.

Her gaze shoots to the couch. I follow her line of vision, and sure enough, there's Conor drilling holes into both of us with his eyes—mostly where my hand rests on her hip.

We enter the VIP area, saying our hellos, and I introduce her to the guys she doesn't know. I get her a glass of wine, and we stand on the edge of the VIP lounge and talk to my teammates and any of their significant others who are here. Kyleigh leans into me. I wrap my arm around her stomach, holding her back to my front.

But I can't help feeling as though Conor is watching us, and when I look up, sure enough, the woman next to him—who is trying her hardest to garner his attention—sighs and slumps down in the circular booth, crossing her arms in a pout. I shake my head at him. He needs to get over this.

Kyleigh turns toward me, her lips kissing my neck. "Let's dance," she says in my ear over the loud music.

I pat her ass and stand straight, taking her glass and putting our drinks on the table next to us. Before we get a chance to head to the dance floor, Conor walks past, shouldering me as if he wants me to know he's pissed.

Yeah, I already got the memo, asshole.

I tell Kyleigh to stay in the VIP section while I venture out to talk to Conor. I weave through the crowds, guys giving me high fives and girls stepping in front of me to try to grab my attention. Finally, I push open the back door where I saw Conor go and enter the alley beside the club. He's walking toward the street.

"Conor," I shout.

He stops and slowly circles back. Once he sees I'm alone and Kyleigh isn't with me, he walks back my way. "What do you want, Landry? You can go fuck my sister on the dance floor now, I'm leaving."

"We're a couple, and I'm sorry if it bothers you, but when are you going to stop being such a dick about this?"

"I'm the dick?" He points at himself. "You know the bro code—don't fuck the baby sister!"

"Where's that written?"

"It's common sense. I'm your teammate, and even if I wasn't, you're my friend. Hell, at one time you were my best friend, and I was fucking excited to come back here and build that back up. And we were until I realized the girl you're fucking is my sister. I heard what you said about her. You implied that she was just a fuck."

My stomach sinks, and I run a hand down my face. "I said that because I didn't want to hear Tweetie's shit. Hell, man, I love her. She's all I think about. She's all I want. She's all I see."

I swear that only seems to make him angrier. "Until when? Until you're on the road, and she's back home, and you haven't seen each other or spent any real time together for weeks? Some woman will give you a little extra attention. Will she be all you see then?"

Anger boils inside me like a cauldron over the fact that he thinks so little of me.

"Nice best friend you are." I pocket my hands so I'm not tempted to punch him like he did me.

He leans forward. "A leopard doesn't change his spots."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You forget, we were best friends. How many girls' hearts did you break in college, Mr. Heartbreaker?"

"Fuck you. None."

"That's what you say, and maybe that's what you think, but I was there with you, seeing you with different girls. No one held your interest longer than a night or two. You'll get bored of her just like you did the rest. Or decide she's getting too close to your issues and back away."

I want to stick up for myself and say that he's referring to the college version of me. Throw stones that he wasn't innocent either. But I'm not that twenty-year-old kid anymore. I'm almost thirty and have done a lot of growing up since then.

He looks over my shoulder and eyes me again. "Six years ago, I saw my mom with another man at a hotel bar. I confronted her, and she told me it was a mistake and that she was wrong to risk her marriage. Guess what? Here we are six years later, and she did it again. Like I said, a leopard doesn't change their spots."

I'm too shocked to say anything. The gasp behind me confirms I'm not the only one who heard him.

"You never told me!" Kyleigh rushes to my side.

I put my arm around Kyleigh because her world just got crushed again.

"You were nineteen, Ky. In your first year of college. You didn't need to know. Mom came to one of my games and told me she and Dad were having troubles. She threw around the word divorce. I believed her remorse and kept her secret."

Kyleigh steps in front of me. "We're a team. We're supposed to get through this shit together, but you took it upon yourself to try to deal with it alone and not fill me in."

Conor throws up his hands. "What would you knowing have accomplished? Nothing. But you're being a fool if you think that Rowan is some changed man. That you have some magic pussy he can't live without."

I cock my fist back and punch him in the same spot he did me, right across the cheek and eye. "Don't you dare speak to my woman like that. Good luck stopping the fucking goals now."

The back door of the club opens, and Tweetie and Henry walk out.

"For fuck's sake! Take your frustration out on the other team's goalie. Jesus," Tweetie says with his hands pushed into his hair.

"Come on." I take Kyleigh's hand and step in front of Conor, who's holding his eye. "You either respect our relationship or keep your distance. I'm done with this shit."

We walk out of the alley and head back to her place. I had hopes that Conor would change his mind and see that I love and care for his sister, but I think we both need to realize that might never happen.