However, I had a plan for later tonight that had been brewing in the back of my mind for a few days. It might not solidify anything, but it was something of a last-ditch effort to show her my heart. We had a lot of disparate things happening in both our lives, and that was part of the reason why I was choosing to move forward with optimism and hope. I had to believe things would work out, so I’d gotten online last night after she’d fallen asleep, and ordered a few things. When the test was over, I’d pick them up and bring them back to our apartment so everything was ready, no matter how late we got home.
The test wasn’t that hard. It was long and grueling, but Isla had done a fantastic job preparing me. She’d shown me tricks for interpreting the questions meant to confuse you, and she’d forced me to take half a dozen practice tests, saying that was the best way to get used to them. I’d gotten a better score on each subsequent test, so I really hoped this would be the best one yet. I didn’t know for sure if the class I was taking this fall would count, but I was trying to figure it out. Between signing up for the one online class, doing the groundwork to potentially sign up for college full-time, and working with Chains as a kind of bodyguard-in-training, something would click for me. It had to.
I knew myself well enough to know that answers would come to me, one way or the other. In the meantime, I’d keep my head down and do everything in my power to make this my best year ever as a hockey player. I hadn’t decided if it would be my last, but I’d enjoy every aspect of it as if it was.
I’d managed to put everything out of my mind during the test, and then ran my errands before heading to Ian and Everly’s house. There were already cars in the driveway, indicating this wasn’t going to be an intimate evening, so I let myself in, calling out to them.
“How’d it go?” Isla asked, running over to greet me, her eyes shining with excitement. “Tell me everything.”
“You are the world’s best tutor,” I told her, kissing the tip of her nose. And I meant it. She’d prepared me in ways I wouldn’t have thought of, and I was a hundred percent sure she would be mostly responsible if I did well. “It was long but I was ready.”
“You fucking rock!” Royce told me, holding up his hand for a high five. “I don’t think I have it in me to take an SAT.”
“I didn’t think I did either, but it was something I wanted to try,” I said. “And who knows, maybe I bombed.”
“You didn’t,” Isla said softly. “I refuse to believe that.”
“Well, now we have to wait for the results,” Ian said, shaking his head. “That’s the part that sucks.”
“Four to six weeks,” I said. “But we’ll be busy with training camp soon, so I won’t have time to worry about it.”
Someone put a beer in my hand and I joined everyone outside on the patio. Everly and Margot were in the pool with Gracie, Ian and Royce headed over to the grill, and Isla settled onto a lounge chair. She’d removed the sundress she was wearing when I’d arrived and now was in a magnificent peachy-orange bikini. As usual, the sight of her body made my cock stiffen behind my zipper and I had to adjust my shirt to cover my erection.
I was probably going to have to get used to having a hard-on, because after tonight, I wouldn’t be getting any and I’d gotten spoiled with the three-times-a-day sex we’d been having.
After watching Royce run off to cannonball into the pool, I wandered over to the grill, where Ian had just put thick, juicy steaks on the fire.
“You okay?” he asked me quietly. “Isla told me what’s going on.”
“Yeah, all good. No worries.”
He arched a brow. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“I’m good. Really. Training camp is right around the corner and I won’t have time to think about anything else once it starts.”
“Plus this college class you’re taking and your amped-up workout schedule… Seems to me, someone is working hard to deflect.”
“I’m working hard to figure out what I want in life beyond hockey because some of what I’m interested in has a time limit,” I said quietly. “Even if I don’t leave now, I don’t see myself playing another decade, so that means there’s something else out there for me, and I need to do some soul-searching if I’m going to move forward.”
“And you and Isla?”
I shrugged. “We’re doing the best we can with the information we have. There’s no easy fix, you know?”
Ian looked conflicted about how to respond, but then nodded. “I really want to shake some sense into both of you.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, that’s fair.”
We shared a knowing grin and then I turned to stare off at where Isla was still relaxing on the lounge chair. How was I going to survive four long months without her?
21
Isla
We left early, considering it was my last day in Vegas, but I’d spent several days with Ian and Everly this week, so they’d said their goodbyes and we headed home.
Home. It was odd that I already considered it home here. Dax had become an integral part of my life and every time I thought about leaving, I wanted to cry. We’d made a plan to see each other in December so we could take stock of our situation, but I didn’t know what would be different. He was either going to be playing hockey, which meant he could get traded multiple times in the next few years, or be off doing some
