The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife (Blair and Grayson) novel Chapter 232

Chapter 232

-LUCA-

I was still laughing when I got back to the suite.

Quietly. To myself.

Especially since Marco was the one in this mess and not me.

Beatrice had been boring. Difficult to listen to.

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Marco had worn the eldest–son face until it cracked. Then he had taken a bathroom break and did not come

back.

I stayed fifteen minutes. Waiting for him to show his face. Our parents were getting impatient.

Beatrice looked bothered in the polite way people looked bothered when they realized the product they had been sold was no longer in the building.

When he still had not returned, I decided he had made a run for it.

Good.

He deserved minutes of freedom from whatever this was.

I also decided I had left Charlotte alone for too long.

I needed to see her. I rushed to the suite. Then opened the door.

She was there.

She looked surprised because I was smiling.

“You’re in a surprisingly good mood after spending time with your parents.”

I shrugged. “They brought someone here for Marco to apparently marry. It was quite an interesting exchange. You should have seen his face. It was entertaining.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you having fun because it isn’t you in this situation?”

“You know me so well,” I teased. “Believe me, he would have been the same way if it was me. The only difference is I wouldn’t put up with that shit for long.”

The laugh came back. Smaller. Then I felt bad for it.

Not enough to stop seeing his face when mother said he would be marrying soon. Just enough to know I should not enjoy his misery this much. He had tried to get me to talk. I had shut him down and gone downstairs to watch him drown in misery.

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11:46 Tue, Sep 29

The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife

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She looked more like herself again. Much happier than this morning. Still in the clothes she had changed into. Dangerous anyway, because now I knew what was under them.

Then I remembered what I had wanted to say.

Because staring at her for too long already had my body reacting.

The longer she stood there, the worse the idea got.

Just fucking say it.

The other night was not enough.

I want you again.

Forget the rule.

Best friend. Remember? She was the one person I was not allowed to ruin for a week of passionate sex. If 1 crossed this line again, what happened if it went wrong? Would I lose her for good?

If I said it wrong, I could make her pissed.

I could not do it.

I took the coward’s way out.

“Goodnight,” I said instead. “I’m a little tired.”

Her face flickered.

Confusion.

Then she covered it.

“Goodnight.”

I went to my room like a coward with a trophy.

Sleep did not come.

I lay there and stared at the ceiling like it had answers. It did not. It had the same crack I had been ignoring all weekend and a replay I could not shut off.

Her mouth.

Her clothes on movie night.

The skirt on Saturday.

Turn 3.

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11:46 Tue, Sep 29

The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife

Her crying out of fear for my safety

Calling her my girl.

The almost kiss after the race.

My mother calling her a distraction.

Calling her my life in front of my parents.

I lasted a few hours not doing anything.

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Then I got up because I could not spend the entire night staring at the fucking ceiling and pretending I was a man with discipline.

I went back out.

I had not expected her on the couch.

In fucking lingerie.

Eating ice cream and watching a movie.

What the fuck?

Thin straps. Black lace. The kind of thing that was not for sleeping and not for a best friend walking out of his room at two in the morning.

It clung. It did not cover enough. I could see the shape of her breasts, the dark edge of lace over skin I had put my mouth on, the marks that had faded and the ones that had not.

Her legs were folded under her. Bare. Smooth. The pint in her hand like this was a normal night and not an attempt to kill me.

Again.

She froze with the spoon halfway to her mouth.

I froze in the doorway.

“I thought you were asleep,” she said.

“I thought you were wearing clothes.”

Colour hit her cheeks.

She did not cover herself.

She set her jaw like she was daring me to make it a joke.

11:46 Tue, Sep 29

“There are shirts,” I said. My voice sounded hoarse. “Thin ones.”

I dragged a hand down my face. Looked at the wall. Looked back anyway.

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“What?”

“Observant.” She ate another spoonful, slower than she needed to. “You said goodnight. I didn’t think you would come back out here.”

That irritated me more.

“My parents,” I said, because I needed words that were not let me fuck you. “They were worse than usual.”

11:46 Tue, Sep 29

A drop hit her throat.

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Into the lace.