Save the Game (SCU Hockey #2)

by J.J. Mulder

“Don’t you apologize,” he says, practically spitting the words out. “Don’t you ever apologize to me. None of this is your fault, do you hear me? You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Laughing, he leans forward and dusts his hands off. “I am a delight, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“I didn’t pick you up,” I point out. “You just sort of attached yourself to me.” “Like a cuddly and adorable koala.” “Or a parasite.”

“Did you want siblings? I did. I always wished I had a twin.”

“Careful what you wish for, Luke Kelly,” he warns, holding his hand out to me palm up across the center console. “You’d be an easy person to fall in love with.”

“Good morning, baby,” I reply, because I’m a fucking sap, and he drooled all over me, and I want to keep him here forever.

“I miss you so damn bad. God, I miss you. You’re, like, my favorite person, you know that? I don’t even think I knew that until this week, but it’s true. And listen, I know that you don’t need somebody to take care of you, or to treat you with kid gloves or anything, but I wasn’t trying to do that because I think you’re weak. I was doing that because…well, I don’t know, because you’re mine, which means you’re mine to take care of.”