Save the Game (SCU Hockey #2)

by J.J. Mulder

“I don’t remember anything,” I plead, but I’ll remember this. “I know,” she says. “I know.”

“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.”

I want to get home, burn all my skin off in a scalding hot shower, and then sleep for a week.

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.”

“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.”

“Okay,” he says simply. “I think we can handle nerves, but you have to tell me if I do something that makes you uncomfortable, Max. It would break my fucking heart if I was the one you chose to be with and all I did was scare you.”

He sleeps soundly—barely moving an inch all night except for when he’d push himself backward into me, blindly seeking heat and safety.