Chapter 40: Let’s go out
Kayden
I looked at Rhys, pitying him as I realized how his situation was almost the same as mine. Hearing about his father and everything he had endured made my chest ache, and it reminded me of the secret I was hiding.
"My father... he’s a lot like yours," I admitted quietly. The words felt heavy, and even though I wanted to tell him that he had treated me the same way, I couldn’t bring myself to speak about the wreckage of my own family life. It was something I never wanted to remember.
"Look at us," Rhys muttered, a small, lopsided smile touching his lips. "Both of us with daddy issues. We’re a real pair." He let out a short, dry laugh, and for the first time since that night, I laughed with him.
How I wished I could tell him what I truly was but that would only mean the end of my career.
"I want to take you out," he said suddenly. His gaze never left mine; it was so intense that it felt like he was memorizing my face. "I want to get to know you for real—not just as teammates."
I felt my heart flutter at his words, but I quickly masked it, clearing my throat and looking away. "Why?"
"You heard me, Kayden. I truly want to know you more than this," he said slowly. "I want to take you out. I was thinking of dinner, but I have something else planned. Something better."
I turned toward him, my eyes widening in shock. Dinner? Something better? Had I heard him right? There was no way he was planning something for me. "You..." I stuttered like an idiot, placing a hand over my pounding heart. "What?"
𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
"I want to apologize for what I did so I thought of this," he said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Really?"
He nodded in response.
"So it’s... what is it?" I asked, clearing my throat so it wouldn’t be obvious that I was screaming with excitement in my head.
The Rhys Calder was inviting me on a date... or a hangout, or whatever it was. I was thrilled, but I knew better than to show it.
"I am inviting you out. Once the Wolves are out of the way, our next game won’t be for a while, so we can hang out."
Hang out. Well, at least he called it a hangout and not something else, I thought.
"I promise to show you the best part of me here."
"I can’t wait..." I gasped, immediately slamming a hand over my mouth. What happened to not making it obvious?
I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone, turning toward the sky to take a picture of the stars before turning the camera toward my face. I took a selfie and then leaned closer toward Rhys. "Smile, Captain."
Rhys gave me a questioning look at first before leaning in. The wind whipped our hair across our faces as I clicked the shutter, taking a few pictures.
As I scrolled through them, I noticed that Rhys had his eyes closed in some, while in others, he was just staring at me. One of the pictures captured the way his blue eyes were fixed on mine, and he looked...
"The stars are beautiful tonight," Rhys said, pulling me out of my delusional moment. "That’s Orion." He pointed a finger toward a cluster of silver sparks. He started naming them one by one. "That’s the Hunter, the Sisters, the Great Bear." He explained what they all meant, and listening to him speak in such a low, soothing tone was refreshing.
Truly, there was a side to him I had never seen. When he finished, I just stared at him. Who would have thought the Ice Captain knew so much about the stars?
"I never expected you to be such a nerd, Rhys."
"I am a lot of things," he muttered. "I was valedictorian, Kayden. I’m hockey-smart and book-smart."
I watched him in awe as he boasted. It wasn’t news that Rhys Calder was brilliant; I’d seen it on the news, heard how he’d been praised for graduating at the top of his class while playing pro-level college hockey. "So you’re an astrophile?"
"I always wanted to be one," he confessed, sighing as he looked at the sky again. "My life didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it to,"
I said nothing, just staring up at the dark expanse.
For a moment, there was only silence and the roaring of the water below. Rhys then turned his head, his face inches from mine. At the same time, I turned to face him. He leaned in, his lips meeting mine in a brief, soft peck.
"I... I am sorry," he muttered, quickly pulling away and lying back on the pier. "That was too soon."
"It’s okay," I whispered, lying down beside him.
Silence. Again.
Then Rhys spoke up. "That doctor. He... you... You both seem to be close. Who is he to you?"
"Leo?" I rolled onto my side to face him. He nodded. I chuckled, wondering why he was asking when it wasn’t as if we were anything. The jealousy in his tone was impossible to miss, and it made me want to question where our situationship was heading—but I decided to taunt him instead. "Why are you asking about Leo?"
Rhys let out a defensive huff. "I just want to know..."
"Leo is a very close friend of mine," I replied, watching the way he shifted uncomfortably on the planks.
"Uh," Rhys grumbled, sounding thoroughly annoyed. It clearly wasn’t the answer he wanted.
"Uh," I mimicked him, closing my eyes. When I opened them again, he was staring at me, and I badly wanted to kiss him again—properly this time.
We stared at each other in silence until I felt Rhys shift again, leaning closer to me on the pier.
"Kayden," he whispered in a low, rough rasp that sent a shiver straight down my spine. "Can I kiss you?"
I didn’t say a word. I just leaned over, closing the distance before he could say another thing. I kissed him hungrily, placing my hand behind his ear as if we hadn’t seen each other in months.
I let out a low, broken moan as his lips took over mine. I pulled him closer, my hand finding his hair and grabbing a fistful of it as our lips fought for dominance.
Rhys’s reaction was instant. His hand slid across the planks, cupping the back of my head to anchor me to him, while his other hand found my waist, fingers digging into the fabric of my jacket. The pier was freezing, but the heat between us made the cold disappear.
He pulled me on top of him, his mouth leaving mine for a split second as we both panted for breath. He leaned in to kiss me again, but suddenly, a sound broke through the moment. It was a deep, rhythmic vibration, so close it felt like it was coming from the wood itself.
We both jerked up, breathless and startled, our foreheads knocking together.
"Ouch," I groaned, clutching my head and exchanging a shocked look with Rhys.
"What the hell was that?" Rhys panted, his lips swollen and his eyes wide.