worth the risk • dean portman

chapter fourteen

dean

I've never seen Morgan this nervous in my life.

She's been pacing around my room for the past ten minutes, rambling nonstop about how much of a mistake she made by telling this Jake guy who I am.

I don't really see the harm in this, if we're being honest. I'm not at all threatened by this kid, because I can throw down pretty easily if I need to. Once again, it's me we're talking about here. They don't call me a Bash Brother for no reason.

Fulton knocks on the door and peeks his head in, momentarily stopping Morgan from her pacing. "Are you okay Andersen? I've been hearing your stomping from my room for as long as you've been doing it. What's got you so worked up?"

"It's this stupid guy!" she yells, throwing her arms up in the air. "He's a family friend and the son of my dad's business partner, who's been trying to get me to date him for as long as I can remember."

"Okay?" Fulton responds, obviously confused. "What's the harm then? A guy likes you."

"You don't understand Fulton." Morgan says, and for a second it sounds like she's going to cry. "I told him who Dean is. That's a problem. A big one."

Fulton's face goes from curious to confused in a matter of seconds. "Why?"

"Because!" she continues as she starts to pace around my room again. "Because now that Jake knows Dean's name, he'll probably tell my parents. What's the problem with that, you might ask? The problem is that my dad doesn't know about this whole relationship. I-"

"Woah woah woah. Hold on." Fulton interrupts, which causes Morgan to stop talking. "Your dad has no idea that you've been dating Dean for the past two years? Are you serious?"

"I have my reasons." Morgan mumbles, and even I'm having trouble believing this.

I know for a fact that she isn't embarrassed of me. If she was, I would've left as soon as I figured it out. I'm not the kind of guy who wants to be pitied, because I don't need anyone to feel bad for me. Whatever her reason is for keeping this whole thing a secret is probably a really good one.

"I don't believe you." Fulton accuses, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at Morgan. "There's definitely some sort of embarrassment about this, which is the only reason that makes sense on why you haven't told your dad. I mean, you've been dating Dean for two years. How have you not told him?"

"Hey, relax." I bark, which immediately takes the glare off of Fulton's face. "I'm not mad at her for not telling him, because there's probably a good enough reason for it. Have you also thought about her not wanting to tell me because I might not like hearing it? That seems like a pretty smart decision to me. Apologize."

Almost instantly, Fulton says his apologies and walks out. He may be the other half of the Bash Brothers and my best friend, but I won't let him disrespect my girlfriend. I get that he's just trying to protect me, but I can look out for myself just fine. I'm definitely going to need to talk to him and tell him he's gotta start easing up.

Now that Fulton is out of the conversation, I look back to Morgan. She's still clearly worried, so I open my arms out to her for a hug. She immediately comes over and accepts the hug, squeezing me as tight as she can.

As I feel how fast her heart is pounding against my chest, I decide to pull her closer to me. We stay like that for a while, until I finally let go to lay back on my bed. She joins me and lays her head on my chest, so I wrap my arm around her and pull her close to me again.

I can assume that she doesn't want to talk, so I decide to turn on the TV as a distraction for both of us. I flip through the channels until I find the Wild game, which immediately catches my eye.

I'm a hockey player, what can I say?

I look down at Morgan to ask her if this channel is okay with her, but she's fallen asleep. I smile to myself and pull the blanket higher over her, refocusing my attention to the game once I've finished making her comfortable.

I know Charlie and Sadie are at the game, because Charlie hasn't shut up about it for the past week. All I've been hearing at practice during every stoppage has been, "I can't wait for this game man," and "It's been too fucking long since I've been to a game."

It honestly took everything in me to not yell at him and tell him to shut the fuck up. Don't get me wrong, Charlie is like a brother to me and I love him to death. I would lay down my life for him if it came down to it. But holy shit, that guy never shuts up. He could have something exciting to do in December and would start talking about it nonstop in April.

As the second period is going on, I hear the distant laughter of Faith coming from Fulton's room. I didn't even know she was here to be completely honest, because this game has been insanely intense. The Wild are only beating the Saint Louis Blues two-one, but I feel like I'm watching a playoff game right now.

A few minutes later, the laughing stops. I'm sure there are a number of reasons as to why, but I'm not too eager to find out. Besides, I have a sleeping girl on me and the last thing I want to do is wake her up. That would pretty much be a death wish.

The Wild end up winning the game, and I let Morgan sleep for another hour before I wake her up. It's closing in on eleven, and I don't want her to get in trouble for staying out too late. Now that I know her dad doesn't know, the last thing I want is for him to become suspicious.

I offer her a ride home, but she insists that she's awake enough to drive. Before she leaves, I make sure that everything with her is okay. I don't want her to worry or panic about this Jake guy, because I'm not worrying about it.

As I watch her car drive away, I can't help but wonder two things. Should I honestly be worried about Jake? And what's going to happen if her dad finds out about us?