19. Callum
19
CALLUM
“ T hat was a blatant fucking cherry-pick! This isn’t fucking beer league,” Austin scolds when I take the puck and run it up the ice.
After I score, I pull my helmet off. “You’re just mad I got the breakaway.”
“No, you’re fucking lazy and taking cheap shots to make up for your shit skills.”
I skate up to him. “Shit skills? That’s a calculated move that takes more skill than you have in your pinky. If I was cherry-picking, I’d be offsides, and I wasn’t.”
He pushes my chest. “You’re a washed-up liar.”
I push him back hard. “No, you’re just pissed you were out there trying to showboat and didn’t read the ice. You’re on a fucking team. This isn’t a one-man show, and you missed the play because you were out there for yourself.”
He swings at me, but I anticipated it, and he misses when I duck. I catch him around the waist and take him down as Coach Beck blows the whistle.
“That’s enough,” he calls out as he skates onto the ice, and I resist the urge to punch him anyway. He came after me. I should punch him back. I should end it, especially when I know he’s with Blair. I’m confident the two of them are up to no good.
“Keep testing me. I promise you won’t win,” I say before I put all my weight on his chest and push up off of him.
“Balfour is right. You didn’t have your eye on the big picture, which is how he thinned your side and opened up the ice.” Coach Beck doesn’t play favorites just because we have a bond off the ice. In fact, he’ll go out of his way to use me as an example of what not to do more than not to prove a point, but he knows it also pushes me to play harder. If the refs are on your ass, it’s typically because you’re making plays, but you need to be smart with your plays. I know the boundaries, and while Austin wants my role, he still has a lot of learning to do.
As Coach continues going over the play, a beacon of platinum-blond hair catches my eye coming down the breezeway, and my heart instantly stumbles at its recognition. It’s my girl. I haven’t seen her in over a week since we spent forty-eight hours in bed, during which I reacquainted myself with every inch of her skin as we made things right between us. Then her brother called. I understand why she left. She’s looking for answers, but being apart killed me. It was different this time. Before, all our truths hadn’t been revealed and I welcomed the space, knowing we needed to take things slow so she could figure things out. Now that there are no longer any secrets between us, I don’t want to let her go. Her space is where I am. Period.
Her eyes connect with mine through the glass, and I can see she’s just as tired as I am. I’ve been playing better than ever, and we clinched the wild card seat. We play our first round in two days, and I’m glad she’s back because I need sleep. I left my hate for my father on the ice this past week. He stole years from me with my son. Sure, Eloise never kept him from me, but his threats kept her from me. They were a barrier that prevented me from having my family. That was his goal. He wanted to take from me what was taken from him, or at least that’s what I’m trying to tell myself because I don’t know what to do with the other theory. It’s too dark, too malicious. It’s pure evil.
I’m unsure what Coach continued to say after my eyes landed on her. I may have missed something important, but I don’t care. All I care about is getting to my girl. The team exits the ice and heads back to the locker room, and I skate along the glass as Eloise walks to the bench to meet me. I enter the bench area and set my helmet down before removing my practice jersey and shoulder pads.
“How’s Adler?” He’s the reason her trip was extended. What was supposed to be a quick two-day trip turned into more when her dad had a last-minute client meeting he had to go out of town to attend. Iverson brought Adler along as a surprise for Eloise. FaceTime calls are never enough, and I would know. I’ve had to survive off them for years while I’m on the road for work.
“Hard to leave.” Her face drops, and her sadness silently resounds in my chest. Our son needs his mother, and I feel guilty as fuck for taking her away, but isn’t a shot at a lifetime at a happy family under one roof worth a few weeks of sacrifice? For me, the answer is yes, but I’m also accustomed to living on the road for weeks at a time. It’s harder for her.
“Yeah, I was starting to think you might not come back.”
Her eyes snap up to mine and she gives me a small smile. “He’s been handling it like a champ. It doesn’t hurt that my father and brother have been treating him like a prince, but it’s starting to wear on him. I was tempted to bring him back with me and say fuck it, I’ll homeschool or hire a home tutor to keep him on track…” She expels an anxious sigh before adding, “But the season is almost over, and I feel like we’re on the cusp of removing all the obstacles that have kept us apart.” No sooner I’ve finished removing my elbow pads than she’s standing in front of me. “While we’re on the topic of hurdles, why didn’t you tell me your mother had all the money?”
Leave it to Eloise to change the subject on a dime. However, I understand the motivations behind the sudden change. The more we talk about Adler, the harder it is to let go of the sadness. I shrug at the new topic. “I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t matter. My mother had money, and when she died, it went to my father. I don’t have their money, so I didn’t see the relevance.”
She crosses her arms, and her brows tug together. “Are you sure she didn’t leave anything to you?”
The main reason she went to Massachusetts was to meet up with Iverson at High Tower to help him do some digging on a lead. This line of questioning now must be a result of that. I’m assuming they didn’t find any money trails linking my father or the Wyndhams, which means we still need to find out what dirt my father supposedly has on her family. “I did a blanket public search on my mother. If there was a will, it would have shown up.”
“But a trust wouldn’t have. Beneficiaries have to be notified of the existence of a trust, and since you were an infant when your mother passed, that responsibility would have been passed down to your father or the trustee.”
“Okay…” I say, taking my seat on the bench in front of her. “I don’t see how any of this is relevant. I don’t need any money. I make my own and don’t care to talk to my father to find out.” If or when I even speak to my father again, it will take great strength not to murder him on the spot with my bare hands.
She puts her hands on her hips and sighs heavily. “You’re missing the point. You might not care about the money, but we both know Lucas Balfour does.”
“Okay,” I acquiesce.
“Will you stop saying okay? Cal, I’m just trying to piece all of this together. Don’t you want to figure this out? I thought you wanted a little bit of retribution. This is?—”
I grab her hips and pull her toward me. “Hey, relax. I still want all the same things, but right now, I just need my girl.” I rest my chin on her stomach and look into the pale blue eyes that own every piece of my soul. “I missed you. You were only supposed to be gone for two days—two days turned into a week. If you want to set the world on fire, blondie, I’ll hand you the damn match, but first, I need a kiss.”
Her expression softens as her hands rake through my hair, causing my skin to prickle with goose bumps. A small smile tugs at her mouth, and she bends down, closing the distance, her lips gently taking mine once before she murmurs against my mouth, “I missed you so much. I don’t know that I’m cut out for puck bunny life.”
“Well, that’s good because you’re not a puck bunny. You’re my whole world,” I answer before feverishly crashing my lips back to hers. Looking up and seeing her walk through the breezeway felt like an awakening. Without her by my side, I was just going through the motions. I’m not truly living unless I’m existing with her. Needing more, my hands slide down her hips until I have one on the back of each thigh and pull her into my lap so that she’s straddling me. I need to feel her. Holding her calms me and serves as a reminder that all of this is real. She’s really mine again.
I get to my feet with her wrapped around me, and her eyes widen as she tightens her hands around my neck. “What are you doing?” She says with a shrill. In three long strides I make it from the bench to the ice. “Cal, you know me and ice don’t mix.”
“I know,” I confirm.
Her eyes swing to mine. “Then why are you bringing me out here?”
“Making sure my girl can’t run away again.” I watch the anxiety on her face morph into exhilaration as I skate down the rink. She’s so damn beautiful, especially when she lets me in, and I get all the pieces of her. We have come a long way in a few short weeks, but keeping the dark thoughts at bay, the ones that whispered she wasn’t coming back to me, was soul-crushing.
“I’ll never run from you, not again.”
“Hold onto that,” I say as I set her on top of the net.
“Cal,” she screeches as she grips the bar for dear life, and I chuckle.
“Relax, blondie. The nets are pegged into the ice, and it can more than hold your weight. How many times have you seen Nunez hop on top of the net after a win and hold up his stick?”
Her eyes flick over the net and the ice below as she releases an anxious breath. “Okay, get me down.”
“I can’t.” I run my finger along the top of her thigh-high leg warmers and watch her skin pebble beneath my touch.
“And why not?”
“I already told you. I needed to ensure you couldn’t run from me.” My hands run up the exposed skin of her thighs and dip under her skirt. “I never really liked leg warmers until now. I’m grateful they’re not tights.”
My left-hand drifts to her plump ass, and I squeeze hard as my right hand falls away, only to slowly count the squares as it climbs the bottom of the net in search of my favorite place.
“Cal,” she says, my name in warning.
I raise my eyes to hers and apply pressure as I teasingly run my finger down the center of her panty-clad pussy. “Hmm.” I quirk a brow as my hungry gaze locks with hers. “I want my girl.”
“Here?” Her lips pop open when my thumb rubs slow circles over her little bundle of nerves. “Are you trying to give me a reason to run?” Her eyes scan the empty stadium.
I hook my finger over the hem pull them to the side and use my middle finger to glide through her warm folds. “Do you want to run?”
“Someone might see.”
“It was practice. Trust me, everyone has changed and left. We live on the ice between games and practice this time of year. No one stays longer than they have to.” I tease the tip of my finger around her entrance.
“But—” Her words die when I sink my digit inside.
My mouth opens in awe as I watch her pale blue eyes flutter closed in ecstasy as her walls tighten around my finger. I finish her sentence. “But, if they do, they aren’t going to see anything but my girl sitting on top of the net.” I pump my finger slowly, and she bites her bottom lip hard. “Come on, blondie. Since when have you been scared of getting caught?”
“Is that a dare?”
“It’s whatever you need it to be to make that pussy come for me.”
I add another digit, and my hard cock strains against my cup when she rocks against my palm, seeking friction. There she is. That’s my girl, the one who didn’t care when or where because it didn’t matter. The only person who mattered was in the exact spot they needed to be. Her sweet moans and the sound of her juices sucking my fingers in have my mouth salivating for a taste.
I pull my fingers away, and her eyes snap open as she groans her discontent for their disappearance. “Don’t worry. I’m nowhere near done with you.” I lick her juices off my fingers before dropping to my knees. “But my mouth is jealous. I want to taste that pretty pussy when it comes all over my tongue.”
“Cal, get up. What’s happening is super obvious now?—”
My tongue spears her tight hole through one of the net holes, silencing her objections. A groan of deep desire is ripped from my chest as I taste her on my lips, and the scene playing out on the ice sets in. My dream girl is letting me have her on the middle of the ice in my stadium. She’s pushing her fear aside and choosing me. Fuck. I need more of her in my mouth. I reach up and tug hard at the hole, tearing the net for better access. With the tiny barrier removed, I’m able to dive deeper, and the second I do, I feel her walls pulsate around my tongue. She’s already so close to letting go. The risk of getting caught is intoxicating, every sense is heightened. The emotional high, coupled with the pleasure, is an out-of-this-world experience I’m seconds away from delivering.
“Don’t stop. I’m so close,” she pants as she grinds against my face as best she can.
I slide two digits inside. “Let go, blondie,” I say before sucking her clit into my mouth and curling my fingers to hit that spot I know drives her crazy, and she detonates. My cock twitches, and I feel pre-cum leak from its tip as I pump her through the aftershocks and her juices coat my lips.
I’m savoring every drop when her fingers tug at my hair. “Get up here.” A smile pulls at my mouth. I fucking love when she bosses me around.
“Yes, ma’am,” I say getting to my feet.
When I’m full height, she leans down and crashes her lips to mine. Her tongue plunders my mouth in a claiming kiss that sends the doubt that dared to lurk in the shadows out.
“I need your cock.”
I chuckle and reach for her hips to lift her down. “Let’s go home and you can have as much as you want.”
She shakes her head. “No, I want you right here.” Her answer leaves me momentarily speechless, not because I won’t give her exactly what she wants but because she’s driving the request. It might be an empty stadium, but she knows the risk. We increase our chances of being discovered every second we stay out here. She starts unbuttoning her blouse and raises a brow. “Who needs a dare now?” she teases.
I bite my lip hard before saying, “No, dare. Just making sure you’re really all in.”
I start tugging at the belt on my hockey pants, working it loose slowly, giving her a chance to renege as I decide the best way to make this happen. She snaps open the front of her bra, and her nipples instantly harden in the cool air.
“Fuck...” my hand cups one as my lips seal around its pert peak. Her nails drag deliciously over my scalp as she holds my head in place. I suck hard before nipping it with my teeth, eliciting a hiss that has her pulling my head back. “We’re not here to make love. I’ll worship every inch of your body for hours later. This right now is a quick fuck,” I say as I pull at her shirt, causing what buttons remained holding her blouse together to pop off. “You still want it?”
She licks her lips. “You know I do.”
I push my pants down, and my hard cock stands at attention. I roughly pull her forward and place a kiss on her exposed chest before saying, “You’re going to have to help me.” She nods her agreement. “I want you to use this crossbar as an anchor.” I nip her collarbone. “I’m on ice. I need you to hold us in place while I pound into you.” I kiss her jaw and find her eyes. “Do you think you can handle that?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time you pounded into me hard.” Her mouth covers mine, her tongue taking what it wants before she bites my lip. “Do your worst.”
I let her slide down my front until her ass is in my hands. I admire the weight of her round ass and the softness of her skin before saying, “Arms back. Hook your elbows.” With her weight lifted, I grip her hips and position myself with her entrance. “These are going to have to go,” I say as I tear her panties off. “Fuck pushing them to the side. I want an unobstructed view of watching myself disappear inside of what’s mine.” With the barrier removed, I run my tip through her folds, eliciting sultry moans as I coat my cock with her wetness.
“Fuck me, Cal,” she demands, and I drive in hard, knocking the breath from her lungs.
“I love hearing you beg for my cock, but you know what I love even more than your sinful pleas?”
Her hooded gaze locks with mine for an answer. “What’s that?”
“Knowing you needed this as much as I do.”
We’ve been apart for years, and in that time, all I’ve had is her memories. Knowing that’s not enough for her anymore means everything to me.
“Show me what I missed while I was gone.”
My fingers dig into her hips as I use them to hold myself in place and start driving into her at a piston pace. Watching my cock bottom out inside of her with every thrust is hot as fuck. My shaft glistens as more wetness collects with every stroke. But beyond the vision of her skirt hiked up around her waist, her perfect breasts bouncing with the rhythm I set… we’re exposed. In that exposure, we’re vulnerable. It’s not so much the act of getting caught. It’s what it represents. We’d both have a story to tell if this got out. I know what mine would say, and the way she’s all in right now has me believing the one she’d tell the world would match mine, and that’s what has my balls drawing tight to my body.
While I’d love to let this play out for hours like we do at home. We can’t. This is a quickie. “You need to get there, blondie,” I grind out.
She’s been anchoring us to this net, taking every thrust, and the way she’s using her core to hold us in place has her pussy squeezing my dick like a vise.
“Harder.” Her lidded eyes collide with mine. And I dig my nails in knowing precisely what she needs: more. She needs more than a quick fix. She wants to feel me until she can have me again. Being together like this is new again; in many ways, it feels surreal. Life doesn’t give you many second chances, yet here we are claiming ours. The pinch of pain, the inevitable half-moon marks that will blemish her hips, were all she needed to send her spiraling. “Yesss…”
My mouth finds hers, needing to be connected to her in all ways as her wall’s spasm around my length, and I come hard, following her right over the edge. Her legs stiffen as her heels dig into my ass, and she holds me in place while I coat her insides with my release. “That’s it, take every last drop,” I murmur against her mouth.
I want to put another baby inside of her so bad. I’ve been tempted to hide her pills just to ensure it happens sooner than later, but I haven’t, and I won’t. I want her to choose it, but the wishful thinker inside of me says trusting the pill is choosing it.
Slam … her lips break away from mine as her eyes dart around the stadium. “Shit! What was that?”
I pull her to my chest to ensure the coast is clear before setting her feet on the ice. “Hold the net,” I instruct as I fix her skirt and pull her blouse together. “It was probably one of the guys or someone on the cleaning crew. We should get out of here,” I say as I quickly pull up my pants. Once my pants are up, I sweep her off her feet and skate back to the bench.
“What if it was Blair? We haven’t given Mr. Bronson a story since I’ve been gone all week.”
“It wasn’t Blair. She’s out of the country visiting her mom.”
Her eyes come back to mine. “How do you know that?”
“I hired a guy to watch her. You’ve been doing your investigating, and I’ve been doing mine.” I say as I set her back on her feet, ensuring her skirt stays down in case someone is watching. “As for Mr. Bronson and the story. If you had asked me two weeks ago, I cared. I cared a lot.” I pull off my undershirt. “Put this on,” I say, holding it out to her.
“It’s sweaty,” she flinches back.
“Your shirt has no buttons, and I refuse to let you walk out of here with your tits out. Those are mine. Besides, you weren’t complaining about my sweat a few seconds ago.”
She rolls her eyes. “Fine.” She pulls it on, disgust written all over her face, and I can’t help but smile. It’s kind of gross, but I’m pleased as pie that she actually did it. “Why aren’t you worried about Mr. Bronson? Your contract is up this year. I thought you liked playing for the Kings. Shouldn’t you play by the rules to earn his favor?”
“I thought so at first. You telling me you gave up your trust fund also played into it. It’s partially why I agreed to your scheme with fake dating Blair. Suddenly, I felt the need to be a people pleaser to keep my job, be a role model for Adler, and support my family, but I don’t see it that way anymore.”
“No?”
“Nah, as long as I have you and Adler, the rest doesn’t matter.” I grab my jersey and pads off the floor. “The girl I want chose rags over riches and she’ll exchange silk blouses for sweaty T-shirts all for a good ride.”
She swats my stomach. “I gave up my shares to High Tower because I have no interest in ever taking over the Beck legacy. Iverson, on the other hand, changed his mind. It only seemed fitting to give them to him. That didn’t leave me poor. My father’s business does very well. I make good money working with him, and I enjoy it.”
“That’s good to know. My boat painting Baby Mama. You might become the breadwinner because I’m done playing by other people’s rules. They’ll get their story… our story when we’re ready or not at all, but first, I’m taking you home.” I smack her ass. “Sweaty T-shirts, skirts, and leg warmers might be my new fetish.”