Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
WREN
"When does it stop being complicated?" I asked.
The first game of the preseason was about to start. Elenna, Sinclair and I had seats in the team’s box, giving us a good vantage point of the ice and each play.
In this case, the warmup. Sinclair was half-listening to me while watching Phoenix doing groin stretches.
"Who says it ever stops being complicated?" She tore her eyes off her goalie boyfriend and his pseudo ice humping, long enough to look over at me and grin.
I groaned. "Why did I know you were going to say that?" I hadn't even talked to Lex yet and already my stomach was in knots.
He may decide he didn't want to see me anymore if I was involved with Tiger. Or worse, he may insist I choose between them.
That would be difficult, to say the least. I could easily fall for him and Tiger.
I knew Tiger wasn't going to walk away, but knowing I still had one guy wasn't a consolation if it meant hurting another.
Tiger wasn't a consolation prize, or a fall back.
Neither was Lex. I didn't care if it was greedy, I wanted both of them.
I peered down toward the ice.
I couldn't see Lex from here, but Tiger and Bray were talking about something while they did a warm up skate. Whatever it was, it seemed intense. Every so often, one of them would look up in my direction.
Why the fuck was my stepbrother talking about me?
Yeah okay, it didn't take a genius. No doubt he was warning Tiger about me. Reminding him I was with Lex the other night. Potentially telling him my deepest, darkest childhood secrets, like the time I failed a maths test even after copying from the kid beside me.
If you're going to copy, make sure the other person has the right answers.
He might be telling Tiger about when I learned to shoot. I used to visualise Bray standing in front of me at the gun range. I learned quickly. Especially head shots and how to place a few handy bullets in the right shoulder. Why there? Ruin his shoulder and he'd never play hockey again.
Of course, he was always good at hitting heads and hands. To say we were competitive was an understatement. We’d done whatever we could to get praise from my father. And didn't we hate it when it went to each other instead?
There was always the possibility I was being paranoid. Tiger and Bray should be talking about the plan for the coming game. The Koalas were a tough team, in spite of their name. They'd give the Demons no mercy. If the guys weren't focused, they'd get their asses handed to them.
There Bray went, glancing at me again. The prick actually smiled.
Yeah, they were definitely talking about me. Why did he have to be so hot though? As a kid, he was as gangly as fuck. Then he hit puberty. He filled out into a smug wall of muscle, with a hockey ass made for grabbing.
I was tempted to flip him off, but it would be just my luck if someone had a camera aimed my way as I did it. That would not look good for the team. Instead, I leaned forward and gave him an enthusiastic wave, like I gave a shit.
His grin widened and he blew me a kiss.
Smartass.
"To the casual observer, you two might look like a couple," Sinclair remarked.
I stuck out my tongue in disgust. "Only if the casual observer doesn't know any better. He's good at fooling people. Believe it or not, there are people who think he's actually nice."
Sinclair put a hand over her heart and pretended to look shocked. "They do? How is that possible?"
"He seems nice to me," Elenna said. She had the night off from assisting Finley, the equipment manager. She'd worked all day to help get everything ready for the game. Usually, she was down in the locker room with him anyway, but tonight she opted to sit with us and watch the game.
"That's because you're nice," I told her. "You want to think other people are nice. Trust me, Braylon Ellis is a dick. He only thinks with his dick. Half the reason he started playing hockey was for the puck bunnies."
"You seem to think about his dick as much as he does," Sinclair teased.
I swatted her with my fingertips. "His is the last cock want to think about."
That brought me right back to the conversation with him in the kitchen the other day. My good mood melted away like ice in the middle of summer.
The memory of being abducted, pushed into the back of the van and held at gunpoint for days, flooded back. My whole body tensed.
"Are you okay?" Sinclair looked concerned at the abrupt change in my expression.
She and Elenna were frowning at me like they expected an answer.
I sighed and explained why Tiger stayed away from me.
Neither of them looked surprised. Elenna in particular, nodded in understanding. Whatever Tiger knew, Aidan knew. And whatever he knew, he told her. Most of it anyway, from what I could gather.
"Of all the words I’d thought I’d use to describe Tiger Pennington, sweet isn't one of them," Sinclair admitted. "Protecting you like that, even when you're both going crazy, is kind of adorable."
Yeah, sweet wasn't a word I'd use either, but I understood where she was coming from.
Everything he was doing, he was doing for me, including trying to find Nicholas.
I'd never had a man trying to get revenge on my behalf before. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
It was hot, but it could get Tiger killed. That was the last thing I wanted.
"I have no idea what he'd think if he knew you described him that way," I said with a forced laugh. "Sweet and adorable. I don't think that's what he's going for."
She laughed. "Fine. Brooding, grumpy and vengeful. Is that better?"
"Much more accurate," I agreed. "Those are three of my favourite things."
Elenna smiled. "Funny, mine too."
I'd guessed that about her. Aidan was a broody asshole. Orion was just broody. Finley probably fit the vengeful criteria the best. He'd smile while putting a bullet in someone's head.
"Bray is all of those things too." Sinclair gave me a sly smile.
I snorted. "What does he have to be vengeful about? Oh, right. My father had the audacity to marry his mother. He better not decide to act on it. I'd stab him in the eyeball with one of my cock pendants."
"If he's upset about that, it's only because he thinks you're off-limits," Sinclair said. "Some people frown on stepbrother-stepsister relationships."
That was true.
"We virtually grew up together," I said. "I've seen him naked more times than I care to count."
"That explains why you can't get him out of your head," Sinclair teased. "Is his cock that big?"
I stuck out my tongue. "Please. Yes it is, but I don't want to think about it." If I did, I'd imagine how it felt to run my hand up and down his length. How he'd feel sliding into my pussy. Pounding into me. Our sweaty skin sliding together. The sound of his moans when he came…
I shook my head to clear the thought away before I ruined my panties. I admit I was curious about what it would be like to fuck him, but he was still an asshole. There was no way I was going there.
Not again.
"Did your pupils just dilate?" Sinclair asked. "Elenna, did you see that?"
"I did," Elenna agreed. "Are you really attracted to your stepbrother?" She'd leaned forward in her chair and kept her voice down.
"I was thinking about Tiger and Lex," I said quickly. Now I was. An image of them touching each other popped into my head.
My panties were officially ruined.
Neither of my friends looked like they believed me, but they both nodded and sat back to watch the start of the game.
Right from puck drop, Coast had control of the puck, driving it toward the Koalas’ goal. Orion and Bray stayed close, Orion taking possession when the Koala's defense closed in on Coast, trying to smash it away from him.
Orion slid the puck over to Bray, who lost possession when one of the opposition’s defensemen slammed him against the boards and skated away.
Someone shouted, "Fuck off," but the defenseman skated away like nothing happened.
Elenna winced, confirming what I suspected. It was Aidan who shouted. Of course, who else would it have been?
The Koalas’ right-winger tried to sneak the puck past Phoenix, but he stopped the goal with his stick and smashed it back to Javey.
Javey drove the puck behind the goal and around before sending it spinning back to Coast right before a change of shift.
"They're playing better than they were at the beginning of last season," Sinclair said. "They all have their heads in the game."
"They definitely didn't last year," Elenna said. "The coaches have done a lot of work with them to give them the right mindset. It seems like half the battle sometimes."
"It really does," I agreed. If I wasn't in the right mood to work, I didn't get as much done as when I was. Now my Danglies were making me money, I was in the mood a lot more often. Also, I enjoyed making cocks, especially ones with piercings on them.
Bray was back on the ice for a shift. He now had the puck in front of him. He was keeping careful control with his stick. What he was doing was harder than it looked, but he made it look so easy.
I could skate and hit the puck, but the one time I asked him to teach me how to control it like that, I failed miserably. Of course, he'd laughed hysterically. For days.
Ever since then, I left the ice hockey to the experts.
He feinted to the left before flipping the puck and sending it to the right, straight into the goal. The arena erupted in cheers.
I clapped and cheered as loud as anyone. Even if I hated his guts, I appreciated his ability. And when it came down to it, I wanted the Demons to win.
After Bray scored the first goal, the Koalas were fiercer, angrier than before. They fought back, right up until the end of the first period, blocking every goal and keeping us from hanging onto possession for long. By the time the horn sounded, the score remained at one to nothing.
The players filed off the ice for a few minutes of rest and water, and a chance to regroup.
"If this is any indication of the way this season is going to go, it's going to be exciting as fuck," Elenna said. "I'm going to have no nails left by the end of it." She held up her perfectly manicured, dark red nails. Totally unchewed, as far as I could tell.
I laughed. "Me too." My bright pink nails were also unchewed, but they may not stay that way for long.
"Orion is going to be in a mood after the game." Elenna's smile faded. "He always thinks the team didn't win by enough goals. Aidan is just as bad. Winning isn't sufficient."
"Nothing less than total annihilation." I nodded. I had a feeling Lex would agree. I chewed my lip at the idea of talking to him, but it was something I had to do.
Tonight.