Brooks
“ I ’d ask why you’re so sluggish today, but the look on your face says it all,” Halloway says, snapping a towel at me before throwing it in the bin.
Morning skate was brutal. My muscles were tight, I skated slow, but who fucking cares. I was on cloud nine.
“Shut the fuck up, Halloway.”
“Dude’s finally getting some and doesn’t wanna share the deets,” Powell says.
Thorne walks in with a towel wrapped around his waist. “Oh, I’d pay money to know the deets about the women who melted the ice man over here.”
“Yeah, slim to none he’ll be sharing those,” Polston says. “But I have a feeling I know who it is.”
“Me too,” Halloway interjects.
I pull on a shirt and shake my head. “You assholes wouldn’t know who it was if it smacked you in the back of the head.”
“I bet it’s the team doctor. You guys saw how he basically pummeled Tremblay when he mentioned her,” Levi Blake, our goalie, says, taking his seat on the bench in front of his locker.
“Oh, good one,” Sparrows teases.
I grab my phone and keys from my locker and stuff them into my pocket. “If you jackasses are done, I’m going home to get some sleep before the game tonight.”
“Yeah right, and I’m gonna be the king of England,” Halloway says while putting on his shoes. “Tell the mystery woman we said hi.”
I walk out of the locker room with a little spring in my step. I’ve never been one to brag about hookups, but I want to brag about Hayley. How fucking amazing and perfect she is in every way. And she’s mine.
Brooks: Just finished morning skate.
Hayley: Are you coming back over for a little? Cam won’t be home till 3, so we have some time to snuggle and nap.
Nap, my ass. I laugh a little as I unlock my SUV and climb in.
Brooks: I mean I should probably nap. Someone kept me up pretty late last night after our flight home.
Hayley: You’re the one who showed up at my house… do I need to refresh your memory?
Fuck. Yes.
Brooks: Hmm, it’s kinda fuzzy. I think you may have to.
Hayley: Well, then get your ass back here so we have time to rest and refresh that memory of yours.
Don’t have to tell me twice.
I throw my SUV into drive and head toward Hayley’s.
My chest feels warm at the thought of being inside her again.
I was hard all of morning skate thanks to the little present Hayley snuck into my workout bag before I left her house this morning.
As I was dressing for morning skate and scrounging for my socks in my bag, I stumbled across a red lacy thong.
The exact one Hayley was wearing before I left.
She must had slipped it off when I was brushing my teeth.
I had rubbed the fabric between my fingers, feeling the soft edges of lace before bringing it to my nose, Hayley’s intoxicating scent swarming my scenes.
Yeah, I’ve become the resident panty sniffer.
I park along the curb outside of Hayley’s townhome and climb her stoop two steps at a time. I turn the handle and let myself in. The faint sound of country music carries throughout the house as the smell of something cooking wafts through the air.
The sound of bacon frying fills the air, clashing with the music as I watch Hayley sway her hips side to side, humming along to the beat.
The black cotton t-shirt I wore last night hangs down to her knees.
My body hums with the thought of being inside her again.
Pushing off the door frame of the kitchen, I walk up behind her, my arms snaking around her waist.
“I could get used to seeing you in my t-shirts,” I say in her ear as she jumps in surprise.
“Hmm,” she moans out as she relaxes her head on my shoulder. “How was practice?”
My right hand rubs up her thigh, stroking her soft skin along the way before rubbing against her bare pussy. Shit. She’s not wearing any underwear. A stark reminder that I currently have them in my pocket. If you thought I was hard at practice, you can imagine how fucking hard I am now.
Pulsing.
Throbbing.
“You’re such a fucking tease, you know that,” I say as I brush a finger along her wet slit. Her arousal is already pooling between her legs. “I was hard all fucking practice thinking about you and how you were completely bare down here since you snuck your panties into my bag this morning.”
“Oh, so sorry to cause problems for you.”
She turns around in my arms, rubbing her hands over my tired, tense shoulders.
I should probably carry her up to bed and snuggle her into the side of me for a nap before tonight’s game, but my libido has other plans.
Gripping her thighs, I lift her onto the kitchen counter, kissing my way down the pulse of her neck.
The sound of bacon popping distracts her, causing her to pull away for a moment before my lips are back on her beautiful skin. “Brooks, I’m going to burn the—”
“Mom!” The sound of running feet echo through the entryway toward the kitchen, followed by the closing of the door. “Mom, we’re home.”
“Shit,” she mumbles, pushing me from between her legs and herself, off the counter. “He’s not supposed to be home till… Hey, buddy.”
Camden comes into the kitchen, throwing his bag onto the island. “Hey, Mom. Brooks, what are you doing here? That was a cool fight last night,” he says, holding out a fist bump to me.
“Uh… no. Cam, what are you doing home from school? How did you get home from school?” Hayley says, moving out of my hold.
“Gram picked me up. I had a doctor’s appointment, remember? She said she didn’t want to wake you.”
“And I see my reasoning for not waking you was justified,” a woman dressed in pink with perfectly styled, ash-blond hair says from the doorway. “If I would have known you had company, I would have just kept him with me.”
Hayley’s face paling just a little as she looks between Cam and the lady in pink. “Celeste…” she says, quickly recovering. “Thanks for taking Camden today. I greatly appreciate it. This is Brooks Miller. A colleague. He plays for the Skipjacks.”
Looks are exchanged between the woman I now know is Celeste and Hayley. Hayley’s almost as if she’s pleading for her to leave and keep quiet. Celeste smiles sweetly before extending her hand to me.
“Pleasure to meet you, Brooks.”
“You, too,” I say, shaking her hand. Her grip is firm even though her hands are dainty. “Well, I should be going. Thanks for checking up on my injury from the game, Dr. Marshall. I’ll see you tonight.”
Hayley flashes me a sad smile before offering to walk me to the door.
My hands itch to pull her into a kiss and tell her not to worry about it, but I think right now, it would do more harm than good.
Whoever this Celeste woman is has her visibly shaken, and who is this Gram person Cam keeps talking about?
Nonetheless, I place a chaste kiss on her cheek before turning and leaving.
◆◆◆
“Dude, this morning you were on cloud nine. Now you just look confused,” Halloway says while unbuttoning his dress shirt and placing it in the locker next to mine.
He’s not wrong. The entire scene from Hayley’s house this morning keeps running through my head.
She was on edge as if she had been caught doing something completely wrong.
I mean who is this Celeste woman anyway?
I mean she looked familiar, but I can’t be too sure that she’s anyone of importance.
And then there’s this whole Gram person, and where were they this whole time? Was Gram Camden’s father?
“Brooks, did you hear me?” Halloway says again, smacking me on the back of my head, drawing me back to reality.
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
“You need to get whatever shit is going on in that head of yours cleared out. We are not losing tonight, and you are not fucking up again and ending up in the box,” Halloway scolds as he finishes tying his running shoes.
I stand from the bench and grab my earpods before stalking away. “I get it.”
He jogs up beside me as I head to the workout room to warm up for the game. “Do you? Because you look like you’re not focused, and it’s the beginning of the season, man. Shit sets the tone for how we’re gonna end it.”
I get on the stationary bike and pedal as he hops on the one next to me. I pop in my earpods, turning my playlist on low, hoping Halloway will take the fucking hint. Yet, I feel him staring at me. His eyes narrow into tiny slits as he pedals. Sitting up straight, I rip my earpods from my ears.
“Jesus, fuck. What?” I growl.
“It’s a girl, isn’t it? The same one you had googly eyes for at the gala and the same one who provides medical treatment to the team.” He smiles triumphantly as I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m right, ain’t I?”
“Ain’t isn’t a word,” I say as I increase my pace on the bike. “And so, what if it is?”
He resumes pedaling with a smirk on his face. “Cassidy was right. You didn’t just get under Hayley’s skin, she’s under yours as well.”
The fuck.
“She’s not under my skin.”
He lets out a laugh as he increases his pace. “Says the man who almost tore my head off just now. You like her, and she likes you. And from the sound of it, you two are already trying this whole relationship thing.”
“Were.”
“Were?” he says, glancing over at me.
I thought this relationship thing would work out well with Hayley.
The chemistry between us is off the charts.
Like none I’ve ever experienced before. Yet, she froze and freaked out when Celeste and Cam caught us together in the kitchen.
The way she looked at Celeste as if she were almost pleading for her to swallow her whole.
It was almost as if I wasn’t just the only secret she was hiding.
I expected at least a phone call or text once I left her house, apologizing, but nothing came.
“I don’t know, man. She doesn’t want anyone to know about us. It’s like she’s keeping a secret from me,” I say, stopping pedaling altogether. “I was okay with her keeping us a secret, but I just have this feeling… there’s something she’s not telling me.”
And I’d find out eventually that, that gut feeling is right.
I always have a way of knowing that something isn’t right before it rears its ugly head at me.
It’s how I found out about Tiffany and the shady shit she pulled behind my back.
I was blinded by lust for so long that I’d mistaken it for love.
But no matter how I felt at the time, it never replaced that nagging feeling in my gut that something wasn’t right.
Saved me from making one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
He stops and looks at me for a moment. “Talk to her about it. She’s had a hard life from what I heard.” He shrugs, climbing off the bike and grabbing a jump rope. “Being a teen mom can fuck you up. Christ, I couldn’t imagine becoming a dad when I was her age.”
I sit on the bench press and marinate what Halloway has said. Fuck, he’s right. She was abandoned while pregnant, then cheated on by the first guy she let in, and now here I am. Acting like a total dickwad, not considering what has made her act the way she is.
“Talk to her and don’t let it fuck with your head. We need you, man,” Halloway says again before leaving me to stew over my thoughts a moment more.