Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Leo
It’s been the worst week I’ve had in a long time. I’m still traveling with my team, but I’m not part of it.
I go to meetings and meals with my teammates, but I’m on the outside. They’re the ones bleeding and fighting for the wins. I’m just a spectator.
Melina examined my knee a few days ago and confirmed it’s a torn meniscus. We both knew already, but it still sucked to hear her say it. I’m wearing a knee brace and it’s feeling a lot better just from not playing hockey. I don’t know if that means anything or not, though.
“How’s the knee?”
Our team owner, Hudson McClain, approaches me in the tunnel outside the Winnipeg visiting locker room.
He comes with us on road trips occasionally, and he never misses a home game.
Some teams have shitty owners, but we’re fortunate.
Hudson is a big fan of the game, but he never tries to micromanage his staff and coaches.
“It’s better than it was,” I say.
Hudson is in his late forties. He made his fortune in real estate starting in his twenties. He played hockey in high school, so he actually knows the game.
“You’re standing out here wondering if we would’ve won if you’d played tonight,” he says.
He read my mind. I don’t deny it.
“Don’t do that, Leo. Injuries are physical and mental. Murray talked about that in one of his sessions, remember?”
I nod. “I do. I remember a lot from that one.”
Hudson hired a mindset coach to work with us a couple years ago. He comes in from time to time and gives presentations to the team and coaching staff, and he also works with us one on one when we need it. I’ve never done any one-on-one sessions because I worried he’d be able to tell I have anxiety.
I’ve got more of a fuck-it mentality at this point. I work harder than any player on this team. That’s not arrogance; it’s a fact. I’m early to practices and I stay late. I work with a trainer year round to stay in peak physical shape. I treat every game like a championship is on the line.
All this time, it was my own feelings of inadequacy that drove all that. I felt expendable—like if I wasn’t giving everything I could physically and mentally give, I’d be replaced. I’m tired of feeling that way all the time.
“Rest and rehab,” Hudson says. “You’ll be better for it when you come back.”
“Thanks. How’s Maya?”
He smiles at the mention of his teenage daughter. “Still testing my sanity on a daily basis. She tried to leave the house earlier in a shirt that was the size of a dishrag. Not on my watch.”
I smile. “Did you make her change?”
“Hell yes, I did. I don’t give a fuck what the style is. She wants to wear baggy pants with holes in them and shirts that are three sizes too small.”
“How old is she now?”
“Fourteen going on thirty. One of her friends got her septum pierced, so Maya keeps asking me if she can too. Over my rotting dead corpse.”
I shake my head. “Carter’s getting there with Olivia. Kind of makes me hope I have boys when the time comes.”
“I can’t even imagine. A kid who just wears a regular T-shirt and regular pants? My blood pressure would drop thirty points.”
The locker room door opens and Carter steps out and looks in both directions, his gaze landing on me.
“You’re supposed to go to the will-call window.”
“Will call? You mean where people pick up their game tickets? I have no idea where that is.”
“Figure it out, dumbass.”
“Why am I going there?”
He shrugs. “No clue.”
Hudson furrows his brow. “Do you want me to send someone else? That’s a lot of walking with your knee.”
“No, I’ll be okay. I just can’t imagine why I have to go to the will-call window. This better be good.”
“Let me get someone to drive you on a cart.”
That would be a hell of a lot easier. “You sure?”
“You don’t even know where you’re going. Come on, let’s get you some help.”
A few minutes later, I’m bracing myself in a vehicle that looks like a golf cart with no roof, a Winnipeg staffer flooring it down the concrete-floored tunnel.
“Messed up your knee?” He gestures at the knee brace.
“Yep.”
“That’s no damn good.”
There’s a thick metal support post ahead, but he’s still driving at top speed, heading straight for it.
“You see that, right?” I ask.
He turns the steering wheel hard at the last second. “I know this place like the back of my hand. Been driving these tunnels for years.”
He picks up a remote and pushes a button. “Time for a little elevator ride.”
We ride the elevator up, and as soon as the doors slide open, he floors the gas pedal again. I’m going to be lucky if I get to will call with nothing more than my knee injured.
There are still a few people in the arena’s lobby, but they wisely give the driver a wide berth. I give as many apologetic looks as I can.
“Will call’s closed,” the driver says. “You sure this is where you’re supposed to go?”
“I’m s?—”
I stop when I see a woman with long dark hair sitting on a bench. Her hair is curtaining off her face, but I know it’s her. Mara. My pulse pounds as we get closer.
She looks up and sees me, breaking into a smile.
“She’s here for you?” the driver asks, slowing down.
“Yeah.”
He whistles. “Lucky man.”
When he stops, I get out of the vehicle and walk over to Mara.
“Surprise,” she says, her eyes questioning. “Hopefully a good one.”
“Are you kidding? Nothing could beat this. I can’t believe you’re here.”
I wrap my arms around her waist and she hugs me around my shoulders. Her soft body and light citrusy smell make me forget my bad mood from the loss.
“I know it’s crazy,” she says, pulling away to look into my eyes. “You’ll be home tomorrow. And it’s Friday night, so I couldn’t leave until after work and I just got here. Also Canada. But here I am.”
I cup her face and kiss her. The kiss lingers for a few seconds until a horn beeps.
“It’s a family venue,” the driver cracks. “You two want a ride back down to the tunnel?”
I consider. “No, thanks. We’ll get a ride.”
“You got it, Mr. Abbott.” He touches the tip of his hat. “Have a nice night.”
He takes off, quickly reaching breakneck speed.
“What the hell?” Mara stares after him. “He has to be going at least twenty miles an hour.”
“Yeah, it was an interesting ride up here.” I smile at her. “Worth it, though. You wanted my body bad enough to fly to another country for it. I’m touched.”
There’s a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Will I be touched, though? That’s what I want to know.”
I grab her around the waist and pull her against me. “Damn right you will. I’ve been thinking about touching you every minute since I left.”
A little worry line appears between her brows. “I’m so here for it, but is there a restaurant at your hotel? So I could maybe grab a sandwich? I’ve only had a bag of airplane peanuts.”
“We’ll order room service.”
Her face lights up. “Yes, please. Are there any fluffy white hotel robes? I’ve never stayed at a place nice enough to get a robe.”
I put my arm around her waist. “We’ll get you a robe. Later. Right now, I’d rather get you out of your clothes.”
We start the walk to the arena’s exit, and as I hold the door open for her, her eyes lock onto mine.
“Thanks for being happy I came,” she says. “I thought you might think it was too much.”
I give her a serious look. “It’s been a hard week, and it means a lot to me that you’re here. More than you know.”
I call us an Uber, and she snuggles into my chest as we wait for it to arrive. I only have my suit jacket, and it’s freezing, so she tucks her hands inside the jacket.
Not only have I been frustrated about not playing all week, but I’ve also been worried about her because of the guy who sent the email. The police still haven’t found him. She’s been staying with Dex, but I don’t know how long she’ll want to keep doing that.
The team’s hotel for this trip is understated on the outside, but very nice inside. I checked in earlier. I already have my key card. Teammates occasionally have their wives or girlfriends stay with them after a game on a road trip, but I never have.
It feels fucking amazing, walking across the hotel lobby with Mara at my side. I’m not playing any games with her—I like her a lot, and I want her to know it. I sent flowers and have been keeping in touch every day with calls and texts.
This is her version of not playing games—she wanted to come here, so she did. I’m going to be making sure she’s happy about that decision.
As soon as the door to my room is closed behind us, a switch is flipped inside me. I feel like a lion stalking its prey; I’m hungry for her, and I’m not feeling patient.
I take off my suit jacket and set it on a chair, then kick off my shoes.
“I missed you so fucking much,” I say, already rock hard.
“I missed you, too. But I haven’t even touched my vibrator. I only wanted you.”
I pull off my tie and drop it on the floor. “Good girl. Take off your shirt so I can see your tits.”
She slides out of her jacket and toes off her shoes, then strips off her shirt. Her bra is black, a little bow resting between her breasts.
I manage to get my dress shirt off before I pull her body against mine and kiss her. She moans and unfastens my pants, as eager as I am. I make quick work of releasing the brace from around my knee and tossing it aside.
Then we’re all lips and tongues and roaming hands, both of us pulling each other’s clothes off. Once she’s completely naked and I’m only in boxers, I stand back and look at her.
“So beautiful,” I murmur. “Lie down.”
She gets on the bed, unfazed by the lights being on. Her confidence is a huge turn-on.
I take my time, kissing her ankles, her calves and her thighs. She gasps and holds onto my hair, trying to guide my head between her legs. I just laugh against her bare skin and kiss my way from her lower stomach to her breasts, teasing one nipple and then the other before I repeat the process.
“Please, Leo,” she begs.
I fucking love the sound of my name on her lips. I reward her by licking her seam from bottom to top, making her whimper. As soon as my tongue touches her clit, she tugs on my hair hard and bucks her hips.
She’s already close. I put a finger inside her, sucking her clit into my mouth. Within half a minute, she’s coming, pulling on my hair and crying out my name.
Her eyes are glazed when she lifts her head to meet my gaze.
“Inside me,” she says breathlessly. “Fuck me the way you like it until you come.”
I tug off my boxers and bury my cock deep inside her. It’s everything I’ve been fantasizing about and more. She puts her hands on my ass and pulls my hips closer, urging me on.
I want to fuck her in every imaginable position for the next hour, but that’ll have to be our second round. My climax is approaching like an out-of-control freight train.
It hits me hard, the orgasm barreling through my entire body. I immediately feel a sense of fullness, like everything is what it’s supposed to be in this moment.
“Your knee seems better,” Mara says lightly.
“Maybe this is the right rehab for it. I could ask the team to put us up here for the next few weeks.”
She laughs. “Let me know how that goes.”
I kiss her jawline, her nose and her lips. “Ready for that room service?”
“You read my mind.”