Chapter 14 - June
June
It was an innocent offer. Cole had walked me home in the storm, protecting me from rain and homeless men. Inviting him up to my apartment to dry off and have a drink was the least I could do.
But when he declined, I realized my intentions weren’t so innocent after all.
I wanted him to come up.
I wanted to see where the rest of the night would take us.
And deep down, I wanted something to happen.
I really liked Cole. I felt safe around him in a deep, primal way. It was obvious why he was the captain of the team. He was a calming, stable presence.
And I was still frustrated—sexually and otherwise—that my schedule hadn’t lined up with Rhett. I felt like I’d been given a season pass to Disney World but had only been able to use it once. This job was stressful, stressful in a good way, but I needed the sweet release that came from sex.
I took a hot shower, utilizing the pulse setting on my showerhead to try to get the release I craved.
I thought about Rhett, and the playful little winks he gave me when nobody else was looking.
I replayed the way he’d grabbed my waist with both hands while driving into me.
I imagined he was in the shower with me, grabbing me from behind this time while the scalding water ran over our bodies.
And then Cole drifted into my imagination.
I fantasized about him being in the shower with us, kissing me while his teammate fucked me from behind.
Cole grabbed a handful of my hair and pushed me lower, down onto his waiting cock.
I imagined myself wedged between them, the two of them moaning as they took me from both ends, four hands gripping my body the way they gripped their hockey sticks while gliding on the ice in front of the cameras and the world…
The orgasm that rocked my body was so powerful that my knees buckled and I sat down in the shower, trembling for several seconds before removing the showerhead from between my legs.
My chest heaved as I caught my breath, eventually mustering the strength to peel my body off the shower floor. Even then, my legs felt like rubber.
I thought about it as I settled onto the couch with a boozy hot cider.
Threesomes had always been a fantasy of mine, the kind of sex I usually gravitated to on the rare occasion I watched porn.
To me, there was nothing sexier than being shared by two men.
Passed back and forth between them, taken from both sides.
Feeling them shake and shiver with release at the same time.
It made me feel sexy and powerful in a way that I rarely did.
That kind of thing would never actually happen. I knew that. But it was harmless to fantasize about it when I was alone. Nobody had to know but me.
That’s what fantasies were for, right?
There was a text message waiting on my phone when I woke up the next morning, sent around midnight.
UNKNOWN: Hey, it’s Cole Thibault. My mechanic bailed. The storms are too bad tonight. She’s going to meet me in the parking lot tomorrow morning at ten. I’ll have her look at your car first. You can meet us there if you want, but otherwise I’ll text you when she has an update.
The storms had cleared out, so I ate breakfast and then walked back to the arena parking lot, stopping to get two coffees from the convenience store on the way. Cole and the mechanic were standing over my Bronco’s open hood when I got there.
“I don’t know how you like your coffee, so I got one black, and one with cream and sugar.”
“Cream and sugar, please.” He smiled as he accepted the cup. “It’d be better if there was Fireball in it, though.”
“I’ll remember that next time.”
The mechanic, to my surprise, was a butch woman with long brown hair tied into a single thick braid. She glanced at Cole and said, “Bringing you coffee? She’s a winner.”
Cole shot her a warning look. I wondered what that was about.
“How’s it look?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Spark plug’s dead. Just like Cole’s.” She jerked her head toward the other Bronco. “Storm must’ve fried them both.”
I shared a look with Cole. “My car was dead before the storm.”
“Don’t know what to tell you.” She shrugged. “Only thing I can think of that would brick both cars at the same time. Maybe there was static electricity in the air or something. Gimme ten minutes and I’ll grab two replacements from the store.”
“How was the boozy cider?” Cole asked while she was gone.
I let out a happy noise. “After walking in the rain? It was like heaven. You missed out.”
“I spent the rest of the night wishing I’d accepted,” he said with a smile.
“Oh?”
His smile wavered a moment. “Yeah, uh, I didn’t have any warm drinks at my place. I settled for a shower beer, then went to bed.”
“Ah.”
The mechanic returned and replaced the spark plugs.
It was still early in the day, and we had a game that night, so I went home and spent a few hours catching up on chores around the house.
By the time I was done cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry, it was time to head to the arena for all the pre-game routines.
When I got there, Cole was waiting for me in my office. “Hey,” I said, surprised. “Didn’t expect to see you here with the guys on the IR. Is your knee bothering you?”
“A little, but that’s not why I’m here,” he said. “I wanted to ask you something.”
I waited, but he didn’t elaborate. “Okay. Ask away.”
I could tell what was bothering him. He had a new injury, something probably small, and wanted to ask about it without setting off any alarm bells because he didn’t want to be benched. I’d seen it over and over at Georgia, and since I started working for the Reapers.
He ran a hand through his dirty-blond hair. “Do you want to go out sometime? On a date?”
It was, quite literally, the last thing I expected him to say. “What?” I blurted out.
“I shouldn’t have asked,” he said, holding up a palm. “Sorry. Forget I said anything.”
He started to leave, so I jumped forward and grabbed his arm. “Hold on.”
He stopped and looked at me, then down at the ground. For the first time since I’d met the captain of the Reapers, he looked… nervous.
“You caught me off guard,” I said. “I thought you were going to ask about an injury. Are we allowed to go on a date? When I worked for the University of Georgia Athletics Department, dating players was strictly prohibited.”
He stood up a little straighter. “As far as I can tell, it’s not not allowed. There’s no rule against it.”
“We wouldn’t have to, like, disclose it to HR or anything?”
“I don’t think so.” He smiled. “Is that a yes?”
“It’s not a no,” I said, smiling back at him. His awkwardness was actually kind of cute. “What kind of date are you thinking?”
His confidence quickly returned. “Dinner tomorrow night. I’ll pick you up. I drive a pretty cool car. You’ll be impressed.”
“I bet I will be. The only thing that could impress me more is if you were given the car for free.”
Cole flashed a perfect white smile. “You’re never going to believe this…”
I giggled in spite of myself. “Yeah. I’d like that. I don’t want to go anywhere fancy, though. I don’t need to be impressed by being taken to the nicest restaurant in town.”
“Of course,” he replied smoothly. “Besides, you’ll already be maximum impressed by my car.”
“I hope it’s the same car model used in a famous 90s car chase. By a famous athlete.”
“I don’t want to ruin the surprise,” Cole said, “but yes.”
“What surprise?”
Both of us jumped as Rhett walked into the trainer’s room.
“We both drive the same car,” Cole said. “The new Ford Bronco.”
Rhett rolled his eyes and turned to me. “Has he bragged about how it was gifted to him because he’s endorsed by Ford?”
“Several times, actually,” I replied. Seeing the two men next to each other was giving me flashbacks from my shower fantasy last night, and I could feel my cheeks growing hot.
Rhett frowned, glancing back and forth between us. “It feels like I interrupted something.”
“I’ll tell you about it when you’re older.” Cole clapped him on the back, then walked into the locker room.
Rhett watched him go, then turned back to me. “What’s that all about?”
I couldn’t think of a good excuse, and I didn’t like lying, so I said, “Cole, uh, asked me out.”
Rhett blinked. “Like, on a date?”
“Yep.”
“Oh.” He scratched the back of his neck. “And you told him you don’t date defensive players, right? Only incredibly-handsome right wings?”
“Actually, I said yes.” I stepped closer and lowered my voice. “Is that all right? Does that make things weird between you and me?”
“I have to say, I’m a little jealous.” He glanced at the door, then leaned in close enough for me to feel his breath on my cheek. “Fuck. It makes me want you even more. Think we can sneak in a quickie before the game?”
“No time,” I said. “But I wish we could.”
He groaned. “Stupid hockey. Getting in the way of my sex life.”
I turned sideways, allowing my fingertips to brush the front of his workout shorts in passing. The thin fabric couldn’t conceal the way his cock twitched at my touch. “But maybe after the game…”
“Yeah?” he asked as I walked over to my desk.
“Maybe,” I said. “But only if you score two points tonight.”
Something intense flashed behind his crystal-blue eyes. “Challenge accepted. I’m easily motivated.”
We all fell into our pre-game routines. I monitored the progress of the guys on the injured list as they went through their exercises, then moved on to the players who were still on the roster but dealing with minor aches and pains.
That was the thing about hockey: nobody ever felt a hundred percent healthy.
Everyone was always dealing with something.
The game itself was a disaster from the start. Our left wing took an elbow to the mouth, knocking him out of the game—and knocking two teeth from his mouth. By the time I was done helping him up the tunnel, we were losing 3-0.
We gave up another goal in the second period, which led to Coach Jay pulling Elias from the goal and putting in the backup goalie. But he fared no better, allowing two more goals in the third period en route to a 6-0 loss.
Coach had everyone running drills after the game—the offense and the defense. Elias was the only one not out on the ice, for whatever reason. I sat on the bench and watched the players skate back and forth. Nobody looked happy, which meant my own mood was sour.
“You can go home, June,” Jay said after a little while. “Nothing for you to do here, and I’m not letting them leave any time soon.”
“Sorry about the loss,” I said as I headed back up the tunnel to the locker room.
So much for hooking up with Rhett tonight.
I was in my own head, thinking about the game and Rhett, that I didn’t notice the person sitting in my office. I almost jumped when I realized I wasn’t alone.
It was Elias. For a few seconds we just stared at each other, like two animals that had stumbled into each other in a forest.
Then, without a word, he raised the side of his shirt. A pale blue bruise covered his ribs.
“I do not wish to be benched,” he said in a deep, but quiet, voice. “Will you help me?”