Chapter 10 Kane
Kane
I’m losing my mind. I’m definitely texting Ollie more than she’s texting me, and a phone call so I can hear her voice is out of the question. But I don’t understand why.
Her replies are sporadic, and I’m trying not to be too needy. I want to see her before we leave in a few days for our away games. When I offered to meet up, she was evasive, and I’m starting to get the hint.
She said she wouldn’t bolt on me. So, in a way, this is worse.
The fact that I’ve even gone back to the hospital just to see if I can find a single hint of maple syrup proves how bad I’m down for her.
It’s my fault, because there were fans who filmed us leaving a heat room together.
The jacket hid Ollie’s face, but they got videos and pictures of me with my arm around her, and it went viral too quickly.
People don’t watch me all the time, but she clearly said that she didn’t want any heat.
So, I’m probably the worst person she could scent match with.
That’s the only reason I can think of why she keeps saying no every time I ask her if she wants to meet. But it doesn’t explain why I can’t call her.
We have three away games, and then we’re back with only a couple of days off until we play hard at home and away before our big date. And I can feel she’s getting ready to ditch me.
I just want to know if she feels the same desperate need that pounds in me at a single thought of her.
My whole body rings with her scent, and my memory of her is like a fever dream.
I can’t handle how much I want to be with her, and I have to keep telling myself it’s only because of the scent match and my alpha side demanding I find and bite her.
That’s all. If I hadn’t scent matched with her, it would be like any other hook-up I’ve had.
A sick feeling rolls through my stomach as I think that, because it can’t be true. Ollie could never just be a hook-up.
I’ve snuck out of the main building to go behind the rink. There’s a little walled-off area with a bench that no one seems to know about.
Or I thought no one knew about it. I wanted to call Ollie to see how she’d react, but this is equally interesting. Because lo and behold, who do I find?
Timber has squeezed his huge frame onto the bench against the wall. On his lap sits a large blue plastic box that looks tiny in his hands.
He stares at the box with a fierce expression and doesn’t even hear me approach.
“Hey, baby,” I say, pressing my hand against the wall right above him as I lean over him. “What you got there?”
He looks up at me, a scowl instantly creasing his face. My grin broadens as I get a closer look. “Is that your punishment from Marilyn for getting all horny with me out on the ice?”
“Do you have to stand there? Can’t you just… fuck off?”
“Not when you’ve got your itty-bitty lunchbox.
What’s in there?” I dip closer, pretending not to take a nice drag of his scent.
Every time I scent him, it’s like a shot of pure energy buzzes through my system.
He still doesn’t get why some of the guys randomly hug him to get a hit.
I’d get addicted to his coffee if he let me.
My gaze jumps over the neat array of brightly cut fruit and vegetables, as well as what looks like a rolled-up omelet, different chunks of meat, small pies, and dips. It really is a nice spread.
“Damn, that looks good,” I purr to see if I can get a reaction out of him. “Are you in the mood for sharing?”
As I take another deep breath, I suddenly freeze. My hand slips from the wall, and I gasp, falling even closer, my forehead practically on his shoulder.
There’s a sweet scent curling up from the box, the scent that’s been driving me wild at night.
I’m edging closer, drawn to her maple syrup. How the hell is she here? Why is she connected to Timber? She didn’t reply when I asked her if she had another alpha, but…
“What the fuck are you doing?” he growls next to my ear. I twist my head, realizing I’m bent double, my face level with his, close enough to kiss him if hot, hot fury didn’t beat off him.
Considering how broken he was the first and only time we kissed, it’s probably better to back off.
I quickly cover up how my heart is suddenly bursting with excitement as I reach over his shoulder to swipe a piece of omelet. He slaps my hand away, and I laugh as I pluck a little tart instead.
I have to keep calm, but there’s no way I could mistake her maple syrup for anything else.
Thumping onto the bench next to him, he hunches his huge shoulders as he picks up a celery stick with a frown. It’s honestly so cute the way he grumpily crunches it, and I watch him for a second before popping the whole tart in my mouth.
Need shudders straight through me, all the way from my tongue to my toes as the lightest sweep of maple syrup blends with the flavor of the tart. It’s like she’s stroking my tongue with the tip of her finger. I groan out loud as the taste spreads over my tongue.
Timber’s still glaring, and I grin as I swallow. But the second the tart hits my throat, I splutter like an idiot.
I’m gasping, hitting my chest to get the air back in my lungs, and he looks at me like I’m mad, which is totally right.
“Sorry,” I wheeze. “Wrong hole.”
There’s no way I’ve made a mistake. I had my tongue so far inside her that her taste is permanently etched in my mouth. I know when I’ve tasted my omega.
“Where did you get this?” I rasp, wiping my mouth with the back of my arm. I can’t suddenly go for the lunchbox and start chomping even though my cock is already responding.
His brow furrows. “What’s wrong?” Timber asks. “Is it really that bad?”
I shake my head instantly, trying to get my common sense back, because I can’t let my alpha side take over. If I give in, I’ll leap on Timber and lick up every last morsel in the box just to be close to her again.
“No, it’s… It’s amazing,” I say as I finally catch myself.
Every time I see him, there’s a swirl of guilt because I’m the one who broke his nose and took away his taste. But part of me still hopes he could sense her in some way.
I’ve been getting leagues ahead of myself by planning ways to introduce them and see if Timber reacts to Ollie, but it looks like they’re already beating me.
“You don’t look so good,” Timber says, peering at me. “Did something happen?”
Apart from my mouth watering, I half-hope he’ll look at my crotch to see how good I am down there.
I take another breath, and pleasure dances through me at the way their scents blend. Maybe Timber already knew her, maybe her taste was on him, maybe I can kiss him and lick up their blend of maple syrup and coffee, and live my new dream of being with them.
I scan the lunchbox to find where her scent is the strongest, and it’s definitely the cooked food. I can’t scent her on him at all, but it doesn’t mean she didn’t cook it. He could have bought it at a store, or a neighbor brought it over, or anything else that means Ollie is somehow in his life.
“Who made this for you?” I ask as I lick at the edge of another tart. I didn’t mean to do it, but the way Timber reacts, how he stiffens, how his eyes fix on my tongue, it makes me want to do it again and again.
Until his gaze snaps away from me, going for a cherry tomato the same color as his cheeks.
“That’s got nothing to do with you,” he says roughly as he pops the tomato in his mouth, and I down the tart, giving in and moaning deeply at the next wash of syrup.
Jealousy gnarls through me at how he’s got Ollie tucked away somewhere, and I can’t see her.
“Well, maybe I like this so much I want to order my own,” I hum as I go to pluck a grape, and he lets me.
Which already feels like a win, along with the fact that my shoulder presses against his, and he’s not jumping away.
I need to go in gently instead of casually asking him if he’s down to fuck because a piece of fruit’s making me horny.
“You really can’t smell that?” I say, running the grape under my nose. “Not even a trace?”
“You fucking know I can’t,” he growls, and I hesitate. I fight my need to apologize. He gets pissed off every time I try to talk about what I did to him, and annoying him right now is easier.
“Give it another go then.” I smirk as I hold it up to his lips. “You never know what might change if you try.”
Though I’d been flirting with him for years, he’s never responded.
He glares at me again before he tilts his head back, looking me straight in the eye, and his lips slowly part.
My world stills as he extends his tongue, sliding along my thumb and over my nail as he sucks the grape into his mouth.
He doesn’t break his stare as he rolls it, his teeth snapping shut as he crunches it in half, and I feel it echo through my body.
His throat bobs as he swallows it, and my chest tightens as my fingers hover in the air above him.
I want more. I need more. If Timber’s finally responding, then maybe there really is hope.
But he leans back as if nothing has happened as he licks juice from his lips. I’m pinned to the bench as another scowl rides his face like he hasn’t just destroyed me in a second.
“I don’t know why he bothered with all of this, really,” Timber says huffily. “It’s not like it matters what I eat.”
My hand trembles as I lift it. I know he can see me as I lick his taste from my fingers.
I could never compare Timber’s scent to real coffee; it’s something so much deeper and alive. I can taste his anger and frustration in it, but I can’t tell if the tang of horniness is his or mine. It’s so sexy I feel like I’m melting under his glare.
Dragging in a breath, I slump back against the wall as his scent and the sweetness emanating from his lunchbox make my head spin.
“Who? Who is it?” I gasp. “Just tell me who made this for you.”
At the sound of my voice, he shoots back so quickly that the bench rattles, and the openness he showed me seconds ago vanishes as he closes up.
“No one,” he replies stiffly, obviously lying. “Now, why don’t you leave me the fuck alone to eat in peace?”
How the hell am I supposed to leave it when my scent match is connected to him? I need to solve this mystery quickly, or I’m in for another night with my hard cock as I resist the urge to send Ollie dick pics so I don’t scare her away. I told her I was a gentleman.
I put on a fake smile and straighten my back like I haven’t just been gut-punched. I’m a delicate soul, really. One taste of my mates together and I’m head over heels. Though Timber will knock me out if I tell him I already think of him like that.
“How can I leave you alone when you’ve got such a tasty meal?
” I ask. “You said it’s too much, so let me share it with you.
” Because I’m basically drooling just looking at those neat rows of lovingly prepared snacks.
I love picturing my omega layered with piercings and chains, cooking up something pretty like those little tarts.
“No, it’s mine.” He suddenly clutches the box, pulling it out of my grasp. I would have been just as protective if it were anyone else but Timber reaching for them.
When he acts like that, it makes me want to tease him even more. It’s so dumb, but it feels like he’s getting defensive over Ollie, and it makes everything a million times sexier.
That’s how quickly I’ve spiraled in the days since meeting her. I’ve gone from idolizing her memory to getting horny over a freaking lunchbox.
I click my tongue as I push myself to my feet. I have to get out of here before I make it any worse.
I still lean in close for one more hit of his rich coffee.
“Sure, I’ll leave. But I’m going to keep bugging you for that name. So you could give it to me now, or I’ll buzz around you like a mosquito.”
“You’ll do it anyway,” he says dryly
“Yeah, that’s true. But now I have another reason to annoy you!”
He stares at me coldly, but I’m not giving up until I get that name. I just need to know that he knows who she is, then I can find a way to wiggle in between them and get our pack started.
Timber sighs heavily. “Luke Newham. He’s a nutritionist Marilyn assigned to me. He’s living with me for the next four months because, apparently, my diet isn’t good enough for her.” He glares at me as if it’s somehow my fault he inhales protein bars during our breaks and won’t eat anything else.
“Luke?” I say carefully. Like there’s any way I could mix up the two names.
“Yeah, what about it?”
“I’m just wondering what name to write when I get his number.” I smirk at him again.
“If you think there is any way I’m letting you sleep with my staff, then you can fuck off. And he’s a beta, so forget about it.”
“Oh? He’s your staff and not something else?” The fact that Luke is a beta just adds to the mystery.
The look of shock on his face tells me I’m on the money. I just need to keep pushing to find out how Luke and Ollie smell like mine.
His gaze speeds over me, landing straight on my crotch. His eyes widen as they shoot away, looking absolutely anywhere else, and my brow arches.
“That’s for you, if you want it,” I hum, and the way he jolts makes me edge even closer.
“Get the fuck out of here,” he growls as more red spreads across his cheeks.
I swoop down, plucking a carrot stick as my final prize.
I’m not going to drop it. I’ll come at him every day until I find the connection between them. I have a feeling if I ask Ollie outright how she knows Timber will put her on the back foot as well.
“Enjoy your little snack. You know where to find me if you want something more…meaty,” I purr, and I saunter off with a grin as Timber’s snarl follows me.