Chapter 24 – Victoria
twenty-four
Victoria
I sit on the bed and wait for him to call. Trying to tell myself this is a good idea and not that I shouldn’t have booked a fucking flight to surprise him on the road.
I literally had no one to ask if this was a good idea or not, since our relationship is on the down low.
“What do you think would make you feel better?” I ask him as I take off toward his room.
He tells me his room number and I walk out of my hotel room, looking right and left as I put the hoodie on and head toward the stairs.
I’ve been here for four hours so I had a chance to do a dry run before he called, even though I didn’t have his room number.
I open the door and step into the stairwell as I walk down to the fourth floor.
I peek into the hallway through the little window, my pulse picking up like crazy.
I open the door and listen for a second before I rush past the rooms to his room.
“You,” he says right when I get to his room. “You make me feel better.”
“I was hoping you would say that.” I put the phone on mute and knock on his door softly, hoping like fuck no one comes out of their rooms, especially my brother. That would be an awkward conversation, especially after last night.
“Did you already send the cake?” He laughs as he pulls open the door and I see his mouth open and his eyes widen.
“I did better, I brought me.”
“What are you doing here?” he asks, and I look around.
“Can I answer that in your room so no one catches me?” I suggest as he lunges for me and drags me inside.
His arms wrap around me as he buries his face in my neck and picks me up off my feet.
My legs circle his waist as he walks over to the king-size bed in his room.
His bag is pushed to the side and still packed up.
“What are you doing here?” he asks me again as he sits on the edge of the bed, and he takes his face out of my neck, only to hold my face in his hands, kissing my lips softly.
“After the game, or maybe during your whole Hulk episode behind the bench…” I run my fingers through his beard and take in his tired eyes, and I want nothing more than to make this right for him.
“I booked the earliest flight I could get on, which was at the ass crack of fucking dawn. Then I had to book a hotel room here, and I called and asked for early check-in, but the girl was not having it. So I booked the room last night and had to download the app to check-in so they wouldn’t give my room away,” I ramble and see his eyes get lighter with each word.
“Then I got here and hid upstairs until you called.”
“I can’t believe you’re here.” He kisses every single part of my face, and I silently laugh.
“What choice did I have?” I question him. “You were all, they kicked my dog sad.”
He chuckles as he turns with me in his arms, lying down on top of me.
“I can’t believe you are really really here.
” He buries his face in my neck, hugging me so tight it’s hard to breathe.
“This is so much better than just hearing your voice. Also, I didn’t know that I needed this.
Needed you here until I saw you standing there.
” He looks at me, his eyes lighting up, giving me a soft kiss “Did you bring condoms?” he asks me.
“I swear, it’s like I’m the man in the relationship and I have to think of everything,” I huff out.
“You should be happy I’m not walking around with condoms,” he tosses out as he sits me up and pulls the sweater over my head and tosses it to the side. “Means I won’t sleep with anyone.”
“No, that just means if you do, you will either get her to bring them”—he takes off one of my sneakers and throws it to the side—“or catch an STI.” He throws the other shoe to the other side as he pulls the jeans off me and tosses them over his shoulder.
He’s about to pull my panties down when there is a knock at the door.
“Did you send me a Bundt cake?” he whispers to me.
“Yeah,” I hiss at him with a glare, my pulse speeding up as I get off the bed and grab my things in my hands, trying not to make any noise.
“Go in the bathroom.” He points to the bathroom and then halts when he pulls me back, and I try not to make a sound. “Wait, no, what if they want to use it?” He pulls me out as the knock comes again.
“Why would they be coming in here to use your bathroom?” I whisper frantically as I back up in the corner of the room. “Go answer the door.” I push him away as I hold my jeans and shoes to my chest. I look over and see my chest rising and falling with the way my heart is beating under it.
“Coming,” he calls. “Stay there,” he tells me.
“No.” I roll my eyes. “I was going to scale the building like Spiderman.”
He glares at me as he turns and walks away from me, pulling open the door. “Hey,” he says and I hear Knox’s voice. I don’t know why but I close my eyes and say a little prayer that he isn’t with Jaxon.
“Hey, Coach,” he replies, “was wondering if you had some time we could talk.”
“Um, yeah,” he hesitates. “How about I meet you in the lobby in five?”
“I was hoping it could be private.”
“Oh yeah, I’m just getting on a call,” he says, “but if you want, I can meet you in your room.”
I look up at the ceiling and then look out the window, seeing my reflection, so I slowly squat down to the floor.
I close my eyes as Knox agrees to meet him in his room in five minutes.
Only when the door is closed do I collapse on the floor and roll to my back.
“What are you doing on the floor?” Zane whispers.
“I was pretending to be dead if he came in here.” I don’t move from the floor, waiting for the pounding of my heart to calm down. I extend my arms to the sides and my shoes and jeans now fall out of them and onto the floor beside me.
“Because that would have been easier to explain.” He chuckles and holds out a hand for me to take to get up. “You half naked in my room, dead.”
“I saw my reflection in the window, and I panicked.” I slip my hand in his as he pulls me up, “Now I can’t even leave this room since the guys are going to be going out soon and shit.” I look around. “This is where I live now.”
He laughs at me. “I’m going to go meet with Knox.” He holds my face in his hands. “When I come back up, we can sneak you out of here and I can come and spend the night in your room.”
“You can’t do that; don’t you guys have like curfew and shit?” He leans forward to kiss my lips.
“I’m in charge of curfew,” he states, and I push him away. “I’m going to need you to stay here, and not answer the door.”
“You don’t say.” I shake my head as he laughs and kisses me with a smile. “So me running up and down the hallway in my panties, announcing I’m here is out of the question?”
“I haven’t read all the rules in the handbook,” he deadpans, “but I think you being here in my room, that’s against the rules.”
“You would be wrong,” I inform him. “They have girls in their rooms all the time. They just don’t get caught.”
“Out of sight, out of mind,” he says, and I nod.
“Sweep that shit right under the rug,” I mumble as he kisses me one last time and walks out of the room. “You definitely didn’t think this through, at fucking all,” I scold myself as I put my jeans back on and then lie on the bed.
Turning the television on and finding something to watch, it’s about an hour and a half later when he comes back into the room.
“Finally. It’s been eighty-four fucking years,” I hiss at him.
“You know when you kidnap a person, it’s common decency to go and check on them occasionally.
Call them, text them. Anything. Silence isn’t golden.
” He tosses his key card on the long dresser that sits under the television, coming over to the other side of the bed and plopping down.
“How is it kidnapping when you came to my room of your own free will?” He rolls to me and pulls me in his arms. “Sorry it took so long,” he says softly, and I can tell from looking at his face that it didn’t go well.
My hand comes up to run through his hair, as I cock a leg over his hip. “Everything okay?” I ask him softly and he shakes his head.
“No,” he replies, pushing the hair back away from my face. “If I thought there was a divide before, there is one even bigger now. Knox is thinking that maybe some of the players are throwing these games and these plays so I can get fired.” His arm brings me closer to him.
“Do you think that maybe that’s true?” I ask him, putting my hand on his cheek.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so. It’s one thing to lose to get me fired, but then again, they are being blamed for it also. It’s like a catch twenty-two. Maybe they don’t care.” He takes a deep inhale. “Maybe it’s just too fucking much,” he admits, sounding defeated.
“It’s not too much,” I counter him. “So you fucked up.” His green eyes look almost brown. “You fucked up and you own it. It shows you’re human and that you love the game. You love your team.”
“Sadly, they aren’t thinking like that.” He sighs. “Maybe it’s not meant to be. Maybe it’s my coaching they don’t want.”
“Zane,” I say his name, “do you think you can do this job?”
“No,” he says, “I don’t, but I think that these guys have it in them to win and play a lot better than they are playing.”
“There, right there,” I put my hand on his cheek, “shows you believe in them. That you want them to win. Anyone else would be pointing fingers at the players and not at themselves. You can do this.”
He rolls me to my back now. “Thank you for showing up here and listening to me.” He smiles as he softly kisses my lips, the sting of his beard always a good feeling. He kisses my jaw. “How did I get so lucky?”
“I have no idea, but you struck the lottery with me,” I tease and he barks out with laughter and I put my hand on his mouth. “They’ll hear you.”
“I think this is a challenge for both of us. You have to keep quiet when I fuck you.” He tilts his head to the side and I smile.