Chapter 24 – Victoria #2
“Challenge accepted,” I declare right before his tongue slides into my mouth. It really is a challenge but one I am absolutely up to.
Zane slides his jacket on and I watch him, sitting up in bed, lying against the pillows at my back, the sheet covering my naked body. “What are you going to do while I’m at the game?” he asks, pulling his cuffs out of the sleeves of his jacket.
“I was going to go to the hotel bar and pick up a stranger,” I retort, and his eyes go into slits as I try not to burst out laughing. “What? It worked before, didn’t it?” I hold up my hand, and he comes to sit at the side of the bed.
He puts his hand on top of me and leans in. “Seriously.”
“Well, when you leave here, text me when the bus is away from the hotel. I’ll sneak out of here and head to my room,” I tell him. “I have a flight tonight at seven.” He frowns. “You’ll be home tomorrow, and I’ll see you then.”
“Yeah, but you won’t be here tonight,” he pouts in a low voice.
“I think you can be a big boy and be brave.” I put my hand on his cheek and there is a knock at the door. “I’m also never, ever doing this again.” He smiles. “In my whole life,” I whisper, and he bends to give me a soft kiss.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says, whispering, “but I’ll call you tonight.” The knock comes again.
“Go.” I push him away from me. “And play nice with others.” He shakes his head and opens the door.
I hear the mumbling of voices as the door closes behind him with a click. I wait for a full two minutes before I get out of bed and get dressed. I’m sitting on the bed dressed when he sends me the text.
Zane:
Coast is clear, we are all on the bus.
Me:
Perfect, talk later.
I’m going over a couple of emails, when the door opens and Knox steps in followed by Jaxon.
I know they both just landed since I got a text from Zane not too long ago telling me this.
“Well, well, well,” I say, leaning back in my chair, “if it isn’t the guy who lost his shit on the ice and his sidekick. ”
“Okay, one,” Knox refutes, “that would be Kirby.”
“And two, I didn’t lose my shit on the ice,” Jaxon snaps. “I was trying to—”
“Get a penalty.” I put my elbows on the desk and look at him. “Yeah, I know, heard all about it.”
“Yeah,” Jaxon says, “from who?”
I scoff, “It’s all over the family chat.” I smile big. “I started it.”
“I’m going to see Kylie and then we can go.”
“This is the last time I carpool,” Jaxon mumbles to Knox as he walks to Kylie’s office, who squeals when she sees him.
My eyes look to her office and I’m smiling as the door opens again, and I look over to see a man come in with a vase of roses. “Delivery for a Ms. Stevenson.” I get up, avoiding looking at Jaxon.
“Thank you.” I hold out my hand to grab the roses and see the card on top. I put the vase down and quickly grab the card, in case Jaxon grabs it before me.
“Well, well, well,” Jaxon says from behind me as I pretend I’m smelling the flowers, but I’m trying to hide the card. “What do we have here?”
“We have a beautiful bouquet of roses,” I state, pointing to them. “Something you probably didn’t send your wife and mother of your child.” I raise my eyebrows as I pretend my heart isn’t going crazy in my chest. “Someone is a winner here,” I point to the floor, “and it’s not you.”
“Who are they from?” He narrows his eyes at me.
“The same guy I went hiking with,” I tell him and smile big. “You remember his name, it’s None of Your Business.” I sit down. “Or it could be the threesome I’m in. The list is endless.”
“Yeah, right,” he scoffs at me.
“You don’t know my life, Jaxon.” He rolls his eyes at that.
“So you are actually seeing someone?”
“Maybe, or maybe I just made someone’s day by smiling at them and they sent me flowers. There could be a million reasons.”
“Okay, I’m good to go,” Knox declares, coming out of the office, wiping his lips that are full of lip gloss, followed by Kylie, who now has no lip gloss left on her. “Oh cool, flowers.”
“Yes, they are for me.” I point to myself. “And you need to leave and take this oaf with you.”
Jaxon glares at me as he and Knox leave. I look over at Kylie, who has her eyes big as she looks at me and the flowers. “I’m not talking about it,” I tell her, and she whistles.
“Is this the reason you called in sick?” She tries not to laugh at me as she uses her fingers around the word sick.
“I didn’t call in sick,” I counter to her smirking face. “I was owed days off, so I took them.”
“If you want to talk about what you did on your sick days,” she uses her fingers to air quote sick days, “I’ll be in my office.”
“Good to know,” I reply, and she walks away to her office. Only when I hear her typing on her keyboard do I take the white envelope out and turn it over, pulling out the card.
V,
Thanks for scaling the walls for me.
Z.
I smile, putting the card in my purse and then texting him.
Me:
You know what’s nice? Getting flowers. You know what isn’t nice? Getting flowers when your brother is here and having to be Houdini, making the card disappear before he sees it.
Zane:
I knew you had many talents.
Me:
Don’t try to butter me up.
Zane:
You coming over after work?
Me:
Depends.
Zane:
On?
Me:
Well, what is in it for me?
Zane:
My sunny disposition and winning personality.
Me:
Ehhh, pass. That describes me.
Zane:
My mouth, my fingers, and my dick.
Me:
Sold.
“Well, whoever it is, is making you blush,” Kylie teases from the side, and I turn my phone over. “You need a minute?”
“Yes, I can’t work in these deplorable conditions.” She bursts out laughing. “Also, I want lunch.”
The rest of the afternoon goes by at what feels like a snail’s pace, Kylie leaves right after lunch to go and pick up the kids with Knox. Finally, at three thirty I pack up my things and head out.
I call him as soon as I pull out of the garage. “Hey, beautiful,” he croaks, and his voice is deep and it sounds like he was sleeping.
“I just left work,” I tell him. “Should I come over now or later?”
“Now,” he replies. “Call me when you are close and I’ll open the garage door for you so you can park inside.”
“Should I bring anything?” I ask him. “Pick up anything?”
“Just you, baby,” he says, his voice a grumble, and I can’t help but smile.
“See you soon,” I say, putting the phone down. Pulling up to his house, he’s standing in the open garage door. He waits for me to turn off the car before pressing the button for the door.
I am barely out of the SUV when he wraps his arms around me and gives me the biggest hug I’ve ever had in my whole life. It’s not a hug that says “Hey, glad you’re here.” No, it’s a hug that says, ‘Now that you’re here, I’m okay.’
“Someone missed me,” I note, looking up at him and seeing his eyes look tired.
“Best thing that happened to me today,” he replies, and I reach up to touch his face.
“I thought the best thing would have been the team winning.” I try to make a joke out of it.
“Seeing them win was good.” He wraps his arm around my waist as we make it inside. “Reading the headlines today, not so much.”
“Don’t you know the rules?” I ask him. “Never, ever read the headlines.” I smile up at him as he walks us into the kitchen. “It’s like a rule in our house that we weren’t allowed to read the headlines or talk about the headlines. Sort of like Fight Club.”
He picks me up and places me on the counter, and my legs open for him as he steps in between them. “No one told me that rule,” he admits as I lay my arms on his shoulders. “I should probably listen to that one.”
“You should,” I tell him. “Follow me for more of my TED talks.” I make a joke and when he bends his head, his mouth swallows our laughter.
His tongue slides into my mouth and the kiss softens, and then it’s as if we haven’t seen each other in weeks or months.
He pulls me closer to him and my legs wrap around his waist. His hands go from my back to my breasts, and he’s about to peel the shirt off me when the doorbell rings.
He steps away as he looks at me as if I’m the one ringing the doorbell. “Yeah, right, it’s me,” I say, pushing him and then I look around. “Who is it?” I ask him.
He walks over to the side of the fridge, checking his monitor and his hands go to his head. “It’s your brother.”
“What?” I hop off the counter. “Why?” I ask him, looking around and then heading for the stairs. “I’ll be in your room. Do not tell him I’m here.”
“Yeah,” he hisses at me as he runs his hands through his hair, “that’s exactly what I’m going to tell him.” I make it downstairs as he opens the door.
“Hey,” I hear him say as I hide at the entrance of his room, looking up, “this is a surprise.” He clears his throat. “Come in.” I put my hands on my mouth when I remember I left my purse right near the garage door.
“I think we should talk,” Jaxon says, and I lean in more to make sure I can hear him, “especially after what happened on the road.”
“Yeah,” Zane agrees, “we should. I’m sorry for snapping at you. There was a time and a place for it and the bench wasn’t one of them.”
“I deserved it,” Jaxon admits, and I smile, but then the smile fades.
“Listen, I want you to know I think you’re a great guy.
” My stomach tightens and my mouth dries.
“I just don’t know if you are the guy to lead the team.
” I close my eyes, the burning at the back of my neck makes my eyes go dry and start to sting.
“I think that a couple of years down the line with more experience under your belt, you would be fantastic.”
“So you came over here to tell me that I suck at my job?” Zane’s voice sounds as if he’s both pissed and sad at the same time.
“No, I came over here to tell you I think you should really think about things moving forward. Change things up a bit. Go back to what Martin was doing, since it was working. Maybe this group of guys is too much for you. They’re veteran players and most of them don’t really take well to change.”
“Are you one of them?” The question is valid. I close my eyes as I wait for the answer.
“No, I’m not one of them,” he replies. I want to smile but his next words take it all back. “But I’m also going to say that I’ve started to change my mind.” I put my hands on my head and all I want to do is charge out there and tell him that he’s wrong. He’s so, so wrong.