Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
SKYLAR
“What the fuck was that about?” Rhodes asks as we drive home. “He smelled…”
“Like he’s ours. Peaches and motherfucking tobacco.
I don’t know whether I want to eat or smoke him,” I growl.
“We’ve played against him before, but the ice has a way of fucking with our sinuses.
He’s bounced between teams, and we haven’t been playing the Midwest teams this season. Koen also isn’t the most social.”
“So you didn’t want to let go of him because he’s our scent match?” Rhodes asks.
“Correct. He’s adorable. Koen has no issues playing against the big dogs, and he has a reputation for throwing himself into the game like he’s going to fucking war,” I grumble as I turn at the light. “He’s someone Coach told us to watch out for.”
“It means he’ll have a target on his back this weekend,” Rhodes realizes. “Fuck. The Angels are going to go hard on him then. What the fuck can we do?”
“I’m going to drag his ass out of the dog piles whenever I can, and we’re going to talk with our agent to see if the Cougars are looking for a trade,” I grunt. “The cutoff is coming up soon, which means everyone is going to be scrambling to make their moves. Minnesota would be lucky to have us.”
“It’s fucking cold there,” Rhodes sighs. “It’s a good thing I love a reason to shop.”
My lips twitch in amusement at his words. My man is definitely a clothes whore. He can afford it, and he always makes sure to get the sluttiest scraps of lace along with it so I can tear it from his body with my teeth.
My scent floods the car, and Rhodes groans as he adjusts himself. Everything smells like rosemary, and I give zero fucks about it. His plug needs to come out soon so I can fuck him.
“What did you think of him?” I ask, beginning to think about everything we need to do before we prepare to pull up stakes.
It’ll be a new city to learn, new people to meet and the best restaurants to find, but that’s to be expected. Rhodes and I have been discussing changing teams, and the Cougars are pretty damn fierce. Unfortunately for them, their goalies aren’t as good as Rhodes.
In order to get my man, it’ll be made clear they need to take me too. My skills aren’t anything to sneer at, and Koen needs someone to watch out for him on the ice. If he’s going to fight, then he can have my fists to stay safe.
I love throwing off my gloves and fucking up shit too, but even I have the sense the good lord gave me. The omega captain doesn’t give a fuck how big the other guy is, he’ll throw down anyway.
“He’s gorgeous,” Rhodes admits. “Strong shoulders, a jawline that could fucking cut glass, and he smells like heaven. Here I’ve been thinking that I couldn’t possibly need anything else in life, and he strolls through the room looking like sin.
My problem is that he didn’t seem to react the same. He ran from us.”
“Baby, you know I love a challenge,” I say with a smirk. “I want to do some digging on him. Someone has to know if he’s on scent blockers or some shit.”
“They’re illegal,” Rhodes reminds me. “The league tests for them.”
“They do, but there are things that don’t remain in the bloodstream for long enough to pull a positive test,” I reply.
“Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. He could have allergies, or maybe a deviated septum or some shit from playing hockey.
The truth is we don’t know enough to be able to tell why he didn’t react to us as his scent matches.
It took everything in me not to shove him against a wall and kiss the fuck out of him. ”
“That’s probably a good way to get a restraining order taken out on you,” Rhodes chuckles. “How unhinged do we want to go?”
“That all depends on how hard he fights our scent match,” I admit, parking in the underground parking lot. “Let’s go upstairs so I can see what his dating life looks like. For all we know, he could have a pack.”
“The omega perfumed for us,” Rhodes says, his eyes rolling back as he remembers his scent.
“I know,” I sigh. “He was into us. Confused at times as to why we were hitting on him, but there was definitely interest. So why the fuck did he run from us?”
Rhodes falls into step with me once I lock the vehicle up, shrugging at my words.
“At the end of the day, omegas have it hard in this sport,” he says. “He doesn’t know us, and we’re from a rival team.”
“I’m planning to change that.”
“It’s so hot when you ignore all societal norms and go full out psycho-dom,” Rhodes says dreamily.
“It’s one of the many reasons you love me,” I say, hitting the elevator button.
“It is. However, not everyone enjoys your brand of crazy,” he says.
“I would think it’s better than any other kind of flirting. Stalking and obsession is a dying art,” I retort.
The elevator takes us to the twelfth floor, and I continue my plotting. Rhodes is right. What if Koen is already claimed? How far am I willing to go for this?
A pinch on my ass makes me yelp, and Rhodes chuckles as he unlocks our door.
“Are we going to be coy and pretend there’s any other outcome but for Koen to be ours?” I add.
Walking into our apartment, I begin to think about what I want our next home to look like. Life moves quickly for hockey players, and it’s why we’ve always rented our homes. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s time to set down some roots in a place that has some character.
“What do you think about buying a house in Lakeview?” I muse, ignoring the fact that I haven't heard Rhodes say a word since we entered the apartment.
Sitting on the couch, I open my laptop and enter Keon’s name into the search engine. If I was worried that Rhodes was pissed off, I’d stop and reassess things, but this is normal. Still, I sneak a glance over toward him while he slowly sits down on the couch across from me.
“Should I call Dana while you work on making sure our omega is a free agent?” he asks, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“Please. Are you okay with all this? I know that I’m a grenade in a pond when I get excited,” I admit.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this before, not really,” Rhodes says, leaning forward on his thighs in thought.
His muscles ripple irresistibly, and I bite my fist in appreciation.
“I’m good with this, baby,” he tells me.
“If we’re chasing the omega, then I’m all in.
We’ll do anything and everything to make it so that we’re all he sees.
Stalking his favorite bar, knowing where he gets pizza, what his favorite charities are so that we can get paired up with him. Koen won’t know what hit him.”
“Fuck, I love you so much,” I groan. “My cock needs to be knot deep in your ass very soon. Now, the good news is that I’m not seeing any evidence of a pack in my search. There’s no photos of him with anyone, man or woman. I’m going to text a private investigator to give me everything they can.”
“Let’s go,” Rhodes says, his head already bobbing up and down to a song only he can hear as he makes a call. “Hey Dana? Yeah, it’s Rhodes. Sky and I have a request to make. How likely is it for the Lakeview Cougars to take both of us in a trade?”
Leaving Rhodes to sweet talk Dana, I text Fishman. Rhodes and I meant it when we talked about how community programs saved us growing up. We both come from nothing, and there are always shady people who want to recruit kids to do their dirty work.
Fishman was a dirty cop who quit to go into private investigation. I first met him when I got into trouble as a kid, and he scared the fuck out of me before he asked me to keep my eyes and ears open for him. I gave him information in exchange for money, and it kept me out of the gangs.
I owe him a lot for that.
We ran into each other again here and there when Rhodes and I were rookies. Once we started making money and I found that we needed things done, we started to keep Fishman on retainer.
Sometimes when he’s not working for us, he also chases down bond skips when things are slow, and he has very little interest in morals as to how he gets shit done.
Me
I need everything you can get me on Koen Jeffries. No detail is too small. Most importantly, I want to know if he’s on any type of scent blocker.
I’m sure I’m showing my hand here, but I don’t fucking care. Koen didn’t show any signs of knowing who we were to him, and that pisses me off. So instead, he’s getting the serial killer type of wining and dining.
Fishman
You got it. Give me a week, please. I’ll get you everything I can.
Tossing my phone to the side to keep me from throwing it across the room, I watch as Rhodes hangs up the phone. Damn, that was fast.
“It just so happens that the Cougars are looking to make a big trade to put themselves in a better position,” he explains. “Dana said that their coach will probably shit himself when she calls him.”
“Let’s hope she meant that figuratively,” I mutter. “I need our coach to have a stronger sphincter to withstand our personalities.”
“Only time will tell,” Rhodes shrugs, shifting uncomfortably on the couch.
“Well, since this is taken care of, let’s go to our bedroom so I can enjoy the gaping hole I left from the plug you have in your ass,” I decide. “We can celebrate finding our scent match. The rest we’ll figure out as things progress.”
“I think I like that idea,” Rhodes purrs.
“I had a feeling you would,” I say, getting up. The two of us race to the bedroom to work out some much needed sexual tension.
Hope you’re ready for us, Koen. We play for keeps.
Koen
Our team skates out of the tunnel to begin warming up, and I find myself surrounded by my teammates as I begin stretching. My mind blanks as I fall into the routine of making sure my muscles are loose and my limbs are ready for the next three periods.
Hockey is a rough sport on players’ bodies. I make sure to do whatever the team doctor tells me to because my ego doesn’t exist when it comes to taking care of myself.