Chapter 26
JAKOB
Zane drove his cock into me, making me feel the power of each thrust. I kept my head down and my eyes shut, absorbing it all.
Moments before, he’d fucked me hard and fast, pushing me to the brink of orgasm, before slowing down, allowing me to relish every ounce of pleasure.
Think of it like grinding away on a treadmill or stair master.
You work your way up and push hard and heavy for a period before easing up, but it still takes a toll on your body.
Zane sped up in a fierce burst of energy, and he clasped both hands onto my shoulders. Feeling his iron-like grip heightened the pleasure. As it was, I felt the expert precision with which Zane fucked. Don’t laugh. It’s a real thing, something I never would’ve expected from him.
Our first time together had felt sloppy and rushed, like we’d been play-wrestling, only naked. That’d been our outlet for easing the tension that’d all but possessed us that night.
His hands slipped forward and clamped around my throat, not tightly enough to choke me, but with sufficient pressure to cut off some air.
Zane didn’t announce that he would soon come. His labored breathing and the breakneck pace at which he fucked me told the story. I felt tension mount below my own waist and realized that my own orgasm stood much closer than the horizon.
As I clamped a hand onto my own cock, jerking it hard, Zane rammed me with each throb of orgasm that pulsed through him. His groans were music to my ears. I felt his hot come spurt inside of me, the last straw triggering my own climax.
Zane’s cock remained inside my ass as he leaned over me. I felt his chiseled, sweaty body pressing against my back as he kissed my neck, anchoring me to a world of ecstasy for a few moments longer.
When Zane withdrew from me, I rolled over and laid flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling. The sex had distracted me from my constant thought since the last game. As you might’ve guessed, my teammates, Zane, and the mayhem that’d broken loose dominated those thoughts.
To say that I felt conflicted would’ve been an understatement, but the truth was so complicated. Since the Riptides’ victory over us (God, I hate saying that), the problem had only compounded itself and had turned into another elephant in the room.
I needed to discuss this with Zane but didn’t know how. Now seemed as good a moment as any, maybe because we’d both gotten what we’d wanted.
Normally, I would’ve rolled out of bed and stepped into the shower the moment climax had ended—if I’d been banging one of my old girlfriends. Sex with Zane was different. Okay, that’s obvious. The aftermath also proved very different.
You know what I mean.
He rolled over, propping his head up with a fist. I smiled at him, wishing to live in that moment forever. I stroked my finger up and down the crease in the middle of his chest and then leaned in to kiss his lips.
“You liked that, didn’t you?” he asked.
“Oh yeah…”
He said nothing more. Honestly, I didn’t know if he was seeking reassurance. It seemed more like he wanted to ask me something but didn’t know how.
My eyes fell shut for a moment. I wanted him to know the sex had been great but wouldn’t make the fact that he’d taken a few rounds out of me too apparent. I didn’t need him getting a big head—no pun intended.
“You’ve got something on your mind.” He didn’t need to command a response, at least not directly.
He was right, but I didn’t plan to spill any tea.
“I do need to ask you something, though,” he said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Why did you pull Levi Dunn off of me?”
“Because he was going to hurt you, that’s why.”
When he paused, I knew damn well what he was thinking.
It was more than him hating the idea of another man worrying about someone rearranging their sweet baby’s adorable face, though I figured that must’ve come into play.
I hated to see a fist driven through a face as fine as Zane’s; that was true.
Though I’d already learned to read Zane like a book, I couldn’t figure out the missing piece.
Something was going on here, but what?
“There’s got to be more to it than that,” he said.
“Well, there isn’t. I thought Levi’s hit on you was bullshit and I wanted to keep shit from getting worse.”
“But you didn’t need to step in, Jakob. You could’ve just let us play the game.”
“If I’d just let you play the game, shit would’ve gotten out of hand.”
“Shit did get out of hand, so it wouldn’t have made much difference if you’d pulled him off or not.”
“Sorry for caring, Zane. Excuse me! I had good intentions, and don’t tell me about how the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
He said nothing because he knew damn well that sentence had nearly sprung from his lips.
“While I’m at it,” I said, “why didn’t you do something about your mouth-breathing neanderthal teammates when they tried to take my head off?”
“Because I was letting them play the game. We’ve got refs on the ice to maintain order, you know. Plus, I know that you’re tough enough to handle it.”
Another heaping helping of bullshit.
I wouldn’t press him about it too hard because I didn’t want him asking too many questions about why the Lions had gone so hard on the Riptides.
There could’ve been some tacit—or explicit—encouragement of hurting opposing players.
If it’d happened in the Lions’ locker room, it sure as hell could’ve happened in Remington’s, too.
I had more reason for saving him from big, bad Levi than I would let on, though.
For starters, seeing Zane get hurt caused me pain.
You know, I could’ve done something about it.
He didn’t need to get hurt. And I felt the same way about letting guys play hockey.
I might not have been nearly as pig-headed as Zane, but I understood that we played a tough game.
I just hated anyone putting their hands on my man.
“Do you know how much flak I took over you doing that?” he asked.
“How much?”
“A metric ton. All the guys in the locker room wanted to know what the fuck was going on.”
“Big deal.”
“Big deal? It was to me, Jakob. I might be the best player on the team, but I’m not the one calling the shots. That’s Jax’s job, and it pissed him off something fierce.”
I meant to draw some satisfaction from that, mostly because I loathed Jax Echlin more than any other Riptide. Still, I couldn’t escape Zane’s plaintive look, with the skin between his eyebrows all bunched up. Time to go on the offensive.
“For your information, I got plenty of blowback from my own teammates,” I said.
“Who the fuck cares? It was your own stupid fault, wasn’t it?”
“That’s not the point, Zane. It was just a little too much for me to see you about to have your ass handed to you by Levi Dunn.”
When Zane sat bolt upright, I knew I’d landed in a heap-load of trouble.
“That’s assuming Levi Dunn can do jack shit to me, pal.”
“Oh, I think he can. He’s our enforcer, not to mention the biggest meathead on our team. He does this sort of thing for fun. That makes him doubly dangerous.”
I didn’t bother reminding him that I myself had laid Zane out flat and was the farthest thing from a tough guy on our team… by hockey standards. Underestimating Levi only guaranteed he would get hurt next time.
“Look, I don’t care,” Zane said. “I think this little incident has made something perfectly clear.”
“And what’s that.”
He paused, like maybe he’d never had a point to make and had tried to get by on a dramatic speech alone.
When he rolled out of bed, he stepped into the underwear he’d discarded on the floor, and I eyed his cock, savoring every moment of its freedom before his boxer briefs hid it.
I couldn’t deny that something was going on here. I’d felt something while on the ice, as players from both teams had surrounded us. I couldn’t put my finger on what, though.
“I didn’t expect things to become this much of a problem,” he said.
I shrugged, saying, “I didn’t expect both teams to come out guns a’blazin’ like that.”
Okay, I’d served up a load of my own bullshit, but turnabout is fair play, right?
Of course, I’d known that both teams would come out swinging.
They always do. And maybe I should’ve expected the dial to have been cranked up at least a few notches for this game.
That further convinced me that the Riptides had planned to purposely inflict injury on us.
I could believe that. The Lions had done the same even though I’d refused to participate. Maybe Zane had landed in the exact same boat but couldn’t admit to me that he’d known what was going on.
That made two of us, I guess.
When Zane finished dressing, I gave up hope for an encore performance and then rolled out of bed myself. I glanced at him, knowing he hadn’t yet finished speaking.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” he said. “All I know is that the next time our teams play each other, act like you don’t know me.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Okay, maybe don’t pretend like you don’t know me, but if Levi Dunn comes after me, I don’t want you to come to the rescue. I want you to go ahead and let him knock my block off.”
Zane paused, seeming to understand how weird that last sentence sounded. I summoned all my willpower not to laugh.
“You know what I mean,” he said.
And I did but hated the message. It hurt me too, even though I wouldn’t say it. Either way, I understood he was in no mood to be challenged, and I’d lost all appetite to argue.
I grabbed a towel and headed into the shower. When I twisted the knobs, welcoming a warm spray onto my face, I couldn’t help wondering if I had it in my heart and soul to honor his wishes next time.
And there definitely would be a next time.