Chapter 4 #2
“I tried. I’ve offered him a sub house or for him to come and live with us. But he’s not ready. He’s scared of his family, especially because of Silas’ influence in Freedom. He doesn’t want to leave his younger siblings alone with his dad.”
“What should we do about Silas?”
My mouth is dry. “I’ll work it out. You keep your head in the game.”
I don’t like the sly look that crosses Shay’s face. It usually happens during our prank wars.
Last time, he denied that he was planning something, all the way up until I put my helmet on my head and was covered with shaving cream.
“Cucciolo,” I growl in warning.
“Yes, Sir?” Shay answers over enthusiastically, which tells me a face full of shaving cream is in my future.
“I said that I would think of a way to deal with Silas.”
“Be careful. All that glowering at me like a grumpy bear will give you more wrinkles.” Shay’s eyes dance with laughter.
Even if he is poking the bear, I allow it because he’s doing it to distract me from the stress of the nightmare meeting that I’ve just been through.
“More?” I growl. “Are you sure that your ass is okay with the trouble your mouth is getting it into?”
Shay glances significantly downwards. “My ass isn’t okay, but another part of me is more than okay. Traitorous cock. I’m already hard and aching for you.”
My eyes glint wickedly, as I remember my dream of handcuffing Shay to our bed and then edging him, while he cries prettily.
He has no idea the trap that he has just walked into.
And he is going to love it.
I grab Shay by the scruff of the neck, yanking him closer like I’m being a typical hardass captain.
I don’t imagine many hardass captains talk to their star players like this.
Maybe I’m wrong.
“Just imagine how hard and aching you will be,” I murmur, “when I edge you tonight, stroking and teasing you to the brink…one…two…three…four times. Yet each time, you won’t come.
You’ll be begging and crying and fucking breaking.
But still, we both know that’s what you need. To be shown who owns you.”
Shay lets out a ragged breath on the own. “Fuck, darlin’.”
I watch him carefully.
We can’t be overheard but adding in the risk that someone could hear doubles the impact for Shay.
And he falls fast.
I need to make sure that I am still teasing and not pushing him into subspace.
It thrills us both to walk that line.
Shay’s eyelashes flutter. “Bully.”
My lips curl. “But a beautiful one.”
Shay chuckles, but his look is suddenly so filled with love that I flush as well. “Hot as the devil, darlin’. Jude, my fallen angel.”
I shove him away, and he turns to lean against the boards next to me like we’ve been doing nothing but talk about Grayson’s drill technique.
How fast Shay is breathing still gives him away.
“Was that what you needed?” He asks.
I glance at him, surprised.
Sometimes, I forget how much time Shay spends trying to please me and that he is as focused on meeting my needs as I am on meeting his.
I’m not used to that.
Hell, I’ve never had a long-term boyfriend. He isn’t the only one.
I straighten my shoulders, feeling more in control than I have since I left the meeting.
I nod.
Shay looks delighted. “See, Shay Prince, here to help and please.”
“You are.” I meet his gaze.
Shay’s smile widens, and he hugs his stick like it’s me.
I tilt my head in question, when Zach skates toward me.
Zach is rugged. His shaggy dark curls flow out of the back of his helmet down his strong shoulders.
Despite being the tallest member of the team, he’s the most likely to be found with his head in a first edition Wolverine comic, which he’ll pretend is porn.
In a locker room with Grayson and Lucas, porn is the less embarrassing option.
“Don’t shoot the messenger.” Zach arches his scarred eyebrow. “But coach says get your asses back to drills. You can flirt or fuck later.”
Shay lets out a startled laugh.
I smirk, saluting Fleet. “He knows me too well.”
Fleet’s firm dom face would send most men to their knees, but I’m not most men.
Shay, on the other hand, nervously clears his throat. “We better do what he says, yeah? I don’t want to disappoint coach. I’ve been trying to show him I’m working for this.”
“Everyone knows that, Prince,” Zach replies. “You outperform the rest of us put together.”
Shay looks surprised, before he smiles brightly.
Zach’s expression clouds, however, when he glances at the woman who is still pinning Noah to the glass. Then he looks away hurriedly.
Interesting.
“Do you know her?” I ask, casually.
“That’s Dr. Olivia FitzGerald,” Zach spits back with a venom that I’ve never heard from him before.
“A fan of doctors, I see. Do you have a needle phobia?” I study the way that Noah is looking down at the floor.
It’s almost as if…
I straighten.
Damn, I hope that I’m not right.
What if she’s Noah’s new dom?
“Look how she’s talking to him.” Zach clenches his fist. “She’s scaring him.”
“You really do have a phobia of needles.”
“She’s not that type of doctor. She’s the new mental skills coach and team psychiatrist.”
“But what about the old one?”
I’d got on with Simpson. Why the hell are major staff changes like this happening at such a crucial point of the season?
This is going to fuck with our heads.
Zach shrugs. “All I know is the staff are being pressured to see her, including Code. Poor guy, having a dad like…” He snaps his mouth shut. “Sorry, D’Angelo.”
“It’s okay.” My icy stare settles on Olivia. “Insult that asshole as much as you want.”
Zach’s eyes widen. “You used to be loyal as shit to that asshole.”
“I used to be a lot of things.”
“What do you want us to do? Whatever you say, we’re behind you. But we can get the staff and team out of this, yeah?”
My chest is warm with his belief in me. Yet why are his amber eyes so desperate?
“I’ll do everything I can,” I promise.
“You know what Dee will do if Code is being forced to see some psychiatrist by his dad,” Shay warns.
Burn Robyn’s dad, Olivia, or possibly the entire arena.
“Eden doesn’t see his own therapist anymore,” I muse, “or at least, the therapists have all resigned. Maybe we should sign him up with this Olivia and break her that way. Shall we take bets on how long it takes her to resign too? We could drive her out in a single move.”
Zach glances between us. “What the hell is your twin saying to them?”
Shay gives him a level look. “The truth.” Then his sly expression returns, the one that promises me ending up covered in shaving cream or something worse. “You worry about Olivia. I have an idea of how to force Silas to back off.”
“No burning people,” I warn.
Zach shoots me a confused look.
Shay’s eyes glitter with mischief. “Silas will survive. But I bet he’ll wish that he hadn’t.”