Chapter 16 #2
How is that possible with the loud rock music, laughter, and the din of Merchant’s Inn?
How shattered is he?
Cody turns to look up at his husband.
He cups Michael’s cheek. “Hey, Mike?”
Michael startles awake. “I wasn’t sleeping.”
“Uh-huh.” Cody smiles softly. “I shouldn’t have asked you to come out with me tonight. I know the long hours you’ve been putting in at the hospital. Want to go home?”
“Yes, but also no. I don’t like admitting defeat. I’m sorry for ruining your evening. I know that you need to destress.”
“What you need matters too. How about we get you to bed, before you crash out here?”
Michael gives a sheepish smile. “Now, I truly do feel like the old man of the group. But I’ve been sleepwalking for days now. Dead on my feet.”
“The Zombie Doctor,” Shay jokes.
Cody grins. “Who knew that I found zombies so hot.”
“That’s a kink too far for me.” Michael leans his cheek against Cody’s. “I’ve missed you.”
The tenderness between them makes my heart clench.
Cody grew up surrounded by so little warmth, seeing him cocooned by it now, fills me with overwhelming relief.
“Sorry, guys.” Cody glances around us. “I’ll see you at work, yeah?”
“Of course. Get some sleep, Mike.” I smile.
When D’Angelo stands, however, to allow Cody and Michael to exit the booth, he can’t help doubling over, clutching his side.
He supports himself on the table; his knuckles are white.
Instantly, Michael is alert like he wasn’t sleeping only moments ago.
He stands, approaching D’Angelo and assessing him.
“What are you doing?” D’Angelo asks, warily.
Shay glances between the men, as if he’s about to jump up and intervene.
Except, I’m pretty sure that I know what Michael is worried about.
Michael quirks his brow, making it clear that between Cody and him, he’s the Daddy. “What are you doing hiding injuries?”
I fucking knew it.
Next to me, Shay jolts. “Darlin’, what’s he talking about?”
I can sense the fear trembling through Shay.
The dom brow lift doesn’t work on D’Angelo. I’m pretty certain that he invented it.
“You know that I was hurt during practice, Shay. You were there,” D’Angelo replies.
“But not badly enough that Mike should be able to tell.” Shay pulls away from me, struggling around Neve and out of the booth as well. “You told me that you didn’t need an ice bath or help putting on arnica.”
“Don’t give away all my secrets,” D’Angelo mutters.
“We promised that we weren’t going to have secrets from each other.” Shay’s expression closes off with hurt.
D’Angelo flinches.
“Honesty.” My voice steels. “The number one rule, remember?”
“Can’t you trust me?” D’Angelo backs away. “I’m trying to protect you.”
Neve snorts. “Why should she? You ghosted RH for years. You hold onto the control, never fully letting her in. Look how you kept whole parts of yourself — your friends — secret from her for months.”
I wince.
Neve is my defender. She is like having a bodyguard who will savage anyone who hurts me and then offer to bury them behind her bar.
Except, I do trust D’Angelo.
I’m terrified about what, or who, has made him feel like he has to hide something from me.
“You mean like you do with Lucy?” D’Angelo bites back.
“That just makes us both assholes.”
“I spent my life doing that with my sis,” Cody says.
“But it never worked out with Dad. Look, I don’t know why you’re trying to hide how hurt you are.
I understand.” His guilty gaze slides to Michael.
“I do the same. But you have a literal doctor telling you that he should check you over. How about allowing Mike to do his job before the rest of us become ill with worry, yeah?”
D’Angelo looks away. “It’s nothing.”
“Oh, good. My eight years of study were a worthwhile use of my time then.” Michael sighs. “As much as I trust your self-evaluation, why don’t I drive you to the hospital and…?”
D’Angelo shakes his head.
“Please,” I say, softly.
D’Angelo clenches his jaw. “It’s nothing. A few bruises. I truly didn’t lie about that, principessa. How about if you check me over in the restroom, Mike?”
“I’ve won the lottery tonight.”
“We both have. Then you can tell everybody that I’m not dying and I won’t have spoiled the evening.”
Michael nods.
“Now you sound like Dee.” Shay’s eyes glisten with tears.
He snatches D’Angelo by the elbow and turns him to face him.
“I’ll go with you because I’ve just worked out when you must have been hurt.
You forgot the buddy system when you met that new mental skills coach, right?
You didn’t change in the locker room after practice. What happened? Who did this?”
My heart sinks.
I push myself forward on the seat.
My pulse races. Sweat drips down the back of my neck.
“Just say it, D’Angelo.” Neve kicks her heel on the top of the table, knocking over my bottle.
The beer puddles like blood. I barely notice the warm liquid, as it drips into my lap.
“Wilder,” D’Angelo whispers. “He trapped me in the showers like a hazing with two of his teammates.”
My stomach drops.
I want to hurl.
My eyes smart with tears. “This is because of me.”
My fucking ex has always targeted D’Angelo because of me. At college, I didn’t know just how much my friend lost because of Wilder.
But I do now.
I won’t allow it to happen again.
D’Angelo hurriedly shakes his head. “Never blame yourself, principessa. This is about Wilder’s twisted revenge and jealousy. He’s as obsessed with me, as he has been with you. He said that what he was doing was because he blames me for his suspension.”
Furiously, Shay balls his hands into fists. “The bloody bastard.” He rests his forehead against D’Angelo’s. “But why didn’t you tell us? No one beats my lover, captain, Sir.”
D’Angelo’s shoulders relax on the Sir.
I could kiss Shay for saying exactly what D’Angelo needs to hear right now, giving him back the control that my dick of an ex stole from him.
For offering him implicit forgiveness within a single word.
“Because Wilder threatened to come after you, cucciolo,” D’Angelo murmurs against Shay’s lips, intently meeting his startled gaze, “both on and off the ice. He warned that if I reported him or told anyone, then the Penguins would injure you badly enough to end your career in the same way as your twin’s was.
Nobody must know that I’ve broken my silence, you understand? ”
Shay pales.
“Asshole,” Neve hisses.
“I realized then that my number one rule may have changed.” D’Angelo’s gaze slides between Shay and me.
“I never had anyone who I loved before Robyn and you. But now, keeping my family safe means more than anything to me. A single beating is nothing, if it keeps you safe from a career ending injury.”
“Idiot,” Shay’s voice is hoarse with tears. “We’re in this — the season, this relationship, and our lives — together. Your bruises feel like mine. No more heroics, okay?”
“Well, that’ll be easy,” D’Angelo drawls. “I am far more like the coldly sexy villain.”
Michael gives me a sympathetic smile, before turning back to D’Angelo. “I’m not the PR expert here but I understand why you may want to keep this violent stalker NHL rival quiet for the moment. But can’t you at least get a restraining order?”
“I don’t know that it would help.” I clutch my hands in my lap, which is damp with beer.
“Wilder has only just been under investigation. He must know that he almost lost his entire career. It’s probably why he’s so mad.
This move of his is ballsy even for him.
Where was our security? How did he get away with attacking a Bay Rebels player? ”
D’Angelo rests his hand on Shay’s hip, circling in rhythmic patterns. “It’s what I want to know.”
“Someone else must be behind this.” Cody’s expression becomes grim. “Wilder is working with someone in our team or someone who used to work at the arena who still has access.”
But who?
I shudder.
“Who have you pissed off?” Neve points her bottle at D’Angelo. “Apart from me.”
D’Angelo gives a sharp smile. “Do you want the full or abridged list of people who would want to use my cock as a puck? Let’s see… There is coach, Bronwyn, Lee, Anderson, Colton, and…actually, it’s a longer list than I thought.”
“Why don’t we focus on destroying Wilder?” My gaze hardens. D’Angelo lifts his brow in surprise. “You spend your life caring for us. This time, I’ll care for whatever bruises Wilder painted on you. Then I’ll wreck him for daring to lay a single hand on my man.”
Shay twists to stare at me. “You are fucking hot when you’re protective, love.”
“How?” D’Angelo’s piercing gaze fixes on mine; there is a questioning in its depth, which I am desperate to quieten.
Did he believe that I would be fine with his taking a beating for Shay? That it was his role as a dom to suffer to save his sub?
This time, it will be me teaching him a lesson about our relationship.
“Sticks at dawn?” Cody’s eyes glint.
“Code,” Michael warns. “No starting hockey wars.”
“We don’t need to.” I boldly meet D’Angelo’s gaze.
“The worst punishment you could give a peacock like Wilder is to steal his chance of winning the Stanley Cup. This will be his last season, as it is yours. He will be obsessed with the Penguins beating the Bay Rebels. His entire sense of self, as well as his career, will be wrapped up in proving that he is better than you. His parents are wealthy, supportive, and expect him to be perfect. When I found out that my husband was hiding a double life from me, it made me face the hard truth that as the daughter of a Stanley Cup winner, I was just another trophy to him.”
“Does that mean the Stanley Cup is Wilder’s true obsession?” D’Angelo’s gaze becomes as wicked as mine is. “If we win the games this week, then we take away his lifelong dream. I’m feeling better already.”
“Wilder had a vision board set up in our bedroom. It was filled with close-ups of hands gripping the cup, champagne-soaked winners in the locker rooms, and phrases in bold like STANLEY CUP OR FAILURE and WINNING IS WHO I AM. To be fair, when he was fucking me, I was never sure whether he was more focused on the board than me.” I wrinkle my nose.
“Wilder’s fantasy of hoisting that cup would make him come faster than anything else.
It’s his ultimate fantasy. His nightmare would be you holding it instead.
How about we make the asshole’s nightmare come true? ”
D’Angelo and Wilder have been rivals since college both in love and on the ice.
D’Angelo has me now.
Wilder’s image of himself will be shattered, the moment that D’Angelo leads the Bay Rebels to victory over him.
For once, I understand Eden’s drive for revenge.
Unfortunately, the games are currently tied. We must win three more games.