Chapter 14
Carter
I wake up to the sound of a loud snore against my ear.
Willa.
God, she’s fucking loud.
I shouldn’t have fallen asleep. We shouldn’t have had sex either, but I’m not complaining when it’s the best sex I’ve had in a long time. I tried disassociating myself like I always end up doing, but Willa called me out on it. She wasn’t having it, and fuck, it felt good to be slapped around like that.
With a long stretch, I slide my hard-again dick out of her. She fell asleep with my cock still inside and I was too exhausted and drunk to move her.
I hope this doesn’t change anything between us. I’ve gotten used to having a friend. I don’t have many of those.
The snoring stops while I’m tying the condom off and cleaning the mess with the tissues she has on the side of her bed. Willa’s eyes pop open right next to my face.
“You were snoring,” she grumbles at me.
“No, that was you.” I laugh.
She rolls off and onto her back with a groan. “My head hurts.”
“That’s what hangovers feel like.”
Willa slaps my chest with the back of her hand and my dick twitches in appreciation. I think she unlocked a new kink for me. Who fucking knew?
There’s got to be other women willing to do that, right?
“I slapped you,” she says with an edge of a question. “I slapped your face?”
“Yeah.” I rub my jaw, remembering just how good it felt.
“And you liked it?” she asks and eyes me like I’m crazy.
“Yup.” I shrug. “A first for me too.”
I am fucking crazy, but I’ve been messed up in the head long before Willa slapped me across my face.
Willa shakes her head with a laugh.
“I have to go and get ready.” I check the time to see it’s four-thirty. Power Skate is an hour, but I have to get home and change first.
“Hey Carter,” Willa sits up with the sheet covering her chest, “this won’t change anything between us, right? We can still be friends and you’ll still come over and watch games with me? Only without rum.”
“As long as you can stop yourself from seducing me,” I tease her while getting dressed. “We’re fine.”
“Good.” She glares at me. “And that will not be an issue.”
“See ya.” I give her a salute before quietly leaving her room and running down the steps.
Our skate coach is kicking our ass today. We’re always sluggish after a break, but this feels like pure torture. Especially after a night of drinking.
I never drink like that, and the excess liquid churning around in my stomach is reminding me why.
“Pick up the pace, Carter. You’re slowing down.” No kidding. We’ve been running drills for an hour.
“When I shove my stick up your ass I’ll move faster,” I mutter to myself, but Gentry hits my shoulder and when I look up, Coach Lipsky is glaring at me. I may have said that louder than I meant to.
He skates over in front of me and blows his whistle for the other guys to go, stopping me from following.
“How about I shove that attitude up yours?” He blows his whistle again as the guys skate up and down with quick changes. “Do you think you’re better than them? That you’re better than doing basic drills? Try this shit if you make it. You won’t. We’ll bench you so fast, you won’t have a shot in hell of making it to the pros. Is that what you want, Pierce?”
I bite the inside of my cheeks to keep my mouth shut. Any other year, I would’ve dared them to bench me. It doesn’t matter what I want. If I’m going to make it out of here, if I’m going to get my mom out, I need to get drafted.
“That’s what I thought.” He blows the whistle in my face one more time and backs away.
“Carter,” Coach Renan bellows out my name before I move to skate another drill. Calling me over to the bench where he’s in a discussion with one of the other assistant coaches.
Coach Greardon mostly works with our defense guys. But when I skate over, he quickly flashes me a smile before going back to their conversation. I wait to get chewed out again for my attitude, listening to them discuss some line changes and plays.
Finally, Coach Greardon steps back with a grin, ready to enjoy my tormenting.
“Are you giving Coach Lipsky a hard time again?” Coach Renan, our head coach, places his leg up on the bench to leer at me.
“I made a comment,” I give a vague response. I didn’t mean for him to hear it, but I’m tired of these shit drills.
“A comment?” He raises his brow to question me.
“It was under my breath.” I shrug.
“You’re slower than these younger guys,” he condescendingly shrugs back at me, “and not scoring as much either.” Yeah, fuck me.
“New semester.” I shrug again. We haven’t even had a game yet. Why is he getting up my ass about it?
He laughs. “We’re making some changes. With Luca gone, we need a good defenseman.” Fuck no. “How do you feel about filling the spot?”
No fucking way. I’m not doing it. I’ve worked too hard to change my position now. Going to defense means less scoring chances and it means learning new shit I haven’t done.
“Do I have a choice?” I know I don’t. Coach Renan doesn’t give us choices.
“Of course,” he sneers sarcastically. “We always have choices in life. Defense or bench. You choose.”
I roll my eyes at him as he and Coach Greardon laugh it up.
“Defense it is.” He claps his hands to make it final before leaning closer to me. “Consider this a second chance. You can’t have a shitty attitude and be a shitty player at the same time. Fuck this up and you’re done.”
Fuck. I know I’m not the best, but I’m not the worst either.
After throwing my gear off and taking a hot shower, I sit through a couple of classes. Barely registering anything being taught. I’m dreading the call when my father finds out. I may just go home and get it over with.
I can hear him now, “I played Center and was the top scorer in the league.”
“You’re an embarrassment to our family.”
Followed by a few punches to show he’s still the man of the house.
Between classes I get a text.
Playing on defense isn’t the worst thing, but it’s unfamiliar territory when I’m only months away from the draft. His disappointment comes from me not entering sooner, but he’s already conveyed that to me several times over the past year.
Mom: Don’t come home. It’s not worth the fight.
Which means they already know.
Mom: Braydon mentioned it to him.
Mom: You’re going to do great. I know you are.
She tries so hard to keep us going.
As I’m walking to lunch, I come across Braydon and his friend, Justin, in the quad, fucking around and flirting with a group of freshmen girls.
It’s not worth the fight.
Fuck that. He wants to be just like dad. Then let him.
“A word.” I nod to my little brother to get him away from the pack.
“Hi Carter,” one of the girls greets me with a wave.
“Bray,” I say to get my brother”s attention, ignoring the girl hanging on his arm.
He rolls his eyes and follows me to an open spot, away from his friends.
“Did you call dad?” I ask once we’re out of earshot.
“Yeah, so.” He shrugs and cleans his teeth with his tongue. He doesn’t care what his actions do.
He doesn’t care about the girlfriend he’s cheating on or the brother he’s making trouble for.
“That was my business to tell him.” I step closer to get in his face.
“I called him about something else and it came up.” He shrugs with a smug grin.
“You’re full of shit.” I clench my fists, fighting the urge to deck him.
“So what?” He stands up to me, already an inch taller. “What are you going to do about it?”
He’s almost the same height as our father, but has the same hazel eyes and light sandy hair as our mom. Lucky for him, he doesn’t have to look in a mirror to be reminded of the man he hates.
I square off in front of him, and Braydon cracks his knuckles to prepare for a fight.
“Hi Carter.” The same girl comes up to us, breaking our standoff, and rubs Braydon’s arm to get his attention. “We’re going back to the dorms. Are you coming?” She looks me up and down while speaking to him. A junior puck bunny in the making.
It’s too cold out for her thin open coat that reveals her large full breasts squished up in her tight shirt.
“Do you want to come too?” she asks, angling her body toward me.
“No, he doesn’t. I’ll be right there.” Braydon motions for her to go back.
What I do next is purely out of spite. Do I want to hook up with this girl? Not a chance. Will I do it to make a point and piss off my baby brother? Absolutely.
“You want to come for a ride in my truck instead?” I ignore my little brother and raise my eyebrows to question the junior puck bunny.
Braydon glares at me. His stare burns a hole through the side of my face.
I give the girl a wink and lick my lips to entice her as I make a show of checking out her cleavage down to the impractical heels she’s wearing.
“Sure.” She drops Braydon’s arm like it’s poison and weaves the other through mine.
“Fucking dick,” Braydon mutters at my back.
“See ya, bro.” I wink at him behind my back and lead the puck bunny off to my truck for a quickie.
I am a dick. I don’t even know this girl”s name.
“So, where are we going?” She bounces next to me with each step.
“My truck.” I don’t plan on taking her anywhere. The parking lot will do. “What’s your name?”
“Valerie.” She giggles and squeezes my arm.
“Look Valerie, I’m going to fuck you in the back of my truck.” I lay it all out for her. If she doesn’t like the plan, then she can say no. “I’m not going to call you, and I won’t remember your name. If you’re ok with that, we can have some fun. If not, you can catch up with your friends.”
We reach my truck and I hold the door open for her, waiting for her decision.
“I’m game.” She happily slips into my backseat.
Throwing our coats and bags to the front, I stroke myself before slipping a condom on. Only bothering to remove our pants, I fuck her just like I said I would.
She winces at the first impact, but I keep thrusting against the resistance.
Valerie is beautiful. Long brown hair in waves with an impressive figure and large breasts that bounce with each thrust. But it’s the same every time. Meaningless. Emotionless. I’m struggling to stay hard and I know I won’t be able to come.
“Fuck,” I grunt, trying hard to clear my head and get into it.
“Oh fuck, you’re so big.” She groans and digs her heels into my thighs to keep driving my hips into her.
I close my eyes and think of anything or anyone to finish this out. The first image that creeps in is of big blue eyes staring down at me and short blonde hair that sticks to Willa’s face with her mouth open in a perfect oval. I pop my eyes right back open and shake the image out.
Fuck, I can’t think of that.
I keep focusing on Valerie and her tits pushing out of her shirt while she screams and moans my name. But my mind keeps going back to Willa’s soft moans and the way my name sounded from her lips as she rode me.
“Will—” I bite my lip to stop myself from moaning her name.
This is crazy.
Willa is my friend, but I need to feel that same release she brought out of me.
“Hit me.” I request Valerie to do the thing I need the most.
“What?” She breathes out between harsh moans.
“Slap me across my face.” I beg and keep thrusting.
Hesitating, she lifts her hand and lightly taps my cheek.
“Harder,” I groan, and thrust violently into her. “Slap my face while I slap my balls against your dirty skank pussy.”
“Jerk.” She slaps me, but it has nothing on the force Willa used.
It’s not enough. I’m losing steam and my leg is cramping in this small space.
“That’s it, Slut. Let go and squeeze my cock.” I reach down and press my finger against her ass while pulsing up into her clit. Quick little pulses that drive her crazy and do absolutely nothing for me.
“Carter, yes!” she screams out and comes with a shudder.
I follow along, faking my orgasm. I’d keep going, but I want it to be over. Taking the condom off, I hide it and slip my pants back on while she catches her breath. I don’t want word getting out that I can’t fucking finish.
Would it be horrible if I told her to get the fuck out of my car?
I find her jeans and hand them over as a hint to move along.
Without asking, she grabs the water bottle from my hand and takes a sip. Eyeing me as if what she’s doing is seductive, but all I am is annoyed that I have to buy a new water bottle. She caps it and hands it back as I toss over her coat and get out to get mine on.
As soon as I exit my car, a throat clears and short nails tap on my hood.
“Did you forget about me?” Willa leans against my car. “You said you could drive me to therapy.”
Shit.I forgot. She texted me before my first class, asking for a ride to the training facilities for her physical therapy to start. They”re on campus but next to the arena and too far for her to walk.
Valerie comes out after me, pulling her coat on.
“Thanks for the ride,” she winks and reaches up to kiss me, but I turn away, checking for Willa’s reaction.
She looks away, sucking her lips between her teeth.
“Are we late?” I slam the back door shut and open the front to help her in.
“No, but I said to meet me and you didn’t show or text me back.” She climbs in, swinging her boot up, and passing her crutches for me to put them in the back.
“I’m sorry.” I round the front and quickly start up the engine.
Willa is silent as we pull out of the lot. Driving around the curve, I have to stop short for a couple of students walking across the street. On instinct, my arm shoots out to block Willa from being thrown forward.
“Sorry,” I grunt, and remove my arm from her chest.
“It’s been less than twenty-four hours.” The gates open and everything Willa is thinking comes spilling out. “I get we’re just friends. I don’t want anything more, but really? Was I really that bad that you had to find someone else to get you off?”
“Whoa, what?” Does she really think that?
“Vic would make comments about how I could be better, but am I that bad? What am I doing wrong?” Her short blonde hair moves with a shake of her head. “You’re my friend, you can tell me. Maybe you can teach me. I’ve read a ton of articles and Vic and I used to practice different positions—”
“Back up a minute.” I hold up my hand to stop her rant. “He said what?”
I can’t believe my fucking ears. Just when I think I can’t hate the guy anymore, Willa shows a different side to him.
“He used to say I wasn’t very good at sex or like making him come.” She waves her hand between us to brush it off.
“Was that his excuse for cheating on you?” I can’t help the roar that comes out.
I”m ready to find him and beat his ass for making Willa doubt herself like this.
“No, it was just comments or afterwards he’d say he needed to finish himself off because I didn’t make him come.” She slumps down into her seat as we park in front of the facility.
“Vic is a fucking gaslighting asshole.” I hold her back from getting out and stare directly in her eyes so she knows I’m telling the truth. “Last night was the best sex I’ve had in a very long time.”
She bites her bottom lip, but glances at the back seat.
“Listen to me.” I grab her hand. “I had a horrible, shitty day, and I fucked that girl to get back at my brother. It wasn’t because of you. It was a fucking mistake.”
“How bad?” she asks, angling herself to face me.
“It wasn’t her fault either. It was me.” I run my hand through my hair. “I fuck to get some sort of tension release, but it never really helps, and I can’t clear my head enough to even come. It’s not the first time it’s happened.”
“I meant,” she pauses to take a breath, “how bad was your day?”
I laugh. “We’re not talking about that.”
“We could.” She gives me that doe eyed innocent look she gets when she wants something. “You could come talk to me when you’re in one of your shit moods. That’s what friends are for.” She looks at the door and back at me. “Let’s go, I’m going to be late. But I want to hear all about your shitty day.”