Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
ROWAN
T he next evening, we were down by one against Providence with three minutes left in the game and Knight had been on my ass every second we were on the ice. Hodge had tossed him aside a few times, but the guy had been undeterred.
The Providence center lost the puck, and it flung my way. We were in Providence’s D-zone and the net wasn’t too far away.
Scully, one of our new centers, blew by me. “Mackenzie, here.” He lined up by the net.
As I skated toward Scully, my sights set on him, I flicked my stick back and shot it.
A blur of white flashed in my periphery, and I flew off my skates, landing on my side, the wind knocked out of me. “Fucking hell.” I scrambled to sit up and pain pierced my knee. “Shit!” I grabbed it and held it. Not good, this was so not good. As the pain radiated up and down my leg, I grimaced and rocked.
Scully passed the puck between his skates in a decoy move and then whipped it toward the net.
The puck flew into the goalie’s five hole as he dropped to the ice, legs and pads spread .
As the horn blew, everyone held up their arms and jumped on their skates.
“Mackenzie?” Hodge skated around me. “Hey, you okay?” He waved his arms at the ref. “Man down.” He dropped to his knees. “What happened?”
Between my teeth, I said, “My knee. Fucker hit my knee.” I’d fallen so hard that I hadn’t noticed it at first.
“Goddamn son of a bitch.” Hodge hopped to his skates and barreled toward Knight as play stopped.
“No, he’s not worth it!” I held my hand out, my chest squeezing. Hodge had a chance with Chicago. If he started a fight, he’d be suspended and might lose his shot with them.
Hodge grabbed Knight by the jersey and shoved him into the boards. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Cummings skated to Hodge, snatched his arm, and wrenched him free. “Stop it, Hodge!”
With a sneer, Knight glanced at me and then Hodge. “What, is he your boyfriend now?”
“Shut the fuck up. That was a dirty hit.” He wiggled his arm from Cumming’s grasp and pushed his chest into Knight’s. “I swear to God, if he’s out for the season, you’ll pay for this.”
“Yeah? How?” Knight poked Hodge in the chest.
With a wicked smile, Hodge said, “I know people, Knight. Don’t forget, my dad’s a juniors coach and my brother?—”
“You going to call your big brother to beat me up?” Knight freed a maniacal cackle, tilting his head this way and that.
Shaking his head slowly, Hodge said, “Naw, my reach goes even further than that.” He shoved his glove into Knight’s face mask. “Watch your back, asshole.”
“That’s enough, boys.” The ref parted them. “Both of you, off to the box.” Looking at Hodge, the ref said, “You’re lucky you’re not getting worse.”
Our trainer ran onto the ice with his bag and crouched next to me. “Let’s immobilize this knee and get a scan. ”
“Yeah, okay.” I hung my head and let him get to work. It might be a long-ass night. So much for blowjobs with Hodge.
After being driven to the ER at Tempe St. Luke’s by our trainer, being undressed by nurses and given a gown, they’d stuffed me into an MRI, and now I played the waiting game while resting in a hospital bed surrounded by only a curtain, my knee iced and raised. The thing didn’t feel too bad now, but Coach wanted to take every precaution. I’d already checked the game, and sure enough, we’d won in a shootout. Too bad I had to miss it. I’d have loved to see the look on Knight’s face.
As I watched a sitcom on the little television above my bed, Hodge strode into the room. “Oh my God, Rowan.” He threw his arms around my neck, pressed his cheek to mine, and then planted a hard kiss on my mouth. “How bad is it?” He looked me over, his brows wrinkling.
“Uh, wow.” The kiss was a nice surprise. A grin worked over my lips. “Don’t know yet. I’m waiting to hear from the doctor.” I looked around him. “Where’s Hicks? He isn’t out there somewhere?”
“I didn’t see him.” His eyes widened as he straightened. “Shit, I didn’t think about the fact they’d send you here with our trainer.” A sly grin crept over his mouth. “I lied at the front desk and told them I was your brother so they’d let me in.”
“Oh shit, really?” I chuckled. “Can they put you in jail for that?” I squeezed his hand that was resting on my stomach.
“Only if they find out.” Huffing a laugh, he scratched his cheek.
“Find out what?” Hicks parted the curtains and strolled toward us, his large body filling out his team sweats and dark curls falling over his forehead. “And what are you doing here, Hodge? ”
Tyler snapped his hand to his side. “H-he’s my partner. I had to come and see how he’s doing.”
With a slow nod, Hicks clasped his hands in front of him. “That’s some dedication. You two have gotten close since Coach put you together.”
“Uh…” I threw a glance at Tyler. “Yeah, guess we have.” I focused on Hicks. “We’re supposed to though, right?”
“You are.” Hicks left the bedside and came back from outside the curtain with a duffel. “Here, we grabbed your things from the locker room. It’s time to go home. You’ve got a sprained MCL.”
“MCL?” Tyler lifted his brows. “That’s the?—”
“The ligament on the inside of the knee.” Hicks’s dark gaze cut to mine. “You’ll need ice, rest, and compression and no skating for a few weeks. I’ll want to see you at the gym in a week or so and we’ll assess what sort of physical therapy we’ll do on it.”
“Okay, so it’s not torn, just sprained.” Holy fuck, I’d dodged a bullet. I sighed a breath.
“Yep, no tear.” Hicks set my bag on the end of my bed. “Come on, let’s get you out of here. I don’t have all night.” He unzipped my bag and pulled out my team sweats.
“I’ll, uh, I’ll wait outside.” Tyler tapped Hick’s arm. “I can take him home, right?”
“Sure. Then I don’t have to do it.” A smirk crept over Hicks’s mouth.
As I hobbled into my apartment with my new knee brace and one arm wrapped around Tyler’s shoulders, I stood a moment, flicked on the lamps on the tables next to the couch, and looked around. I’d left the place clean because I’d known we were coming back here. Just didn’t think it would be with me injured.
After shutting the door behind us, Tyler said, “Let me get you comfortable on the sofa.” He dropped our duffel bags on the floor and walked me to the couch.
As I twisted around to sit, he grabbed my hands. “Easy now.” He lowered me while I held my braced knee out and then helped me swing my legs to run the length of the cushions. “So, let’s get you set up with ice?—”
“You icing me seems to have become a thing for us, hasn’t it?” Weaving my hands through my long bangs, I choked a laugh.
“It does. You have to stop getting so many injuries.” With a grin, he crouched at the bags and grabbed the ice pack they’d given us at the hospital. “At least this time, we have a compression wrap to keep it on.” He set me up, taking off the brace and icing the knee with the wrap, and then blew out a long breath. “I need a beer or something.”
“I’ve got you covered. You can grab me one while you’re at it.” My gaze chased him and his fine ass as he walked into my kitchen. Was he still staying the night? God, I hoped so. “You’re staying the night, right?”
“Hell yes. I’m not leaving you alone when you’re all crippled like this.” He snickered and grabbed two canned beers out of the refrigerator.
“Good.” My heart swelled with warmth. Having him taking care of me made being injured sort of a treat.
“Move.” Standing beside me, he motioned with his index finger over the can.
“But I was comfortable.” With a soft snort, I shifted to the side, clearing the edge of the couch for him.
He sat next to me, snicked the beers open, and handed me one. “I brought my stuff in my bag.” He ticked his head toward the doorway, and his cheeks pinked as he sipped his beer.
“Yeah? Like what stuff?” I was alone with him for the whole night. We could do whatever we wanted. My dick tingled and swelled. He could give me a blowjob without hurting my knee, right ?
His gaze flicked to my groin. “You’re thinking dirty thoughts.” Leaning in, he pressed a long, deep kiss on my mouth, his eyes darkening and his tongue darting between my lips. “Fuck, Rowan, I’ve been thinking about this all day.” He skimmed his fingers down the length of my dick through my sweats.
My cock twitched with sensation and my hips bucked. I’d forget all about my knee pain if he kept that up.
Setting his beer on the coffee table, he gave me a coy grin and licked his lips. “I’m going to give you what I’m pretty sure you want, but you have to tell me if I’m hurting your knee.”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s not going to hurt my knee.” I slid my hand up his inner thigh and rubbed over his solid cock, tenting his sweats. I hadn’t really touched him there yet, but I wanted to. I wanted to make him feel as good as he made me feel.
Nuzzling my neck, he bit and licked his way to my collarbone. As he reached under my shirt, he skimmed his hands up my chest and pinched one nipple and then the other.
I whimpered and squirmed as pleasure threaded from my chest to my balls. “Yeah, keep going.” Lacing my finger through his hair, I tugged on it.
With a quick grin, he lifted my shirt and moved down, taking one nipple into his mouth and sucking. “You like that?” He flicked his tongue over the hard nub.
“Fuck yeah.” I arched my back as sensation shivered through me, my dick pulsing and dribbling precum in my briefs. I’d never had anyone pay any attention to my nipples like this. It was something I’d done to girls, but holy hell, it was amazing.
After fluttering his tongue over my other nipple, he licked down my stomach and under the band of my joggers, right where my crown was stretching to peek through. He was so close. “God, Tyler, want your mouth on me,” I rasped, rocking my hips.
With a soft smirk, he licked under the band, swiping his tongue along the slit. “Oh damn, you’re really turned on, aren’t you?” He flashed his brown eyes at me, his pupils blown, and pressed on his own firm cock under his sweats.
“So are you.” I raked my teeth over my lower lip. Dammit, I wanted to touch him, but he was too far away, and I couldn’t move from this spot. “Hey, jerk yourself for me.” Yeah, that would be hot too.
“Yeah?” With a devious grin, he slid his hand into his sweats and stroked himself, his eyelids hooding and mouth dropping open. A soft moan floated out of him. “Fuck…” He bit his lip and gazed at me. “You want me to jerk off while I suck on you?”
“Yeah, could you?” I swallowed. I was going to sear this sight into my memories for future use when I was alone. Except…”But wait, don’t come. I want to try sucking you off too.”
“You do?” He slowly stroked his dick while lowering the band on my joggers and looked me over. “You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. We can figure it out.” There had to be a way for him to get his dick in my mouth. I lifted the corner of my lips. God, the things I was thinking about now.
“We’ll figure it out, or we’ll have fun trying.” He freed a soft chuckle, and his gaze landed on my swollen cock, precum beading at the tip.
Heat shuddered over my skin. “Tyler, I want it. All of it.”
With a nod, he fisted the base of my cock and lowered to lick my shaft while continuing slow strokes on his own dick. As his lips brushed over the crown, he said, “Holy fuck, you taste good.”
My stomach clenched as pleasure jolted up my spine, and a ragged gasp freed from my throat. “Oh God. More.” I grabbed his head, clutching at his hair and pushing him down. “More.”
With a sly smile, he swallowed me whole, sucking me down and flicking his tongue along my shaft. As he moaned, vibration rolled through my balls, and they tightened.
I let out a sharp gasp and tugged on his hair as I rocked my hips, fucking his mouth .
Taking me to the back of his throat, he swallowed and pumped me while working his hand over his own cock.
“Jesus fuck.” As wave after wave of sensation spilled over me, I watched. Was this really happening to me? I had a hot-as-fuck hockey player sucking my dick and giving me the best porn show I’d ever seen?
After a minute or so, he stopped and looked up at me, his eyes dark and lips red and swollen. “You okay?” He squeezed his dick, and his brows tensed. “I’m close. Um…”
“I’m great.” I batted at his arm. “Don’t let yourself come. Let me do it.” Even if I wasn’t able to get his dick in my mouth, I wanted to touch him. I wanted to be the one to make him come undone.
With a short nod, he said, “Yeah, okay.” He pulled his hand free from his own dick and cupped my balls while taking my whole cock to the back of his throat.
I groaned as pleasure sparked through my body and curled my toes, throwing me to the edge. As my cock grew more and more sensitive, I thrust into his mouth. What would it be like to fuck— “Oh God, coming.” With a surge of sensation, my climax hit, flooding every nerve ending in my tensing body.
He sucked harder, lapping my cum as it spurted to the back of his throat. With a deep moan, he squirmed next to me and licked at my balls, one and then the other.
As it slowed, he pulled off me and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Holy fuck, Rowan. I almost came too.”
“Yeah? Get up here.” Panting, I fought through my post-climax haze to wave him up to me.
He stood, dropped his sweats to his ankles, and kicked them off. His dick, an angry red, stood tall as precum rolled down the shaft. He stepped toward me.
Wrapping my hand around his slick dick, I stroked. “You really did almost come, didn’t you.” I was finally touching him. It wasn’t weird at all. In fact, it was hot as hell. My gaze rose to meet with his .
His brows tensed and he hissed softly. “I wasn’t lying.” Biting his lip, he came closer and bent over me, resting his hands on the back of the couch. “You really want to do this?”
Saliva flooded my mouth, and I gulped it down. “I do.” I shifted toward the back of the couch, giving him more room, and flicked my tongue at the head. The salty taste of him filled my tongue and my spent cock twitched over my thigh. The damn thing wanted to go again.
As his breath hitched, he set his knees on the couch and curled the fingers of one of his hands in my hair. “Is this okay for you?”
“Hell yes, it’s fucking great.” Wrapping my hand around the base, I licked up his shaft.
He gasped and goosebumps pebbled his thighs. “Not gonna last. Just a warning. If you want to pull off?—”
“I’m not pulling off.” No, I wanted to taste all of him. Plunging my mouth over his hot cock, I sucked him to the back of my throat and fluttered my tongue over his head as he’d done to me.
“Oh God, that’s good. Don’t stop.” He rocked his hips in time with my stroking mouth, his fingers massaging my head.
Did he have any idea how sexy he was? As I buried my nose in his groin, I breathed in his musk, spicy and woodsy. I couldn’t get enough. I quickened my pace, and when his balls drew up, I pulled on them.
“Holy—fuck,” he said, through quick pants. “Gonna come.” His thigh muscles trembled.
I was doing this to him. Me. Sucking harder, I tightened my hold on his shaft and worked my hand in time with my mouth.
His cock swelled inside my mouth and jerked as hot cum shot between my lips.
I swallowed and lapped at him while cum dribbled down my chin. Heat sparked in my groin and my own dick tingled and swelled. As it calmed, I released him and looked up.
His tense face relaxed and a grin crept over his lips. “You’re fucking hot, you know that?” He lowered and licked his cum off my chin. “I came so hard, I almost blacked out.”
“Yeah?” My knee twinged. I’d forgotten all about it. Fuck it. “My first time was that good, huh?” I looked down. Yeah, I was hard again.
His gaze chased mine and he gave my cock a quick stroke. “Yes, it was that good. Or maybe it’s that I’m totally in lust with you.”
“Lust, huh?” I grabbed his chin, turning his face to mine. “I think it’s more than that.” I gazed deeply into his stunning brown eyes, warmth spreading over my heart. Had I said that out loud?
His gaze searched my face. “It is…more than that.” He pressed a long kiss on my lips, placing his hand on my cheek. “I wanted to kill that fucker Knight tonight. I saw red when I realized what he’d done to you.”
“I know.” He was too far away. I patted the cushion next to me. “Get comfortable so we can be close here.”
“Oh.” With a smirk, he stood and skimmed his briefs and sweats up his legs and then sat next to me, twisting his torso to face me and winding an arm around my shoulders.
“Don’t you go after guys for me. You have too much at stake right now.” I pressed my lips together. He needed to hear me on this. He shouldn’t be playing any differently now that we were together.
“But I couldn’t let him get away with that shit.” He rested his hand on my chest, over my heart. “If it were an NHL game, I wouldn’t have held back.”
“Would you have left it alone if we weren’t seeing each other?” I ticked a brow. “You haven’t heard back from the scout yet, have you?” And if he made it to the Blackhawks, our time together would end at graduation in May. My chest pinched. Fuck, how was I only thinking about this now? I gritted my teeth for a beat. Because now it really mattered. I had feelings for him, and they grew stronger by the second .
His gaze left me for a moment and returned. “I don’t know, probably not. If the guy had started shit with Myles or Ace, I’d have done the same thing.” He rolled his lips. “Okay, maybe not as severe, but I’d still have gotten into the guy’s face.”
He was catching feelings too. With my heart flickering, I said, “Just watch yourself. I don’t want you getting suspended over me.”
“I won’t.” He huffed and played with the edge of the pocket of my hoodie. “He fucked up your knee though. What’s that going to do for your scouting chances if you aren’t even playing?”
“It’s only for a few weeks. I’ll be back out there in no time.” I caught his hand in mine and threaded our fingers together. “I want you to get this chance in Chicago. With your mom being ill, it’ll do you some good to have your home base there.” As an ache weaved through my chest, I kissed his knuckles.
“Rowan, where do you want to go after graduation?” He worried his lower lip. “Do you have an agent yet?”
“I do not.” I breathed in deeply. “My dad’s been working on it, but I haven’t heard anything yet.” What the hell would Dad think if he knew I was fooling around with my D-line partner? Holy hell, would he cut me off? I furrowed my brows and hung my head.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?” He kissed the top of my hair. “I could put in a good word for you with Dean. If he’s looking for a new client, he might pick you up.”
My gaze snapped to his, my heart lightening. “You’d, uh, you’d do that?” Tyler had serious connections all over the league.
“Of course.” He tapped the tip of my nose. “Wouldn’t it be cool if he could get us both signed with Chicago and we could continue our killer defense there?”
My eyes widened. He was thinking that far ahead? Like we might still be together? I wasn’t going to jinx this. “It would be wicked cool, Hodge. You and I would tear it up.” I leaned against his chest, his body heat warming me. “You’re making me think this thing between us is way more than lust.”
“It is.” He squeezed me to his chest. “I knew it when fucking Knight hit you. I’ve never been that heated over a bad hit. I’m usually pretty levelheaded.” He scoffed a laugh. “I’m not looking forward to the next games without you there.” He sighed. “I wonder if Coach will pair me with Burns.”
As my lips parted, I looked at him. He was all but telling me he was falling for me. Was he? Or was it wishful thinking on my part? I shifted, my knee protesting, and I winced.
“Hey, watch yourself.” He leaned over and checked my ice pack. “I think it’s been more than twenty minutes. We should take this thing off for now.”
I stared at him. He was going on about serious shit and not even realizing it. “Tyler, I’m falling for you.” My heart all but stopped. Holy shit, I’d said it.
He halted with his hands on the ice pack, and then he slid it out of the compression bandage and turned to me. Cupping my cheek with his gaze darting between my eyes, he said, “Same. I’m falling hard here, Mackenzie.” His throat dipped with a long swallow. “I don’t know what it is about you, but I can’t help myself.”
“Good. Don’t fight it. I’m not.” Wrapping my hand around his nape, I pulled his lips to mine, slanting my mouth over his and claiming him in a deep kiss. My heart swarmed with warmth. Tonight, nothing else mattered. Not the end of the season, not Chicago, and not what anyone else thought of us. We’d work things out. We had to.
As the kiss broke, he planted his forehead against mine and said, “Let’s watch a movie and cuddle. What do you think?”
“I think that’s a fine idea.” I wanted to make the most of our night together. I held my hand out toward my discarded beer on the coffee table. “And we have some beers to drink.” I gave him a wide smile.