26. Colby
TWENTY-SIX
Colby
If it were up to me, I’d spend every night wrapped around Novi, but the more we do it, the more chance there is of everyone finding out. So I’ve been good. I’ve implemented rules. Only on road trips, one night a week at his place, and no more trying to lock us in the storage closet at work.
Yet, all he has to do is tease me with a naked picture message, headless, of course, in case they ever got out, and I cave. I forget the rules.
I’d say it’s because he wants to spend as much time with me as possible as well, but a part of me thinks he does it because he likes making me break. He loves knowing how hard it is for me to keep my distance.
Which is how I’ve ended up at his house, in his bed, after only spending one night apart after their road trip. In my defense, Radimir Novicov is irresistible, especially now he’s more confident in his skin. His naked skin.
The same skin pressed against me as he spoons me.
Yeah, I’m totally gone when it comes to Novi.
I can’t get enough, and neither can he, consequences be damned.
Unlike me, he doesn’t seem to worry about what will actually happen if it gets out.
I know he is worried, but he doesn’t show it, and it makes me wonder whether he’s refusing to let himself picture it.
I think with Turkey and the Collective guys knowing, Novi is getting to a point where he’ll want to be out, and I don’t want to hold him back, but even if he came out and didn’t mention he’s currently fucking his coach, it will be messy.
It would put a spotlight on him, and it would be more difficult to sneak around.
If it wasn’t for his sister, he probably would have done it already.
For me, I don’t want to ask him to keep holding on to secrets when he’s finally gotten the freedom to let go of all of them, but the reality is, if he comes out, we’ll have to take a step back. Considering I can’t even last two nights without him, I know I won’t be able to keep my distance.
All these worries don’t matter at this point and won’t matter for a long time, but as I lie here in his arms, I can see myself repeating this situation over and over again.
I made the rules for a reason, yet I know I’m going to keep breaking them.
I can see us getting serious. I can see a whole lot of things with him that I shouldn’t be picturing this early. I should have enough control to hold out for him because this has the potential to be life-altering for both of us.
I need to talk to someone about it. Someone who isn’t Novi.
Especially not a naked Novi. Because if I tell him I want to pull back because I’m scared of falling for him, it will either make him run away screaming or only encourage him to keep chasing me.
I can’t afford the latter, and the former …
that’s something that should happen, but I don’t want it to.
My head is a mess of chaos running in two different directions.
But then Novi stirs and holds me tighter.
Just like that, all those worries dissipate once again, and I’m tempted to push back and rut against him until he comes on my back.
If it weren’t for Novi needing to get to the practice rink, I’d trap him by wrapping myself around him and staying here all day.
And right on time, his phone blares through his minimalistic bedroom.
“Nyet,” he says, but his phone only gets louder.
“I don’t think your alarm is voice activated.”
“I meant I’m not going to practice. I’m very sick.” He reaches behind him and stops his alarm.
“You don’t sound sick.”
He fake coughs and then comes back to me, pressing his hard cock against me and sliding it along my ass crack. “See? Very sick. Can’t skate.”
“Fuck,” I hiss. He’s doing it to me again, making me forget my priorities and his. “You can’t miss practice.”
“I can be late to practice.”
My cock is hard, my self-control is nonexistent, and as I give in to Novi once again, I make myself a promise: I need advice, and I need it sooner than later.
“Fine, but make it quick.”
“Now who’s romantic?” he says in his signature dry tone, but he does as I say.
He grinds against my ass and reaches over me to wrap his hand around my cock. It’s quick, it’s messy, but goddamn, it’s so good. It always is with Novi.
It doesn’t take long for both of us to reach breaking point, and we fall. His warm cum lands on my back while I fill his hand.
Breaths heavy, spaghetti limbs, we’re boneless while we come down from our high. I’ll never get over the intensity in which he makes me come. I’ll never get enough. He recovers first and slaps my ass.
“Shower. We can’t be late.” Novi jumps up, but I roll onto my back with a lazy, happy smile.
“You’ll be late. I have one of those things we never get.”
He pauses. “Is this English I don’t understand?”
“I have a day off.”
“I still don’t understand. That’s not a thing. Summer is days off. The rest of the year is work.”
“Maybe for you, but you’re forgetting one thing. Us coaches don’t need to be in top form like you athletes do.”
Novi puts his hands on his hips. “I’m starting to see why you chose to become coach. Staying fit was too hard.”
“Something like that.”
His comments don’t get to me like they might have fourteen years ago when I did have to give up being an athlete because I couldn’t cut it.
The thing is, I accepted it a long time ago, and I love being a coach so much that I’m certain my life turned out the way it was supposed to. In all aspects except one.
Why couldn’t this opportunity have popped up in two years’ time instead of now? Hell, even one year from now. I could keep it in my pants for three hundred days. I’m sure of it. But two years? It’s almost like I know it’s impossible, so I’m not really trying.
But I should try.
“What are you doing with your day off?” Novi asks, and I don’t want to tell him.
“Go shower already. You’re going to be super late, and then Whelan might bench you.”
“Please. I’m on a streak. He won’t bench me.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t be respectful and lead by example.”
He huffs. “You’re in coach mode.” He heads for the bathroom as I sit up in his bed.
“I am your coach.” My authority would maybe hold more weight if I wasn’t naked and covered in our cum.
My phone vibrates in my pocket as I reach the entrance to the restaurant Lane agreed to meet me at for dinner. At first, I think it’s him to let me know he’s here or running late, but when I take it out and check the message, Novi’s name is on the screen.
Novi:
What you doing?
I quickly type out: I’m at dinner with a friend, and no, I’m not coming over afterward.
Novi:
We’ll see.
Me:
I’m not.
Novi:
Okay.
Me:
I hate you.
Novi:
I’ll leave the door unlocked for you.
He can do that, but that doesn’t mean I’ll go over there.
A hand lands on my shoulder, and I jump a mile high. I’m quick to put my phone away.
Lane eyes me with amusement. “Off in your own world?”
Did he see that message? Do I lie here or be vague instead?
“Yeah, sorry.”
“You been standing out here long?”
“Not at all. You’re right on time.” I gesture for him to enter the restaurant first, and I follow him in.
Once we’re led to a table that’s in a quiet corner and we sit across from each other, Lane merely stares at me.
It’s kind of unnerving, but I get it. Since going out for drinks in the beginning of the season, where we promised we’d catch up, seeing as we’re in the same area blah, blah, blah, we haven’t made the effort. Not once.
I bury my head in my menu. “The salmon looks good.”
Lane doesn’t reply, and when I tilt my menu down so I can stare at him over the top, his lips purse.
“Are we eating, or …” My voice cracks.
“We can. Or we can talk about why you messaged to randomly catch up with me. Not me and Oskar. Just me.”
I drop my menu. “This isn’t a date if that’s what you’re asking.”
He laughs. “Didn’t even cross my mind. I was thinking more along the lines of you wanting something with a certain person because you have history, but you also can’t go there because you’re his coach, and that would cross a lot of lines, so you reached out to the PR manager who fucked his hockey player and got fired because of it. ”
I blink at him. “Okay, you’re good. I’ll give you that.”
“You can’t have sex with him.”
A throat clears as a server steps up to us. “Uh, do you need a few minutes? I can come?—”
Lane turns to him. “He’ll have the salmon, I’ll have the rib eye, medium rare, and we’ll both have whatever single malt scotch you have, neat.”
“Very well.” The server disappears.
Now I know why the Collective say Lane has Daddy vibes.
I lean back in my seat. “Lucky this isn’t a date, or that would’ve pissed me off.”
Lane smiles. “Ordering for you? I only did it because you said the salmon looked good, you need a drink to have this conversation, and I wanted to get back to my point. You can’t have sex with Novi.”
Hearing that from someone who already crossed the same lines I have doesn’t make this any easier. “See, logically, I know this, but … there’s a slight problem with that.”
“You already did, didn’t you?”
I lower my voice and mumble, “Multiple times.”
Lane takes a deep breath, holds it, and then lets it go a couple of seconds later. “Are you two together?”
“Sort of? I mean, yes, but we both know it can’t get out. At least not until he retires. And I tried. I tried so hard to wait the two seasons he has left before asking him out?—”
Lane cuts me off. “It’s November.”
“Don’t come at me with time math. Have you seen that man shirtless? It’s impossible to stay away.”
He softens at that, and at least it doesn’t look like he’s going to lecture me. “I can’t judge because I can relate. Not with Novi, obviously, but it was the same for me with Oskar.”
“So, what you’re saying is I’m fucked either way?”
“Sorry.” Lane takes a moment, tapping the table with his thumb. “Do you, uh … did you hear how that worked out for me?”
It takes me a moment to know where he’s going with this. “As we already established, you were fired.”
“Not only fired. It affected my hireability. My entire reputation was damaged because of it. No NHL team in the league would’ve offered me a job, possibly any team in any sport.
I was lucky that I’d made a connection with Damon King, but if I hadn’t and he didn’t offer me a role at King Sports, my career would’ve been dead.
I want to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.
I wouldn’t trade Oskar for anything in the world.
You need to decide if Novi is worth the same to you. ”