Chapter 19 Ezra
Nineteen
Ezra
Ifucked up.
Royally at that.
It’s never a good idea to initiate anything romantic or sexual with a colleague. Especially the one who loathes me. The one who gets under my skin like no other woman ever has. Definitely not the one who makes me lose all my inhibitions.
And I went ahead and did exactly that.
I can blame it on the high of winning the game against one of our top rivals. Or on the alcohol in my system. Maybe even say that it was a mistake. But I really have no one or anything else to blame for it but me.
I want to say that the kiss wasn’t anything special. That it barely registered. That it was like the kisses I’ve shared with countless other women, a blip in time. But that, too, would be a lie.
I know the kiss with Kaeli altered my brain chemistry, and I was never even a science student.
I should’ve known nothing with this woman is simple or forgettable.
I should’ve known that one kiss would be all it would take her to disarm me, destroy me, ruin me.
I should’ve known that one kiss with her was all it would take for me to get hooked on her.
I’ve jerked myself off to the memory of that one kiss, two lips, and numerous moans of pleasure innumerable times. She’d surely decimate me if she found out. And what scares me is that I’d happily let her.
So, this morning, when I’m in the shower, replaying that kiss for the umpteenth time, I see my cock hardening like granite, aching for relief. My restraint lasts for all of two seconds before I resign myself to the perverse need to make myself come.
The muscles in my stomach tighten as my hand engulfs my engorged and bobbing cock. I hiss at the touch, imagining that it’s her pouty lips wrapping around my girth instead.
The first stroke I give myself is composed, slow, as I try not to come under a second. Squeezing my eyes shut as the water descends from my hair to my toes and into the drain, I picture Kaeli on her knees for me, desperate and waiting.
She teases me with the swirl of her wet tongue over the tip of my dick. Then she wraps her hand around me and sucks the tip as her fingers glide over the underside of my cock.
Instead of taking me in her mouth, she drops wet kisses all over my length, teasing me, as a shiver of desperation and eagerness crawls the length of my spine.
My hand grips her hair tightly, demanding her to open her mouth.
And when she dutifully swallows my cock in her hot mouth, my head falls back on a groan as I mutter, “Good girl.”
She preens under my praise, squirming and seeking friction and pleasure we both know only I can give her.
With a taut hold on her head, I thrust inside her mouth as she keeps her jaw loose to take me deep in her throat. Her head bobs on my dick as her eyes water and her mouth glistens with saliva and my precum.
“Fuck, you’re hot,” I grunt.
She continues to swirl her tongue around me as she chokes on my dick. She raises her hand to fondle my balls, and my body trembles with the intense pleasure, my hips bucking into her face. The knot in my stomach tightens, threatening to break.
She scrapes her teeth along my length, and that’s my undoing as I come violently with a groan down her throat, and she swallows it all like the good girl she is. I ride the high for long moments as my cum shoots out of my dick, and my hips buck unceremoniously.
My eyes open, and the image of her wanes from my sight. Slapping my hand on the tiled wall of my bathroom, I come to my senses, soaking in the reality of her absence as I pant from the incredible release.
“Fuck.” The curse slips past my lips when I realize that she has me hooked without even knowing.
Or maybe she does know.
* * *
That woman is the bane of my existence. And she does her absolute best to remind me of it time and time again.
It’s been more than a week since we kissed. And since that day, we haven’t uttered a word to each other, not even in passing. She went as far as to make Jodi our point of contact or mediator, if you will.
Absolutely refusing to talk to me, even for work, she has taken to spurning my very existence. No matter how much I stare at her, trying to make her look at me just once, she won’t budge.
When I hear her talking with my other teammates, my blood boils, and I want to punch them in the face for being able to talk to her when I can’t. She isn’t even throwing insulting words at me for Christ’s sake.
I didn’t realize how much bantering had become part of my routine until she withdrew. And it’s not because she didn’t enjoy the kiss. I know she did. Her breathy moans, squirming thighs, and hot pussy were undeniable evidence.
So, is it because of what that dickface Cillian said? My hands tighten around the stick at the mere thought of him. I wish Kaeli hadn’t stopped me from knocking him out. How dare he talk about her like that?
No matter how cold she seems to others, I’ve never once seen her be disrespectful or hurtful to someone else. She hides her true self well. But not well enough from me.
I see her.
She doesn’t need to verbalize why she is like that at work. I know being a woman in a man-centric sport isn’t easy. Not even in the twenty-first century.
But I wish she would just look at me. I miss her mocha eyes on me. I miss her witty remarks. I miss her glare even. And most of all, I miss her voice.
I love that she doesn’t hide from me, never gives me a fake smile. Even though she leaves no chance to chew my head off. Or used to. Even the guys have started noticing our weird estrangement, though none of them said anything except for one.
The other day at the gym, Noah asked me if everything was alright between her and me. The fact that there’s a me and her, an us, filled me with glee. But that soon dissipated when I remembered her glaring avoidance.
Fuck, I miss her.
“Dude, let’s go,” Lucas, our defense man’s voice pulls me out of the Kaeli-spiral as he slaps my back lightly to make me listen to him.
Shaking the thoughts of Kaeli out of my head, I inhale a deep breath and remind myself to focus on today’s practice.
Our next match is in New York with the Falcons, and I’ve every intention of making them lose face in their home barn.
The entire team will pay for Cillian’s transgression. I could forgive him for what he did all those years ago. But I’ll never forgive him for insulting Kaeli.
* * *
We’re having a great practice. I pour all of my rage and disappointment into the game.
I’m on fire, and the others stay vigilant of me and give me a wide berth. They can sense that I’m not in the mood to fuck around. And so, they give their hundred percent, too.
By the end of it, some of my anger has depleted, and I feel a little lighter. That’s why I love hockey. I can always count on it to improve my day, no matter the funk I’m in.
The coach blows his whistle and leaves with a nod, indicating the end of practice. All of us file into the locker room to freshen up and leave.
I plop on the bench and acknowledge, “Great practice, everyone. Now, all we need is to win so those Falcon motherfuckers know who the champion is.”
The screams and excited yells of the guys ring inside the room as they whistle and hype each other up. One responsibility as a captain is to boost the morale of the team and keep them motivated. And so, I give them something to look forward to as I stand after removing my skates and pads.
Crossing my hands at my chest, I look at every player in this room with a serious expression. They hold their breaths, awaiting my words.
I let a small smile on my face when I announce, “Win me this game, and all the drinks in the club we’ll celebrate in will be on me.”
The deafening howls and commotion by the players is a scene to watch, all of them excited at the prospect of free drinks. No one would believe that they all earn more than they know what to do with.
Noah sidles to my side and gives me an appreciative nod as I sit back down. “Good decision.”
And I return it. “I know.”
This is the enthusiasm I need from her when I win this game for her.
“By the way,” chirps Seb as he removes his gear, “has anyone else noticed the weird tension between Cap and Kaeli?”
Every head in the room turns to me as I feel my face turn hot. I hate being the center of attention, and everyone on this team knows that. So, I really want to just kill Seb for giving voice to his thoughts.
“For real! It’s like going near a ticking time bomb with an invisible timer,” Lucas agrees, drying his hair with a towel after his shower, holding another towel at his waist with the other hand.
I roll my eyes at them. “You’re imagining things,” I try to deflect.
He opens his mouth, but Noah cuts him with a shake of his head and says in a calm voice, “I’m warning you, Seb. Don’t antagonize him.”
“Man, I swear, you were totally showing off out there. Trying to impress her, weren’t you?” Seb obviously doesn’t listen as he asks, wiggling his eyebrows at me, as the entire room echoes with ‘oh shits’.
He did not just go there. A devilish grin spans across my face as I sit straighter on the bench, staring at him.
“You’ve been watching me, rookie? That’s cute.” My voice rings in the silence that descends. Though it soon dissipates as the guys laugh and whistle.
Seb laughs. “Come on, admit it. You were picturing her watching you score.”
I reply dryly, with lazy confidence, “If I were imagining her, kid, I wouldn’t be thinking about scoring goals.”
Take that, you asshole. I love the kid, but I hate that he’s always around her. Mostly, I hate that she doesn’t mind being around him.
The room erupts—hoots, hollers, a couple guys thump the stalls. Noah just shakes his head with a smile on his face, removing the pads on his legs.
“Ohhh, he went there!” Lucas chirps.
“Captain’s on fire tonight!” comes Oliver’s voice.
Seb still smiles, though it falters a little bit as he stands to remove his jersey. “Yeah…guess you always gotta have the last word, huh?”
I stand, brushing past him to the shower stall with a half grin. “Nah. Just the better one.” I wink at him.
Seb’s smile falls, replaced with something caught between awe and surprise as I walk into the shower, the noise of the guys fading behind me.
If he really knew how I imagine Kaeli, he’d fucking blush.