9. Monroe
nine
Monroe
M y muscles had that exhausted ache that I got when I pushed myself hard in the gym. But it wasn’t only my arms and legs that were heavy. Disappointment coursed through me, dragging my shoulders down. I looked around my room and outside at the view of the twilight sky. I’d wanted to take Cara out, but only hours after saying yes, she’d pulled out. I hated that she might have felt unable to say no to me face to face. She’d used Zali as a reason initially, but I’d pushed. I shouldn’t have.
I grumbled, wanting to kick myself for my stupidity.
My stomach grumbled right back.
The team’s retreat room still had the buffet set up for another half an hour. I slipped my slides on, grabbed my phone and keycard, and headed out. If nothing else, I could introduce myself to the team and let them know I was there to assist Cara. It might help relieve the load on her.
I turned the corner to the lift and groaned. Of all the people to run into, it had to be Hux—the one and only person who’d known about my date. He was waiting, leaning against the wall without a care in the world. Dressed in dark blue jeans and a grey button-down shirt with silver threads through it, he looked like he was on his way out. His sleeves were rolled up his forearms, and I couldn’t help but admire the artwork decorating his muscular arms. I appreciated the hard work that went into maintaining a physique like that—diet, exercise, discipline, and more discipline.
“You’re dressed casually for a date,” he commented wryly. “Do they not have fancy restaurants here?”
“She cancelled,” I responded glumly before I’d even had a chance to think the words through. “Family stuff. She wasn’t feeling well,” I added so at least he didn’t think I was a complete loser.
“Hmm.”
I raised a brow and waited for him to elaborate, but when he stayed quiet, I asked, “What? What’s hmm supposed to mean?”
He shook his head, his lips pressed together as if he wanted to say more but was holding back.
“Fine. Whatever.”
His smile was small but victorious. “She may not feel up to going out, but she still needs to eat. Don’t you think we should take her some food?”
“Huh,” I responded. He was right—she did need to eat. But would she want us there? Wait, us? “ We aren’t taking her anything. I am.”
“If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even be seeing her.”
“That doesn’t mean I want you there,” I retorted with a huff. The truth was, I didn’t mind spending time with Cara with other people. If that’s what made her comfortable enough to see me, then I was totally okay with it.
“I still need to apologize, so you’re stuck with me.”
I grumbled, protesting more than I really minded. When we got downstairs, his teammates would no doubt pull him into a conversation, and I’d be able to slip away with Cara’s and my dinner.
But the moment we walked into the room, a change swept over Hux. He tensed, and his gaze skittered around as if tracking exactly where everyone was. He relaxed momentarily, then the man I’d seen Cara speak to on the bus waved him over, and he tensed up again. The teammate he was sitting with called out Hux’s name, but he pressed his lips into a grim line and walked straight for the buffet, ignoring them.
He stopped short, and I almost crashed into him.
“Shit,” I grumbled. “Sorry. Wasn’t expecting that.”
But Hux was focussed on only one thing. His gaze was locked on the man standing at the buffet table. The colour had drained from Hux’s face, and every muscle in his body was rigid.
Hux gritted his teeth, the grinding loud enough that I was surprised he didn’t crack a molar. Then he exhaled slowly, muttering under his breath, “Fucking hell.”
I couldn’t help the worry, the instant concern that bubbled inside me. “Everything okay?” I asked quietly.
“Why is it when you try to avoid someone, you see them everywhere?” he murmured, his voice full of irony.
“You guys have a beef?”
Hux turned his gaze to me, his eyes narrowed in disbelief. When I stayed silent, he opened his mouth then closed it again before he furrowed his brows. “You don’t know?”
“Know what?” I asked. “Am I supposed to have been briefed on team dynamics or something? Because I’ve gotta say, I didn’t get anything like that.”
“Just a nasty rumour, that’s all. It kinda ruined our friendship. Hopefully it hasn’t killed the team’s mojo too.” He looked around and watched the groups talking and laughing together. Taken at face value, there didn’t seem to be an issue, but I hadn’t seen inside team dynamics before either.
“Why don’t you clear it up?”
Hux let out a quiet huff of laughter, but it held no humour. “It’s not as easy as that. But thanks for the advice, Captain Obvious.” His smile was completely for show. It didn’t reach his eyes, and when I didn’t return it, his lips slid back down into a flat line. “Yeah, so, Cara.”
“Yes. I’ll get her dinner. You stay here—” I gestured between Hux and the other bloke leaving the table. “—and sort that out.”
“Sure, man.” He rolled his eyes and patted me on the shoulder while I picked up a plate and handed it to him. “That conversation needs privacy and the team gossips like grannies.”
“So go somewhere private.” I bit my lip, unsure of how much to say. But I could give him advice without baring my soul to him. “Look, I’ve learnt the hard way that communication is important. Don’t leave things unsaid. If you need to hash it out, do it. Don’t let it fester.”
“That sounds like marital advice.”
I huffed out a humourless laugh to cover the stabbing pain that hit me whenever I thought about the fallout from my wife’s decision that fateful day. My voice cracked when I answered, “Mine ended spectacularly badly. Like I said, I learned the hard way.” Understatement of the century there.
I busied myself filling up two plates with a selection of food and set them on a tray with glasses of juice and a third plate piled high with desserts. Cara had a sweet tooth, and if she was still dealing with her parents’ issues, she’d need the sugar. I gestured at the door with my chin, gave Hux a nod, and started that way. I hoped he’d take up my advice, but I was out of luck. He followed me out and called the lift.
“What?” he asked with a shit-eating grin when he saw me sigh. “You can’t leave me here by myself. It’s our first night in a foreign country, and you are literally the only person apart from Cara that I know.”
“You know the whole bloody team!”
“Fuck, way to make a guy feel welcome. Pass them off to the other tourists when all they want is to learn about the local cultures.”
“It’s dinner.”
“Exactly. Local culture, local cuisine. I don’t trust doing it by myself. Cara mentioned having Vege toast for breakfast, so I asked for some. They brought me a square of this black paste.” He pulled a face, scrunching up his nose and pursing his lips. “How the fuck do you eat that shit? It was God-awful.”
I wanted to facepalm. “You ate it like peanut butter, didn’t you—straight off the knife.”
“No.” His denial was completely hollow, and I barked out a laugh when he added primly, “It was a spoon. Gauthier was laughing so hard, he couldn’t speak, so I’m guessing I did something wrong.”
“How does Gauthier know how to eat Vegemite?”
“He lived here until he was thirteen. When he got an invite to train with the Canadian youth team, he moved back there.”
That typical Aussie humour—dry as fuck and filled with teasing—made a lot of sense. I almost felt sorry for Hux, but it would have been funny to watch.
“Breakfast tomorrow. I’ll show you how to do Vege toast properly.”
Hux grinned, and his eyes sparkled with pure mischief as he met my exasperated gaze. The doors to the lift opened, and we stepped inside.
“How do we get to Cara’s floor?” he asked, his hand hovering over the buttons. “Reception let me up last time.”
“I forgot to give Cara back her key. Take this, and I’ll grab it.”
Hux’s smile grew, turning wicked. I held out the tray to him, but he pumped his brows and said with laughter in his voice, “Sure you did. You were going to sneak into her room, weren’t you?”
“Fuck off,” I muttered, but couldn’t help laughing at his teasing.
He batted away the tray and instead patted my pockets down, reaching into the back one to get out the cardboard slip her keys were still pressed into.
“What the fuck?” I squeaked as I jumped forward and spun around, hiding my instant erection. Jesus, every touch sent my body into overdrive lately. Heat washed through me, and my cheeks burned as my body lit up. Hux was just being efficient. There was no hidden agenda behind him deep diving into my pockets—it wasn’t like he was palming my ass or anything—but aside from quick hugs from Zali and my friends, it had been a bloody long time since I’d been touched. Especially somewhere as sensitive and erogenous as my ass.
“Fuck, calm down, man. You’re going to spill the juice everywhere.”
I willed my cock to deflate as Hux pulled his hand free, the ghost of his touch like a branding iron. I groaned at the loss of sensation. But he must have mistaken it for annoyance.
He sighed, and the humour slipped from his face. I could practically see the walls slamming into place between us, and… I didn’t like it.
“Sorry, you’re right, I shouldn’t have done that.” He dropped the cards on the tray and held out his hands, waiting for me to hand it over.
I couldn’t explain why, but I needed us to go back to having that teasing banter between us.
“S’all good,” I croaked, my voice breaking like a teenager’s. I cleared my throat and added, “You scan it.”
Hux pressed his lips together, not giving anything away. But the neediness, the angst for him to relax with me, banked.
The trip to Cara’s floor was quick. The doors opened before Hux even had a chance to give back the card. Or maybe he was stalling, not wanting to touch me again in case he provoked a similar reaction.
“This is it,” I said, even though he knew exactly where it was. I was desperate to cut the tension between us and filled the uncomfortable silence with bumbling words.
Hux knocked, and after a moment, Cara opened it. She was standing half behind the door, using it to hide behind. From what I could see, she was dressed in a set of pale pink Minnie Mouse pyjamas—a strappy singlet and tiny pair of shorts—and her hair was tied in a messy bun atop her head. She looked adorable, but her eyes were dull and her face pale. She looked like she was struggling, in pain, and exhausted. I wanted to reach out and comfort her, to hold her and both make things right in her world and take away any pain she was in.
“Here she is,” Hux murmured appreciatively, and Cara tilted her lips up in a tiny smile. But the way she was curled in on herself, using the door as a shield and making herself as small as possible, didn’t change. The dullness in her eyes didn’t shift either.
That wouldn’t do. I loved Cara’s giggle, the carefree way she laughed and smiled. She was a ray of sunshine after a long cold winter—beautiful and filled with warmth—and seeing her struggle was heartbreaking.
“Hey, um, what are you doing here?” she asked tentatively, her tone confused as she looked between us.
“Hux reminded me that you still needed to eat, so I brought you a meal, and he wanted to apologize to you—”
“And Roe, here, needed to return your key.”
I winced, hoping that she hadn’t gotten stuck outside her room.
“So we came together. Double-teaming you, so to speak,” Hux added.
I bit back a groan at the bad innuendo. But Cara’s pupils flared, and my cock responded in kind. She shifted, revealing a touch more of herself, and I eyed her appreciatively. From the tips of her pale pink toes, up those shapely thighs that would squeeze me so good, to her rounded belly and generous breasts, I took in my fill. Even the slope of her shoulders had me captivated. I wanted to kiss a trail along the bare skin of her arm, where the spaghetti strap of her singlet had fallen, all the way up to her throat. She was braless, and knowing that only a single layer of soft material hid those gorgeous breasts pushed every one of my buttons.
I swallowed hard and bit my tongue to stop myself from tossing aside the tray and dragging that singlet down with my teeth.
After clearing my throat, I added, “But we’re not here to intrude. You wanted alone time, and I understand that. If you want us to leave—or just Hux—” I grinned wolfishly at him. “—then just say the word.”
Hux jabbed me in the side with his elbow, and I snorted out a laugh. “That’s the best you’ve got, Mr Hockey? You should be a soccer player. You couldn’t shove someone into the boards with those weak moves to save yourself.”
Hux sputtered out a laugh and replied, “It’s lucky we’re not on the ice, then, isn’t it?” He winked, relieved me of the tray one-handed before I could protest, and gestured with his chin toward Cara’s room. “Shall we?”
Cara blinked, looking at us wide-eyed, no doubt shocked by our familiarity, and she flushed. Colour crept over her chest to her throat and all the way up to her cheeks. When I shrugged, she bit her lip and giggled, the sound so sweet that I wanted to pound on my chest like a caveman and shout, “I did that.”
She opened the door to her room wider and whispered shyly, “Um, come in?”
“Seriously, we don’t have to stay,” I said in a low voice.
“No, ah… I’d like you to. Both of you.” She gestured at the bedroom with her thumb over her shoulder. Her hotel room wasn’t just a room. It was a full suite with a bedroom and sitting area with a huge flat-screen TV. There was a movie playing—something with Ryan Reynolds falling naked on top of… was that Sandra Bullock?—with the volume muted.
“Just let me get dressed.”