Chapter Fifteen Mason
R olling over, I blindly shut my alarm off and scoot to the edge of the bed, lowering myself down with my eyes still glued shut.
“Oh shit,” I curse as I crash to the ground, tripping on something. Blinking the sleepiness away, I look down, and my heart stops in my chest at the sight before me. “No way. No fucking way.”
Turning around, I see that I didn’t wake in Daphne’s bed. I’m in the spare bedroom, where Daphne went to sleep last night in my body. Running out of the room, I race to the bathroom as fast as I possibly can, not bothering to look at any part of me, out of fear that I might be hallucinating.
My reflection greets me kindly. My reflection . “YES!”
My hands assault my body, fluttering up and down my chest and stomach, touching every part of me, as if to check if this is real and not some vision.
Sliding my hand over my dick, I sigh.
I’ve missed you, buddy.
Daphne!
Shutting the light off, I run down the hallway to her room, bursting through her doorway to find her asleep in her bed and in her own body.
Kneeling on the rug beside her, I shake her awake, more forcefully than I intend. “Daphne, wake up!”
She stirs and rolls over to face me. “Go away. I’m still sleeping.”
“Daphne!”
I rock her shoulder again, and this time, her eyes flutter.
“Ugh, Mason, go awa—” Her head tilts up, and her eyes fly open. “Mason? Mason? Oh my God, Mason!”
She jumps out of bed, and I scoop her up in my arms. I pull her into my chest, and her legs wrap around my waist as I spin.
“I know! I mean, I don’t know, but thank God!”
She squeezes me, and I try not to get too caught up in the feeling of her body pressed perfectly into mine. I spin her around, hugging her tightly and breathing her in.
“Ahhhh.” She exhales the biggest sigh as I slide her down my front and set her back on her own two feet.
I’m so happy to be back in my own body, but, God, I underestimated how much more intense my feelings would be for her when I finally got to look at her again. Feel her. Hear her. It’s overwhelming.
Her cheeks redden, and I realize I’ve just been staring at her in awe for a noticeable amount of time. But I don’t care. I can’t help it. Especially not after what we just went through. I’ve never been drawn to her more.
Ugh, I just want to pounce on her and kiss her for eternity. Is this normal? I feel like I have cuteness aggression toward her right now, and I can’t contain it, like I’m going to explode.
“Well, sorry. I guess I could’ve waited for you to wake up on your own.” I rub the back of my neck as her eyes flick up to mine, and I realize how much I missed looking down into her eyes.
She’s so beautiful.
“No, I’m glad you did.” She fidgets with the hem of her NMU T-shirt. “D-do you think that our kiss did it?”
“Like true love’s kiss?” I chuckle.
The redness of her cheeks spreads to her entire face, and her eyes widen at my words. She forces a laugh, and I bite the inside of my cheek to stifle my own.
She’s nervous, and it’s amusing the hell out of me. I love seeing her knocked off her axis and caught off guard.
“Anyway,” I mutter, changing the subject to save her from trying to figure out what to say, “now that we’re back to normal, what are you planning for the day?”
She blinks rapidly, like she’s trying to refocus and shake away any lingering thoughts. “I might go to the rink and skate for a bit. I’ve missed it, in my own body.”
“Honestly, we switched back at the perfect time because I was holding off on telling you about practice starting today.”
I laugh as her face falls, and she slaps my chest lightly.
Her eyes widen in shock. “Are you serious?! You were just going to throw me out there? What was your plan?”
She crosses her arms, pretending to be all upset, but I know she’s really not from the slight smirk on her lips.
“I would’ve figured it out this morning. Either begged you to go and do your best, or pretend I got in, like, an accident or something and couldn’t go.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re such an idiot.”
I shrug. “Or I’m just smart in ways you couldn’t even understand.”
My stupid remark earns a smile from her as she shoves me toward the door.
“Get out of my room.”
“As you wish, Sunset.” I wink and walk backward out of the door, giving her a two-fingered salute.
Phew. I skate onto the ice in my full gear, feeling like a new man. Thank fuck this whole thing ended the morning of practice because I would have secretly died inside to watch Daphne skate for me again.
I’m so proud of her for how she did, but this is my life, and not being able to do it myself would have been brutal to watch.
“Maaaase.” Brock skates onto the ice and glides over to me, smacking the back of my helmet with his glove. “It feels good to be back!”
“Hell yeah, it does.” I smile from ear to ear, skating toward the net at the left side. “I missed this so much.”
He looks at me weird. “I mean, we were just scrimmaging a few of days ago.”
Oh shit .
“Yeah, but that wasn’t like practice , practice, you know?” I correct myself.
He scoffs. “Yeah, now we just get to get yelled at while we do it.”
I laugh and toss my water bottle on top of my net, starting my usual routine of carving up the ice in my crease.
“Yeah, get it, Mason! Do your little dance!” Chet cheers me on as he skates over to us.
Coach Hynes, our head coach, blows his whistle, summoning everyone over. Abandoning my post, I skate over with the guys, crowding around the bench where our coaches are waiting.
“Welcome back, boys!” Coach Hynes claps his hands. “Coming off of a big season last year, we have quite the reputation to uphold, and we are doing it again this year. Repeat Frozen Four champions? I think that sounds pretty damn good.”
My team and I hoot and holler in agreement, smacking our sticks against the ice.
“Would we rather start with a scrimmage today or some drills?” he asks us honestly. “Blades up for drills. Handles up for scrimmage.”
Most, if not all, of us hold our handles up.
“All right. Split into two teams. Your choice this time. And just because it’s a scrimmage doesn’t mean you goof off. I want to see some hard work out there. Show us what you worked on over the summer and remind us why you earned your spots last year.”
He blows his whistle, and I head back to my net.
I don’t need to fight for a place on the ice right now. Everyone here knows I belong between the posts. I’ve earned it clearly over the last three years, but especially in the championship winning season last year.
I finish carving up and prepping my crease before working through some stretches to warm up while the rest of the players figure out what team they’re on.
My skin is buzzing, goose bumps breaking out everywhere as one of our assistant coaches skates onto the ice with a puck, and the first two lines set up for puck drop.
Let’s fucking go.
He blows the whistle, and they’re off. My team wins the face-off and heads to the other end of the ice. I stand up for a brief second, doing a couple of quick squats to stretch out my hamstrings.
We don’t score, and they start taking off down the ice toward me. One of our new guys—a freshman—leads into the zone with the puck, and Brock skates wide toward my right side.
Our defenders are right with them, not letting them get an easy shot off. There is something special about a team that meshes so well together.
My defenders know exactly where to stand without blocking my view of the puck. We’re like water, flowing back and forth with the movements of our opponents.
They try to get a quick shot, but my defender stops it, taking it to his thigh. We steal the puck and take off toward the goal.
“Nice block, Colson!” Assistant Coach Ames yells as he skates to the bench to change with the next line’s defenseman while he recovers from that pain.
Ten seconds later, we sink the puck into the back of their net and celebrate.
The next two hours of practice fly by, and while I’m exhausted when we finish, I’m pulsing with excitement. Today’s a big day for a lot of reasons. Daphne and I are finally free from … whatever that was. And it’s the first official day of Mammoths hockey.
We need to celebrate. Maybe I’ll cook dinner tonight for Maeve and Daphne, go all in and make something special. Secretly, I’ve spent the last week studying how to live with celiacs and how in-depth everything is. I’m going to cook something that’ll blow her mind because it’s so good.
As I head out to my truck, I shoot Maeve a quick text.
Me: I’m making dinner for everyone tonight. Question: what should I make for you and Daphne?
A moment later, she replies.
Maeve: Ooh , dinner, huh? Who are you trying to win points with? Me or Daph?
Me: Both? A thanks for letting me crash at your place for a bit. Which I might want for a little longer. Not sure yet.
Maeve: Ugh, so needy, but fine. As long as Daphne’s cool with it. As for dinner, make Chinese food. I know it might sound weird, but it’s one of those things that she can’t get anymore and craves the most. Orange chicken is her favorite.
Done. Easy enough. And I already know what I’m going to make for dessert for her. She always ordered it as a kid. As for the Chinese food, I’m guessing she’s had a hard time finding it or she didn’t want to make it herself. Regardless, this is about to be the best damn orange chicken out there.
I’ll make a quick pit stop at the store before heading home and prepping everything. I am on a mission to earn her trust back—and maybe her heart along the way too.
Daphne has been out of the house the entire afternoon, and I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been eating me alive, not knowing where she is. But Maeve assured me that she would be home in time for dinner, so I just have to take her word for it and try not to drown in my thoughts.
Everything smells amazing and is nearly done when Daphne finally walks through the door, looking ungodly hot in a cropped NMU T-shirt and jeans. I want to stare at her and never stop.
She kicks her shoes off and finally looks up, locking eyes with me. “Oh, hi.”
Is she being weird? Or is that just my anxiety projecting? Great, now I’m overthinking everything.
“Hi!” I say a bit too excitedly. Idiot .
She breathes in deeply as she walks into the kitchen and leans against the island countertop. “That smells amazing. Like, mmm, orange chicken.”
I shake the pan, mixing the stir-fry. “That’s because it is.”
“Ugh,” she groans and sighs. “I’m so jealous.”
I smirk with my back to her. “Don’t be. It’s gluten-free.”
“No, it’s not!” she gasps.
I turn around, finding her jaw on the floor and stars in her eyes as she takes a couple of steps toward me.
A mix of pride and giddiness blooms inside of me. “It is. Orange chicken. Stir-fry. And even a gluten-free dessert.”
She sucks in a sharp breath. “Don’t mess with me right now, Mason.”
A laugh bubbles out of me, and I turn back to the stove, turning the burners off. “I’m serious. Now grab a plate. It’s ready.”
She runs up behind me and wraps her arms around my waist, and I freeze in place, my heart beating out of my chest.
I don’t know whether to stay still or spin around and pick her up, never letting her go again.
I opt for the latter, not wanting to scare her away. She can hold me as long as she wants, but I’m not moving.
“Thank you.” Her voice is muffled into the back of my hoodie.
Taking a chance, I wrap my hand around hers that’s flat on my stomach and stroke her soft skin with my thumb. “You’re welcome.”
Grabbing a plate from the stack I set out next to the stove, I spin in her grasp, but she doesn’t pull away, and, fuck , having her chin resting on my chest and her arms around me has me ready to risk it all.
Every cell in my body is vibrating, every nerve standing on edge and drifting her direction, desperate for her touch.
She holds my stare, those blue eyes of hers weakening my knees as she looks straight up at me. My gaze falls to her lips, and the absolute need to kiss her drives me to insanity.
Her cheeks redden, and she swallows hard before glancing away and backing up, taking the plate from my hand. “I am going to have the biggest food baby after this.”
“Good. I hope you like it.” I beam at her, watching her load her plate up to max capacity with stir-fry and chicken.
Wait until she finds out what I made for dessert.
Before she even gets to the table, she’s shoveling a forkful into her mouth.
The moan that follows makes my dick twitch, and I have to stop myself from moaning back, pleasure coursing through me from her sound alone.
She groans again as she takes another bite, and I quickly realize that if she keeps making noises like that, I’m going to be hard as fuck by the time we’re done eating.
I didn’t know my cooking could elicit those sounds from her. I’m going to have to start cooking like this every damn day.
She stares at me with big eyes and even bigger pupils. “It’s sooo good; I might actually cry.”
“Don’t cry.” I chuckle, filling my plate up quickly and joining her.
When I sit down at the table next to her, her eyes are watering. “You don’t understand. I’ve been craving this for yearssss.” She drags the S out. “And now I get to taste it for the first time again.”
My heart expands in my chest, feeling like it’s going to burst.
I’m going to make every single thing she could possibly want.
“Then I’m glad I made it tonight.” I smile shyly, taking a bite.
Maeve walks downstairs with her nose up in the air. “Mason, I don’t think you can move out. You’re going to need to stay here as our chef.”
“Well, I will have a much tighter schedule once school starts, but I’m sure I can make something at least once a week for you guys. If that’d be okay with you?” My stare falls to Daphne, who’s looking up at me.
With a soft grin on her lips, she nods ever so slightly, and I swear if my legs weren’t positioned beneath the table, I would start floating.
“Do you want to know what I made for dessert?” I ask her, dying to see her reaction, and she nods. “Cookies and cream ice cream—with gluten-free Oreos, of course.”
Her shoulders drop, and her bottom lip juts out, quivering. But a blink of an eye later, she’s squinting at me with suspicion. “What are you trying to do, huh? Make me like you again?”
Leaning over the table toward her, I smirk and whisper, “I think I might have already done that.”
She glares at me. “So confident for someone who couldn’t be more wrong.”
She sassily takes another bite and chews with her nose turned up, looking away from me. She can pretend all she wants, but deep down inside, she knows I’m right.
Now that we’re in our own bodies, I just need to make her feel comfortable enough to let me back in.