14. Chapter 14
Chapter fourteen
~ZED~
Addams sits down at the breakfast table next to me with a grunt and a cup of coffee in hand. The camp’s dragging itself into its last day, and I’ve already showered, dressed, and loaded my bag into the car. No reason to drag this morning out.
I shift in my chair, feeling a dull ache in my dick. I left Lilly’s room last night hard as a rock, with no plans to use my hand. So now I’m suffering the consequences.
The house is in a transitional state where everyone’s got their foot on the clutch, ready to go, while we still have a couple of hours before we actually do.
The ocean glimmers in the sunlight. I can hardly hear the waves over all the children running around, shrieking and screaming. I would’ve already left if it weren’t for Lilly. Correction: I wouldn’t even be here.
Apparently, one weekend with her has me doing shit I haven’t done in years.
I stare into my coffee. If anybody else had stuck a pinky in my face like that, I would’ve shoved it up their ass.
But when Lilly did it, there was no reality in which I didn’t wrap my finger around hers.
I haven’t done that in years. Not since—
No. Fuck that.
I take a sip of coffee and shut the door on it before my head gets any closer to memories I want to stay buried.
Across the long breakfast table, Dom has a tablet propped beside his plate as he scrolls through the upcoming schedule.
“We’re back on the ice this week,” he says without looking up. “I want everyone in for practice and extra voluntary drills.”
Jace, who’s halfway through destroying a plate of eggs, asks, “Everybody who?”
Dom finally lifts his eyes. “Everybody who wants to still be on the team by October.”
“Sounds very voluntary,” Addams says into his coffee.
“We need to oil our hinges.” Dom sets his tablet aside.
Coach picks up where Dom leaves off. “You made Mercer cover your asses too many times during the first periods last season. There were too many odd-man rushes that never should’ve reached his crease.”
Wonder if he’d still give me praise if he knew I what a mess I made of his daughter last night.
“Your starts are getting managed smarter this year, too,” he adds. “If these dumbasses are making you pay for their mistakes, we need to preserve you until shit gets real.” He shifts, reaching for his coffee. “Which brings me to the other thing. Your backup’s getting more starts this year.”
My eyes cut to him. “No.”
Coach doesn’t blink. “That wasn’t a question.”
Dom’s gaze moves between us, but he doesn’t step in.
Coach leans back in his chair. “Your backup needs game experience, Mercer.”
“He gets practice.”
“Not enough.”
“He doesn’t need more. He can warm the bench. That’s his job.”
Jace mutters, “Strong union support from the goalie department.”
Coach’s jaw shifts once. “The backup goalie is not decoration.”
“He won’t play.”
That net is mine. That crease is mine. Every shot that gets through the five men in front of me is mine.
I don’t share that. I don’t rotate ownership. I don’t step aside so some bench-warmed fucker can pretend the throne fits because someone handed him a few starts.
“What happens if you get injured?” Coach studies me.
“I play.”
Simple.
“You’re not a machine, Mercer.” Coach shakes his head.
“Debatable,” Jace says.
Coach presses two fingers against the table, dragging the room back to him. “Listen to me. This is not about taking your job. Nobody in the damn league can do that. But if something happens and you’re out for two weeks, he has to be ready.”
“Your crease is yours,” Dom says. “No one’s taking it away from you, man. But every one of us has a next man up if we go down. You need a reliable one too.”
“You can give him drills,” I tell Coach. “You can give him reps and all the gold stars you want.”
Coach’s eyes narrow.
“But when I play,” I continue, “he sits. So tell him to get comfortable watching. That’s the only view he’s getting of my net.”
Jace leans toward Addams and murmurs, “Imagine being the backup and feeling a chill down your spine right now with no idea why.”
Coach looks at me for a long moment before a grin stretches across his face.
“That’s the damn attitude I want!” He bangs on the table, making a few staff members turn their heads. “You think I want a goalie who’s fine with giving up his net? You think I want the man standing in my crease to shrug and say, Sure, give somebody else a taste? No. This is how I want all of you!”
The table roars to life, the men yelling their agreement, until Coach points a finger at me, his voice calmer but final.
“But your backup still gets his practice reps.”
With a roll of my eyes, I push my plate aside and lean back. Coach gives me an approving nod, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“By the way,” Tanner says around a piece of toast in his mouth, “one of you bastards definitely got laid last night.”
The guys perk up immediately.
“Tanner.” Coach looks up from his coffee.
“What?” Tanner swallows, dragging the back of his hand over his mouth. “I’m not naming names. I’m saying somebody had a better night than the rest of us.”
Addams leans back in his chair, interested now. “Based on what?”
“There was moaning coming from one of the rooms.”
Nothing on my face changes while pure, savage satisfaction curls low in my stomach.
“Wasn’t me.” A rookie lifts his hands.
“Nobody asked you,” Tanner says.
“Half of us are here with wives or girlfriends.” Dom leans in, eyes narrowing. “So I suggest you mind your business.”
Tanner’s grin only widens. His eyes flick to Dom, then Jessica, then back to Dom.
“So it was you two.”
Dom’s hand settles on the back of Jessica’s chair beside him.
“If I knew there was a chance you heard my girl,” he says, “you wouldn’t have ears right now.”
“Dominic.” Jessica turns her head and looks at him.
He keeps his eyes on Tanner. “What?”
“Relax. Maybe he mistook a seagull for a moan,” she says. “Easy mistake if you’re out of practice.”
A rough burst of laughter goes down the table.
“Thanks for the press release, though.” Jace claps him on the shoulder, then leans back to wrap an arm around Melody.
That gets a bigger laugh.
“No, man. I know the difference!” Tanner raises his voice.
The truth pools low in me. If I think about it too long, I’m going to develop a visible problem I don’t need.
Across the table, Coach’s eyes find mine. He’s watching from the end of the table, coffee halfway to his mouth, one brow raised. Knowing and amused.
The dock sits between us without either of us saying a word. He thinks he caught me with “some woman”, and Tanner’s little breakfast announcement just gave him the rest of the story. His mouth twitches like we’re sharing a secret.
So I let him.
A slow look back. A faint tilt of my head. Confirmation without a word.
His brow lifts a fraction higher, and then he chuckles under his breath, shaking his head. Don’t think he’d be laughing if he knew whose pussy I was playing with to drag those moans out.
Your daughter came so hard for me, Coach.
The conversation rolls on around me, moving naturally from sex jokes back to hockey and then to who’s driving with whom once camp officially wraps.
A familiar scent reaches me, and my head automatically turns toward the source. Lilly steps out onto the porch in a little pink sundress.
The dress flutters around her thighs with every step, showing off those long skater legs I want wrapped around my neck.
My cock gives a violent throb against my zipper.
She greets everyone with a sweet, sunny smile, but when her eyes finally find mine, she falters.
A pretty blush crawls up her neck and floods her cheeks.
She looks away fast, probably thinking that if she stares too long, everyone will know I had my mouth on her tits and my fingers on her clit a few hours ago.
Coach sees her and smiles.
“Morning, Lils.”
“Morning,” she says, and her voice is almost normal.
“Sleep okay?” he asks, passing her a fork.
She glances at me and blinks away fast, her cheeks reddening even more.
“Yeah,” she says. “Fine.”
I’m loving every second of this. That I have this with her now.
Lilly reaches for the coffee pot, and one of the rookies is halfway out of his chair to help before she even asks.
Fuck no.
I reach and grab it before he does, my eyes sliding to his. He sits back down with an apologetic press of his lips as I place it in front of Lilly, then slide the milk toward her as well. I watched her use it yesterday.
“Thank you.”
Coach gestures with his mug toward the seat across from him. “You ready to go?”
Lilly nods with a hum as she takes a sip of coffee, still avoiding my eyes. I let my gaze drag over her once, slowly enough for only her to feel it, and when she finally risks another glance my way, I give her the smallest tilt of my head.
A private little good morning.
Coach starts talking about departure times and making sure all the kids are loaded, counted, and packed.
“Bus leaves first,” Coach says, ticking things off on his fingers. “Kids, counselors, half the gear with them. Everyone else follows in the cars. Keep the convoy tight until we’re back in Miami, and then spread out however you want.”
Jace asks something about stopping for food. Dom starts figuring out which staff are riding with which players so the cars aren’t overloaded.
Then Coach turns to Lilly. “You want to ride back on the bus with me and the kids?”
She opens her mouth. I decide right there that the answer is no.
“I’ve got room.” The words come out flat and easy, like I’m doing everybody a favor.
Coach looks at me. “In the Pagani?”
The way he says it makes Jace lift his head like a dog hearing a treat bag.
“You’re offering Pagani seats?” Jace asks. “Because Melody and I—”
“You and Melody are riding with us.” Dom doesn’t look up from his phone.
I can feel Lilly’s panic before she even speaks.
“No, no, it’s okay—”
“It’s fine,” I say over her. “I’ll drive behind the bus.”
“In that thing?” Coach points a thumb in the direction of the cars.
“That thing follows traffic laws,” I counter.
“Does it know that?” Addams mutters.
I look at him.