Chapter 29 Henrik
HENRIK
Too fast. Too hard. She’s got the deer-in-the-headlights look.
My bad. I’m the one that slung the puck too hard in my own excitement to bring her into what we do. Make her a part of our team and band. She fits like my best broken-in skates, molded to perfection, slipping into my life like she was always meant to be.
Or maybe I’m just affected by Ren’s exuberance. The high of the show.
Because it’s one of the best shows we’ve ever captured.
I gently knead her shoulders, easing some of the tension straining in her delicate frame. “Let’s see the final shot before you get any wild hairs.”
Ren’s vibrating with anticipation as the final song starts to play.
I bring Darby back out onto the ice, holding her close while we dance.
It’s fucking beautiful to see, especially knowing the song as Ren starts his death skate.
His impossible flip through the fire. Her eyes glisten like wide, dark obsidian, her face pale against the darkness.
Ren flutters around her like a moth drawn to her flame, even knowing it’ll scorch him worse than the fire.
He can’t resist. Neither can I.
The final death spiral is a little off center from usual. When I pushed her to him, she went a little out of the frame. But it’s still powerful.
Until I block part of the shot when I rush in to make sure she’s not slipping too hard. I let out a low grunt. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking about the camera.”
“Me either,” Ren says, his eyes locked to the screen. “I should’ve...”
His words fall off into silence.
“That was crazy,” she says in the video.
Then the kiss. I’m blocking most of her face, and Ren shields his own pretty well when he removes the mask. But his hood has fallen back a little, revealing some of his shaved skull. It’s too dark to make out the tattoos. I think.
“Now kiss him too.”
She twists around to kiss me—and we have a full shot of her face before I seal my lips over hers.
I can’t bring myself to care, not when I see the look in her eyes.
Dazed, deer-in-the-headlights, yeah, but I know that look of arousal now.
The softness of her lips. The way she tastes. Sounds. When I fuck her.
Leland clears his throat. “Well, shit. That’s hot as fuck but Doyle’s not going to like that much at all.”
“Doyle can go fuck himself,” Ren says. “That’s hot as shit, Darby.”
She doesn’t turn fully to see my reaction, but I catch the side-eye glance, trying to subtly see if I’m mad or not. I keep my fingers gentle and easy on her shoulder as I say, “Almost as hot as the idea I gave you earlier today, babe.”
She makes a choked sound, her cheeks flushed. Her shoulders tense beneath my palm despite my best efforts at keeping her at ease. I didn’t mean to embarrass her—quite the opposite. I just wanted to flag my acceptance and agreement in way she’d—
“Doesn’t mean I want cameras for it,” she mutters.
My lips compress tightly to keep in a whoop that will only embarrass her more. That’s very nearly an agreement she’s open to bringing Ren into our relationship.
“I can work some magic in edits,” Lee offers. “I can darken the shot, take some of the light off your face to make it harder for people to recognize you. Or just cut that part out before we upload it.”
I’m impressed at Ren’s restraint. I figured he’d be adamantly vocal about eliminating his big finale. But he nods and looks at her with a serious furrow on his brow. “Whatever you want, Darby. We’ll fix it.”
“It doesn’t need to be fixed. It’s just…
” She inhales shakily and pauses. She reaches up and grips my fingers on her shoulder.
“It’s me. Clearly me. And I kiss two men I barely even know.
Granted, most people wouldn’t know that, but I know.
It’s… a lot. To take in. I don’t know that I’m that brave.
I can’t imagine anyone who knows me will see it, but it’s like one of those naked dreams where you show up to work and forgot to put on pants. ”
Ren sticks out his bottom lip like he’s a fucking toddler. “You mean we can’t send the clip to Michael and rub his face in the fact that he lost you?”
She splutters. “You… You wouldn’t! You can’t! You don’t have his information anyway. Right? Right?”
It’s Leland’s turn to look a little sheepish. “Actually he was pretty easy to find.”
“Karma’s a bitch,” I say, keeping my tone even and light. “I’d love to see the look on his face when he realizes you’ve not only moved on but have an entire team at your beck and call.”
“Not just any team, either,” Leland says. “If the Mighty Zon and the Gustafson Hotshot walk around on the street together, they’re recognized by hockey fans immediately.”
“Plus we’re a band,” Ren says. “Taylor Swift isn’t the only one who can write songs about exes or how teeny tiny their dick is.”
“You wouldn’t.” She tries to say it sternly, but her eyes are bright with laughter.
“The man tried to take your dog, Darby. Let alone all the other shit he did that you haven’t even told us. I’ll ruin his entire world for kicks and giggles.”
“Same,” I say. “We’re only getting started.”
“Let karma run its course.” She leans her head against me, and I slip my arm around her back, hugging her closer. “Would people really recognize you on the street?”
“Me, alone? Probably not. But if Ren’s there, absolutely.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, big guy,” Ren says. “You’re the Mighty Zon. Hockey fans ate your shit up.”
“Is that why you wear the masks when you sing? So no one knows who you are?”
“In the beginning.” Ren shrugs. “I wanted the music to stand alone. If it was good enough, people would want to listen regardless of who we were. I didn’t want to make it a celebrity blitz or draw a bunch of groupies.
” He laughs softly, shaking his head. “Irony’s a bitch.
I put the mask on so I could be the real me without anyone knowing. ”
“Everyone but us,” I say gruffly.
He nods, looking over at Leland and then me. “The only ones who’ve ever known the real me are right here in this little room.”
Then he looks at Darby, a raw, naked look in his eyes. The same way he looked at me this morning when I told him the truth about why I left the team. “Now you know me too, Darby. The real me. Is this the real you?”
She turns toward him and lifts her hand to his cheek. “It is. I left the old me in the dumpster where Tim was burning those files. The old Darby never would have decided to drive across the mountains in a blizzard.”
“Now you see why we worship the ice around here.” His lips quirk, popping his dimples. “The snow gods really did bring you to us.”
“Or maybe I was just stupid enough to think I could make it in my trusty SUV.”
“I like the snow gods idea more.”
I think she’s going to kiss him again, but Leland makes an apologetic cough. “Sorry to be that guy, but what’s the verdict on the video? Doyle’s blowing my phone up.”
On his knees, Ren looks up at her, the same as he did on the ice. His eyes blaze with the formidable power of a champion’s heart. His veins burn with unstoppable desire to be the best. At everything. To always be remembered and revered. He can’t help it. It’s in his DNA.
The shots of us skating with Darby are the best thing we’ve ever done as the band, but he doesn’t make any demands on her.
Or I’d thump him a good one. It’s her choice. In everything we do.
But she’s caught in his gravity. She can’t escape the pull of his shining eyes and his cocky grin. No one ever escaped the supermassive black hole power of the Gustafson Hotshot’s charm.
Until he picked her up in a snowstorm and dropped her off at my cabin. Unscathed. Only for the Mighty Zon to find her asleep on my couch.
She leans down to lightly rub her lips against his. “Let it ride.”