Chapter 19
nineteen
ISABELLE
Lily: I’m coming to pick you up. We need to get to the rink early.
Me: I can’t come. I think I’m sick.
Lily: Dickstruck isn’t a real illness. Be there in 10, and I want to hear allllll the details.
Ugh. I tossed my phone down on the bed. I’d had to go straight to my evening class when Arianna had dropped me off, and now, when I’d only just gotten to my dorm, it was time to go out again.
I needed time to process last night and today.
The whole thing. It was too big to get my head around.
Ari hadn’t given me much of a lecture on the way home in the car, surprisingly.
I’d thought she’d be full of caution about hooking up with a guy like Cole, considering what she had to know about his line of work.
However, she hadn’t said much of anything about it, except to make sure I was on birth control.
I stared at the ceiling, my hands brushing down my body. I hadn’t showered. I still smelled like him. The thought made me squirm. Oh god. This was bad. I was developing the most insane crush of my life. What about the story?
With a groan, I rolled over and pressed my face into the pillow to muffle my scream.
A knock at the door sent me sitting up in a panic.
She was here already? I scrambled out of bed and went looking for a Hellions shirt to wear.
The HHU rink shone in the darkness. Hundreds were streaming into their seats as I followed Lily to her reserved section.
Right behind the player’s bench was for the fiancées and girlfriends.
You might think it would be crazy for any college hockey players to already be planning their weddings, but it wasn’t for the star players of the Hellions team.
They really were that obsessed with their ladies.
Lily and I sat down next to our friend Selena. She turned to look at me, and did a double take.
“What the hell happened to you, Lancaster? Long night?”
“She stayed over at Cole’s,” Lily immediately leaned past me to tell Selena.
Selena’s mouth dropped open. “You didn’t! Oh my god. You need to tell us everything. That man is… I’ve heard he’s like the white whale of Hade Harbor. No one bags him.”
“I didn’t bag him. I mean, I stayed over, that’s true, but it’s not like…
” I trailed off. What was I going to say?
Cole’s words about hiding what had happened between us came back to me.
How easily he accepted that hooking up with him might damage a good girl’s reputation. It made my chest feel tight.
“We had sex,” I blurted, suddenly changing course.
Eve, who was sitting on the other side of Selena, whipped her head around at my statement. “What are we talking about?
“Cole Bailey,” Winter announced calmly. How she’d heard everything from farther along the bench, I had no idea.
“No way. What was it like? Tell us everything,” Eve said quickly.
My cheeks were hot as hell, and I had to resemble a tomato at this point. It fell quiet, and I looked around the assembled girls. My best friends. All were staring at me with rapt attention.
“It’s not a big deal. I mean, I’ve hooked up with guys before. I don’t remember you being so interested then.”
“Like it’s the same! This is Cole Bailey. The Cole Bailey. He’s a local legend,” Selena pointed out.
“I kind of thought you guys would be warning me away,” I admitted.
“A dangerous man, but a good one,” Winter said quietly. “Asher has worked at The Clutch for ages, and he thinks highly of him. We both do.”
“Yeah, Arianna trusts him, so that is all the vouching for I need,” Lily said.
Yeah, that was true. The man I’d spent nearly a day with didn’t resemble the man I’d thought I was hunting down for a story.
“Oh my god, he’s here,” Eve whispered suddenly. All four of my friends’ heads whipped around. “Arianna brought him.”
“What?” I panicked. I couldn’t imagine seeing him already after last night and today.
“Why’s he here?”
“It’s a big game. He probably wants to see Marcus play,” Selena shot out. “Act natural. You’re sitting so upright you look like you just got struck by lightning.”
I slouched a little. “How’s that?”
“Worse,” she whispered. “Anyway, too late.”
Greetings went up around me from my friends to Arianna, who was settling down behind us.
I could feel his eyes radiating into my back. I shivered.
Eve caught my eye, widening hers dramatically. I shot her a quelling look, but she just laughed, and twisted right around to face behind us.
“Hi, Cole. How’s it going?”
A deep rumble sounded that I could hardly make out. He was right behind me. Heat washed through me.
“We were just talking about you,” Selena added. I shot her a murderous look.
“Oh, really? Complimentary, I hope?” Cole asked.
Selena smirked. “We were only just getting to the compliments part. Someone was being very bashful.” Ok, it was official, I was going to kill her after the game.
The team had been warming up, and had now moved into their starting positions. Thankfully, the buzzer sounded, and the noise of the stadium drowned out any answer Cole might make to Selena’s statement.
I tried to concentrate on the game, I really did, but it was impossible. I could feel Cole just behind me. I wanted so badly to turn around and look at him, but it felt impossible. What if he already regretted what had happened?
The Hellions scored, and everyone jumped up, cheering. I hugged Lily, then a tug to my jersey sent me spinning around. I swayed forward, right into Cole’s chest.
“No hello, Goldilocks?” he murmured, looking down into my eyes. God, he was even hotter than I remembered, even just from earlier.
“Hi,” I squeaked out.
He smirked. “Hi.”
Everyone in our section was sitting down again. Cole held me against his chest for a long moment, until everyone around us had seen us standing, locked in an embrace, then released me. It felt territorial somehow. Possessive. I didn’t hate it.
I sank into my seat. Selena leaned over and slapped my knee as Eve gave me an “I’m dying” look.
I tried to ignore them, but it wasn’t easy. Clearly, I wasn’t going to hear the end of this for a long, long time.
When the buzzer sounded for the intermission, conversation sprang up around me. I could feel Cole just behind me. Before I knew it, I was turning in my seat to see him.
He was lounged back against the plastic green seat like he was in a booth at The Clutch.
The effortless power that seemed to seep off him drew eyes.
He looked like a man who knew how to take care of things.
A man other men bowed down to, and he was, after all.
A real man’s man, who couldn’t take his eyes off me.
No one had ever looked at me the way he was.
I shivered, the cool of the rink working through my borrowed jersey.
“Whose number is that?” Cole asked, his eyes straying down to my chest. I flushed at the hungry look in his eyes.
“A retro one. He’s the coach now... Lily’s dad, you know.”
Cole nodded, a grin playing around his lips. “Always had a thing for older men, Issy?”
I scoffed. “Hardly. I just didn’t want any current players to get any ideas that I’m into them.”
Cole nodded approvingly and leaned forward, shrugging off his heavy cut.
“You could wear Marcus’ jersey, I suppose. Here.” He stood up to swing the leather vest around my shoulders. It was so warm inside after the chilly air of the rink, and it smelled like Cole. I wanted to roll around in it.
“You look cold.”
“I wasn’t,” I protested, for no reason other than to have something to say.
“Your nipples say different. So, unless you want me to warm them up another way, wear my cut.” Cole leaned forward in his seat. “Besides, I don’t like the look of another man’s name written on your chest. A Hounds patch looks much better there.”
Arianna was watching us with amusement. I had no idea what to say to any of that, so I looked at her instead.
“What?” I asked.
She just shook her head. “Nothing. Marcus owes me ten bucks, is all.”
The buzzer sounded again, and the game restarted. I snuggled into Cole’s cut and watched.
“So, it’s like that,” Eve leaned dramatically past Selena to murmur at me.
“Like what?”
“Like that. It’s not just a hookup.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “He’s really into you. I mean, it makes sense… he doesn’t date around. You don’t hear stories about him hooking up with tons of women. He’s the kind of guy that when he falls, he goes all in.”
I snorted. “Goes all in? Hardly. I’m just a passing fancy. His little brother’s friend. That’s all. Probably it’s easier to hook up with someone outside the whole Clutch ecosystem. Or maybe he’s just burned through all the women there. They throw themselves at him enough, that’s for sure.”
Eve studied me. “Do you really believe that, or it just feels less scary to say it?”
No, I don’t really believe it.
I swallowed the truth I felt in my bones and just shrugged.
Then the Hellions scored, and the cheering carried my thoughts away.
I didn’t speak to Cole again until the end of the game.
As we shuffled out of the seating area, I became hyperaware of how close together we were.
He was deep in conversation with Arianna, but his hand kept brushing mine.
We moved with the crowd, my friends chattering around me, while I felt like I was in a bubble, holding my breath, Cole’s fingers brushing mine the most real sensation I’d ever felt.
We got to the main foyer, and people started to go their separate ways.
“Are you coming to the hockey house?” Selena asked, looking just behind me and raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not sure. I’m pretty tired,” I said.
She grinned wickedly. “So, I hear. I guess you didn’t get much sleep last night.” Then she reached past me and tapped someone on the shoulder. I could have died.
“Cole, are you coming to the hockey house? Help me talk Isabelle into coming.”
I turned slowly. Cole was right there, at my back.
“I don’t think so. I’m a little old for the hockey house,” he drawled. “Besides, I’m pretty tired.” His hand slipped into my back pocket and squeezed my ass. “I didn’t get much sleep, if you haven’t heard.”