Chapter 8 ZEE
Waiting for the award ceremony to start, Zee opened the app on his phone connected to the vibe Ella wore, selected the low pulse setting and tapped.
Across the room, Ella didn’t even turn around at the bar, but he saw her shoulders hunch slightly and chuckled.
He wanted to keep Ella’s mind firmly anchored on him.
“Zee! Did you see yesterday’s times in practice? Those boys are going to come after your record.” The assistant to the dean of sports shook his hand.
“They’re welcome to it, Gilbert. That’s why I’m working them so hard,” Zee said.
He glanced at the Dean of Sports and tried to listen as the man launched into a tirade about beating last year’s numbers but his gaze stayed on Ella making her way through the crowd, smiling and chatting to people as she passed, carrying their drinks.
“Thank you, my love.” Zee accepted his whiskey neat.
Her tight smile and the way she leaned toward him made him grin, sliding a hand along her back, down to the curve of her hip.
She shivered and Zee bit back a laugh.
He knew she was struggling to stay composed.
“Lovely to see you again, Ella,” Gilbert said.
“You too.” Ella smiled warmly and then mentioned an article she had read about his new award.
A flash of red nails caught Zee’s eye just before a woman latched onto Gilbert’s arm.
“There you are,” she said, tone all honey and steel. “You promised a dance.”
Gilbert laughed a little too loudly. “Yes, I did. See you two later.”
Zee watched them go, grateful for the interruption and vaguely annoyed by it.
“I don’t think his wife will like that.”
“You never know. She might be the understanding type,” Ella said, voice edged with snark.
Yeah, he wasn’t distracting her nearly enough from thinking about Annie’s performance.
“I am grateful for your understanding, dear heart.” He let his hand trail from her hip to the small of her back, pressing closer.
His thumb brushed over the app, nudging the intensity higher.
She swallowed, glanced at him, then down at the floor.
“Keep doing that to me, and I might lose my understanding.”
Zee chuckled at her sass, cupped her nape and pulled her in for a quick kiss.
“You’ll take what I give you.”
“Yes, Sir,” she whispered, blushing.
Her acquiescence made his cock press against his zipper, half-hard.
As much as a part of him thrived in this environment, he wanted to get her somewhere private.
“There you are, Zee! I’ve got to steal him away for the photo line. Come on!”
“Of course, Frank,” Zee said to his boss. “You remember my wife?”
“How could I forget?” Frank leaned across and squeezed Ella’s hand. “You come too and help me keep tabs on him.”
“That’s what I do.” She slid her palm down his lapel briefly as she turned and followed his boss to a photo line.
Zee tapped the app to the highest setting, because if she was going to get through this night by using sass, he was going to have his fun.
“Good evening, thanks for coming,” Zee shook hands with the other honorees in line.
The camera flashes made his eyes water, but he glanced across the room, where Ella waited with the other wives and family members, and saw her brows furrow, her jaw clench.
He wanted to anchor her, to keep her attention focused on him, not thinking of where she’d rather be, and as much as he anchored her to him, taking control like this anchored him to her.
Zee posed for photos, smiled for fans, but his gaze kept finding his wife.
Ella was radiant, chatting easily with other wives and guests, laughter punctuating the din of conversation.
“What a shindig!” The familiar voice of Roger Miller’s booming voice raised above the crowd and Zee couldn’t help smiling even bigger, even as his stomach turned as the big man swept up Ella in a hug, and Zee wanted to punch the womanizing bastard.
“Just one more, sir,” the staff member said as he moved to step out of the line.
“Certainly.” Zee blinked furiously at the camera flash and finally got to Ella.
“There’s the lucky bastard!” Roger said, finally releasing Ella and gripping Zee’s hand hard enough to bruise. “What’d you do to get the red-carpet treatment?”
“He took the job, unlike us losers!”
Zee turned just as Nico pulled him into a rib-crushing hug.
“I demand a rematch!” Roger spread his arms wide, playing to the audience, and Zee’s skin prickled as the atmosphere thickened, all eyes snapping toward them.
“Tonight, at my place,” Zee said, grinning huge. “Thanks for coming, guys.”
“We wouldn’t miss it, even if you are insufferable! How do you put up with him, Ella?” Roger asked and slung his arm around Ella again. But she ducked out of his hold and laced her fingers through Zee’s.
“I spend as much time in my garden as I can.”
The men laughed, and Zee thumbed down the vibrator as he noticed a sheen of sweat on her brow.
“Gentlemen, let
me take you to your table.” An attendant rushed forward and led them back into the auditorium, Ella’s hand clammy and hot in his but she smiled at him as they weaved their way through the press of bodies, following the attendant to their table.
The golden light from the chandeliers reflected off her hair and finally they got to their table which was situated right in front of the stage.
“They have our mug shots,” Roger said.
“Damn, we were good looking bastards. The medal would have looked better on my neck,” Nico said.
Screens displayed scrolling pictures of the evening’s honourees, including the old photograph of Zee winning his gold medal.
Zee clapped Nico on the back. “You had your turn.”
“Should have been mine,” Nico said.
Zee frowned, Nico’s tone turned from lighthearted teasing to serious and the man was always jealous of anything Zee and Roger had.
“Boys!” A big booming voice behind him had that smile back on Zee’s face.
“Hey Coach,” Zee stood, grinning hard enough to split his face. Seeing Coach always made things right in his world.
“Damn Zee, you don’t look like you aged at all. Look Marnie, it’s our boy.”
“Hey Zee, you’re looking well.”
Marnie Howard offered her hand and Zee brought the older woman in for a hug, her floral perfume tickling his nostrils and smiled warmly at him. “I’m so sorry we’re only in town for tonight.
“We understand, Marnie; how is your father?” Ella asked as the older woman turned to hug her and Coach Howard exchanged handshakes and hugs with Roger and Nico.
“Can’t an old man get a drink around here?” Coach Howard said.
“I’ll take you to the bar, Coach,” Zee offered.
“You better be quick, the lights are dimming,” Nico said.
“They’ll wait for him,” Roger said, grinning.
“I don’t know, depends on how long Howard talks to the bartender,” Marnie said with a smile. “How are you guys doing?”
“I’ll get a glass of red for you, dear heart,” Zee said to Ella.
“Always taking care of her, Zee, good man,” Coach said.
Zee grinned, a tight ache in his chest.
If it wasn’t for Marnie and Coach Howard, he’d have no idea what a loving home looked like.
His brother Scott found it with his wife, Rosalind, and he found it with Ella, but the odds were against them.
“You holding up okay, buddy?” Coach asked him in line at the bar
“Absolutely. Thanks for coming, Coach.”
“Marnie made me come,” Coach said, smiling.
On the way back to their table, Zee opened the app, chose the lowest setting.
Ella swayed in her chair then stopped when he slung his arm around her.
The president of the university came on stage and the event started.
As discreetly as he could, he took out his phone and, under the table, changed the vibration pattern to pulsating.
Ella gasped, and Zee wrapped his leg around hers as speaker after speaker droned on about the success of the university.
Her nails dug through the light material of his slacks, and he almost missed it when they rolled to the awards part of the ceremony.
“And now to present tonight’s inaugural awards, the first one honouring Zee Riddell, two legendary athletes, please welcome to the stage, Roger Miller and Nico Rodriguez!”
Zee’s cheeks flamed as his old teammates and rivals shot up from their chairs.
“Surprise, old buddy!” Roger said.
“The look on your face!” Nico pointed at him before he ran up on stage, following Roger.
“Good evening, we are pleased to be here to honour our coach,” Roger started, leaning into the microphone.”
“And less pleased but equally honoured to be here to celebrate the achievements of Zee Riddell, even though I still kind of hold a grudge that Zee took home the gold right from under me,” Nico said.
The tight expression on his face made him uneasy but Ella pulled on his arm.
“Zee! Please.”
“Not yet, my love.” He stalled the app, giving his submissive a break.
And because he tried to focus on what they were saying.
Something about a scholarship in his name.
“See? Told you we had things up our sleeves. We got an award named after you too!” Gilbert said from across the table.
“Think I would come all this way for an award named for me?” Coach Howard’s mouth twitched.
“I thought you’d be honoured,” Zee mumbled.
“You’re the reason I’m here,” Coach said, slapping him on the back.
Ella squeezed his hand and his eyes blurred with tears.
Zee’s face heated as his name was announced and he stood, leaned down and brushed his lips to Ella.
“I’m so proud of you, my love.”
The look of love and pride in her green eyes is what got him on the stage to accept the plaque from his rival and teammate.
Words stuck in his throat but he kept his gaze on Ella, saw how she sat straight in her chair, focused only on her and the words came.