Chapter 8
NASH
Something’s nudging my leg.
I groan as I wake up, feeling my head still throbbing. I’m tired and sore all over, my body not used to pulling all-nighters, not used to the kind of inflammation that comes with consuming copious amounts of alcohol.
By this time of year, with the season so close, I’m eating a totally clean diet and getting a solid eight hours of sleep, ten to six like clockwork.
I was only in the city so late last night because Coach booked us a team dinner. If it weren’t for that, I never would have passed Piper as I was driving home.
Even though last night threw my sleep schedule out of whack, did a number on my body, and has me battling my first hangover in years …
for some reason, the idea of last night not happening, the idea of me getting back to my house, studying hockey tape, then maybe watching a movie and falling asleep alone, like I always do …
it brings a strange pang of disappointment to my chest.
I bury my head back in the throw pillow on my couch, where I’m lying face down. I’ve been in this position since I got home from Austin, chugged a bunch of water, and then collapsed.
I shut my eyes, but I’m nudged again, this time against my hip.
I groan into the pillow. “Damn it, Cheesecake.”
Rolling to my side, sure enough, I see the capybara who won’t let me have a moment’s peace.
“Who the hell taught you to open doors, anyway?”
The animal just pads forward, nuzzling her head against my chest. I sigh and give her what she wants: scratches behind her ears.
I sit up on the couch, the slight elevation change making pain pulse behind my eyes.
“What kind of name is Cheesecake, anyway?” I ask, my voice gruff.
But I can’t deny to myself that I actually like the name. It’s cute. Even though I’d deny it vehemently to anyone who accused me of feeling that way.
The plot of land I own is big, and the petting zoo is some distance away from the one-story ranch house I live in. Mostly I’m able to stay out of the way of the zoo’s operations, though not as much as I’d like to.
Except for Cheesecake. Every day just about, she likes to wander away from her herd, and she always finds her way here. She’ll spend hours hanging around me, pestering me for pets and scratches and generally refusing to leave my side.
She’ll hop up onto the couch right next to me while I’m reviewing game film and keep her little eyes pointed at the TV just like me, as if she can understand what she’s watching.
Luckily, since these animals are meant to interact with the public, they’re bathed regularly by staff.
I could always put up some extra fencing to keep Cheesecake from wandering toward my house … but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
My phone buzzes on my coffee table. I reach for it faster than I normally do, and I realize it’s because my first thought was maybe Piper is texting me to let me know what happened with her fiancé …
But we never exchanged numbers. Of course we didn’t. Why would we?
I frown when I see that it’s a notification from the group chat I’m in with five of my teammates.
HAYDEN
Look who I ran into at the grocery store!
Our left defenseman Hayden Bloom posts a picture in the chat of him with a giant smile beaming from his face, his arm wrapped around the shoulders of our goalie, Eli Vaughn.
Vaughn—no one calls him by his first name—is sporting his signature sour expression, nothing but annoyance written in his eyes.
ADRIANO
Wow, looks like a bestie bro-date
VAUGHN
…
COOPER
I’ve never seen a more menacing ellipses in my life
NOAH
I did once but I don’t want to talk about it. It traumatized me
ADRIANO
Sorry, Vaughn. Please don’t beat me up at practice tomorrow. You know how important my face is to me
HAYDEN
Vaughnnnn, where’d you go? I went to get a frozen pizza, and you disappeared!
COOPER
Hayden, what did I tell you about eating frozen pizza for dinner five nights a week?
HAYDEN
Captain, let’s stay on topic here. We have a missing teammate
ADRIANO
He’s not missing, he’s just trying to avoid you
HAYDEN
WHAT!? Who would try to avoid ME?
ADRIANO
…
COOPER
…
NOAH
…
HAYDEN
You, too, Noah? I would have expected more from you of all people
NOAH
Don’t guilt-trip me, Hayden. You know my conscience can’t stand it
HAYDEN
Hey! The read receipts say that Vaughn read that message! Vaughn, are you there? Or Vaughn’s kidnapper?
HAYDEN
Listen up, Vaughn’s kidnapper. I’ll find you, and I’ll bring our beloved goalie back to us. I have a very particular set of skills …
VAUGHN
You’re skilled at being annoying, I’ll give you that
HAYDEN
Hey!
HAYDEN
Nash, defend my honor
ME
Why am I being dragged into this?
HAYDEN
Because you’re the only one whose grumpiness can match Vaughn’s. It’s like when The Hound had to fight The Mountain in Game of Thrones.
I can only roll my eyes at that. I click the button to put my phone to sleep and then set it back on the coffee table. I’ll happily sit out the rest of this conversation, even though the constant buzz of notifications tells me it probably won’t stop any time soon.
I stand up and stretch. I check the clock and see that it’s two in the afternoon. I’m covered in dried sweat from that sweltering hotel room last night, and the stink of smoke and stale beer clings to me from the bar.
I need a shower.
First, I pour some nutrition pellets into a bowl for Cheesecake.
The vets told me it’s fine to give her these as a snack when she visits, so I keep some in my pantry.
That’ll keep her busy while I shower. She just got here, and I know she’d put up a fight if I tried to shoo her away already.
I’m not in the mood for a struggle with a stubborn capybara.
I let out a relieved breath after stripping out of my clothes and stepping into the warm water of the shower. The heat and steam help with my headache and loosen the knot in my back that developed from sleeping on the hard, uneven motel floor.
I rest my forehead against the sliding glass door, close my eyes, and let my mind wander back to last night.
In the weirdest way … it was kind of fun. Spending a completely unexpected, chaotic night with Piper like that.
I know it’s fucked up to feel that way. The only reason it happened was because something awful happened to her. But I can’t help the light feeling I get in my chest when I think back on it.
But then I remember some of the sad looks in her eyes, the way her shoulders slumped, her awkward and worried body language this morning before I left.
Yeah, fuck me for actually thinking back fondly on a night that for her was a disaster. I know what she’s going through, after all. Fun is the last thing it is.
I grab my bar of soap and scrub myself, working up a lather over my muscles.
I wonder how Piper’s doing today.
I wonder if she’s showering off the sweat and nasty bar smell right now like I am.
The thought bursts into my mind like a spear tip, and instantly my groin swells.
I growl in disapproval of myself, scrubbing under my arms as I try to ignore the erection that’s now standing at attention between my legs, throbbing in the steamy air.
I try to distract myself by thinking of something else, like how much practice tomorrow is going to suck if my back is still knotted up like this, but images of Piper keep intruding.
Her soft, glossy hair, and how it felt feathering against my neck. The way a spark of amusement would replace the sadness in her green eyes when I earned an unexpected laugh from her with something I said. Her bare thighs when she sat on the bed and her dress rode up her legs.
Fuck. Heat coils so tightly at the base of my cock that it aches.
I try to chase away the image of her tanned skin and the shape of her thighs, but the sight sticks in my mind like it’s bolted down.
When I turn into the stream of water to rinse the soap off my chest, a jet of water hits the tip of my cock, and I can’t hold my brain back from imagining Piper’s tongue flicking against it with the same amount of pressure.
My teeth clench as arousal thrashes through me. My cock buzzes from base to tip, begging for contact and relief.
I shouldn’t get myself off to thoughts of an engaged woman.
But she shouldn’t be engaged, not anymore. Even if that asshole didn’t actually cheat on her, the fact that he drove away from her on the side of an empty road means he doesn’t deserve her.
A hazy memory jumps into my mind, of us at the bar, when we were both several drinks in and way too buzzed. I said something, I don’t remember what, that made her laugh, and her mouth opened wide enough for me to get a glimpse of her tongue behind her smooth, pink lips.
Fuck it. I can’t pretend this would be my first time fisting my cock in the shower to thoughts of Piper. I did it more often than I’d like to acknowledge when we lived next to each other.
I give myself a slow pump up my solid length. I’m caught off guard by how intense the pleasure that spreads through me is. How am I so keyed up over nothing but memories of a completely platonic night?
But as I start to curl my grip harder around my dick and increase the speed of my hand, the thoughts filling my mind are anything but platonic.
I wonder if she’d be as sassy inside the bedroom as she is out of it. I wonder how her hair would feel curled around my fist, how she’d respond to me tugging on it while she’s on her knees for me—and if she’d pay me back for it later by leaving scratch marks up and down my back.
Curses drop from my mouth as I plant my hand on the glass to steady myself. I can feel the climax swelling inside me already, a ball of pressure expanding at the base of my spine.
I rock my hips, thrusting into my hand, wishing I were thrusting into Piper from behind, that gorgeous fucking dress she wore hitched up to her waist and her panties pulled to the side.
Would I make a fool of myself and race to orgasm as fast as I’m doing now?
Or would I be able to bite my cheek and hold off my release until I gave her hers, until I got to hear that smart-ass mouth whine my name in a tone I’ve never heard before but imagined way too damn much when we were in college.
My climax barrels through me, and my eyes clench tight. Jets of cum shoot from my cock so hard that my release makes a dull thud against the glass shower wall. My chest heaves as I’m wrung dry, so thoroughly that my balls ache when I finally let go of myself.
I finish showering and get dressed. I need to get in the right mindset for practice tomorrow. I need to stop thinking about Piper. Who knows if I’ll ever see her again.
But I do know one thing: if I do see her again, I’m going to look at her left hand. And I hope that I won’t see a ring.