Chapter 27
MILES
Caelia is up in the stands with Santo for this game, which helps me to worry less about her. My full attention is on the team for the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s our first game back from our break, and I’m grinning as the last buzzer sounds.
“Great job guys!” I call out. We won by a landslide. “Phillips, how’s your shoulder?”
“Sore, but not as bad as it could be. The fuckers decided I was their favorite to slam into tonight,” Levon grumbles.
“It’s because you’re pretty,” Julius teases him. “Defense was a little slack, Coach.”
A few of the defensemen’s shoulders slump, because Julius is right. We still have work to do.
“They know,” I confirm, sighing. “I’ll address it at practice.”
The players nod as they pull on their protective gear over the blades of their skates and trudge out to the locker room.
Walking out, I begin to search for Caelia, relaxing slightly as I see her leaning against the wall waiting for me.
Her pass is hanging from her neck, and she’s trying to make herself look small to stay out of the way.
“Hey,” I greet her, my hand wrapping around the back of her neck to pull her toward me for a quick kiss. “I promise I won’t be long, okay? Santo is going to drive home with Levon. He took some hard knocks today.”
“I saw,” she says, biting her lip as she pulls away. Her hands move over my suit, smoothing out the shoulders. “I have some thoughts about that.”
“Good. I’d be stupid not to pick your brain,” I reply. “What?”
Her eyes are wide, her pupils slightly blown out. “I didn’t think it would be as sexy as it is for you to say that.”
Fuck. I can smell her, though it’s not as strong in her scent dampening panties. She insisted on wearing them, and now I understand why. My omega seems to get very turned on by hockey and her alphas.
“Baby, if I haven’t shown you yet how sexy I think your brain is, I clearly am not doing my job,” I chuckle darkly.
Pressing my lips against the shell of her ear, I add, “I plan to go over tonight’s game with a fine tooth comb for your opinions while your other alphas eat you out until you scream.
And then I’m going to fuck you into the mattress. ”
“Coach?”
For the love of Caelia’s tits, Marilyn. I swear, she finds the worst moments to pop out. My girl’s cheeks burn as she draws back, making me chuckle.
“Yes, Marilyn?” I ask, turning so that I’m able to shield Caelia from her. I don’t know how much Marilyn heard.
“I need you to do a quick voice clip for the newspaper,” she explains. While we won, they usually want to hear from the players, which suits me just fine. “Don’t be surprised if they ask you a few questions about your pack as well.”
“Marilyn, shouldn’t you be fielding those questions?” I growl. I know full well that Santo had to put a group of women in their place when they were rude to Caelia. I would have done the same.
“I would, but it's your pack,” Marilyn says sweetly, shrugging.
“I refuse to be nice,” I reply, watching as she pales. “Don’t push me. If someone wants to make a player’s sexuality a question instead of focusing on the game, I will verbally spank them.”
“Sometimes that’s what is necessary,” she decides, swallowing hard. “There’s too much of bi-erasure bullshit in this sport.”
“So it would be better if Levon was gay?” Caelia asks behind me softly.
Pulling her around so that she no longer seems to be hiding, I shake my head.
“The media knows that Levon isn’t gay, they’re just stirring shit up to force him to make a statement,” I explain. “The press doesn’t need to know that Levon was never really interested in men before Santo. I think pansexual might be a better term, but labels can get tricky.”
“So you don’t think it’s any of their business,” Caelia realizes.
“Correct,” I say. “Asking me to explain someone else’s relationships is asking for a bad day.”
“Then maybe they deserve it,” Caelia says. At my raised brow, she shrugs. “I’ve seen too much recently to be able to believe there isn’t harm in their interest. Don’t be a dick, Miles, but you can put them in their place.”
“Oh I like her,” Marilyn purrs.
“No, down,” I bark out without meaning to. There’s no real heat to it, and Caelia laughs loudly at Marilyn’s shocked face. “Ugh, if I need to deal with the press, you should come with me.”
“Am I allowed?” she asks.
“Yes,” Marilyn smirks, handing her a press pass. “Maybe you can keep him from causing trouble.”
There’s amusement flooding through the bond, and I keep my mouth shut as I take my omega’s hand. She’s more likely to throw the match on the gasoline of my anger than calm me down. Caelia is fiercely protective of us, just like we are her.
“Let’s head down there then,” I murmur, tugging her into motion.
“Seriously, Miles!” Marilyn calls out as we walk away. “Be good!”
“Telling a forty-five year old man to be good is hysterical,” I rumble.
“You’re much more settled in your antics, is all,” Caelia grins.
“That’s an adorable way to call me old,” I snort.
“I didn’t say it,” she giggles. “You did.”
“Such a brat,” I tease her. “Here we are. Don’t move from where I can see you, okay?”
“Okay…wow,” she says, seeing the crush of people.
“Come with me,” I murmur, pushing through the people until I find a spot where she’ll be safe. “I’ll come get you when I’m done.”
Her eyes are wide but she nods quickly.
“Are you freaking out?” I ask, not wanting to leave if there are too many people for her.
“No. I didn't realize this would be such a big deal,” she hissed.
Hmm. She’s right. This usually wouldn’t be. Marilyn must know there’s more to this. Fuck me.
“We’ll see,” I reply, wading through the crowd to the front of the room. Allen Durst, the team’s owner is waiting for me, and I purse my lips at him.
“Marilyn set this up,” he grumbles. “If it backfires, we can spank her.”
The idea of doing that makes me chuckle, and Allen grins at me.
“Focus on the win, Miles. Our guys looked really good tonight,” he says.
Nodding, I walk over to the raised podium with him. For better or worse, this is happening.
“Your attention, please,” Allen says into the microphone, his piercing emerald green eyes moving over the room.
People immediately quiet down, which is typically what happens in this man’s presence.
“Thank you. Let’s attempt to remain professional, and stay on topic with the Scented Scorpions’ winning game. ”
Yeah, looking around at how attentive the reporters are as I take up the space that Allen was standing in, that’s doubtful.
“Good evening, everyone,” I greet the room. “I understand that you want to talk about the game.”
The statement helps keep people on track as hands go up, and I respond about stats, which players were the shining stars tonight, and more. It’s great, right up until I begin to wrap up.
A hand goes up, and I have to struggle not to wrinkle my nose. Olive Traker is notorious for asking invasive questions. She often gets under my skin. At one point, she asked me out, which was both wildly inappropriate, and I simply wasn’t interested.
“Coach, one more question if I may?” she asks, biting her lip seductively.
Ew. It’s cute when Caelia does it, but repulsive on her.
“One.”
Olive blanches at my short tone before taking a deep breath. I want to check on Caelia, but that would mean taking my eyes off the reporter. This is all for print, which means they want direct quotes, and all of their recorders are held up to record my words.
“What can you tell us about your new pack?” she asks. “Congratulations on the engagement by the way.”
There are murmurs throughout the room, and I force myself not to roll my eyes. We proposed in a public place, I’m not surprised that the news is spreading.
“Thank you,” I reply. “I can tell you that we’re very happy, and that it doesn’t impact my ability to coach in any form. I’ll still push Levon on the ice the way I always do. Until he passes out or he pukes.”
I wink at the reporters, because it’s very well known how hard I work the team. Even Allen chuckles under his breath, because my temper is also legendary.
“I think it’s interesting that you joined an already established pack,” she adds.
“Why?” I ask. “I don’t have to swing my weight around to gain respect, Olive.
I’ve earned it as Levon’s coach every day for the past three years.
Santo is a newcomer to the team’s staff, but he’s damn good at what he does.
I respect the way that he works with our players, gaining their trust so that they’ll follow his professional advice. ”
“Levon, Santo, and I love the same omega. Ego doesn’t matter when you’re all building a future together. To act as if any of us are doing anything wrong or shady is disrespectful to our scent match.”
“I asked at the beginning that we stay on topic,” Allen says, leaning forward to speak into the mic. “Coach Miles’ sex life has nothing to do with hockey. There doesn’t need to be a statement on it, nor are questions about his pack respectful.”
“We’re still curious about it,” Mike from The Herald calls out. “It’s an odd dynamic. Since Coach mentioned it, the idea that Levon might get preferential treatment is a concern.”
“Not from where I’m standing,” Allen laughs. “As Coach also stated, he doesn’t give two fucks who is closest to him, he’ll continue to do his job. Levon works his ass off, and I think it’s easy to agree that he’s cleaned his act up.”
“He absolutely has,” I agree. “Santo is a really good influence on him. The majority of Levon’s aggression now plays out on the ice.”
“And the rest?” Mike asks.
I simply grin, because I’m not going to tell them that Santo’s ass takes the beating.
“I believe that goes under the category of ‘none of your business’,” Allen says. “Let’s allow Coach to get home to his omega. Have a great night, folks.”
Scanning the crowd for Caelia, I begin walking toward the back of the room to find her.
The reporters are talking to themselves, and I roll my eyes when someone wonders if I’m sexually involved with my pack mates.
I don’t care where those musings go either way, though I’ll have to have a conversation with my mom if that shit gets printed.
“Cae!” I call out, using my height to find her.
She wiggles through the open spaces between people to escape into my arms, and I kiss the crown of her head.
“Did you just tell the press to fuck themselves?” she murmurs, grinning up at me.
“Absolutely. I do it all the time,” I chuckle, guiding her out of the press of people. “The trick is never to outwardly use those words.”
“I can see that,” she says, staying pressed against me as we walk.
“While I don’t particularly care what they say about me, I know it bothers Levon,” I say. “I mentioned that you’re our scent match to close down any conversation about your age or anything else in that vein.”
“They’re always going to feed into it,” Caelia sighs. “Did you know that there is a website talking about who players are dating?”
“Ugh, please tell me you didn’t look at it,” I groan. “Sites like that are always going to pop up because people are bored.”
“I didn’t,” she says. “I have a feeling that I don’t have thick enough skin for that.”
My hand moves to slide under her sweatshirt, ghosting along her skin.
“I for one love how soft your skin is,” I purr. “Let’s get home so I can show you how much.”
Heat fills her gaze as she nods, and we practically run out of the stadium to the car. There’s something to be said for being the first one home. Santo and Levon can join us whenever they’re done.