Chapter Forty-One
Leo
Sophia laughed loudly at her sister. They’d been on a video chat for the last hour while I lay in bed watching game footage of us playing Harvard earlier this year. We were in the middle of the playoffs, and I intended to study this team until I knew exactly how to beat them this weekend.
Apparently, Elena had decided to read Danny’s books and had a lot of questions about their accuracy, which had kept the girls busy for a while. I’d heard a lot of gagging through the phone when Sophia confirmed the pieces that she knew to be true.
“I told you not to read them, El. I gotta go finish a paper but if you have more questions, you can text me,” Sophia said. I watched as they said their goodbyes, my heart expanding at the joy on her face when she talked to her sister.
“I’m going to have to read these books. I feel like I’m missing out,” I said, when she hung up the phone.
“I wish I could say the same,” she said, jumping onto my bed and wrapping her arms around my neck as I fell backward, gripping her waist and kissing her.
“Hey, you haven’t talked about your book in a while,” I said. “How’s it coming along?”
“I submitted it to Maggie last month,” she said, kissing down my jaw and rubbing against my rapidly growing erection.
“What? Does she like it?” I asked.
“She loves it,” Sophia said. “My sex scenes were markedly improved, and she’s going to start reaching out to editors to see if she can get them interested soon.”
“Soph, that’s awesome!” I said, cupping her face to get her to stop kissing me for a minute. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her cheeks pinked ever so slightly. “I liked having an excuse to keep trying fun things in bed. I didn’t want our research to be over.”
I laughed and gave her a hard kiss. “Sophia, we can pretend to research whatever the hell you want. No cover needed. Plus, maybe you’ll use it in a future book. What’s next on your list?”
“One of those study rooms in the library,” she said without even thinking.
I laughed heartily and rolled us over, hovering above her. I ground my erection into her core. “I love you, you little nerd. Of course you want to have sex in the library. I’ll book us a time slot for tomorrow.”
“What?” she asked.
“You have to reserve those rooms. You must already know this,” I said, lifting her arms above her head so I could remove her shirt.
“Yeah, I do, I just didn’t know you did,” she said with a raised eyebrow.
“Are you calling me a dumb jock?” I pulled my shirt off and her eyes immediately roamed my chest.
“No, I’ve just never seen you at the library,” she said, reaching for my waistband.
“That’s because I’ve had my own room since sophomore year. No need to go somewhere else to study.”
“Spoiled little hockey star,” she teased.
I pointed to the erection tenting my pants. “I am. And this hockey star wants his dick sucked, Hawaii.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes as she sat up to do exactly what I wanted.
The end of my NCAA hockey career was rapidly approaching as we prepared to head to the last weekend of the Frozen Four tournament.
This was the furthest we’d ever made it in my time at BU, and Sophia was flying to Vegas with us for the semifinals and hopefully finals game too.
My agent had already told me the Bruins had my contract ready to go and that he’d be sending it over as soon as the weekend was over.
It was a bit of relief to know that my performance in our final game or two wouldn’t impact my NHL career.
Sophia and I had spent spring break at my grandmother’s penthouse in New York.
We’d wanted to get out of Boston and my grandmother was visiting friends in Florida.
Which basically meant that while everyone else was partying down south—my seventy-something-year-old grandmother included—Sophia and I locked ourselves away on billionaire’s row and let my grandmother’s personal chef cook for us for a week.
It had been luxurious, and a trip well spent.
As much as my focus should have been on hockey and nothing but hockey, as I packed my bags for Vegas, I couldn’t help but feel more excited about the opportunity to go on another trip with Sophia even if there would be more than twenty hockey players with us on this one.
I approached the bus taking us to the airport and immediately noticed that something was off. The guys standing around outside the bus were all tense and kept scanning the parking lot like they were looking for someone. When Rickles spotted me, his body relaxed.
He jogged over, braids swaying, and stopped me from approaching. “Devon’s here.”
“What?” I asked, blood pressure instantly rising as I looked frantically around the parking lot. “Where’s Soph?”
“She’s not here yet. We’ve all been watching for her,” Rickles said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I think Devon has something to say but he said he wanted to wait for you.”
“Fantastic,” I said, checking behind me. “He better get it over with because I’m not putting Sophia through any more of his shit.”
“We’ve got your back, man. And hers. The reporter is one of us,” Rickles said, walking with me back toward the rest of the guys. They all stopped talking to stare as I stopped in front of Devon.
“Make it fast,” I said.
Devon shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted on his feet. None of us had seen him since the last game of the season except for the guys who lived with him. As far as I knew, they were all freezing him out. Parties had permanently shifted to Reynolds’s townhouse and Devon was no longer welcome.
“I wanted to come by and wish you all luck this weekend,” Devon said, looking at everyone but me.
Their faces were as stoic as mine. Most of them had been pissed at me for a few days for not telling them about Devon’s role in the situation to begin with, and while they’d all forgiven me quickly, they clearly weren’t offering him the same forgiveness.
“Thank you,” I said. “Is that all?”
Devon shook his head and looked down at the ground. “You were right.”
“I was right about a lot of things, so you’ll need to be more specific,” I said, glancing around the parking lot. Sophia was never late; she’d be here any minute and I wanted Devon long gone before she showed up.
“About Harley. He won’t take a plea deal. He’s pleading not guilty and trying to twist the story to say that I drugged Sophia and the drugs were all mine.” Devon lifted his head, looking ashamed. “I should have listened to you.” He looked around at the guys. “All of you, really.”
Several murmurs in the crowd gave me the impression that they also thought this was too little, too late, given the many warnings we’d given him over the years.
“I’m sorry, Leo. I let Harley get in my head and convince me that you should have been covering for me, not taking her side, and it was stupid.
Because, of course, she’s the one who deserved to be supported.
” He shook his head, eyes glassy. “I’m just really sorry.
This team meant a lot to me, and I hate that I fucked it all up the way I did. ”
Coach had appeared while Devon was talking and didn’t looked pleased to see him. “Green, you’ve said your peace. You need to be on your way,” he said.
I spotted Sophia approaching with a bag on one shoulder and an iced latte in her other hand.
Her smile faltered as she got closer and saw Devon standing in front of me.
She stopped next to Rickles and looked at me, eyes full of concern.
The ache to rush to her and shield her ran deep.
But she was a strong woman, and she could face this if she wanted to.
Plus, I noticed Rickles stand up a little straighter and step in front of her at her approach.
“Sophia,” Devon said, taking a step toward her.
I stuck my hand out in front of him and stopped him as several guys shifted toward her. “That’s close enough. Choose your words carefully,” I said.
Devon’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, looking at her.
“I’m sorry. I know giving you my word that I wouldn’t have done anything that night is not enough, and I don’t expect your forgiveness, but I do want you to know that I’ll never be involved in anything like that again and I’m glad Leo took you home that night. ”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Right, well, good luck,” Devon said awkwardly, turning to leave.
“Devon,” I said. He stopped and turned around. “Thanks for helping us get to the playoffs. And I’m glad you’re finally owning your shit.”
He gave me a half smile and turned around again. A couple guys patted him on the shoulder in a gesture of support—most likely for him having the balls to apologize—but no one made any move to go after him or talk to him further.
When he was several paces away, I looked around at the crowd who all seemed to be looking to me for direction. I forced a smile and looked at my team and my girl. “Well, boys—Hawaii—we’ve got a fucking championship to win!”