Chapter 33
Dane
With a week on the road playing three different teams on the East Coast of the US, it’s been a challenge finding time to talk to Halle in real time. We’ve mostly resorted to text and Snapchat, and have only been able to get one video call in so far.
It’s not enough.
Halle is like a drug to me. She consumes my thoughts in a way no one else ever has.
After our date, which ended soon after I made Halle come, we picked Lenni up from the Lundrens’ house. Since it was late and Lenni was asleep in seconds after we got her into the car, I quietly carried my sleeping daughter into the house and put her to bed.
Something in my heart splintered open that night, like a stick splitting and breaking out on the ice after a hard connecting hit.
This little girl and her mom have changed me. I am not the same man I was before they came into my life.
Although there’s still a twinge of resentment associated with how it all went down, Halle made the right call at the time by not telling me she was pregnant. I wasn’t mature enough back then and I would’ve fled the responsibility, no matter what I tell myself now.
I wouldn’t have wanted to take on the responsibility at that age and likely would have been an absent father, only sending child support and a birthday card every year.
I want to believe I would’ve done the right thing. I was raised by good parents and had strong familial support throughout my childhood, even when I lived apart from them during juniors. I know the indelible mark of a good father, because I had one.
So does Halle. And that means I understand her hesitancy to not let me get too close to Lenni.
A pro hockey player’s life is not the most stable.
But my hope is that with each moment I spend with them, she cracks the door just a little further until someday soon, it’ll allow me to step in and be Lenni’s dad for life.
I’m back at the hotel in Cleveland tonight after a piss-poor game that we lost one to five. It was embarrassing and the team left the ice defeated and grumpy.
Of course, Rossco still argued we should go out to the clubs to erase our sorrows with booze and women. It took me fifteen minutes and a dozen excuses to get him off my back. He and Brewer, Wolf and the rookies—who I think might still be underage in the US—went to the bars without me.
So now I sit alone in a semidark room, stretched out on the bed with my phone in my hand, hoping Halle is available to chat.
Me: Hey, Cherry. How was your day?
While I wait for her reply, ESPN recaps in the background all the highlights and lowlight moments of the games tonight. There’s a clip of the horrible off-the-stick shot I made that wasn’t even close to hitting anywhere in the net.
The phone in my hand vibrates, and a smile overtakes my face.
Cherry: It was a day, for sure. But we watched the game. Lenni rooted for you. She did the Ax dance and cheered for her friend Ax.
My chest constricts. I’m literally still in the friend zone.
Me: And how about you? Did you cheer for me?
Cherry: Maybe…
She adds a wink emoji with a tongue sticking out. I chuckle.
Me: Oh, come on, Cherry. You know you were glued to the TV while I played.
Me: You were probably staring at my butt.
Me: Or more likely, my stick. I know you like my stick.
Knowing her the way I do, I’d bet a million bucks she’s blushing right now and hates it. In fact, I’m going to collect on that bet. I bring up her contact information and click the video chat button.
The screen displays my face first as it rings several times, then Halle’s beautiful smile takes over the phone. And all is right with the world.
“Hey, you,” I say, offering her a cheeky grin. “I was right.”
Her brow wrinkles and those cute little groove lines pop out between them.
“That’s unusual… you’re not usually right.” She snickers, and I give her playful glare. “Okay, what do you think you were right about?”
“You’re blushing. And you’re also obsessed with me.”
She sputters with indignation, but there’s no fire behind it. “I am not, you arrogant hockey boy!”
Turning on my side, I prop my head up on my bent arm; the other holds the phone and her image in my grasp.
She looks relaxed and comfortable in an old pink robe, her hair up in a messy bun on the top of her head, her complexion shining with a radiant glow.
“So you were just hot and bothered with thoughts about me?”
Again, she snorts, but I see the change in her expression. She raises a hand to tuck back some hair behind her ear and bites on her lip as something flashes in her eyes.
“Did you just take a shower?”
“No, a bath. Why?”
My cock grows hard with the image of her slick, naked body in a bathtub. I reach down and adjust my shorts.
“Your face has a glow. And you look very comfortable.” I lift a brow. “I bet you smell amazing, too.”
She ducks her head down and sniffs. I bust out a laugh. “Well?”
Halle gives me a coy smile. “Vanilla and spiced orange. It’s my fall go-to bath bomb.”
My voice grows low and deep. “I wish it had been my mouth on you the other night, so I could’ve tasted you.”
“Dane,” she whispers breathlessly. Her eyes dart to something offscreen and moves off her bed. I can’t see what she’s going, but I can hear the lock clicking on her door. “If this is going where I think it’s going, I don’t want Lenni overhearing anything.”
“Oh? Exactly where do you think it’s going?”
My dick twitches, also intrigued as to the direction things might go from here.
Halle sits back down on the bed, switching off her light so it’s dark in her room, only a small light from her window casting a glow.
“Well…” She chews on her full bottom lip as I stare, licking my own lips. “I was hoping you’d get dirty with me.”
I groan and palm the now hard bulge between my legs. I’ve imagined doing many sexual things with Halle, but phone sex never occurred to me. But I have no qualms about it. Whatever she wants, she’s going to get, even if there’s a chance we might get interrupted.
“Tell me, Cherry. What’s on your dirty agenda?”
She clears her throat, and I can see the rise and fall of her chest. The V of her robe parts just enough that the enticing swell of her tits is visible.
“I feel bad there wasn’t time to make you come the other night, too.” Her eyes flash hot desire that lights a fire inside me, lust burning in my veins.
“And you want to do something about it now?”
“Mm-hmm,” she murmurs. “I want to watch you. Touch yourself.”
My lips curve into a sly grin. “Do you now, eh? You’re turning into a bad girl for me, aren’t you, Cherry?”
I slip my hand down the front of my shorts and wrap my fist around my straining cock.
Halle’s cheeks turn a bright pink. “I’m…”
“Don’t go shy on me now. I like seeing this side of you. It gets me so hard.” I stroke my cock slowly, tight in my grip. My groan is deep and vibrates in my chest. I close my eyes momentarily and my head falls back into my pillow. Holding the phone above me, I lift my lids to stare at her.
Halle’s gaze reflects my lust back to me.
“My cock is so hard for you right now. Open your robe and show me how you touch yourself too.”
She hesitates only for a moment, her eyes flashing with uncertainty, but I can see a change almost immediately. Her indecision disappears and, in its wake, the look in her eyes offers a dare. It’s a gorgeous feature on her.
Halle grasps the folds of her robe, pulling them apart to expose the supple swell that I dream of touching every night, then angles the phone so I see her breasts. The pertness of the round globes and the stiff peaks of her nipples have my abs clenching with anticipation.
“Go ahead,” I encourage, voice raspy. “Play with your tits, baby.”
She lets out a soft whimper as I watch her palm her fleshy mounds and rub her thumb over her hard nipples. She circles each turgid peak, which forces her back to arch off the bed. I watch, completely aroused and entranced by her seductive performance.
My own hand jerks faster now, gaining momentum with each erotic visual on display. Every breath and sound she makes drives me closer to eruption.
“Baby, I’m getting close. I want to watch you come, too.” I struggle to form words as my fist jerks over the crown of my leaking cock. “Spread your legs and slide your fingers into that sweet pussy of yours.”
Halle moans, and the sound is almost my undoing. “That’s it, baby.”
She pants breathlessly. Rapidly. The phone in her hand wobbles, shaking the image on my screen. But I don’t care. It’s such a beautiful sight to see her come undone like this. I only wish I was right there beside her doing it to her.
“Are you dripping wet, Cherry? Are you imagining it’s my tongue licking and lapping at your pussy?”
“Yeesss…” she says, closing her eyes and raising her head off the pillow. “Dane… oh God. I’m there…”
With two more hard strokes, I growl out an orgasm and release all over my stomach. As I come down from that high, Halle’s face returns to view. She’s cloaked in darkness but for the strands of light pouring in from the streetlight, and she smiles softly.
“I’ve never done that,” she admits quietly, eyelashes fluttering.
I wrinkle my nose. “Never? With anyone?”
She shakes her head. “You’re the only one, Dane.”
Something niggles in the back of my memory. She’s said those words before, and I hadn’t known what they meant.
A brilliant feeling explodes in my solar plexus. It’s a goddamn gift to know I’m the only one she’s chosen to do this with. A man she trusts enough to let go like that.
I want to be not just her first, or her last, but the only man from here on out.
We may not be perfect—I certainly have room to grow—but we can be a perfect match for each other.