Chapter 40
~Hudson~
I’m addicted to Riley Walters.
There’s no other way to describe it. I spend every minute I can with her, and when I’m not with her, I think about her constantly.
My body reacts at the slightest provocation, and her smiles give me a high like nothing else.
I crave her, and instead of lessening with time and familiarity, the feeling only gets stronger.
My legs settle into a steady rhythm as I stroke around the ice and my mind flashes back to our time together in her bed on Sunday night.
“We should go to sleep,” she murmurs from somewhere in the darkness above me.
My tongue swirls lazing around her clit and I grin as she sucks in a breath. “Not until I break the record.”
“You already broke it!” Riley half-laughs, half-whimpers. “You already made me come twice.”
“Twice is only tying the record. We’re going for three.”
I can practically taste her on my lips when my coach’s voice penetrates the lustful haze of my memory.
“Hudson! Are you planning to practice today or are you just going to skate around with a goofy grin for the next hour?”
Yeah, I’m addicted all right.
There’s only one nagging worry in the back of my head, which is that I still haven’t told her about Sophie yet.
I should, and I know that, but it’s not really something I can casually bring up. The timing needs to be right, and whenever we’re alone these days, we usually have other things on our minds.
Not that we have a lot of alone time in the first place.
Besides the night I spent at her house on Sunday, we’ve only managed a couple of conversations between sessions this week.
Ty had a hockey game last night and Zac and I had tickets to see How the Grinch Stole Christmas with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra providing live music.
It’s the usual pre-Christmas rush and somehow, it’s already Dec 23rd.
Although the club is closed tomorrow and Christmas Day, I know Hannah has plans for Riley for Christmas Eve and I have more family obligations.
Begrudgingly, I’ve accepted that I won’t get any private time with my girlfriend until she comes to my parent’s house for Christmas, but that changes when Victoria knocks on the men’s changing room door at the end of the day.
“Cover up anything you don’t want seen,” she calls out, giving us all of two seconds’ warning before strolling right in.
It brings back memories of Riley walking in on her first day at the club, and I smile to myself remembering how adorably flustered she was.
Yeah, I know. Addicted.
With at least two guys holding balled-up t-shirts in front of their dicks to preserve their modesty, Victoria commands our full attention.
Though she barely stands five feet tall, the pairs skater is impossible to miss.
Everything about her is styled and primped, always ahead of the latest trends.
She’s pretty, for sure, but the textbook example of ‘high maintenance’, which isn’t my type at all.
After letting us wait for a few seconds more, she announces the reason for her surprise changing-room visit.
“Christmas party at my place tonight. Eight o’clock. You know the rules, and if you don’t, ask someone who does.”
Having delivered her message, she turns on her heel and walks back out, disappearing as quickly as she came. The room erupts into whoops of excitement and frenzied chatter in her wake.
Victoria’s parties are legendary. Her parents are loaded and they live in a huge mansion in one of the new subdivisions that keep springing up around the city’s edges. When Victoria throws a party, no expense is spared and with none of us having to skate tomorrow, hangovers are almost guaranteed.
“You going?” Lewis asks me with a wide grin.
“Fuck, yeah.” Thankfully, I have the night off from family stuff and won’t be expected anywhere until noon tomorrow.
As soon as he turns away to check who else will be there, I pull out my phone and text Riley.
Victoria’s party?
Short and to the point, it gets me an equally short response.
Hannah says I have to.
She’s right. See you there.
My night just got a lot more interesting.
When we get home from the rink, Lewis and I go all out, ordering a pizza and having a pre-party beer.
Those kinds of calories and carbs are normally off-limits during the training season but it’s a special occasion.
The last party Victoria hosted was a year and a half ago and who knows when the next one might be.
Rumours are going around that if she and her partner don’t finish in the top ten at Worlds this year, they might quit.
Everyone knows they don’t get along, and I can’t imagine having to spend every day training so intimately with someone I don’t even like.
“Do you think Jeremy will be there tonight?” I ask Lewis as we savour the last of our pizza. Since he trains with Jeremy and Victoria, he knows more about the situation than I do.
“I’d be surprised. I don’t remember the last time I saw them talk about anything not related to skating. She barely acknowledges he exists.”
“So, the coast is clear for you to make a move on Victoria if you want to,” I tease.
He snorts into his beer. “Never going to happen. She’s way too much work for me. If Hannah behaved like that, I don’t know what I’d do.”
I’ve always thought Lewis and Hannah would make a good couple.
My comment about the sexual tension between them back at the Grand Prix was a joke, meant as a diversion, but they’d actually be great together.
If I ever make the mistake of mentioning it out loud, however, he insists they’re just friends. Tonight, I bite my tongue.
“You got anyone else in mind for tonight, then? You know there’s always some kind of drama at Victoria’s parties. I was hoping this time it might be you.”
He laughs off the suggestion. “Nah, I’m just going to chill and enjoy myself. A drama-free night for me, but if you need a wingman, I’m available.”
“I’m good too,” I assure him.
The only woman I’m interested in, I already have; it’s just that nobody else knows it yet.
Half an hour after the party starts, we take a taxi over to the far west side of the city, and though I’ve been to Victoria’s family home before, my jaw still drops at our first glimpse of the massive house decorated for Christmas.
White lights outline the height and width of the palatial building, complementing the lights strung in the evergreen trees in the yard.
Lighted candy canes line the long, circular drive, and even the taxi driver whistles as we pull up in front of the door to see the enormous silver and white wreath on the double-wide doors.
The overall effect oozes elegance and wealth, just like Victoria herself.
Inside, uniformed staff take our coats and direct us to the large living room where more than half the club is already gathered. People sip on wine or beer, and jazzy versions of Christmas songs fill the air, emanating from hidden speakers all around us.
“I’m way too redneck for this,” Lewis mumbles to me right as Hannah and Riley come over to join us, and I do my best to stifle my grin.
It doesn’t take long for Riley’s dress to distract me.
The deep red is perfect for Christmas, and perfectly sets off her chocolate hair.
It shows off her slender hips while accentuating her modest breasts, and I’m torn between wanting to stare at her in it all night and finding somewhere private where I can take it off her.
“You guys ready for some fun?” Hannah asks with a smile just wobbly enough to let me know the glass of wine in her hand isn’t her first one of the night.
“I’m always ready for fun,” I assure her before my gaze slides over to Riley. “What did you have in mind?”