Chapter Thirteen Violet
Chapter Thirteen
Violet
She answers the video call on the second ring, and I feel the warmth spreading through my chest.
“Hey.” Her lips curl into a grin when her face appears on the screen.
Her cheeks are flushed, her hair is in its usual braid, and she’s wearing her USA hoodie.
Behind her? Pure chaos. Someone is screaming while someone else is singing off-key, and I’m pretty sure I hear a chair screeching across the hard floor repeatedly.
I grin, wanting to ask about what the hell was on the piece of paper she gave me, but I’m having a hard time hearing myself think with the noise hitting my phone speaker.
“Why does it sound like you’re in the middle of a frat house?”
She looks over her shoulder, trying and failing to hide a grin that has me smiling right along with her. I never see her like this, and it’s such a crazy turn of events after everything that’s happened. “Party at the winter house. Quarterfinal energy.”
Another cheer explodes behind her, and Rissa yells her name like she’s already got the gold medal around her neck. I watch Skye pretend she hates it.
“I never thought I’d hear your name and party in the same sentence.”
She tugs at the collar of her hoodie. “Don’t get used to it.”
I bite back a smile. “So, what happens now, Olympian?”
Her expression changes from amusement to something I can’t quite decipher. “Now, it gets crazy,” she sighs. “Media tomorrow. Practice. Film. We’re basically on lockdown until the Quarterfinal games. If we make it past that…” She doesn’t finish, but I don’t need her to.
The world will be watching.
“I might be hard to reach,” she adds, softer. “Not because I want to be.”
“Skye! We need you,” Paige yells. I see her waving over Skye’s shoulder toward the phone. “Is that your boo or the hot nurse back home?”
My stomach drops, and Skye rubs her face.
“I do not have a hot nurse back home.” She’s staring into the phone like she wants to make sure I hear her.
And I believe her. I don’t know why, but I feel like she would be transparent enough to tell me she didn’t want to continue things if she was involved elsewhere. “Ignore Paige.”
I smile. “Already forgotten.” Then I clear my throat. “Boo, huh?”
She laughs. “I’ll call as soon as I get back to the hotel in an hour or so. It’ll be quieter with a better chance of me being able to hear you.” The corners of her mouth twitch as her eyes lock onto the camera. “And discuss that piece of paper I left in your hands earlier.”
My face goes sheet white, and I hear her bark a laugh, like she’s proud she was able to catch me off guard twice in the same day.
Not knowing what else to say, I give her a quick, “I’ll be up.” And as much as I hate to do it, I hang up the phone.
I’ve already changed pajamas twice, thankful that Cassie chose as many options as she did. I’ve paced, I’ve flopped dramatically across the bed like a lady-in-waiting. I’ve opened the minibar and closed it again because I refuse to pay fourteen euros for almonds in fancy wrapping.
I tell myself I’m calm.
I am not calm.
What is this piece of paper she gave me? Is it a joke? Or does she really want me to sit and fill this out?
I’ve read about this stuff in the books on my shelves back home. The BDSM lifestyle and sub/dom plots that make you take a cold shower after you’ve read them.
But I guess I didn’t know it was real. People actually live like this and do this for fun.
I walk to the counter and pick up the corner of the paper like it’s a crab that’s going to pinch me if my fingers touch too much of it.
Section 1: Dom’s Role
Section 2: Sub/Slave’s Role
Section 3: Safety and Safe Words
Section 4: Limits
Section 5: Agreement
Uuummm… I mean, I’m not one to yuck someone else’s yum, but I’m not sure I could do any of the things on that piece of paper. Then again, I’ve also never thought about it as a real possibility.
Theo was so vanilla. Missionary and quick release. He ate me out once, maybe twice, and it felt alright, but most of the time I just felt like a melting ice cream cone he needed to clean up quickly.
There are probably a few things I’d refuse, but I guess I can’t hate it until I try it. That’s what my mom always told me about things she’d try to feed me as a child, though it’s super weird to compare the two.
My phone rings, and I jump as if someone could hear my crazy thoughts.
I race across the room and launch myself onto the bed, bouncing once as I click the green phone icon.
Skye.
“Hi.” I immediately pretend that I have not been hovering over my phone like a crow guarding shiny objects.
Her face fills the screen, dim lighting with that tired-but-satisfied look on her face that has me feeling guilty for occupying the time she needs for resting. Her hair is wet, like she just showered, and her black t-shirt hugs her upper body tightly.
“Hey. I know it’s a bit later than expected. Rissa got a bit too crazy with the champagne.”
I scrunch my face and laugh. “I was beginning to think you’d been kidnapped by the team and had forgotten the outside world.”
She laughs. “Plausible, but no.”
We stare at each other for a second, and I’m wondering how to segue into my curiosity.
Then it hits me. She likes games.
“Let’s play twenty-one questions.”
She blinks. “Alright.” And I hear her exhale as she settles on the couch in her hotel room. I really wish I were sitting there with her right now.
“Question one,” I start. “Was that piece of paper real?”
She nods. “Yes. It was a real piece of paper. Probably even cut from a real tree.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Was there a reason you gave me that piece of paper?”
“Yes. I wanted you to look at it.”
My head hangs.
This brat.
I’m going to have to word my questions carefully, or I’ll hit question twenty-one and still have no answers.
I rub my brow. She mimics.
I tuck my tongue into my cheek. She grins.
“Are the scenarios on this paper things you’re interested in doing behind closed doors?”
This time her smile falls, like she knows I’ve caught onto her. But she doesn’t seem uncomfortable or timid about it. More so, unsure of how her answer will affect what happens between us.
“Yes.”
I nod slowly, not breaking my eye contact with the camera as my mind races deep into this rabbit hole.
“Are there things on this paper that you would consider a hard boundary for yourself?”
Her eyebrow raises, and I can tell she’s surprised by my choice of words. Hard boundaries are part of the contract. Specifically listing things you’re not willing to negotiate on.
She smirks. “Yes.”
I raise a brow, suddenly feeling a little more comfortable with all this. If she’s able to say no to a few things, then I feel like it gives me the ability to do the same.
“Is one of them pet play?” I’m trying hard to contain my laugh.
She stifles a laugh. “Yes.”
I sigh. “Oh, thank God.”
We both laugh, and as I continue, I feel the nervousness melting away.
“Have you done things on this list?”
“Yes. Some of them.”
The added words throw me for a loop because she’s hardly said anything other than “yes” since we started this.
“Where did you get this?” I hold up the contract in the camera.
Skye relaxes into the couch again; the angle tells me she has the phone resting on her knee. “The internet.”
“So you don’t just carry this around in hopes someone will fill it out?”
“No.”
I can tell she doesn’t find a lot of humor in that question.
“What’s your favorite soda?”
She laughs. “Quite the topic change.”
I shrug. “I think I’ve learned all I need to know about the contract.”
“Yeah?”
I stare into the phone. “Is that your first question?”
She bites her lip, and it sends a shock through my entire system. I can’t stop staring at her mouth, remembering how it felt on mine. The firm kiss has had me in a whirlwind for the last six hours.
I place my hand over the camera, holding it securely so she can’t see what’s happening on my end. “What would you do if I knocked on your door right now?”
I mute my mic as I pick up the contract with my signature on it and take off down the hall toward the stairs. Thankfully, she told me her hotel room number at dinner the other night.
I hear her start talking as I reach the next floor.
“I’d open the door,” she replies with certainty. “It would be rude not to.”
I unmute my phone and stand outside her hotel room door. “And what would you do if I were standing there?”
“Probably kiss you until your knees go weak.” She’s not even cocky about it. She’s honest.
Hot damn.
Her confidence alone also has my knees buckling underneath me.
“Is that a probably or a definitely?” I raise my hand to knock.
“Definitely.”
“Question twenty-one.”
Knock, knock, knock.
“Are you going to let me in so you can kiss me?”
The door opens like she was expecting me, and I almost drop my phone when she pulls me inside. In one quick motion, she has a hand at my waist while the other steadies my head as our mouths crash together.
Fuck yes.
I don’t hold back this time, opening my mouth to invite her in as the signed contract falls to the floor.
I’m holding Skye close, and nothing else seems to exist. Not Theo, not the Olympics, not Ollie, Michel, or the company that’s determined to wipe me off the map.
It’s just Skye and me.
She pushes me up against the counter, and I feel myself grinding against her.
What is it that causes me to completely lose my mind with her?
I run my hands through her dark hair, and she moves from my mouth to my neck, kissing and sucking until she reaches my collarbone.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone is at the door. My hair is a wreck, and Skye’s shirt is messed up, but easily fixable.
She looks at me.
“It’s not me out there knocking.” I shrug. “Promise.”
She huffs a laugh and shakes her head as if she’s unsure what to say to that.
The hem of her shirt falls back down to her waist as she walks to the door, and I finger-comb my hair so it’s somewhat tamed.
“Skye,” Paige whispers from the hall. “It’s Rissa.”
I watch as Skye runs a hand down her face and looks back at me. That’s when Paige pokes her head in the door.
“Ah shit, sorry. But I do need your assistance with this. It’s a bit uh… much for the girls and me.”
I swear she’s gagging as she talks. Rissa must be sick? Drunk? Sick from being drunk?
“I’ll be up in five.” Skye closes the door. She walks back to me and brushes a quick kiss on my lips, making my heart flutter. “I’ve gotta go take care of this and make sure she’s okay to play tomorrow. Can I call you?”
I want to scream and cry and throw up all at the same time, but that’s not going to help my case. So, I smile and nod. “Of course. Hopefully, she’s all right.”
Her eyes drop to my lips and I can tell they’re still swollen from our kiss. She drops her forehead to mine and squeezes my thigh. “If she is now, she won’t be when I’m done with her.” Her tone is low and focused as she pulls away.
“I’ll be around,” I tell her. “On your off days, if you get any.”
Skye shrugs and gives me a cocky grin. “Coach said it shouldn’t be as bad as they were telling us it would be.” She kisses me again. “So, you’ll just have to get used to me popping up whenever I find the time.”
With that, she grabs my hand, leading me out of her hotel room.
And just like that, I’m falling for a woman on the Olympic hockey team.