Chapter Twenty-Two #2
I want to take this moment a little more seriously, but this woman has such a crazy effect on my inner domme, and I can’t keep it at bay once my skin touches hers.
“If you had come to me,” I continue, “if you had trusted me with the truth of what you were behind the mask, we could have negotiated. I would have made you something a bit more subtle. A small chain or a tattoo that only we could see. Something permanent and private.”
Her eyes dart to mine at the word permanent, as if she didn’t expect what we have to last outside this country’s border. As if I was only using her while she was here in Milan and then throwing her away as soon as my airline ticket back home was scanned.
“You broke the rules, baby girl.” I run my tongue along her ear, feeling her melt into me. “That is not something words alone can fix.”
Hours later, after leaving Violet tied to her bed, wet and on the edge of an orgasm, I make arrangements for her friend Cassie to get into Violet’s room without any problems.
Violet is not allowed to touch herself and finish the job or use any toys of any kind to reach climax. And I told her I’ll be unavailable until tomorrow.
Little did I know, the punishment I gave her is also a punishment for myself, because I want so badly to feel her lips on my pussy. She’s so good at eating me when I ride her pretty mouth, but I have to focus on what it's doing to her and ignore what it’s doing to me.
I thought about not punishing her at all. After what she told me, it almost felt cruel. But the fire in her eyes when I tugged at her collar after tying her up… a shiver runs through me at the memory, and I look around at my team to make sure nobody noticed.
The streets of Milan are buzzing with people in a hurry to get to wherever they’re going.
My teammates are a few steps ahead of me, loud and excited in a way that only people who are heading to a gold medal game could be.
Rissa and Paige are arguing over gelato flavors.
Riley is taking photos of literally every building, as if we hadn’t just passed twelve identical ones.
And I walk behind them with my hands shoved in my pockets as I let the noise fill the space.
Celebrating had never really been my strong suit.
Still, I have to admit this place is unreal.
The narrow streets are glowing gold under streetlamps.
Scooters are weaving through traffic like chaos is a sport.
And the fashion storefronts are shining like they aren’t stores at all, but full-blown museums.
Riley turns around and yells, “Skye, get over here!” She waves to the rest of the team. “Group picture.”
I groan. “Absolutely not.”
“Too late.” Rissa is already holding up her phone.
They drag me into the middle anyway. I try to look like a normal human instead of someone being held hostage by a camera.
Flash.
The moment ends with laughter and someone already sprinting toward a gelato shop.
I shake my head, following them, and then I see her.
My stomach drops so fast it feels like the gravity has changed all around me.
Alisha.
She stands on the opposite side of the street like a cruel glitch in reality. Same sharp cheekbones, same brown hair dyed blonde, pulled into a high ponytail, and the same expression on her face that always looks like she knows something everyone else doesn’t.
For a second, I wonder if she hasn’t seen me. Then her eyes lock onto mine.
Shit.
The girls are all still laughing beside me, completely oblivious. I feel the moment before everything happens, the quiet shift in the air.
Alisha steps off the curb and walks straight toward us. Of course she does. She loves to cause trouble wherever she lands.
She stops a few feet away and crosses her arms.
“Well.” I notice her voice hasn’t changed at all. “Small world.”
Every muscle in my body goes rigid. My teammates notice the sudden silence and turn to look between us. Paige walks up beside me and stands there like a guard dog in waiting.
Riley, Paige, and Rissa know shit went down between Alisha and me, but they never knew the details. I made sure of it. That part of my life isn’t supposed to be for anyone but me and the person I share a bed with.
The whispers flowed through the hockey world, being zipped shut once my attorney got hold of them. Things cleaned up pretty quickly, and the topic was dropped, but I know it’s something in the back of people’s minds.
Skye Callahan is accused of abusing her ex-girlfriend.
“You gonna say hi, Skye?” Alisha adds with a thin smile.
“You know her?” One of the forwards asks, walking up to see what’s going on. The teammates I never played with before the Olympic Games weren’t privy to the information that hit the media back then. Unfortunately, the dust in the wind seems to be settling onto me for a second time.
“Yes.” My throat feels dry.
Alisha tilts her head, studying me.
“Didn’t expect to see you here.” The look on her face says she’s been waiting to run into me.
Paige shifts awkwardly, and Rissa does the same. A few others are looking between us like they’re trying to read the subtitles that aren’t there.
Then Alisha laughs. Not a nice laugh.
“Wow. You really brought the whole team.”
The gleam in her eye has my stomach twisting. I know exactly where this is going.
“Alisha,” I mutter. “Don’t.”
Paige takes a step forward, but I grab her. She’s being protective without even knowing the whole story. I’m not letting anyone go down for the shit that happened in my past. Nobody is going to miss playing in an Olympic game for a piece of trash like Alisha.
“Oh, relax,” she says lightly. “I’m just saying hi.”
Rissa takes a few deep breaths, and I can tell she’s ready to pounce.
This is not how I expected today to go.
Alisha’s eyes flick toward the girls beside me.
“You guys still play with her?”
They all analyze the woman in front of us as Alisha puts her hands on her hips.
“Did the chemicals go from her hair to her brain?” Rissa juts a thumb toward Alisha. “Why wouldn’t we still play with her?”
Alisha ignores the jab, which tells me she’s locked and loaded. “Interesting.”
I feel heat creeping up the back of my neck.
One of the girls behind us asks, “Is everything okay?”
I don’t answer fast enough, but Alisha does.
“You might want to ask her that.”
The air freezes around me. My chest is tightening, and I feel the same way I did the day I saw the headlines about the abusive accusations.
Here it is. The thing I’ve been outrunning for years.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Riley takes her place beside Paige, forming a wall between Alisha and me.
Alisha looks right at me when she says, “Ask her what she did to me.”
Silence drops over the group like a brick. My pulse is roaring in my ears. I hate the look people get when they hear something like that. The tiny flicker of doubt when they start re-evaluating everything they thought they knew.
“Skye?” Alisha says, toying with the atmosphere.
“Don’t.” I clench my teeth. “Don’t do this.”
“What’s she talking about?” Liv, one of our defenders, asks, eyeballing me like I might contain something contagious.
I see Alisha’s expression, the fox with a rabbit trapped in a corner.
Then I see the surrounding expressions. Not accusing, but uncertain. And somehow that hurts more.
I drag a hand through my hair, looking down at the pavement. How the fuck am I going to explain this without putting everything I’ve kept a secret out on the table? My sex life doesn’t concern anyone, but Alisha is going to make sure it does.
How am I supposed to say she lied without sounding like every guilty person who’d ever said the same thing after abusing their significant other?
“I didn’t hurt her.” I finally break the tension in the air, adding a million more questions to the already massive list.
Alisha laughs. Actually laughs and folds her arms over her chest. “Sure, you didn’t. That’s why I had the marks to prove it.”
It doesn’t matter what actually happened; it matters which story people hear first.
My teammates look at me like they don’t recognize the person standing in front of them.
And I don’t even know where to begin to change that.