Chapter 46
My skin burned with excitement as the air conditioner blasted icy cold air into the space.
The rink hummed with people and excitement as we neared the last two hours before puck drop.
It was no longer just a hockey game with a good cause attached to it.
It was about proving a point and seeing this whole thing through to the end.
We had eight players for our team; two more cops jumped from the official team and joined ours. Including Emmie, who would not be talked out of playing in the net against grown men. Something told me she was going to be the leading cause of a fight on the ice tonight.
And I was willing to put money on it that she would be the first one to toss her gloves and go after someone, causing it.
Thinking back over the last few months, and all the uncertainty and change that happened not only to me but to Cedar Bluff, the moment felt so damn earned.
From making a move with Goldie, and getting to know Rhea, to falling for both of them at the same time, and then all the scary things that happened around our town, families and businesses destroyed, to the awful accusations against Rhea and the fallout from that.
But looking back, all of those things led us here.
To the most fulfilled and confident in myself I’d ever been. To the most loved and cared for I’d ever been. To the most loving and protective I’d ever been.
“Hey, since you’re just standing around like a houseplant,” Goldie snapped on her way by with her weird speed-walking move. “Can you move the cotton candy table to the left?”
I rolled my eyes at her over-caffeinated dig and braced against the table, ready to move it. “How far?”
“Until it looks right.” She replied, on her way back by in a huff.
“That is not a measurement I’m qualified to make.” I called after her, but she just waved me off over her head and disappeared around the corner.
“About seventeen inches.” Jasper stopped in front of the table and cocked his head to the side, visualizing something in the thin air. “No, make it eighteen.” Blinking away the mental planning, he looked at me. “Precisely eighteen inches. Do you need a ruler?”
“Nah,” Rhea smirked on her way by with an armful of cups. “Just measure his dick twice.”
Jasper gasped, clutching his invisible pearls as he stared at me. “Mr. Officer! I’m impressed. And happy to help you hold it still to measure with.”
Rhea’s cackle echoed down the hallway as she walked away, and I glared at Goldie’s best friend. “Not a chance.” I scooted the table with my hip and stood up tall, looking at the man. “Good?”
“Perfect.” His shoulders slumped with a disappointed look. “Of course you are.” He said before turning and walking away again.
“Rough crowd.” Thomas said as he carried the cotton candy bowl over to the table and set it down in the center.
I chuckled, shaking my head. Glancing around, I gave in to the urge to find out more about whatever was cooking between my friend and Goldie’s annoying French poodle-like bestie. “You’d know that better than most, I’d assume.”
I tried to keep it light and watched him closely as he glanced at me before tracking down the route Jasper took when he left a moment ago. “Yeah, guess I do.”
That was all the confirmation I needed. More than he owed me, honestly.
I wasn’t about to make a production out of it.
There would be no handshake, no speech about him being “safe” with me like he should ever feel anything short of that with anyone he called a friend.
I wasn’t going to speak on the fact that some people we worked with might not like it, because he knew that.
And we both knew it was wrong. The only thing I was going to do was treat him the way I had my entire life.
There was nothing wrong with Thomas. He was just right, no matter who he dated.
So instead, I waved him over to the other table I had to set up next, and he grabbed one end while I picked up the other.
“If you ever need ammo to use against him to make him squirm, let me know. I’ve got enough stockpiled to make him cry uncle in pretty much any situation; thanks to all the stories Goldie tells after a long day trapped in the bakery with his antics.
” I said with a grin, and Thomas held my stare, unmoving for a moment before his shoulders relaxed a little and a small smirk pulled at his lips.
“I’m sure I’ll take you up on that one. He’s too ornery for his own good sometimes.” He said, grabbing the tablecloth to lay out over the surface.
“That’s putting it lightly.” I joked. “But that guy has a heart of pure gold, and I can’t fault anyone for anything when I know they have my girl’s back without fail.”
Before he could reply, Goldie rushed by again and snapped her fingers at me. “Come with me. Now.”
Thomas smirked and crossed his arms, “Have fun with that one.”
I laughed and went to track down Goldie, who had already disappeared around the corner and down a hallway toward the locker rooms before I caught up to her. When I did, Rhea stood there, back against the wall with Goldie standing in front of her, toe tapping the floor, arms crossed in frustration.
“Uh oh,” I leaned my shoulder on the wall next to Rhea and nodded to our fearless, bossy babe. “What’d you do to rile her up?”
“Me?” Rhea scoffed, “She called me here after dealing with you.”
Goldie spun on us, hands on her hips, curls bobbing like angry little snakes on her head. “If you two do not go somewhere, preferably far away from me, and work out this nervous energy building inside of you both, I’m going to commit a crime in broad daylight.”
I huffed, brushing an imaginary piece of lint off my shoulder. “I’m not nervous.”
“Bullshit.” Goldie snapped, jutting her hip out and pointing at me.
“You’re nervous about finding the inside leak causing chaos in Cedar Bluff.
” She said, mentioning the fact that one very loose end was still undone.
I was ready to put my badge on and dig as deep as possible into every resident of our town, launching a formal investigation to figure it out, but Anastasia said to wait.
She said she had something that could help us figure it out.
We just didn’t know what that was, or when we’d find out.
And even though we trusted her, it was hard to just sit and wait.
Turning her attention to Rhea, Goldie kept going.
“And you're nervous about showing your face in the crowd for the first time since you were cleared.” Then she tipped her head up to the ceiling, “And I’m nervous that my croissants are going to get rock hard in the cold air of the ice rink and everyone will think I’ve lost my touch in the kitchen since I only seem to spend all of my time spread out on a kitchen counter getting railed by my two overly hungry partners instead of working on my craft! ”
Rhea’s mouth hung open as she leaned forward with just her head in shock. “I woke up to find you on your knees in the middle of the kitchen sucking Tanner’s cock before six am this morning. Which should be a crime all in itself.”
“We tried to wake you,” I deadpanned to Rhea. “You flipped us off and told us your kitty hurt.”
She elbowed me hard in the gut, turning back to Goldie. “I meant sucking dick before six am. That was all you, Marigold, and we both know it. You worked your nerves out on our bodies hard for the last two days. You can’t blame us for that.”
“Exactly!” She cried, clapping her hands together.
“And now you two need to do the same, to each other, before the game. Or I’m afraid you’ll end up mounting each other on the ice in the middle of a children’s charity game.
So,” she turned to me. “Take her somewhere. Fuck her. Hard. And come back to me with a clear head.”
I rolled off the wall and stood over Goldie before turning her with my hand around her throat until her back hit the wall directly next to Rhea. Resting my other hand on the wall, I pinned her in. “Is that an order, Sugar?”
Nudging my thigh between hers and hitching it until all of her weight was pressing on my leg, a whimper escaped her lips as her nostrils flared.
“Yes.” Goldie said, licking her lips. “I want you to fuck her hard enough to calm her nerves and settle your own.”
“And what about yours?” Rhea cocked her head to the side, leaning into Goldie’s view before trailing her fingers down the front of her cute little pink button-up shirt, pulling one button free to reveal just the top of her white lace bra beneath. “What about all of your needs?”
“You’ll see to them after the game.” Goldie whispered.
“I’m too busy to see to them now, but you’re not.
You’re just hovering and driving me nuts.
” I rocked my thigh forward, rubbing against her until she moaned.
“Distracting me!” She hissed. “You’re distracting me, and I don’t have time for that.
So, you need to go off and get it out of your system. ”
“Hmm,” Rhea flicked open the next button and then leaned under my arm to pull Goldie’s bra down and suck her hard nipple straight into her mouth. Goldie cried out, rocking against my thigh again as Rhea pulled her other cup down, pinching her other nipple. “Are you sure about that?”
I chuckled and lifted Goldie up an inch, really pinning my thigh between hers and pressing harder. “I can make you come in no time flat. Let us take care of you first.”
“Fuck,” Goldie panted, rocking harder against my leg.
“Good girl.” Rhea praised, “Ride Tanner’s thigh until you come all over it for us. Give us what we want before we go do what you said.”
“You will?” Goldie swallowed, the muscles of her throat fighting against the hold my hand had on it. “You’ll fuck?”
I smiled, knowing our girl loved and hated the fact that we would go off and find somewhere to do what she demanded we do for her. She loved that we would settle ourselves but regretted that she wouldn’t be there with us.
“I’ll fuck her so damn good.” I admitted. “Just how you want me to.”
“Damn,” She whimpered as Rhea sucked hard on her nipples, working in tandem with me to get our girl off for the fun of it.
“Oh! Oh God,” She cried out, and I smothered her cries with my lips as she started coming.
Rhea pushed her way through us, kissing our girl as I kept her rocking on my thigh until she sagged against us, sated for the moment.
Because I knew Goldie, and I knew she was going to be ready for another in five minutes flat.
“Go,” she whispered with a silly little smile on her face. “Before I change my mind and demand that you both fuck me on center ice instead.”
I kissed her again, putting her back on her feet as Rhea righted her clothing, and then Goldie smoothed back her curls and took a deep, calming breath.
“I can’t wait to hear all about it after the game. If I don’t see you before that, have fun out there.”
And with that, she was gone. A wave of bouncing blonde curls fanned out in her wake as she disappeared around the corner and back out into the busy lobby.
Turning to Rhea, I found her green eyes locked on mine, looking up at me expectantly. “Does my girl need to come?” I asked teasingly.
Immediately, she sagged into me, rubbing her palm over my hard-on that grew with Goldie’s first moan. “Desperately.” Rhea moaned, the tease of begging on the end of it. “Where can we go to be alone, though?” She asked, “Because this hallway is too risky.”
I tilted my chin upward, taking a step into her space and forcing her to take a step back, pushing her further down the hall and away from the lobby. “I have an idea.”
“Oh, you do?” Rhea licked her lips, taking another step back as I pressed against her front. “Do share.”
“You have to be quiet, though.” I mocked, teasing her. “And I hope you don’t mind the cold.”