Chapter 24 #3
Throwing his hands up, Coach said, “Jesus Christ. I sent you there to bond as a group, not to get your fucking dick wet, Greene.”
Lover came to Connor’s defense. “It’s not like that, sir. Daisy is our friend. She became a part of our team, and they fired her because of us, but she’s amazing at her job. She could make mortal enemies have a slumber party and like it.”
Coach rubbed a hand down his face. “What do you mean you got her fired?”
Hazy grimaced. “She’s a hockey fan, okay? She knew who we were and the types of things we would respond to. She’s been friends with Patrick Mills for years. She even got Patrick and Beanie to be civil.”
Coach uncrossed his arms. Some of the tension left the room, and Connor allowed himself to relax. “Surely they didn’t fire her because she was a fan. And you just said you aren’t fucking her.”
“Oh!” Hazy said, seeming to remember he’d lost the point in his explanation.
“She has a podcast. Remember that audio clip you had us listen to before we started all this? That was her! The whole team listens to it now. I went on it, and her work said she violated the NDA she’d signed when she agreed to work with us. ”
“Sounds like she was terminated for cause then.”
“I’ve listened to the episode, and she didn’t say anything about working with us. She said she’d gotten to know us recently. Everything stayed vague. They used that as an excuse. If she hadn’t been helping us, she would still have her job.”
Coach circled his desk and sat in his chair. “Listen, boys. You can straighten this whole thing out however you want, I don’t care, but I need you to go finish the last activity so I can cross it off my list for management.”
Connor straightened his shoulders and looked the man dead in the eyes, knowing it wasn’t smart, but being unwilling to go back while Daisy remained jobless. “I’m not going. It won’t do any good.”
Coach sighed, putting his face in his hands.
“Connor, I need you to do this, okay? It’s working for your game.
If I’m being honest, I’ve been told they plan to shop you around before the trade deadline.
You want to stay near your family, and I’m doing my best to justify keeping you to management, but you have to work with me. ”
A lump formed in Connor’s throat. Management was considering trading him. He’d been a star for them for years, and instead of renewing his contract, they planned to move on from him at the deadline.
The room was quiet for ages, and Connor couldn’t bring himself to face his linemates.
Lover leaned forward in his seat, fingertips coming together to form a triangle. “Do we have to do the training through Collaborative Craft? Or do we have to show we completed a group bonding plan of some sort?”
Coach Bree shrugged. “I don’t think it matters.”
Hazy mirrored Lover’s pose. “We’ll do it, but you have to hire Daisy to finish out the program. And you have to pay her whatever astronomical number you were paying the other place.”
Both boys relaxed in their chairs, pleased smiles on their faces as they waited for Coach Bree’s response. He rolled his eyes. “Greene, that work for you? I hire your little girlfriend, and you cooperate?”
Connor realized he was staring open-mouthed at Hazy and Lover, and he snapped his mouth shut, turning his attention to Coach. “Yes, that works for me.”
“Thank God, get her down here ASAP. We need this finished this week.”
He dismissed the group with a wave of his hand.
Daisy was unavailable for two more days. Connor had seen her briefly when she met with management, and she stuck her tongue down his throat in the elevator before telling him she couldn’t hang out.
She’d been planning their latest adventure and gave them an address. Arriving at a rundown bowling alley surprised them.
Hazy said, “We might be murdered if we go in there. Are you sure this is right?”
Connor triple-checked the address in his text thread. This was correct.
Lover slid out of the backseat, no hesitation in his steps as he approached the boarded-up front door. Hazy and Connor jumped out of the car and followed him. If they were getting murdered, they would go out together. Lover held the door open, revealing Daisy in the dimly lit entryway.
Connor shoved Hazy out of the way to get to her. He flung his arms around her and buried his head in her hair, breathing her in. She laughed, returning the embrace before pushing at his shoulder to get him to let go. He held on tighter.
“Jesus dude, you’re not getting home from war, you saw her two days ago,” Hazy chirped.
Connor let go of Daisy and faced him with a murderous glare, but he found Lover already slapping Hazy upside the head.
“Let them be happy, you weirdo.”
Connor, glad for the support, said, “Yeah, Hazy, let me be happy.”
Hazy rolled his eyes and walked past them, trying to get to the second set of entry doors, but Daisy stopped him with a hand on his chest.
“Ah-ah. I need all your phones.”
Connor and Lover handed theirs to her with no questions, but Hazy whined. “Aw, Daisy. Why? You know I’m going to participate.”
Daisy held out her hand, motioning for him to hand it over. “Great, you can start participating right now by giving me your phone.”
Hazy rolled his eyes but did as she said. She pocketed their cell phones and held the door open for them. They walked through to a dark room. When Connor turned around, he found Daisy shutting the door behind them, using a chain to padlock it closed, and brandishing a flashlight
“Uh, Daisy?” he asked.
“Yeah?”
“What the fuck?” The three men said together.
Daisy used the flashlight to find her way to a chair, getting comfortable in her normal Daisy fashion. The flashlight illuminated her face like she was telling a scary story around a campfire.
“You’re escaping. It literally said it on a sign outside. Can you guys read?”
They let out a collective grown. “Dammit, Daisy,” Hazy complained. “Don’t make us do this bullshit.”
“Oh, shut up, you big baby. It’ll be fun.” She clicked off the light, leaving them in the dark.
Connor couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face, but he did see an open opportunity.
He walked toward where Daisy sat and fumbled around the wall for a light source.
It didn’t take long to find one. He listened to his teammates doing a similar search.
Someone ran into a piece of furniture, and the noise startled him.
It would be a few minutes before they found the lamp.
Instead of turning it on, he noted the location and found the back of Daisy’s chair.
She stiffened under his touch, and he squeezed her shoulders, massaging away the tension. He swept her hair to one side and bent, one hand covering her mouth before his tongue found the spot below her ear that would make her gasp. Her lips parted under his hand, but she remained silent.
When he was sure she wouldn’t give away his game, he dropped his hand from her face.
Connor sucked her neck before peeling his lips from her skin for the few seconds it took for him to round the chair and come to his knees in front of her.
She shifted in her seat, pulling her legs from underneath her and placing them on the ground on either side of his knees.
Connor let his hands slide up her thighs, for once in his life thankful for the unseasonable spring heat that had her in shorts.
She was so fucking soft. He let his hands wander, his fingers skimming the insides of her thighs, pushing her legs wider.
If he had to suffer through an entire afternoon of sharing her, she would suffer with him.
He followed the path of his hands with his mouth, trying to enjoy this while keeping an ear out for where his teammates were.
Daisy squirmed under his attention. She tasted as good as she smelled, and he sucked and nipped at every inch of soft skin he could reach until she pulled him away from her by the hair.
He wanted to riot, to complain, to go back to what he was doing, but if he voiced his displeasure the game would end.
She didn’t make him stop, though. She leaned forward in her seat and used her leverage on his head to pull his mouth to hers.
Their kiss was sloppy and wet, her tongue lapping into his mouth.
Connor kept up the attention on her legs, slipping his fingers under the hem of her shorts.
When she tried to slap his hand away, he grabbed hers and placed it on his chest, wanting to show her how wild she drove him.
He dragged her hand down his body until she cupped his erection.
She squeezed him through his jeans, and he let her play, but kept one hand over hers, terrified of a repeat performance of their last make out session.
He needn’t have worried, because Lover’s voice rang out through the dark room, closer than Connor had realized he’d gotten.
“Guys, I found the light.”
Hazy, still far away, said, “Turn the fucking thing on then!”
Connor sprang to his feet, distancing himself from Daisy as fast as he could, unwilling to give up their game.
Lover rattled a few items. “I am!”
Lover was giving him a warning. Fuck. He hadn’t been sneaky enough.
“Do you need help, or?” he gave Lover the green light.
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a bright light illuminated the space. Connor’s hands flew to cover his eyes. “Jesus Christ, that’s bright.”
When he opened his eyes, Daisy was straightening her clothes and hair, staring at him with crimson cheeks and swollen lips. A sense of pride filled his chest, and he smirked at her.
With the lights on, they easily escaped the room. A quick search revealed numbers on the bottom of a few objects, which unlocked a safe containing a puzzle box that, once solved, gave them the key to get out.
“That seemed too easy,” Lover said when they unlocked the door.