It may not have been noticeable to the entire crowd that Bexley U had it out for Gray Loretto, but it was absolutely obvious to me. The black-and-white jerseys were scheming with quick looks and flicks of their steely chins. The vicious skating toward Rosewood’s best center was subtle, but if Gray tried to pass the puck to someone and make a goal, a Wolf was right there to swoop in and steal it while making sure to shoulder-check him on their way past.
The first cross-check that Aasher landed on Gray sent him to the sin bin. Gray shook his head but kept his cool and didn’t react, which was very unlike him. The second cross-check made him irate, though, because the ref let it go. Aasher grinned like a kid in a candy shop, and I stood silently beside Sutton and bit my fingernails.
“He has it out for Gray,” Sutton said, clearly pleased by the way her dimple stuck out.
“They all do.” Taytum laughed. “What did that boy do to you?”
I nibbled on my bottom lip. The heat from Aasher draping his jersey on my body had long died out as I stood completely still and watched him provoke my ex like it was more important to him than winning the game.
I shifted my attention to my dad, and surprisingly, he wasn’t losing his shit. His face wasn’t red, and the tiny vein on his temple wasn’t protruding like it usually was during games. In fact, he looked pleased? Smug, even. He’d definitely get shit from my mom later—I was positive of that.
“Aasher!” I shouted, knowing he’d hear me from above. “Get your head in the game!”
I had already put Gray in his place. Aasher was wanting to right a wrong for me, but he didn’t need to ruin his reputation to do so.
However, it was a little bit of a turn-on.
“My head is in the game,” he shouted back, keeping his glare on my ex.
Aasher’s stick slapped against the ice. He said something to Gray before flicking his lively green eyes to mine. I choked at the sight of his hot smirk, but when Gray threw his stick to the ground, my hand flew to my mouth.
“Oh shit.” Taytum looked at me, but I didn’t have the ability to look back at her because I was too busy silently losing it over the fact that Gray’s helmet was off, showing his sweaty head full of blond hair.
Don’t do it, Aasher.
My dad was going to kill him. He hadn’t mentioned a single thing to me about Aasher, but after this, he’d know that our friendship went far beyond the normal scopes.
Aasher’s mouth moved, and time stopped. “She’s mine, Gray.”
His back was to my dad, which meant I could read his lips perfectly.
Gray leaped forward like a lion, and the next thing I saw was Aasher’s bloody smile as they hauled Gray to the sin bin.
“Well, that was interesting,” Sutton whispered from beside me. “I think you have some explaining to do.”
I shushed her and spent the next half of the game sweating in the stands, praying that my dad didn’t kill Aasher.
My hands were shaky as I stacked my poker chips together, waiting for Aasher to walk through his apartment door. The girls and I left the game the moment the buzzer sounded in an attempt to avoid Rosewood’s student section. Mya had texted me a few times, but I didn’t respond because I wasn’t sure how to answer her questions about Aasher.
We weren’t together.
But we weren’t apart either.
And what if Gray stuck around to confront Aasher? I wouldn’t be surprised. Gray didn’t like to be embarrassed, and not only did Bexley U win the game, but Gray lost his cool on the ice.
“What’s got you so quiet, Duster?” Ford pretended to act concerned, but I think everyone at the table was dying for information. “Worried about Aasher?”
I shifted in my seat.
“Why would I be worried?” I asked, knowing that it was complete and utter bullshit. I was wearing his freaking jersey.
Emory snorted under his breath, but no one answered. Instead, Ford hummed the Jeopardy song.
“Where is he?” I finally asked, slamming my poker chips onto the table.
Berkley sat down beside Sutton and put his arm around the back of her chair. “Coach called him into the office as we were leavin’. Said he’d be home in a few.”
Oh god.
“I wonder what they could be talking about?” Ford asked in a singsong voice before kicking me under the table. I kicked him back, but he didn’t even flinch.
Taytum, who refused to follow her brother’s commands of her not coming over to play poker, mumbled, “He’s probably wondering why he was in the sin bin so many times.”
I started to sweat the more they talked. Words were ping-ponging across the kitchen table, but the only thing I thought about was what the hell my dad was talking to Aasher about and why it was taking him so long to show up.
What if he went back to avoiding me?
“I’ve gotta pee,” I announced, standing up abruptly and leaving the conversation. I needed to get my thoughts straight and simmer my nerves. I sucked in a deep breath and pulled out my phone, wondering if I should have texted Aasher. There were multiple texts from Mya and one from my mom, gently probing on the drama that occurred with me sitting with my old friends. I quickly texted her back and told her I’d chat with her tomorrow over lunch.
I clicked my phone off and stared at myself in the mirror.
My blue eyes were bright with life when I thought about Aasher’s hand splayed on my back as he pulled me in close and told me I was his, but they dulled a second later with questions that were unanswered. Our interactions were fickle at best. There was undeniable chemistry between us, but my guard was up. Rightfully so. I pushed loose strands of hair away from my cheeks and breathed in and out, fogging up the glass.
It was dangerous to be trapped in my head with thoughts of Aasher. Before our bet, I was ready to take him down, along with the team. I wanted to bring them all to their knees, Gray included. But now, I was afraid that he was tied up to the bench in the locker room with my dad breathing down his neck because he found out that one of his most trusted hockey players was finger-fucking his daughter instead of keeping her away from the hockey team.
Shit.
I cared about Aasher.
I cared about his future.
And surprisingly, I cared about the hockey team’s season, and it wasn’t only because my dad was the head coach.
My fingers dug into the sides of the sink as I dropped my head. The poker game was about to start. The dealing of cards was beginning, and I knew I needed to get back out there. As soon as I spun around, I flung backward with a gasp. The porcelain cut into my lower back, and my hand flew to my chest.
“Hiding?” Aasher shut the door with his foot and dropped his bag down to the floor before advancing in my direction.
“Wh–what if I was actually using the restroom?” I stuttered, pressing myself farther onto the sink.
He smirked, flipping his hat backward. Does he know how hot he is when he does that? “I knew you weren’t.”
“I’m surprised you showed up,” I said, shifting my attention away from his dangerous smile. I traced the letters of the words Bexley University in the center of his shirt to distract myself.
He took another step toward me, but it was more like a prowl. Dark lashes outlined his glittering eyes, and instead of seeing the familiar battle between right and wrong that always followed his slip in restraint, I saw something that made my stomach knot. “I live here. Of course I’d show up.”
“Why are you late?” I teetered around my real question: What the hell did my dad say?
“Your dad pulled me into his office.”
I waited for him to tell me more. Aasher’s hands found my waist, and he dropped his eyes to my mouth, which did nothing but tighten the knot in my belly.
“Not going to ask why?”
“I’m afraid to know the answer,” I whispered, tilting my head back to get a better look at his face. Damp ringlets of his hair stuck out beneath his hat, and the smell of his shampoo made me feel tipsy.
“Are you?” he prodded.
“Well,” my voice croaked, but it wasn’t out of fear. I was feeling something much more potent than fear. “I guess not anymore since you’re standing here with your hands around my waist with that look in your eye.”
“What look is that?” Our mouths were getting closer and closer, and this time, instead of Aasher acting like he was out of control and unable to stop himself from touching me, he acted like he was in charge. This moment seemed premeditated.
“Like you’ve been thinking about what you want to do to me since leaving me in the hallway after stripping another guy’s jersey from my body.”
Aasher dragged his hand up my side, brushing over the curve of my heavy breast before cupping the side of my face. “You know me better than I thought.”
My mouth opened willingly when his lips fell to mine. Chills blanketed every inch of my skin at the slip of his tongue, and suddenly, I forgot all about his aggression on the ice when it came to Gray. I didn’t really care to know what my dad said to him either.
When he pulled away, I blinked several times, trying to right the room. I was left breathless.
“I meant what I said earlier, Riley. You’re mine, and I’m going to prove it to you.”
My voice was hardly above a whisper. “And here I thought you were proving it to me by putting Gray in his place.”
He smirked. “That was just an added bonus.”
“But—” I swallowed his minty taste. “What about my dad? What did he say to you? Does he…know?”
Aasher threw his head back and barked out a laugh. I peeled my fingers away from the sink and crossed my arms at his laughter. I wasn’t sure what was so funny.
“Does he know that I couldn’t stop thinking about his daughter wearing nothing but my jersey as I made her scream my name during that entire game? No. Otherwise I’d be thrown off the team and likely be in a six-foot-deep hole.”
I rolled my eyes. “That is not true.” Is it? I’d been burned by two hockey players, and any normal father would be leery of their daughter dating another. Roy Lennon took “normal” to an entirely different level. His protectiveness was downright lethal at this point.
“Wanna bet?” he asked, peeling my crossed arms away from my chest and wrapping them around his torso. “You’re O and 1.”
My lips twitched. “Okay, I’ll tell him. It’ll soften the blow.”
Aasher’s head snapped so quickly I heard the crack in his neck. “And what will you tell him? That in the midst of me keeping you away from the rest of the team, I decided to just keep you for myself? That I decided to spread you wide on the ice and watch you come all over my fingers? Or maybe we should start with what we did in the sin bin?”
I went to move my arms, but his hands landed on my forearms, and he kept me there.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Then what? You’re going to go back to avoiding me after you’ve gotten your fill?”
Aasher’s eyes hardened. “I’ll never get my fill of you, Riley.”
That shut me up.
He cupped my face, and I was flush against his body. “We have to be smart about this.”
“This?”
A hot gasp rushed from my tight lungs when Aasher spun me around and pressed himself against my backside. I caught his stare in the mirror and gulped. “Yes, this.”
His hand curved around my neck and traveled down to his last name settled between my shoulder blades. I shook with every faint touch of his finger tracing the letters. “We will keep it under wraps until the end of the season. I broke a promise to your dad, and he won’t take that lightly. Trust me.” Aasher lowered his voice. “I have to think about my future, and whether you want to admit this or not, your dad can crumble it with his fingers if he wanted to.”
He wouldn’t do that.
“And then what?” I let my head fall back. Aasher’s lips brushed the side of my neck.
Why am I so needy when it comes to him?
My blood sang when he touched me.
Just like when I stepped foot on the ice—something that he helped me find again.
“Well, when he isn’t my coach anymore, he has nothing to hold over me. As soon as the season is over and I sign with the Boston Hops, I’ll make sure everyone knows you’re mine. I respect your dad but not enough to keep me from having you.”
I felt faint from his words, and there wasn’t a single guy I’d ever been okay giving full control to, but with Aasher, I craved it. So I egged him on by biting down on my lip and staring at him through the mirror. “Do I get any say in this?” I don’t want any say. “What if I don’t want to be yours?”
Aasher’s teeth sunk into my neck, and I dragged in a breath. He slipped his hand into the front of my jeans, and everything burned bright. He blew cool air against the mark he left behind, and I stopped breathing when he slipped his finger inside of me. “You do.”
I whimpered with desperation when he pulled his finger out and stepped away from me. I was dizzy from how fast I spun around to glare at him. The smile on his face only distracted me for a second.
“See?” He held his wet finger up in between us and stuck it into his mouth, licking my arousal off his skin. I swallowed and gripped the sink again, hoping it would hold me up. He was so goddamn hot, and I truly didn’t care that he wanted to keep me a secret. I understood it in a way that not many would. The NHL to him was what figure skating was to me. He wasn’t one without the other, and I wouldn’t stand in his way of getting that. Just like I wouldn’t allow my dad to either. Now that I knew what happened to him before attending Bexley U, I understood why he was hesitant. His future was taken from him before, and what was to say that it wouldn’t be again? I could look him in the eye and say it until I was blue in the face, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t my father, and I didn’t have any power over his decisions.
The knock on the bathroom door startled me. I knocked the soap off the sink at the sound of Sutton’s voice. “Riley? Are you okay? You’ve been in there for a long time.”
Aasher put his finger up to his mouth and shook his head. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m coming.”
I went to walk past Aasher, and he grabbed me by the arm. “You most definitely will be coming later.”
I half-smiled with a roll of my eyes.
“Wait for my text. When it’s safe, I expect you to sneak your pretty little self back into my room.”
“I thought you said I was going to the sin bin,” I joked, remembering his threat from earlier.
Before I walked through the door, he whispered something that made me pause. “Oh, baby. You are in the sin bin.”
