Shameless King

by Maya Hughes

  And then Emmett was up the other set of steps and out. I shook my head. When the hell were those two ever going to just hash it out? Fight. Fuck and forgive. Probably never, but this wasn’t the time to get wrapped up in their drama.

  Digging extra deep and with Heath on during the game like never before, we sailed to three goals in the first period. I scored two of them. Sitting on the bench, I sprayed the cold water into my mouth. A wave of satisfaction rolled over me as Archer got up from his seat and left with his hands shoved deep down in his pockets. Hell yeah! Someone held out a stick for him to sign, and he pushed them out of the way like the asshole he was. I could feel Mak’s eyes on me as I traded onto the bench and back out on the ice.

  Gulping down some water, my gaze darted up to her before they were right back to the guys giving it everything they had out there. The action was fast, and our skates were faster. Sweat poured off me, and I glanced up from the bench, watching her nibble on her lips. While Heath and I were on the bench, the other team managed to score two goals in the second period, nearly equalizing. It was time for us to head back in and make sure they knew winning was not an option for them. It was time for me to win this game once and for all for my girl.

  25

  Makenna

  The crowd buzzed with an electricity I’d never experienced before. Everyone held their breath, got out of their seats, and cheered until their voices were hoarse all at the same time. It was like being a part of one giant genetic organism that grew with each goal. It amazed me how quiet so much of the play was.

  The puck was so small and it flew so fast, sometimes it seemed like people didn’t even know a goal had been scored until the buzzer and the lights went off. Then everyone was on their feet. My ears rang as the final buzzer blared in the stadium.

  “That’s quite a set of lungs you have there, young lady.” One of the older guys who’d been sitting behind me clapped me on the shoulder as everyone filed out of their seats. I may have gotten a little carried away with the whistling.

  “Thanks.” I gave them a small smile.

  “Declan’s lucky to have someone like you in his corner cheering so hard for him,” he said, disappearing into the rushing crowd. His words bounced around my head as I moved with the flow of people down the few concrete steps. Walking around to where the team would exit the ice, there were a lot of people crowded around the door on the side of the rink leading to the tunnel. The guys celebrated on the ice, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

  He’d worked hard to make sure he could be there for his team. The second I’d found out he was back on the team, I was elated for him. For some reason, I’d thought it wouldn’t matter much to me. But I knew how much it meant to him, so it mattered a hell of a lot to me.

  He flew across the ice, and it was like nothing I’d experienced before. I was equal parts raving lunatic, busting out my two-finger whistle, and cringing weenie who held her breath every time he ended up slammed against the boards. It wasn’t too often because he was fast and Heath was by his side, helping him out when he needed it, but it was enough to make me worry about a full-on panic attack in the stadium.

  They piled out of a small door at the side of the rink, and it was so weird to see them off the ice. On the ice they were all precision and power, but watching them lumber around still on their skates, hauling those sticks and hockey pads, had me laughing. It was like seeing a fish out of water.

  People crushed in, trying to get autographs and pictures with the guys still in their uniforms. Hanging back, I let the team pass. Declan scanned the crowd when he stomped through the door. Our eyes met, and I gave him a small wave.

  “I’ll meet you outside.” I cupped my hand around my mouth, hoping he could hear me over the noise. Pointing behind me, I smiled and turned, happy to wait to congratulate him.

  I hadn’t made it more than three steps when I was lifted up off the ground and spun around. My hair whipped around into my eyes, and I was face-to-face with a sweaty, smiling, and unreasonably sexy Declan.

  “Hey, Books.” The overpowering smell of sweat and his hockey gear hit me, but on him it wasn’t terrible. It was a display of his raw power and talent.

  “Hey, I was going to meet you outside.” He set me down, so I was standing on the toes of his skates. I glanced down at the ground and back up at him.

  “I know, but I wanted to see you in here. You came.” His eyes searched my face like he thought I might disappear at any moment.

  “I told you I would.”

  “You even broke out the whistle.”

  My cheeks flamed, and I dropped my gaze. “You heard that, huh?”

  “I think everyone did. Quite impressive. And Mak, one more thing—”

  I gazed into his eyes, and his lips came crashing down on mine. The salty taste of his sweat mingled with the mints I’d been stress eating throughout the whole game. It was a heady mixture, and he rested his forehead against mine when we both came up for breath.

  “Wait right here. I’ll hurry up and get changed.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but he ran his fingers along my back and a shudder raced through me. Not trusting my voice, I nodded. He smiled back at me like I’d handed him a championship trophy. Helping me step down from his skates, he grabbed his gear and took off down the tunnel to the locker room.

  Sitting in the front row of stadium seats near where the team came off the ice, I grabbed my phone and sent a text.

  Me: He left right after he saw you.

  Avery: I figured, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

  Me: Why not?

  Avery: It’s a long story. But I thought it was best to stay away.

  Me: You guys broke up four years ago. Why don’t you tell him the truth?

  Avery: Let’s not go there.

  Me: Do you really think you coming with me to the game and watching Declan would cause problems?

  Avery: Yes.

  Me: I barely got to see you. Maybe you could come back again soon.

  Avery: Maybe, if I can get time off.

  Me: Hopefully you’ll have tons of it once you get accepted into college.

  Avery: Maybe…

  My alert pinged, letting me know there was less than eighteen hours until our final paper was due. I had no idea why Alcott had us turning it in so early, but it was fine by me. It meant I’d have more room to study for the finals for my pre-med courses.

  A small pit of sadness hit me in the stomach. The weekly study sessions with Declan were coming to an end. We still hadn’t had the talk about what it was we were doing together. He’d head off to the pros after graduation, and medical school didn’t exactly give tons of time outside school to have any type of life. He’d be traveling, and the spotlight he’d lived in since high school would be even bigger with even more attention on a professional team. And women. he had them fawning all over him now, what would it be like when he was in the pros?

  “Stop thinking so hard. You’re going to break something.”

  I jumped as his voice sliced through my heavy concentration.

  He strolled past my chair in a t-shirt and low-slung jeans, loaded with some of his gear, and sank into the folding stadium seat next to me. I breathed in the icy smell of the place now that it was almost empty. The Zamboni glided across the ice, smoothing it out for later.

  “Did you like the game?” He peered over at me, his dark green eyes shining with equal parts exhaustion and elation, like he was the happiest guy in the world. It was a lazy contentment brought on after serious exertion, and it made me slam my thighs together against the growing throb between then. It was the same look he gave me every night we passed out wrapped up in each other.

  My heart squeezed, and my fingers ached to touch him, but I held myself back.

  “Did you drive?” He trailed his finger down my arm, dragging it along my sweater. The hairs on the back of my neck rose.

  “Yeah, I didn’t want to walk back to my apartment at night, and I knew th
e campus transport would be packed with people going out for the night.” My voice came out huskier and hungrier than I meant it to.

  “You’re not driving back. You’re coming to my place.” Not a question. A statement. Practically a foregone conclusion by the sound of his voice.

  My gaze snapped up to his, and he had a lazy, cocksure smile on his face. A few months ago I’d have wanted to hit him, but now I wanted to crawl into his lap and nibble on his lip until he flipped me around and pressed me up against the Plexiglas surrounding the rink and took me from behind. A tremble shuddered through me, and my nipples pebbled. Resisting the urge to slide my hands between my thighs to alleviate the ache, I bit my lip.

  “Now you’re definitely coming home with me. You can’t look at me like that and bite your lip like you do when I’ve got my fingers inside you and think you’re getting away from me. Not until I wring at least three orgasms out of you.” He growled and buried his head in my neck, snaking a hand under my sweater as I glanced around, making sure no one saw.

  I breathed in his clean soap smell as the goosebumps rose on my arms. Watching him out on the ice, skating with such ferocity and power, made me appreciate every bulging muscle and his incredible endurance even more. Breaking off his attack on my body, he peered up at me.

  “You’ll come back with me, right? Come to the party at my house.”

  The heady haze I slipped into whenever he touched me cleared a little.

  “A party?” Being surrounded by a huge crowd of people I didn’t know wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind for our evening. And then there was our final paper.

  “I still need to proofread our final and turn it in, and I have work tomorrow night.”

  “It’s not due until noon tomorrow. I’m sure you’ve already proofread it three times, and I know I did it twice. It’s perfect. Come to the party.”

  Running through the list in my head of why I couldn’t come died on my lips when he traced his thumb along the sensitive skin on the inside of my wrist.

  “I want to introduce you to the guys. Not as our server but as my girlfriend.”

  A light, bubbly feeling like the one time I had two glasses of champagne at an honors brunch at Stanford made a sharp laugh burst out of my mouth.

  Declan’s forehead creased, and he dropped my wrist from his hand, hurt shining in his eyes. I snatched his hand back and rested it in my lap, tracing the deep grooves in his palm and the calluses on his fingers.

  “I didn’t mean to laugh like a laugh laugh. It was a you-caught-me-off-guard laugh. Are you serious? Am I really your girlfriend?” I tilted my head up at him, halfway nervous it would be something I’d imagined in my head and it would be his turn to laugh.

  “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life, Books. Come to the party with me so I can show you off and then take you upstairs and do every dirty thing I’ve thought about doing since I saw you sitting up in the stands in this sweater. It’s practically obscene.” He ran his finger along the high scoop neck of my red cable-knit sweater. I glanced down at my completely covered body and quirked my eyebrow up at him.

  “Obscene?” I laughed. “I’m a nun in this thing.”

  “I know, but I also know everything you’re hiding under there. More than a handful of the most mouthwatering breasts that I could bite and suck on all night, and don’t get me started on what’s under those jeans. Why didn’t you just walk in here naked?”

  “You’re insane.” I pushed against his shoulder. He stood and lifted me out of my seat, pressing his muscled chest against my body.

  “I’m insane for you, Mak. Let’s go.” His warm breath fanned across my face. I glanced out at the ice behind him and nodded my head.

  “Okay, let’s go.” I grinned at him, ready to do a little damage, get a little drunk and have some toe-curling, walking-like-a-cowboy, dirty sex. “But promise me we go to bed early so I can give the paper one more read through before I submit it.”

  “You’re driving me crazy, Books!” He plucked my glasses from my face.

  “Hey!” I grabbed for them.

  He dipped his shoulder, and I looked down at the floor to see if he dropped something when his shoulder nudged into my stomach. I yelped as he lifted me off my feet, slung over his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around my legs, and his fingers dug into my ass, squeezed and the crack from his smack echoed in the rink. The sting was sharp and fast and sent a line zinging straight to my pussy.

  “Ow, what was that for?” I rubbed my ass and gave his a smack with my perfect vantage point hung over his back.

  “That was for looking at me like that. Don’t think I didn’t see your nipples get hard. Like they were ready to cut through glass. You think I don’t know how your mind works yet? Plus, we still have ten more positions and places to try on your list.”

  His hands kneaded my butt through my jeans, and I ran my fingers down his back. With my hair flopping in my face, my broad-shouldered boyfriend—holy shit, I had a boyfriend—carried me out to my car caveman style.

  I ran my hands over my hair again as we climbed the steps to Declan’s house. It was like a different place as people spilled out of it and music thumped its way down the street. I had to park almost five blocks away because everyone seemed to have the same idea about celebrating.

  His fingers interlaced with mine, and I peered up at him. The streetlights made his eyes sparkly, and the tension in my stomach eased a little.

  “It will be fine. I want to introduce you to the guys.”

  People streamed down the street. Some headed into Declan’s house while others headed to other parties along the street. It was a different world from our relatively quiet apartment complex on the far side of campus. People came up and high-fived him, shouted congratulations and seemed ready to burst with happiness over being in his presence. The entire time kept his fingers interlaced with mine.

  Some people glanced down, usually other women, and saw our hands intertwined. The looks they shot us made me laugh. I could see them trying to work it out in their heads. Good luck. Their guess was as good as mine on how I ended up as Declan McAvoy’s girlfriend.

  Stepping through his front door was like going from a freezer into a sauna. The house was jam-packed with people, and within seconds I was regretting my sweater. It was blazing in here. The second he stepped through the door, a huge cheer broke out from the crowd. People were all over him, but the more people crowded in, the tighter his hold got on me, like he didn’t want me to freak out and run away.

  I’d have thought I would feel that way too, but I watched him smile wide, soak in the accolades and I was proud of him. He introduced me to everyone who came up to him as his girlfriend, and again the surprised looks and a few catty glares from some of the women. I just shrugged my shoulders, as if to say, What can I do? He gets what he wants.

  A head popped up above the crowd back in the bathroom, and it was Heath standing on their kitchen table, staring up out the skylight in their kitchen.

  “He’s going to break the freaking table.” Declan shook his head and grabbed us both a beer.

  “What is he looking at?” I craned my neck to get a better look.

  Heath held out his hand, when someone nearly took a header off the table and helped them stand beside him.

  “I think she’s one of the TAs for my biochemistry course. I’m pretty sure she’s a bio master’s student.”

  “Figures.” Declan laughed into his beer and walked us around the party. Sweat trickled down my back, and I tugged at the front of my sweater, trying to cool myself off as I sipped my beer.

  “Guys, I want you to meet Makenna.” Declan held on to my shoulder and walked me down the line of his teammates standing beside the beer pong table set up in the back room. Preston came up and squeezed me so tightly I could barely breathe.

  “Thank you, Makenna. I would kiss you full on the lips for keeping him in line this semester, if I didn’t think Dec would try to knock my teeth down my thro
at. He’s already glaring.” I peered over at Declan, and he wore a not amused expression on his face, which transformed the second Preston let me go.

  “He’s exaggerating. I wouldn’t knock his teeth down his throat; that would be a choking hazard, and we don’t need our fearless leader being sent to the hospital. I’d be sure to knock them clean out his mouth. Safety first.” The guys burst out laughing.

  “What did I miss?” Heath popped his head into the room, his blond mop sticking up every which way.

  “Nothing. We were just offering Makenna and Dec next game.”

  “Ohh, can I play?” Heath chugged his beer and turned around, refilling all the cups on the table.

  “You up for it?” Declan tucked some of my hair behind my ear. The sweat gathered at the base of my neck. What I wouldn’t give for a hair tie so I could put my hair up. The one time I wear it down and I’m in the middle of an inferno. The warm fuzzies I’d gotten from my beer weren’t helping. “I’ll drink your beers for you,” he whispered in my ear. I nodded and he laid a hot, hard wet one on me. My eyelids fluttered as I steadied myself on him.

  “We’re first up.” Declan picked up the Ping-Pong ball and stood at the end of the table. Bending his elbow and cocking his wrist, he let go of the ball, and it sailed through the air, landing without a bounce in the cup in front of Heath.

  “And that is how it’s done.” He gloated as Heath downed the cup. Throughout the night people kept coming up to the guys and bringing them even more beers, wanting to toast to their victory. They’d been undefeated so far this season, and it looked like the trend from previous years was going to power through without a hitch.

  A buzz of energy flowed through the party, and it wasn’t only the booze. The team had too many people they made incredibly happy just by doing what they loved. That was a true gift, and I couldn’t even imagine what that was like. To make the people around you practically burst out into song by seeing your face.

  I slid my hand into Declan’s back pocket as he let go of the Ping-Pong ball, trying to win our game. It went way off course and bounced off Heaths’ forehead.