by Linz Lenay
The wrap-around porch I had Karter and a few other guys on the team come help me work on over the off season. We were able to get everything done in around six weeks, stain and all. My sister has come out after each project and helped me decorate, which is why my porch swing has the fluffiest yet masculine cushions I've ever seen, and my back porch is completely ready to host a party, with soft cushioned couches and lounge chairs surrounding a fireplace.
I keep anxiously checking my watch and phone to see if it's time for Dasia to be here yet. She planned on working for a bit this morning to give me time to go to practice and get a bit of sleep, not wanting to disturb me. I called her on my way back home and she tried to back out of coming, saying that she thought we might be moving too fast, only just having met a day and a half ago. I told her that if she truly wanted to stay home, I would understand, I don't want to push too hard and scare her off. I know things are moving fast, and if I'm being honest, it does scare the shit out of me. I haven't had a serious relationship since Baily, and that didn't end well. Dasia has this energy about her that just seems addictive and makes me want to jump in with both feet, damn the consequences. I want to see where this goes, I'm excited even, as long as she's in too.
I hear a car coming down the street, and I'm hoping it's her. I'm nervous, but exhilarated. She may have seen me play last night, but tonight she's actually going for me, not because it's part of her job. I don't think I've ever met a girl that was genuinely into hockey either. My Grandmother told me after my breakup with Baily that she knew the girl wasn't for me, because she couldn't even fake interest in the sport, and I needed a girl who could talk hockey.
The car slows down in front of my house and pulls in beside my truck. I'm up on me feet, startling Sweetie awake, and down the steps to Dasia before she can open her door.
“Wow! Hello to you, too.” She laughs as I open her car door for her.
“Sorry, I've been nervous that you'd change your mind and not tell me until after the game tonight or something. I had a hard time getting to sleep, wondering if I was being too much for you. And now I sound like an overthinking paranoid girlfriend. This isn't how I normally act. I'm more controlled than this.”
After getting out of the car she reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss me gently, before I make more of a jackass out of myself.
“I wouldn't do that to you. If I wasn't coming, I would have told you while we were on the phone earlier when I was trying to talk myself out of it. I still want to take things slow, but this will be fine. We're both adults, we both feel this connection and I'm terrified to explore it, but at the same time I owe it to myself to see where we can take this relationship.”
I lean down to kiss her softly, before helping her with her bag and Monster. Sweetie is shy at first, trying to hide behind me, but Monster's forward personality eventually wins her over and they're soon playing in the front yard together. I give Dasia a quick tour of my home, putting her bag in the spare room and giving her the choice of where she wants to sleep. I show her the work I've done to the house, along with converting the attic into the master bedroom, so I could have extra bedrooms on the second floor. She seems impressed with all of it, especially when she notices the photos I have hung along the stairs. They're all before and after photos of the projects I've done to the house. It was actually Karter's idea to do it when we started remodeling. He thought it would be cool to have them around the house, plus they'd be handy if I ever decided to sell the house. He's always said if he didn't have hockey, he wanted to be a craftsman or architect. He loves working on homes in the off season, and even partnered up with his brother to start their own business a few years ago. Unfortunately he doesn't have the time to work on things during hockey season, but his brother understands and works around his schedule.
“So when do you have to be back to the arena, I imagine an hour before doors open, so around five?” Dasia asks me as we lead the dogs into the fenced in backyard.
“Yeah, so I have about half an hour more before I start getting ready. It's about 15 minutes to the arena from here. You can ride with me, and I picked up a family pass so you can hang out in the lounge and go up to the WAGs box if you want, but I also have a ticket that's similar to your seats at home, next to the home penalty box on the glass.”
“Oh, Gaige. You didn't have to do that, but I appreciate it. I'll probably sit in the stands, and meet you in the lounge after the game. I don't think it's a good idea for me to be in the WAGs box yet.”
I nod in understanding. It might be odd to have her in the box, without any of the others knowing her. Not that any of the significant others would treat her badly, I don't think, but they may not be as welcoming if they're caught off guard or think she's a bunny.
We sit there for a bit, chatting about nothing and everything until it's time to head out.
During our warm up skate, I hear the team talking about Dee, some good, some bad. I make it clear to them that if it's going to cause issues on the ice for me to date her, I can bring it up to the coach to have them riding pine, give the minor league some showtime, because there's no room for outside negativity being brought to the ice. They stopped talking then. When we were in the locker room, Coach gave his normal speech of keeping our heads in the game, I spoke up and reminded everyone to leave their personal shit at the glass and focus on the ice. This thing with Dasia might be new, but I'm not taking the chance of these guys fucking up not only my budding relationship, but possibly our season over who's dating who.
Our first period goes well, we score three, the Centaurs score one. There's no penalties thankfully, though both teams seems to be itching for a fight. It's not until the beginning of the second period when their newest player, Gary Crosy, the one player I've been trying to avoid this whole game, is switched out to face off against me. He was on the third line, but they've switched up the lines since they're behind.
I keep my eyes focused, not giving him the time of day, not letting him get in my head. The ref drops the puck and I'm quicker, passing the puck between my legs to Kaiser who heads down toward the Centaurs goalie, weaving in and out of the D-men. I skate after him, to help defend the puck, and Crosy is on my six. When I stop to the left of the net, he doesn't, knocking into me which forces me to lose my balance and go down. I try to get back up, but he's holding me down with his stick on my back, and I call out to the ref to do something.
The ref ignores me, but Kaiser has passed the puck to Jaq who makes it sail over the netminder's top shelf. The lamp lights, and Karter skates toward Crosy, who still hasn't let me up, making the fans angry at the refs as well. Karter pushes him off me, and goes to help me up, when he gives easily to the force. Crosy mutters something, but I ignore him, skating to celebrate with my line, before heading to the bench. Crosy doesn't let up though. Every chance he gets on the ice with me, he's cross checking, holding, or hooking me. The refs look past it until Coach starts yelling at them to open their fucking eyes. I keep ignoring him as best I can, knowing that if I start arguing with them, that I'll be the one in the sin bin, not the asshole.
By the third period the score is five to two, and Crosy is still on my ass as much as he can be. I ask the coach if he thinks we should switch the lineup on them, putting me on third line, but he brushes it off saying he needs me where I'm at. I know we've got this game, being up three, but I relent and keep ignoring the prick who's antagonizing me, trying to get me to retaliate. I've been good at keeping my head in the game, leaving my shit at the glass, but I know if I run into him outside of the rink, all bets are off.
There are two minutes left in the game, and Crosy has decided that his silent poking of the bear hasn't been enough. He decides that opening his mouth will get a bigger rise out of me, and he's right, I'm boiling underneath, but don't let him know it.
“I hear you're fucking the Basilisks' chick. I bet I can get her to ride my dick, too. Maybe she'll even scream my name while she's fucking you.”
It's the last straw for
me, but instead of hauling off and hitting him, I skate to the bench and send in Vadik Aleksandrov, also known as Lex, to relieve me. Coach gives me a look like he doesn't approve and I give him a look telling him to trust me and I'll explain later.
We win the game, and as I'm skating off helmet in hand, I see my girl waiting outside the locker room doors. I'm surprised, and she looks anxious, but I sweep her up in my arms and kiss her hard, but closed mouth. Letting up for air I rest my sweaty forehead against hers, hoping she doesn't pull back.
“I needed that. I'll be right back out and I'll meet you in the family lounge after interviews are done.”
“After the last five minutes of play, I figured you'd need something. I just wasn't sure if I was making the right decision once I was down here.”
“I will always need you after a game, win or lose.”
“Dude, not that I don't appreciate the ice time, but what happened with Crosy? You had just gotten back on the ice, I saw he said something to you, the next thing I know you're sending me in.” Lex inquires as we get dressed.
“My thermometer broke, and instead of killing him like I wanted, I decided to be the bigger person and just skate off. We had the game clinched, so it wasn't a loss for me, and it keeps me out of an orange jumper and able to keep my job.”
“What did he say?” Karter jumps in this time.
“He insinuated that he could get Dee to fuck him and that he'd be so memorable, she'd scream his name while riding my dick the following time.” I say with a scowl.
“I know someone who can hide a body.” Drew chimes in.
“Pretty sure I can handle that part, but I would have killed him publicly, so it wouldn't have helped.” My cousin has connections, and I know if I was ever in a position like that, not that I would ever take advantage, Walton would help me in a pinch.
Karter chuckles, knowing what I'm thinking, but doesn't say anything as he finishes buttoning his shirt cuffs. He's met my tech genius of a cousin who has the true connections and not just the know-someone-who-knows-someone.
Nothing more is said about the incident, until it comes up in an interview.
“Gaige, we know you have a history with Gary Crosy, and noticed he was very persistent in annoying you tonight. We also noticed that when there were only a few minutes left, he said something to you and you switched out after just getting on the ice. Can you enlighten us on what happened?”
Now what I want to say and what the PR angel on my shoulder encourages me to say are two completely different things. I want to tell them that he's a cockroach that no matter how many times you cut his head off, he keeps coming back. I want to say that he's a bastard who betrays someone he calls family. But what I decided to say keeps me from being a healthy scratch.
“Gary Crosy is good at chirping, but I kept my focus on the game and we came out on top. My ankle didn't feel right in my skates and instead of possibly injuring myself when we didn't need it, I switched out. It was a quick decision and Aleksandrov knows what he's doing. I'd rather not take the chance my ankle was something serious and end up in PT this early in the season.”
There, that was PR appropriate and will make Ally happy. Speaking of Cat, she's behind the reporters giving me a thumbs up and a smirk. She knows I wanted to unleash hell on Crosy, media wise just as much as physically, but is proud that I didn't. I end the interviews and start to head toward the family lounge, Ally catching up beside me. Her cat eye glasses frame her lime green eyes and hide the laugh lines of her face. Her blonde bob sways as she catches up to me quickly, her Greek height giving her an advantage. She's only 39, but talks as though she's an old crow.
“You did great, Cap. I knew I could trust you not to blow your top if Crosy was brought up. Though I've heard he wasn't as cordial. I haven't seen the interviews yet, but he was asked a similar question, and I over heard his coach reaming him a new asshole outside of their press room. I'll keep you updated so we can be prepared for any backlash and laugh at his lack of professionalism. Now, tell me more about this girl you're seeing and why this is the first I'm hearing of it. You know the rules. If it's serious, you tell me so I can vet the vultures. I had to hear it from one of the girls downstairs who got your family pass for you.”
I give a short laugh as we get to the door of the family lounge, opening it and gesturing for her to go before me.
“How about I introduce you to her and we go have a late dinner together so you can get to know her yourself.”
This isn't unusual, but what is out of the ordinary, is that I'm the one suggesting it. Normally, Ally would be the one to mention it first to whichever guy is bringing a new girl around. She looks at me a little stunned that she didn't bring it up first, and nods with a grin so wide I think her ears are being pushed back.
We make our way over to Dasia, who's chatting with Monica, Kristof's fiance', and Chelle Hayes, one of the D-men's wives. I kiss Dee on the forehead before making introductions to Ally and letting Dasia know about our dinner plans. She readily agrees with a smile, and my heart skips knowing she gets it.
Chapter Five
Dasia...
Dinner with Ally is fun and I love that we can connect because we essentially have the same job. She doesn't judge me working for another team, and instead we laugh about issues we've had to deal with, without giving away names. It's easy and I feel like I have a new friend. Gaige comments here and there, but mostly sits back to watch our interaction with a smile on his face. He's taken off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves, allowing me to see his tattoos better, which distracts me every once in a while during conversation. I can see the tattoos on his right arm and hands much better in this lighting. He has what looks like a crest on the hand, and there are words scattered up his arm tastefully. On the left there's script on the inside trailing up the arm, just above his “Puck It” puck. On his left hand is an iris in golds and blacks.
He catches me looking each time and flexes to tease me, smiling brighter each time it happens. I know we've just met, but the pull I have for him is undeniable. I want to take things slow, work our way through our relationship without just falling into bed first. I know when we get there it will be explosive, but I want what we have to go beyond sex. I want a best friend in my partner, not just someone that's going to turn me into a bunny.
When dinner is over and we've finished an extra set of drinks, Gaige and I say our goodbyes to Ally. She and I make plans to get together soon, for a girls day or drinks, including both Storm and her friend Eleni.
Back at Gaige's place we decide to keep bundled up and take the dogs for a walk. We get to know each other a little more along the way, exchanging questions back and forth.
“What's the crest on your hand?” I ask him.
“Family crest on my mom's side. My dad is of German decent, my mother, Scottish. In the light, you can see the red in my beard and hair, even more in the summer since I spend a lot of time outside. How about you? Do you have any other tattoos besides your sticks?”
“I do. I have a feather with two hearts, one for each of the grandparents I lost, on my shoulder blade. I also have Monster's paw print on my right ankle. I've thought about more, but I figure I should be absolutely sure about them before getting them, since they're permanent.” I end with a laugh.
“Yeah they are.” He chuckles. “I remember my first tattoo and thinking about how I could just cover it if I didn't like it, which I ended up doing since it was a bet I lost. I've learned that's never a good reason to get a tattoo. It was this yin yang peace symbol mix and Gary picked the placement, so it went on my left peck. Now I have dragon wings covering it. When I made captain, I put twin griffins on my shoulders, too.”
“I'm not sure a basilisk is in my future just yet.” I laugh “I have a few other ideas that I've found I like, but I don't know the placement yet. I don't want to look completely unprofessional and just place random tattoos on my body. I'd look awful weird with an octopus on my hand during a meeting. Though I th
ought it would look good crawling over my shoulder.”
“And now I'm hard, because I'm imagining you in a bikini with octopus ink, because it reminds me of the night we met.”
I whimper, but try to cover it up. I'm unsuccessful, since he whips his head toward me with heat fully in his eyes.
“I think we should head back to the house.” He says.
I nod and we turn back down the street to head to his home. We are both walking a little faster, even though the dogs are still leading the race.
After we unleash the dogs at home and take our coats and shoes off, they go make themselves comfortable in Gaige's bedroom. He pulls me to the couch and asks if I want a glass of wine or water, I feel parched, but not for liquid. I shake my head no at him, letting my passion simmer below the surface. I want him, all of him, but my head and a little bit of my heart are saying to slow down. We don't have to go all the way, but I can't help but tug his hand and lean back on the couch, long ways. My hands move to his back and up into his hair, pulling gently but forcefully as I crash my lips to his. He fits perfectly between my legs, where I can feel all of him through his dress pants, especially when I grind my hips into his.
He moans and grinds back, pulling a whimper from me. I've made out with guys before, but they've never made me feel like I was going to combust just from a little over the clothes friction. He doesn't try to take my clothing off, nor do I try to take off his. He lets me lead us, even though he's on top, and eventually I flip him over, straddling him and grinding down to get a better angle. The denim pushing into my clit is rough but heavenly, so I move faster, making our breathing heavier until we're both panting.
I break away from his lips in a scream of his name as I let go and fall over the edge. I'm barely coming down when he stills, pulling me harder against him and growls my name. I lay my head down in the crook of his neck, both of our breathing still heavy, but evening out in our bliss. When we calm down, he kisses my forehead and grabs me up to carry me into the laundry room behind the kitchen. There's a big tub sink with a cabinet above it, set up beside the dryer where he puts me down. He then takes off his shirt and dress pants, lying them on a rack beside the sink, before taking his boxer briefs off and tossing them in the washer. He then unbuttons my jeans and tugs them down my legs to toss them in after his boxers, finding me without panties. His nostrils flare and he braces himself against the dryer, eyes not moving from where I'm bare. Once he gains control again, he opens the cabinet taking a washcloth out and turning on the water to wet it. He pulls me to the edge of the dryer and cleans me up gently, as I watch his dick twitch every time he makes a passing swipe. I can't help myself from staring, and it takes everything in me not to reach out and help relieve his ache. When he's done taking care of me, he tosses the cloth in the sink,I whisper a thank you
