Once I’ve downed a protein shake, I head back up to my room and give Dani a kiss. She stirs under my touch. “Where are you going?” she mumbles into her pillow with her eyes closed as her fingers lace through mine.
“Hockey practice,” I remind her as I run my finger along the side of her face, tucking a stray lock of golden hair behind her ear so it doesn’t tickle her face. “Go back to sleep.”
“Mmmkay,” she murmurs.
I smile down at her and give her another kiss. “I’ll see you later, baby,” I whisper as she falls back asleep with her hand coming loose from mine.
“Kay” she grumbles again. I pull the blanket back up again and get up off the bed. “Mmm, love you,” she moans in her sleep as she burrows her face into the pillow.
What? Did she just say love you?
“Baby?” I whisper into the darkness, only to get no reply. Damn, she’s asleep. I could have sworn she said she loves me. I knew today was going to be a great fucking day. I leave her be and make my way out the door feeling pretty damn good about myself.
I get to the rink right on time and meet the boys in the locker room. “Look alive, boys,” I holler across the room to the bunch of boys who all look half asleep.
“Geez, what’s with the energy this morning?” Jaxon groans as he takes a seat to lace up his skates.
“You’d be like this too if you had the hottest chick on campus in your bed,” I smirk, making sure to nail him in the back of the head as I pass him.
I take my spot next to Tank and get to work on my training gear. “Seriously though,” Tank starts, “What's with the good mood?” he asks.
I grin over at him like a five year old boy. “Dani said she loves me this morning,” I explain.
“Shit, man. That’s what I’m talking about,” he grins as he claps me on the back.
“Well, she kind of said it” I cringe.
“Huh?” he grunts, looking at me in confusion.
I can’t help the grin on my face, knowing exactly how he’s going to react to this. “She was kind of asleep when she said it.”
“Fuck, man,” he booms in laughter, falling to the chair and holding his stomach. “That shit doesn’t count.”
“Fucking does,” I grumble.
“Maybe to you,” he scoffs at my expense. “But not to her.”
Fuck. I hate when he’s right. I slouch down into my chair and get started on my skates when Coach Harris walks in. “Alright ladies, on your feet,” he demands. We quickly finish up in the locker room and file out onto the ice.
We start with our usual morning warm-up routine of skating sprints and practice shots into the goal. Each and every one of us pulls it together and gives one hundred percent during training. By the end of our two hour training session, we practically fall back into the locker room, dripping with sweat.
“Good work, boys,” Coach praises as we start stripping off our sweaty gear. “Now, we’re two thirds of the way through the season and it’s getting close to crunch time. We’ve been spotting a few scouts at the games and I don’t need to remind you what that means for all of your futures,” he says as his gaze specifically lands on me and Tank. We both give him an understanding nod. “Good,” he murmurs with a slight grin which we all must thank Dani for as he apparently has continued dating Professor Whitaker after the auction and had seemed a shit load happier lately.
“Now, game night, tomorrow night. You’re up against the team from New York. Last year, these guys almost cleaned the ice with your asses. You guys had the speed and strength, but they possessed agility and footwork. So, keep your heads in the game, no doubt they’ll be playing dirty, so get in the attacking zone and get that damn biscuit in the basket.” We all nod our heads as he begins to wrap it up.
“Ok, get yourselves cleaned up. I expect you all to put in at least an hour of gym time today, preferably focussing on your speed and agility,” he orders before disappearing out the door.
We leave as one as the Zamboni finishes up on the ice and the figure fairies get started on their own session. Jaxon, Bobby, and Aaron all hang back to get the girls attention, hoping they might want to drop their panties for them the same way the Puck Bunnies do, but these figure fairies are not the kind of chicks you want to be messing with.
Tank and I keep walking, making our way out front. We get in our trucks after making plans on meeting at the gym at 5 pm. I get my ass back home to find Dani strutting around my place in a tight little tank and tiny sleep shorts. Did I mention she’s not wearing a bra?
I dump my gear at the front door and collapse on the closest couch. Dani makes her way over and straddles my lap. My hands instantly take possession of her waist as she bends down and places a kiss on my lips. “I missed waking up with you this morning.”
“I missed it, too,” I tell her, pulling her down harder against me. “But I got to say, I loved hearing your sleepy monolog as I was leaving though,” I grin.
“Oh shit,” she gasps, sitting up a little straighter and looking at me with wide eyes. “What did I say?” she asks, thinking hard, trying to remember what she might have slipped up with.
“Nothing, baby,” I say giving her a kiss and grabbing her ass. I stand and lift her with me. The movement has her legs wrapping around my waist as I walk us up the stairs to my bedroom. “But just so you know,” I tell her, looking right in her eyes so I have her full attention. “I love you, too.”
Her body tightens in my arms as she looks at me in shock. “You do?” she asks as her eyes grow watery.
“So fucking much,” I declare.
She leans forward and kisses me with everything she’s got. “You don’t know how amazing it is to hear that,” she says between kisses.
“I bet it feels a little something like when I heard you say it this morning,” I smirk.
“God, you’re such a smartass,” she laughs as I dump her on the edge of my bed and drop to my knees while I rip her shorts off her body.
She puts a foot up on my chest, halting my progression. I take hold of her foot and wait to hear what she needs from me. She pulls her foot from my grasp and sits up on the edge of the bed, placing me right between her thighs and at eye level. She looks at me nervously and bites her lip. I reach up and free her lip from her teeth. “What is it, baby?” I ask.
She looks deep into my eyes and scoots herself forward so she falls into my lap. I catch her effortlessly and look down at her. “I love you,” she tells me from the absolute bottom of her heart, the emotion loud and clear in her voice.
My chest aches for her as I desperately catch her lips in mine and hold her body against me. I raise us up off the floor and gently lay her on the bed. Taking the utmost care as I worship her body and make love to her. Knowing for the first time in my life that not only do I love this beautiful woman with everything I am, but she will be my wife, the mother of my children. The only woman that I will ever give myself to for the rest of my lifetime.
Chapter 17
Danielle
Sophie and I sit up in the grandstand watching as our men annihilate the team from New York. They’ve put in one of the best games of the season and I know there was a scout here somewhere who wanted to check out the ‘dream team’ in action. They’re down to the last few minutes of the game, Coach Harris is screaming from the barrier, red in the face. We already know we’ve won this one, but he wants them to finish it strong. Who would blame him?
Miller looks up at me and gives me the cheekiest grin and wink as he steals the puck from the New York forward with absolute ease, adding in a little fancy ass footwork before powering on with amazing speed as Tank and Bobby do an incredible job of keeping his line clear. I see him stare down the opposition’s goalie and shoot for everything he’s worth. The puck enters the goal and not two seconds later, the buzzer sounds, signalling the end of yet another amazing game. Leaving my boys once again, undefeated. Yeah, that’s right, my man is a BAMF, A Badass Mother Fucker!
We watch and cheer wit
h pride as the boys line up through the center of the ice, shaking the hands of the opposing team. They leave the ice proud men and disappear into the locker room. The spectators slowly clear out, leaving the diehard fans gathered around, waiting to congratulate the boys and find out where the party is going to be tonight.
I make my way down to the merchandise stand to find out how our sales are going. After adding the boy’s jerseys to the merchandise, I’m not surprised to find that they’ve been selling like hotcakes, especially the ones that say ‘Cain’ in big letters across the back. Though, I must admit, I might have bought one of those myself then surprised Miller in the bedroom when he got home the other night.
“How are you going, girls?” I ask when I finally make it through the crowd that’s trying to get to my boys.
“Yeah, good,” the little blonde freshman says. “We’ve been getting smashed. I think we’re going to need a third person to help us out.”
“Ok, sure. I’ll get it cleared with Coach Harris. I’m sure it will be fine,” I tell them as they hastily continue making sales. I check the stock and get busy helping them out when a familiar set of hands circle my waist.
“Fuck, you’re sexy in my colours with my name on your back,” Miller says in my ear because, obviously, I couldn’t resist wearing his jersey.
I turn in his arms and give him a congratulatory kiss. “You were sexy when you were on the ice, owning it”, I tell him.
“You girls up for Micky's tonight?” he asks.
“You bet,” I smile.
He gets ushered away with the boys and I promise that Sophie and I will meet them at the bar once we’ve helped the girls at the merchandise table finish up.
An hour later, Sophie and I push our way through the door to Micky’s to find the place absolutely pumping. There are bodies everywhere and it’s no secret why they’re all here when they begin chanting the Dragons war cry. We push our way through the crowd which is made a lot easier when Jaxon calls out for the crowd to part for Dragon royalty, hell, Miller and I are now known as the Dragons King and Queen.
I find Miller amongst the bodies and sit down in his lap feeling right at home. The night erupts around us as the boys continue drinking and celebrating. Miller only has a few and after the many disastrous nights I’ve had in this particular bar, I decide only a few sounds like a pretty good idea.
I spend my night splitting my time between dancing with Sophie, mucking around with the boys and making out with Miller as his hands slip into my undies beneath the table.
A few hours later, Coach Harris pushes his way through the door with a man dressed in a very expensive suit, looking as important as ever. “Fuck,” Miller says in shock as he eyes the man, recognizing him instantly. Tank looks up at Miller’s tone and immediately imitates his shocked gaze.
Coach Harris leads the man over to our table. Miller and Tank stand immediately, causing the rest of the boys to follow suit. “Well if it isn’t the ‘dream team’,” the man grins reaching out to shake hands with Miller and then Tank.
“Who’s that?” I ask Jaxon, leaning over to whisper.
“Looks like a scout, but I have no idea where he’s from. This is huge though, the scouts never come out to meet the players like this,” he says in awe, watching the scene unfold before him as if looking into his own future.
The boys talk with Coach Harris and the man for a while when I realize that Sophie is absolutely smashed. I let Jaxon and Bobby know that I’m taking her home so I don’t interrupt the boys during their meeting of a lifetime.
I buy a bottle of water and practically force it down Sophie’s throat as she gives me the latest update on her and Tanks sexcapades, which, as usual, is far too many details. We stop by the local burger place and grab some hot chips to munch on for the rest of the walk home.
Somehow, a 15 minute walk has turned into a 45 minute stroll. We finally make it home and I tuck Sophie into bed after she begs me to help her pee.
My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket to find Miller’s name on the screen. “Why hello, superstar,” I say as I answer the phone.
“Hey babe, just checking you got home ok?” he asks.
“Yeah, took us a while, but we got here eventually,” I laugh.
I hear the noise of the bar in the background and realize he must be standing out the front “So, was that a scout?” I ask, hoping it was all good news.
“Yeah,” he says and I hear the pride, loud and clear in his voice. “He was from Chicago, one of the best teams, they seem pretty interested in signing both me and Tank, but won’t make any promises till the end of the season. There are apparently a few other teams who are looking at us.”
“Wow,” I gasp. “That’s amazing.”
“Can I come to your place to celebrate?” he asks seductively.
“Of course, you can,” I laugh. “Stay and celebrate with the team, I’ll wait up for you,” I tell him.
His response is cut off when there’s a knock at the door. “Are you at my door?” I ask as I make my way through the kitchen and living room.
“I wish,” he groans, sending shivers all over my body.
“Hold on a minute,” I say as I answer the door with the phone still pressed against my ear in my short pajamas.
I pull open the door to find a very drunken Brett standing before me. “Fuck,” I gasp as he smirks down at me, looking my body up and down with hunger in his eyes
“What is it?” Miller asks in alarm.
I ignore his question as I stare my past in the face. “You need to leave,” I demand with a snarl as my heart begins to beat rapidly in my chest.
“I’m not going anywhere, baby,” he slurs. “I told you, I want what’s mine.”
I gasp and step back into the doorway, dropping the phone as I attempt to slam the door. He jams his foot in and forces the door back open between us. “Come on, baby,” he says, stepping up to me and pressing me into the wall. The stench of rum wafts off him making me feel sick. “I know you want it, you dirty little slut.”
“Brett, I asked you to leave,” I snap, turning my face away from him as he tries to lean into me and begins untucking his shirt from his pants, the shirt that I bought for him.
He grabs my jaw and forces my face back to his. I look up into his dead eyes. “You’re. Fucking. Mine.” he growls.
“Get out,” I cry, hoping Sophie can hear me, but I know it’s no use as she has well and truly passed out already. Trying my hardest to get out of his grasp, I squirm against him but I’m too small and he’s far too strong. He must have spent the last year working out.
He laughs at my attempts and runs a hand down the side of my body and grasps my breast with force. I cry out in pain knowing it will leave a bruise. “Yeah, I knew you would like that, you whore.”
A whimper escapes me as I realize what’s about to happen. He leans down and kisses the side of my face working his way to my neck, leaving a nasty trail of saliva behind as his hand reaches down to release his belt buckle. His free hand slips into my shirt again and grasps my breast, pinching down hard on my nipple causing me to flinch in pain.
A tear slides down my face as I continue trying to push him away. With his dirty cock free, he presses his erection up against my stomach while his other hand cups me between my legs.
“Please, just leave,” I beg. “I’m with someone else now.” I whimper.
He leans back from me and slaps me hard across the face. “No. You’re mine, not his,” he snarls.
His hands find the waistband of my shorts and begin making their way inside. I feel his fingers roughly graze past my clit and force their way into my entrance. He pumps hard once, then twice when he’s ripped away from my body and thrown into the opposite wall, falling to the floor with a thump.
Miller stands between us, shaking in rage with a cold, haunted look in his dark eyes. He grabs Brett off the ground and forces him to his feet by the collar of his shirt, holding him in place while he lunges out with a rig
ht hook and knocks Brett to the ground again. He jumps straight at him and proceeds to lay into him until he’s out cold. Miller makes a quick call as my body slumps to the floor with relief. A loud sob escapes me and I’m suddenly wrapped in the safety of Miller’s arms. “Shhh,” he soothes as I cry into his chest, running his fingers through my hair and studying the red mark on my face.
We sit there for the next ten minutes until a cop car pulls up followed by Tanks truck.
Tank immediately takes in the scene before him as a snarl comes ripping up his throat. He looks me over, studying every inch of my body. “You ok?” he asks.
I give him a small nod as Miller promises to explain everything in the morning. Tank makes his way into the house and heads towards the kitchen, letting us know he’ll stay up if we need him.
The two officers get out of the car and come to inspect the situation. “Good Evening,” the first officer says. “I’m Officer Nathans and this is my partner Officer Samuels,” he says, introducing themselves.
Miller helps to pick me up off the floor as the officers begin their questioning. They call for an ambulance and I’m thankful that Brett is finally taken away. The officers come inside and take a seat in the living room as Miller goes over his version of the night. They give each other a look when Miller gets to the part where he knocked him out and I hope this has no impact on his future.
“Thank you,” Office Samuels says, then turns her green eyes on me “Miss…?”
“Danielle,” I answer.
“Danielle, do you mind going over what happened here tonight?” she asks.
I give a slight nod and decide the full story will be best. I ask Miller to grab my phone from the doorway as I begin telling the officers about my history with Brett. Once Miller returns, I show them the messages I’ve been getting from him over the past few months. Miller’s back stiffens as message after message is shown and I know he’s going to want to chat about this afterward.
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