“Is everything okay?” Brandon asked her, shouting over the loud music after Katella put away her phone.
Katella looked up at him with her green-gold eyes and instantly, he could read her like a book. She wasn’t as closed-off like her younger sister was, and, in this moment, he was grateful for that. No, everything was not okay. Something clearly happened to Seraphina, and whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
Brandon clenched his teeth together and reached out one hand, gently placing it on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “Please, Kat,” he said in a tight voice. He hated saying please at all, but he knew this was important. He didn’t care about putting his pride aside if it got him information of Seraphina’s well-being. “Tell me what happened.”
“She’s okay,” she assured him, and Brandon could see he was telling the truth. “But she’s coming back now. He tried something…”
“What?” Brandon snapped. He hadn’t meant to but he couldn’t stop it if he tried. He clenched his jaw and tried to control himself. Seraphina needed him to be calm when she came back.
And he would be. For her.
Chapter 7
When Seraphina made it back to the hotel, Katella was waiting in the lobby for her. She looked frustrated, pacing with her arms crossed over her chest, her heels clacking on the tile floors. When she caught sight of Seraphina, she immediately went over to her sister and wrapped her up in a warm hug.
"Sera, are you okay?" Katella asked, pulling back and looking at her sister with serious green-gold eyes.
Seraphina nodded. "He felt my thigh," Seraphina told her. "You know, that scene in Legally Blonde? That's basically what happened. It's not-"
"Do not say it's not a big deal," Katella snapped. Her face softened. "Sorry. I'm just really pissed right now." She inhaled deeply, like she was trying to calm herself down. "Negan is at the club still, waiting for me to text."
"No, I'm not."
At that moment, Negan appeared, coming to stand beside Katella. He looked good in a black collared shirt and dark jeans. His dark hair was somewhat messy and his dark eyes were narrowed and serious. His eyes took in Seraphina, making sure that she wasn't injured and that she was all right. When he was satisfied with what he saw, he turned back to Katella.
"Everything okay here?" he asked.
Katella didn't respond. Instead, she kept her eyes focused on Seraphina and perked her brow, indicating that they were waiting on her response.
"I'm okay," Seraphina said.
"I know you're okay but maybe we should file some kind of police report," Katella said. "Just to document that this happened."
"Kat, this is Vegas," Seraphina said. "Do you know how many crimes happen in one night here? Do you really think they're going to take a police report because one of the wealthiest men here felt me up? So many other women get felt up-"
"He what?" a familiar voice snapped. Seraphina felt her face turn red as she peeked over her shoulder and found Brandon Thorpe standing beside her, a pinched look on his face that resembled nothing short of fury.
"It was no-"
"He felt her up," Katella interrupted, shooting her sister a look that said, Don't downplay this; this is serious. "Apparently, they were having an argument in the car as they were driving to the restaurant and he felt her up to prove his point so she punched him in the face. That's when she called."
"We should probably go somewhere private," Brandon said, glancing around. A couple of people stopped to stare at Brandon and Negan, having recognized the hockey players.
"Let's go to the suite," Katella suggested before Seraphina could interject and say she was okay. Seraphina shot her sister a look and Katella gave her one back that seemed to say, Stop. You'll thank me later.
So she bit her bottom lip to keep her mouth shut and allowed Katella to lead the foursome up to their suite.
"Harper and Emma are still downstairs with the rest of the team," Katella murmured as they stepped inside sleek elevators. "I told them I would text them when you got here to let them know you were okay but I didn't think it was necessary to have them leave when they really don't get to hang out with their boyfriends in Vegas during the season."
Seraphina nodded in agreement. She already felt bad that Negan and Brandon weren't enjoying their night. She didn't want to be the reason people were leaving a good time.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Katella asked.
"I can go," Negan said in his gruff voice. Seraphina wasn't sure if he was being polite or if he was just uncomfortable to be there in the first place. She didn't want him to stay if he didn't want to.
"It's up to you," Seraphina told him as they walked in front of the suite.
"Why don't you go get some ice," Katella said, popping open the door with her keycard. They walked inside and Katella handed Negan the bucket. "We need to ice her hand."
He nodded and Katella led Seraphina to her bed in the master suite.
"Sera," she said. "I'm going to make sure Negan knows where he's going."
"I'll stay with her," Brandon offered quickly, stepping into the room.
Katella gave her a sister a look, asking if she was okay with being here by herself with Brandon. Her face was stoic, all teasing and playfulness gone. Seraphina gave her sister a curt nod and Katella disappeared out the door, leaving her and Brandon alone.
The room suddenly felt heavy but not uncomfortably so. If anything, it felt like there was a lot of unspeakable things between them, things that were bursting at the seams to be said.
"Are you all right?" Brandon finally asked.
Seraphina picked her head up and gave him a curious look. His face was pinched, his brow furrowed. He seemed to be debating to say something but something was holding him back.
"My hand hurts," she finally said, looking down at her right hand. It was red and swollen but numb so the pain was masked, at least for now. "I punched him twice."
"Twice?" A ghost of a smile danced across his lips.
Seraphina shook her head and looked away.
"So what happened?" he asked. She could sense the eagerness in his tone was tightly controlled so it came out odd and firm.
"You were right about him, Brandon," she told him, leaving her fingers together.
"I didn't want to be right about him, Sera," he told her slowly. He took a step towards her, hesitated, but pushed himself to the edge of the bed and took a tentative seat next to her. "I wanted this to work out the way you wanted it to work out."
"He was just saying really dumb, offensive things," she told him, her eyes on her lap. "And I just told him he was saying dumb, offensive things. And he slid his hand up my thigh and I punched him. And when he called me a dramatic bitch and said something about how I couldn't control myself with you, I punched him again."
Brandon clenched his jaw and looked away, rolling his fingers into fists.
“I should have-“
“There was nothing you could have done.” She placed her hand over his in the same way he had done for her on the airplane. She didn’t expect that it would make everything right again, she highly doubted she would be able to calm him down, but she could show him without words that she was here for him for as long as he needed her. She wouldn’t run away from his silence. “In fact, I should have listened to you in the first place. At the very least, I should have researched the guy, especially after you told me you had personal experience with him. I just…” Her eyes dropped to her lap. “It’s important to me that the team gets the recognition it deserves. My grandfather broke his back working for this team, creating it and building it, and he still never got to see us get into the playoffs. Right now, we’re a wildcard entry for the Pacific Division and that’s awesome, as long as we keep the momentum going. I would love to actually get a seed in the Pacific, rather than a wild card spot, just to guarantee we’ll get there.”
“We have nothing to prove to anybody, Sera,” he told her, his brows furrowed as he regarded her with a passionate look. It
wasn’t something she was used to seeing on his face and it made her take pause because she was captivated by it and wanted to memorize it because his eyes turned a shade of green she had never seen before.
He was utterly beautiful.
“Let our talent speak for itself,” he continued. “You made some amazing acquisitions over the summer. Negan, Ryan, all those guys. You somehow managed to resign Dimitri Petrov even though he was going through his own family issues. And you managed to resign your jackass goalie who was trying to hold out for more money all of last season.”
Seraphina chuckled and looked away. She didn’t do well with compliments but they were facts, weren’t they? There was no reason to feel discomfort at all.
“We’re going to come together.” He took her hands in his. “I promise you. Whether we’re placed or in a wildcard, who cares? We’re going to get to the wildcard this season. You’re going to make Gulls’ history. We all are. But it will be because of you.” He brought her fingers to his lips, never taking his eyes off of her. “If you can have faith in me, even though people thought I killed your grandfather, you can have faith in a team you helped build. Not just Ken, but you, too.”
Seraphina nodded. “I guess it’s just hard for me to believe that I could affect the team, make positive changes,” she said. “I’m trying to do what my grandfather did because I feel that was what he would have wanted. He would want me to keep things consistent. Do research. Don’t rock the boat. Letting players go because of the Vegas draft, letting others go to free agency, picking players up that haven’t been playing well… That all scared the shit out of me. But it’s working and I want to make sure my grandfather’s values aren’t being forgotten just because he’s gone.”
Brandon was silent for a moment. He seemed to be taking everything in, letting her words sink in. Finally, he cocked his head to the side and tentatively said, “I think, sometimes, you put too much pressure on yourself to be your grandfather and to live a life you think he would want when you should be focused on living a life you want.”
Seraphina furrowed her brows. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“Your grandfather raised you and your sister and you both had special connections with him,” he said. “I think you clung to the idea of making him proud and lived your life that way. A life he would approve of, not necessarily a life you actually want. Look at Katella; when your grandfather was alive, she got involved with his best center at that time. Do you think he would have approved of that?”
Seraphina pressed her lips together, remembering her grandfather’s reaction when Katella told him what happened. “He wasn’t happy,” she said.
“But did Katella break things off with Peters even though he wasn’t happy?” Brandon asked.
Seraphina shook her head. “No,” she said. “She basically told my grandfather that she was going to be with Matt whether he liked it or not. He could either get on board and support her or he could not support it and there would be tension between them. But no matter what, they were going to be together.”
“And what happened?” Brandon asked. “Ken accepted it.”
“Yeah, but Kat isn’t-“
“I don’t care if she doesn’t have your job title, Sera,” he said. “Maybe things are slightly different for you both but you think that focusing solely on the team is going to make your grandfather happy when the truth of the matter is he would want you to be happy period. Your job in life is not to please him but to please yourself.”
He picked up her chin with the tips of his fingers and looked her in the eyes. “Come on, Sera,” he murmured slowly. “You know he wouldn’t want you putting so much effort into his memory than you would your own life.”
Seraphina clenched her teeth together. She wanted to tell him he didn’t know her grandfather the way she did but that wasn’t exactly true. Because what Brandon said made sense and it sounded like something her grandfather would tell her. She just hated when people talked about her grandfather like they knew him as a way to give her advice.
The truth of the matter was, no one knew him the way she and Katella did. But Brandon also had a good connection with him. She couldn’t take that away either.
Chapter 8
Seraphina swallowed, her eyes wide. She nodded her head and then realized she was answering a question he hadn't asked. She felt her cheeks turn red but she tilted her head up to lock eyes with him, letting him know that she wanted that as well. Very, very much.
When he met his lips with hers, she felt her entire body light up, her chest and pelvis and fingertips bursting with light and weightlessness. She felt whole, complete, the entire world suddenly right. And Seraphina was glad that this happened, that she boarded that plane even though she begged Katella to drive, she was glad she went to this stupid meeting and got into a fight with Brandon about it and bought the dress and had Katella do her hair and makeup. And she was glad she pushed Brandon in the lobby because then he kissed her the first time and this was just as sweet as the first time and her entire body tingled and she felt special and beautiful and everything wrong that had happened was suddenly right again.
She didn't even regret Phil Bambridge and what happened between them. She didn't regret hurting her hand and kissing Brandon in public, in front of Bambridge and -
It was all worth it. All of it. It was all worth it because it led to this moment and she wouldn't trade this moment for the world.
He slowly slid his tongue across her bottom lip and she opened her mouth slightly. She didn't even hesitate because she wanted the kiss to get deeper. She wanted to have this moment go on forever. She didn't want it to stop. And as long as he wanted to kiss her, she wouldn't push him away. Not now. He took full advantage of the fact that she opened up for him and tilted her head back even further so he could become acquainted with every crevice of her mouth. It was almost as though he was worried this would be the only time he ever kissed her and he wanted to prolong it as best as he could so he could memorize it to the best of his abilities.
His fingers were tangled in her hair, gently tugging at her roots so she felt pressure in her scalp. It wasn't painful; if anything she felt her thighs moisten at the tug, at the kiss, and his scent. He smelled clean and masculine, like the ocean at night. She reached up with her left hand - she couldn't clutch anything with her right hand since it hurt now. And more than anything else, at least she was here with him in this moment.
When they had to break for air, Brandon pressed his forehead against hers, just closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
"I've wanted to do that for a very, very long time," he said in a raspy voice.
"I'm glad you did," she replied back.
"I hated watching you walk away," he told her before placing a kiss on her neck. She shivered and clutched him closer to her. She tilted her head to the side so he had access to her throat. "When Katella said something happened, I..." He let his voice trail off and he placed a kiss on her pulse before pulling back just slightly so he could lock eyes with her. “I didn’t know what happened so I didn’t know what to feel. It was a bunch of feelings all at one time. I was livid. I was furious. I was worried.” He clenched his jaw together so tightly it popped and he cradled her cheek in his hand. The look on his face was fierce but his touch was gentle. The confliction of the two made Seraphina shudder and she couldn’t help but lean into his touch. He had never talked this much about his feelings before. She wouldn’t dare interrupt him. “Katella didn’t tell me anything, not at first. And I understand, I guess. Who am I, anyway? But when you called again and she left, I made Negan tell me. And then I followed him to you. Because I had to make sure you were okay. I had to see for myself that you were okay.”
“I didn’t realize how worried you were about me,” she murmured, though her cheeks were warmed with happiness.
“Of course I was worried about you,” Brandon said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. In fact, he almost seemed offended that she ha
dn’t realized it in the first place. “Sera, I don’t think you realize…” He let out a little growl and looked away.
“If I don’t realize something,” Seraphina said slowly, carefully, “it’s because I was never told anything.”
“I shouldn’t have to tell you for you to know how I feel about you,” he told her.
“Of course you do,” Seraphina said. “I’m not a mind reader, Brandon. And you’re so closed off from the rest of the world, if I did have to guess, I would assume you wanted nothing to do with me.”
“That’s bullshit,” he said before clenching his teeth together.
“It’s not, actually,” Seraphina said. “When you came into my office yesterday, we talked more then than we have since we first met each other. How am I supposed to know your feelings are different? You’re supposed to tell me!”
“Or I could show you,” Brandon said before he leaned forward and claimed her lips once again.
Seraphina’s head with spinning with possibilities. She felt her nipples harden as his hands traced the curves of her body, letting his fingers trail against her breasts, against her hips. When he began to untie the dress, he kept his eyes on hers. She knew, in that moment, that he was in love with her. That it should have been clear from the get-go, and the fact that it wasn’t didn’t mean anything. It was there, deep inside of him. She could see it now.
The dress crumbled to the ground, leaving her in nothing but a sheer pair of lacy boy shorts and her jewelry. Seraphina watched as Brandon gulped, taking her in, his eyes respectfully feasting on the view she gave him. Her nipples were hard due to the cold, residual effects from the kisses they had just shared. Without taking her eyes off of him, she slowly began to remove her earrings, placing them on her nightstand as he went to close and lock her bedroom door.
Lip Locks & Blocked Shots: A Slapshot Novel (Slapshot Series Book 3) Page 5
