Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

D o You Like the Idea of Being Watched?

Finn

“Okay, I see some of the freshmen haven’t kept up with their workouts over summer. If you want ice time, you need to earn it,” Coach Heaton barks, his voice harsh and demanding. I figured it’s better I think of Jacob as Coach Heaton during practice so I fear and respect him as my coach, and not my asshole brother riding my ass.

Coach walks up to the freshmen, who are panting, out of breath. “Just because you earned a spot on this team doesn’t mean you’re going to keep it.” Coach gives each of them a steely glare. I would say it’s weird for me to see my brother in this role, but it feels like he’s been coaching me all my life, and maybe his hard-ass attitude has made me achieve my full potential.

“Sorry, Coach,” a guy named Todd says, looking down to the ice. “I promise to do better.”

“This team isn’t an award-winning team for nothing. We have a reputation to uphold. Yanev, Hensen, and Westcott, you all need to put in extra hours training,” Coach orders. Then he turns to Coach Bailey. “Let’s divide to half ice. Do some breakout blitzes, hip work, and stickhandling with the freshmen. The rest of you head over there.”

The team breaks into two groups. The upperclassmen know better than not keeping up with workouts in the offseason. Besides working full time, I also kept up with my workouts to ensure this is my strongest year ever. Since I am determined to get the best contract I can.

By the time practice is over, we are all beat. I head into the ice-bath area with Macklin and Hayden, while the rest of the guys head to the showers.

Each of us is sitting in a tall bucket of ice water that basically comes up to chest level, when Hayden asks, “How was your trip back to Buffalo?”

Fuck me. How does he know?

I don’t answer for a beat. “Come on, you and Charlie weren’t on the bus ride home. Charlie had to go back to Buffalo for family reasons, and you disappeared,” he says, explaining how he came to the conclusion.

“Just because I wasn’t on the bus doesn’t mean I was with her,” I retort, my lips chattering as I fight the cold-ass water.

“Bro, just be honest. You’re into her,” Macklin says.

“Are you fucking crazy? I’m not into Charlie,” I argue. I mean, I kind of am in to having sex with her and talking to her, but I’m not in to her in the way they are implying.

“She’s hot. It wouldn’t be a crime if you were.” Macklin shrugs, his lips chattering and turning blue.

“How much longer we got?” I ask, looking at my friends.

“I’m holding out another minute and thirty seconds,” Hayden declares.

“Me too,” Macklin agrees, his eyes squeezing shut. “But don’t change the subject. If you weren’t with Charlie, then where the hell did you go?”

“He went with Charlie,” Hayden says. “Ruby wouldn’t budge when I asked her, but I just know he did.”

“You guys are way off base,” I refute, hating to lie to my friends and feeling guilty over breaking the rules in my new role as captain.

“Time’s up,” Macklin yelps, shooting out of the water. He curses as he wraps himself in a towel. Hayden and I follow suit.

I’m thankful for the conversation to end. I know Charlie and I should not hook up anymore, but it’s kind of hard to get her off my mind with the sex being so good. She also has a great personality and she’s easy to talk to, but those things don’t matter to me because I obviously am not interested in anything beyond sex.

The next couple of weeks fly by in a blur. I am focused on classes and my thesis project in the lab. In the morning, I train, and on the weekend, we have another game out of town, but Charlie didn’t attend because she had a meet somewhere in Wisconsin. The only reason I know that is because of Ruby. Charlie hasn’t been around the house very much. It seems like she is back to spending her evenings at the library, and my guess is she’s doing it to avoid me. The trip to Buffalo was a lot more intense than I expected. She was a mess but she opened up to me and I found myself opening up to her, which is odd, because I haven’t opened up to anyone in a damn long time. My life has been easier with my emotions on lockdown. It also means I can’t set myself up for heartache. That’s why it doesn’t make logical sense that I’m bothered by Charlie avoiding me. Her dad gave me his number before I left, which initially I found weird, but then I got it. He had come downstairs when we were about to leave for the airport and Charlie was upstairs still packing. He was kind and I could tell how much he loved Charlie. How much concern he had for her well-being. I was happy she got that kind of love from a parent, but it also made me feel a little sour that I never received that kind of love and attention from my own dad, and now he’s gone and I’ll never know that feeling. Her dad made me promise to watch out for her. I am not the kind of guy to go back on his word, which is why I have been watching out for Charlie, only she doesn’t know it. Like when I stood off to the side after her social media class Tuesday night to make sure her crazy ex didn’t follow her. I felt kind of stalkerish doing it, but the guy did start to follow her. I don’t know what his deal is. I warned him away again, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.

On the way home from school, I stopped at the supermarket and picked up some ingredients to make Mexican food tonight since the guys all pitched in.

Truth is, I like to be in the kitchen focusing on a recipe. It takes my mind off all the shit going on in my life for a while, which I feel like I desperately need, because Charlie literally came out of nowhere barreling into my life, or really, knocking into me. Now she has invaded every aspect of my life from living in this house, working on the team, and invading my thoughts. I head into the house and walk straight into the kitchen to see Charlie with her head buried in the fridge.

Fuck me. That ass.

“Long time no see,” I say with nonchalance.

She startles and straightens up quickly. “Don’t move on my account. I don’t mind looking at that fine ass.”

“Finn,” she chides, looking past me, probably to see if anyone is close enough to hear my flirtatious comment.

“What are you cooking tonight?” I ask.

“Stir-fry with tofu,” she answers, looking at the paper bag in my arms.

“What do you have there?” she asks curiously. She’s wearing a pair of booty shorts and a cropped top. I want to sit that cute ass of hers on the counter so I can kiss the hell out of her.

“Chicken fajitas. It’s Mexican night.” I draw my gaze away from her and walk past her, placing my bag on the counter. I take out the contents of raw chicken strips, a mixture of vegetables I plan to sauté, wraps, avocado, shredded cheese, and some tomato and basil to make a fresh salsa.

“We can mix our ingredients and give options of tofu fajitas,” she suggests.

I shouldn’t like the idea of cooking side by side with her.

“Sure.” I nod because I would feel like an asshole for saying no, even if it would be the right thing to do. Cooking with someone feels intimate, and we should not be doing intimate things.

“Cool,” she lines up her washed vegetables and places the sliced tofu in a line beside it.

“Broccoli isn’t a good match here,” I say with a sheepish grin.

“True,” she replies, and she begins to put the broccoli in a ziplock bag. “How have you been?” she asks. We’ve seen each other in a professional capacity at the sports complex, but it seems we are on the same page of not paying each other much attention, other than what needs to be said for social media purposes. I don’t need my teammates on my case about her and she can’t risk her job.

“Fine. Busy.”

“Is that all I’m getting now?” she asks as I rinse the chicken strips under a stream of water in the sink.

“What do you want to know? I’m getting settled in at the lab. There was a lot to learn, my philosophy classes are intriguing, and I have an essay to write,” I state matter-of-factly.

“Have I done something wrong?” she asks. “Because you seem. . . I don’t know. . .pissy.”

“Not pissy. . .” I pause in front of her. Our fronts are almost touching. Her green eyes meet mine and her breath hitches. Yup, she still wants me, and I am still looking at her perky breasts, dreaming about sucking on her nipples and making her come. This is not good. “Just keeping a distance for the sake of our positions.”

“Right.” She laughs nervously. “Glad one of us is thinking straight.”

“Why aren’t you thinking straight?” I ask her, and I watch her shoulders rise and fall quickly as I take in the floral scent of her shampoo.

“Because. . .you. . .in that tank top,” she mutters and then blinks. “Dammit. That is why it’s better for me to stay at the library. I was just getting sick of takeout.” She turns away from me and takes out a wok from the drawer.

“You were staying away because of me?” I ask.

“Don’t let your ego get away from you. This is strictly a physical attraction. We happen to be good in bed.”

“Oh baby, I think we are better than good,” I declare, getting close to her. I am playing with fire again, but being near her makes me forget myself.

She swallows hard and looks at me with doe eyes filled with lust. I could get lost in those green eyes for days on end.

The kitchen door swings open. Charlie turns away from me.

“What’s on the menu tonight?” Cade asks.

“Mexican,” Charlie and I say in unison. Charlie watches me wide-eyed before we get to work on the meal. She makes rice while I fry up the vegetables and add the chicken strips and spices.

Cade hangs out, asking Charlie all kinds of questions about her meet. Those two have clearly become close and the banter between them is easy. On some level it makes me feel jealous, even though I know there isn’t anything going on between them. Cade would never cheat on Scarlett, and Charlie doesn’t seem like the type of girl to be a homewrecker.

Macklin walks into the kitchen next. “Aw, look at you two being all domestic.” I know what he is implying.

“Stop being a shit disturber,” I tell him.

He smiles mischievously. “What is he talking about?” Charlie asks Macklin.

“Nothing, the dude is in a constant state of agitated,” Macklin tells her with a shrug. The reason I am on edge is because I haven’t had sex in over a week, and the only person I want to have sex with is off-limits.

I notice Charlie eyeing me curiously. “He was a little pissy with me too,” she confides to Macklin. For crying out loud.

“Was he now?” Macklin says conspiratorially before he breaks into a fit of laughter.

“Am I missing something?” Cade asks, looking between all of us.

Once again Charlie and I answer a quick, “No.”

By the time we are done making dinner, the guys are home and so is Ruby. We sit around the kitchen table and bring some extra chairs from outside, since there aren’t enough seats for everyone.

“This is really nice,” Ruby says. “It’s like we are a little family.”

“Family is stretching it,” Luc states.

“Fuck, bro,” Macklin punches Luc in the arm.

“Ouch, you asshole. That hurt,” Luc whines, rubbing his arm.

“Stop fucking looking at Ruby,” Macklin warns.

“Dude, I’m her brother,” Hayden complains. Sometimes it seems like Macklin is super overprotective of Ruby, I just can’t decide if it’s in a brotherly way.

“I’m a big girl,” Ruby declares.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Hayden retorts, taking a bite of his fajita.

“We need a subject change,” Aaron says. “I’ve got some chicks coming over tonight.”

“How many?” Luc asks.

“Three,” Aaron replies. “Anyone want in?” He looks around the table.

“Come on. For fuck’s sakes. Don’t talk about that shit in front of Ruby,” Hayden spazzes.

“I’m not a little girl anymore,” Ruby assures him, but it’s no use. Hayden is protective of her, even though she is older. I get it because Willow is older than me and I still feel protective of her.

“Just keep that stuff in your rooms,” Hayden says to the guys.

Charlie’s eyes lock with mine. I think she is wondering if I like to share too. I don’t like to share but I am not opposed to watching. The guys are hooking up all the time. Sometimes it happens on the couch in the main room, and it can be hot to watch them getting their rocks off. We’ve all watched each other at some point.

Charlie licks her lips. I wonder if all this talk about watching is getting her wet.

By the flushed look of her cheeks, I am thinking she may be liking this idea. We finish eating dinner and the guys and Ruby clean up, since Charlie and I did the cooking.

“Oh, the toilet accidentally flooded on the main floor,” Aaron announces, wincing. “We need to call a plumber.”

“Damn,” Charlie says. “Now I’m going to need to trudge all the way upstairs when I need to pee in the middle of the night.”

The thought of her close to my room in the middle of the night, wearing her little pajama shorts, gives me a semi. It also makes me realize how close I am to snapping and wanting to take her again.

“Sorry.” Aaron shrugs.

“Stop exploding the toilet, dude,” Macklin scolds Aaron.

“I’m leaving now,” Charlie says, walking out of the kitchen.

“I’m out too. I have some diagrams to prepare for the prof for tomorrow,” I add. I follow Charlie through the swinging door into the main room.

She’s walking to her room when I say, “Do you like the idea of being watched?”

She pauses and turns. Her jaw is dropped. It snaps shut. It opens again.

“Cat got your tongue?” I ask.

“You go from kind and caring to, I don’t know what. . .” she says, surprising me.

“That wasn’t my question though.” I raise my brows, waiting.

“I wouldn’t know, I haven’t been in that position before,” she replies, looking self-conscious as she rubs her hand up and down her arm.

“Interesting,” I say.

She narrows her eyes on me and walks away. I head up to my room before I do something stupid and go after her, or possibly pin her to a wall and kiss her breathless. I take the stairs, two at a time, then walk to my room briskly, closing the door. With the door closed, I take a few breaths and try to blink away the heat coursing through my body. This is no big deal. So I’m very attracted to Charlie. She’s gorgeous. My dick is rock-hard as I will myself to think of the most unattractive things possible. Only nothing works, and so I head to the bathroom and jerk off. Then I take a lukewarm shower and head back to my room, where I throw on a white wifebeater, a pair of boxers, and basketball shorts. I get to work on my homework. By 1:00 a.m. I am tired, hungry and unable to sleep, so I head down to the kitchen for a midnight snack.