Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Colter

"Hey."

I glance up as Noah Diamante drops down onto the bench beside me, his dark hair still damp from the shower. "What’s up?"

"You good, brother?" he asks, his obsidian eyes serious as he holds a fist out for me to bump.

"Yeah, fine."

His brows slash together, his expression making it clear he thinks I’m bullshitting him as I bump his fist. I was pissed after the game and he knows it. Not that anyone could blame me. I got booted from the game, and then I ran Leia off with my mouth. It wasn’t a great night.

I felt like a dick for making her feel like a puck bunny. Actually, I was a dick for making her feel that way. She’s a goddess, no doubts about it. But she’s safe with me. One way or another, I’m going to convince her of that too.

"You sure?"

"Positive," I grumble, shaking my head. Noah would be in the NHL if he hadn’t fucked up his knee his rookie year. It still gives him problems occasionally. Any dreams he had of playing in the majors went up in smoke. But he’s settled into the AHL like it’s his home. He looks out for everyone, takes care of everyone, and makes sure we all have our heads on straight. He’s good people.

He jerks his chin in a nod, and then gives me a sly smirk. "Good because these fuckers are about to razz the shit out of you and I don’t want you going for their throats," he mutters with a laugh. "You earned every minute of it."

"What the fuck did I do?"

He opens his mouth to answer but doesn’t get a chance.

"Tentacles!" Atlas Jacks, our oversized goalie, booms, waltzing into the locker room. His green eyes light up as he rubs his hands together and then points at me. "I fucking knew you were a freaky bastard, Bayliss."

"Miles, you son of a bitch," I growl.

"That’s what you did," Noah says ruefully.

I climb to my feet to grab my phone out of my locker. I’m sending a giant bag of dicks to Miles’ house. The glitter bomb kind that explodes when it’s opened so he’s seeing glitter dicks for the rest of his life.

"I don’t have a fucking tentacle kink. Miles blackmailed me." I open the locker, only for a giant damn octopus to come flying out at my face. "What the fuck?"

I leap backward, startled. The stuffed octopus falls to the floor at my feet.

Atlas howls with laughter, clinging to Jensen Sparks to keep himself upright. Even Noah laughs his ass off.

"I hate all of you," I mutter in disgust, snatching the octopus up and stuffing him back into the locker. I’m going to find Miles and kill him. Painfully.

Two hours later, I call Reid Lawless from the parking lot of Leia’s office where I’m camped out. I agreed to give her space yesterday, but I never said how much space I was giving her. Especially not now that I know what story she’s chasing. Bookies can be dangerous, even in a town like this.

I convinced Coach to let me out of practice after the team meeting so I could follow her today. He wasn’t thrilled, but since I’m suspended anyway, it’s not like missing one day on the ice is going to hurt anything. I’ll make it up to him next time. He knows I will.

I would have been useless on the ice, anyway. I couldn’t keep my girl off my mind long enough to focus on the meeting. She’s driving me crazy and doesn’t even know it. I’ve never pursued a woman before. I don’t even know where to start with this one. But one way or another, I’m going to break down her walls and make her mine.

I keep my eyes on the doors in case she tries to leave. I fully intend to tail her if she does. There’s no damn way I’m letting her chase after a bookie by herself. She may think she’s a little badass, but criminals don’t much care how feisty you are when you get in their way.

"If you’re calling because you want to fly to Arizona and kick Gordon’s ass for getting you suspended, I’m probably in," Reid says as soon as he picks up the phone.

"Probably?" I smile, shaking my head. Reid, like me, can be a handful. Trouble just follows him naturally.

"Depends on what my wife wore to work this morning," he says. "She snuck out before I was awake. I may have to take a raincheck on punching Bruce Gordon in the face to spank her gorgeous ass."

"Too much information, man," I mutter. The less I know about his sex life, the better. "Way too much information. Especially since I’m actually calling for your wife."

"What the fuck, Bayliss?" Reid growls. "Why the fuck are you calling for my wife?"

"Settle down. Jesus. I didn’t say I wanted to sleep with her. She’s a lawyer. She knows law enforcement around here. Hell, you do too, considering they arrested your ass your first week here," I remind him. He got into a bar fight. "I need some info on someone."

"My charges were dropped, fucker. And she’d kick your ass if you even tried to hit on her. Then I’d have to kick your ass." He’s a territorial bastard. We’ve been giving him nine kinds of hell about it, but I’m starting to get it. Just the thought of Leia meeting one of our teammates the other night had me ready to start throwing punches. "Who do you need info on?

"All I have is a first name, but he’s a bookie in town."

Reid falls quiet for a moment. "What the fuck are you tangled up in, Colter?"

"I’m helping out a friend with something. Her girlfriend is dating this douche." None of that is a lie, strictly speaking. Whether Leia wants my help or not, she’s getting it. And we are friends. We’re going to be two peas in a damn pod real soon.

"I’ll ask Wren to have Dillon call you."

"Thanks, brother."

"Don’t mention it."

I disconnect and drop my phone in the console with a relieved exhale. Hopefully, the sheriff knows something about this bookie and can clue me in on what we’re dealing with here. It’d be nice to know what the fuck kind of trouble Leia is chasing.

Someone taps on my window.

My heart hits my shoes. My head hits the ceiling.

"Son of a bitch," I growl, rubbing the top of my head. I peer out of the window and barely see the top of Leia’s head. How the fuck did she manage to sneak out of the building on me? Jesus. She’s a fucking ninja.

She cranes her head back. Her smirk lets me know she’s pleased she managed to startle me. "You know stalking is illegal in all fifty states, right?"

"I’m not stalking you. I was handling business." Oh, excellent response. I barely contain a smug grin.

"Public indecency is illegal in all fifty states too," she says levelly.

Well, there goes that moment of triumph. She’s impressively quick with the comebacks. It’s sexy as hell. Most people go out of their way to compliment me. Not Leia. She doesn’t even hesitate to mouth off and give me shit. I fucking love it.

"Did you come to see the show then, Trouble?" I ask. "Just couldn’t stop thinking about me fucking my own hand, could you?"

"No. I mean no, I was not thinking about that," she squeals. "I was just leaving!"

"Liar. You’ve already told on yourself now."

"Have not," she mumbles, a blush climbing up her cheeks. Christ, she’s so goddamn pretty with her hair pinned back from her face with a little rose pin. Her vintage black suit accentuates her full figure in all the right places, highlighting her curves. She’s effortlessly stylish, and feminine, but I don’t think she has a clue how damn sexy she is. Or how hard I am right now.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere."

"Leia."

Fire flashes in her eyes. "It’s my story, Colter."

"And you won’t get to write it if you end up dead in a ditch somewhere." I climb out of the truck, holding the door open for her. "Get in the truck."

She plants a hand on her hip, scowling up at me. "Has anyone ever told you that you’re bossy?"

"Yeah, you. Get your sexy ass in the truck, or I can put you in the truck, Trouble. Your choice."

"Fine." She stomps forward, smacking me with her laptop bag as she passes me.

I growl, dragging her body up against mine. My mouth lands against her ear. "You trying to get us arrested for public indecency? Because the more you fuck with me, the harder you make me, Leia."

"The bag slipped," she says, her voice saccharine.

I nip her ear, groaning, "Get in the truck."

She elbows me as she clambers up into the driver’s seat, muttering to herself about my big stupid truck. I chuckle, staring at her ass until she glances over her shoulder and catches me. "Stop staring at me. It’s rude."

"Stop looking so fucking sexy. It’s criminal."

She huffs and drops down into the passenger seat, fluffing her hair.

I climb in after her.

"Are you always like this?"

"Seatbelt, goddess." I reach across her and grab the belt before she can, carefully locking her into place. She gives me a dirty glare but doesn’t try to stop me. Whether she wants to admit it or not, she loves having me in her space. I can tell by the way she trembles whenever I get close. "Like what?"

"Hmm?"

I chuckle, shifting away from her. As soon as I do, she shakes her head as if she’s trying to clear it. "Am I always like what, Leia?"

"Shameless. Bossy. Like you, I guess." She leans forward and pushes the button on the glovebox. When it opens, she smiles to herself and then starts prowling through my shit.

"When it comes to you? Yes." I buckle up and then start the engine before turning back to her. She’s flipping through the paperwork on my truck. "You having fun over there?"

"Just looking." She glances up at me, her gaze clear and guileless…and so full of shit it makes me chuckle. "You’re due for an oil change soon."

I flick my gaze up to the sticker in the corner of my window. Shit. I am due soon.

"You checking to make sure there isn’t a woman’s name on any of the paperwork?"

"What? No." She scowls at me and then bites her bottom lip, rethinking her answer. "Maybe."

"There is no woman. There hasn’t been a woman since college."

"Oh. Why not?"

I cock a brow. "Are you asking me why I’m not a manwhore?"

"No!" She shoves all of the paperwork for my truck back into the glovebox. "Just wondering why someone who looks like you and plays a professional sport is single." She shrugs. "It’s a mystery."

"You like me." A smirk curves my lips.

"Do not."

"You do."

"No, I don’t."

"Why are you single, then? You’re the catch of the goddamn century."

She wrinkles her nose at me, rolling her eyes. "You’re being ridiculous again."

"Nah, you are if you think saying that makes me ridiculous. Have you seen you?" I gape at her. "That body? The way you walk? The way you dress? The shit you say? The fact that you don’t take shit from anyone, or care what anyone thinks? Goddamn, Trouble." I shake my head, speechless. If she doesn’t know what a catch she is, I’m going to teach her.

She drops her gaze as a blush climbs up her cheeks, staining them pink. "Guess I never thought of it that way." A little smile dances at her lips. "I guess I am pretty awesome."

"Uh, fuck yeah, you are," I laugh. "Now, where are we going?"

"The bookstore."

I nearly choke on my tongue.

A bright peal of laughter rings out from her side of the truck. "You should see your face right now, Colter. Oh my gosh." She wipes her eyes, still laughing. "You look like you’d rather spend an eternity on the rack."

"Sign me up for that," I growl. "We aren’t going to the fucking bookstore."

"Why not? I love the bookstore. There are so many interesting things there."

I narrow my eyes at her, suspicious at hell. "What did you hear?"

"About the bookstore?" She pleads ignorance, turning those wide, guileless eyes up at me. Except they shine with humor. "Why would I have heard anything about the bookstore, Colter?"

Oh, I am going to kill whoever told her. Was it Miles? I bet it was Miles. The entire team gave me shit through the whole damn meeting this morning because of him.

"I sent the damn book to Miles as a joke," I growl. "But he’s in love with the chick who delivered it. So he made me go to the bookstore yesterday and tell them that it was mine so she doesn’t think it’s his."

"And you agreed to this?" Leia arches a brow at me.

"I had motivation." I shrug. "He knows your brother-in-law."

"Ah. He knows about the locker room?"

"Yes. But before you get pissed, Miles isn’t going to say anything. And neither is Alec. I made sure of that." I threatened to go to his boss, Cormac, with the tape of him just letting her waltz right by while he played on his phone. He didn’t have much to say after that. Cormac Carmichael doesn’t fuck around when it comes to running security. He’ll toss Alec out on his ass in a heartbeat if he knows Alec isn’t taking the job seriously.

Leia sits quietly for a moment and then nods. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I’m taking your word for it," she says quietly. "I think you mean it when you say you’re here for the right reasons. And I’m really hoping I’m not wrong, Colter."

"Fuck," I groan, gripping the steering wheel like my life depends on it. I think it might right now. Because if this is a test, I’m about two seconds from failing it. I desperately want to drag her into my lap and show her exactly what I think about her confession, but I’m thinking if I do, I’ll spook her. I’ve earned a chance with her, but I haven’t earned her trust yet. Not entirely. "You’re killing me here, goddess."

Her bright smile is another nail in my coffin. "Too bad, Bossy. We have a bookie to tail."