12. Mer - Colton Archibald Conover: 13 years ago

“Your mom hates me, Colt.” I was tearing through my closet looking for something to wear. I really wished I would’ve known about this party weeks ago so I could’ve prepared.

He came up behind me and held my waist. “No, she doesn't.”

I leaned back against him. “Yeah, she really does.”

His hand went into my hair, massaging my scalp. “She wants you there, babe. I want you there.”

I craned my neck to look up at him. “Are you sure?”

He smoothed my hair off my neck and dropped a kiss there, making my knees go weak. He chuckled against my skin, knowing the effect he had on me. “Yes, I'm sure. My mom comes off a little cold, but she’s just dealing with her own stuff.”

I pulled away from him, making him groan, but I wanted to focus on this conversation. “Like what stuff?”

He sighed. “Well, for one, my dad’s a dick.”

“I’m sorry.” I didn’t see my dad much, but that wasn’t his fault. Actually, it was mine and skating’s fault.

He shrugged. “It is what it is. There’s no fixing it. I used to try, but… It always made things worse. We’d argue, then he’d suddenly have another business trip.” He went to my vanity and started looking at pictures of us I had tacked to the mirror. “It's never just a business trip.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” He sighed and leaned against my dresser. He crossed his long legs at the ankles. He was dressed in a neatly pressed white button down and dark blue pants. His suit coat was hanging on the back of my door. “He cheats. On my mom.”

“Oh.”

He shrugged again, but from the dark look on his face, it clearly bugged him.

Catherine Conover suddenly started making a little more sense.

“Why doesn’t she divorce him?”

His eyebrow kicked up. “I don’t know for sure, but I think because he’d be a real bastard about it. He’d leave her with nothing. And I’m pretty sure the only thing my mom loves besides me is money,” he said with a chuckle. “So… they just stay tied together. He cheats. She looks away. I used to think it was weird for my mom not to leave him, but why should she be punished, ya know? Like why should she have to lose our house just because he’s a dick? Sometimes I think…” he trailed off.

I went back to looking in my closet, waiting for him to sort through his thoughts.

“Sometimes I think that they were never in love.” He was suddenly behind me again, wrapping an arm around my waist and leaning his chin on my shoulder. “They don’t know what this is like, so I feel bad for them.”

I felt bad for them, too. I felt bad for the whole world actually. Because no one else got to be loved by Colt Conover. I turned in his arms and leaned my head against his chest, memorizing the feel of his heartbeat. He was all mine. And he made me feel like the luckiest girl alive. But… he was leaving. He was starting with a team in Canada next week. It was an amazing opportunity. He was now only a couple steps away from the NHL. But he’d be eight hours from me.

I couldn’t fathom not seeing him at Centre Ice anymore. I’d miss catching glimpses of him in the stands, I’d miss him stealing kisses in the locker room hallway as we passed each other, I’d miss his encouragement in the weight room.

To make things worse, Kappy and JP were also leaving. It was typically impossible for friends to stick together on the same teams in hockey, but the three of them were unstoppable together and the scouts noticed.

My shoulders shook as I silently cried into his chest.

“Babe, are you… Are you crying?” he asked, pulling back to look at my face. Concern lined his features. “No, don’t cry.” He smoothed his thumbs under my eyes to clear my tears.

“Sorry, I'm just emotional. I know you have to leave, I just wish I could come with you.”

He gave me a look of understanding. “I know.” He hugged me tighter. “This will just be our hard part. But before you know it, I’ll make the NHL, and you’ll make the National team. We’ll both accomplish our goals, then we’ll get our after.”

I nodded against him. I didn’t want to cry and make this harder for him, not when I knew how hard he worked to make this team.

“Okay,” I sniffled up my tears. “What do I wear?”

“Nothing,” he said, wagging his eyebrows.

I laughed and pushed against his chest. “Not an answer. What do other girls wear to this thing?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” He smoothed his hands down my body, distracting both of us.

“Colt, we can’t–”

He cut me off with a kiss. “We can.”

_________

With his sunglasses, fresh haircut, and designer plaid suit, Colt looked like he walked straight out of a J Crew catalog as he drove his Range Rover with one hand.

I settled on a light blue sundress so I could slightly match his suit. Flipping down the car mirror, I studied my makeup and tried to smooth my flyaway hairs back into my claw clip. I hadn’t realized I’d been bouncing my leg until Colt placed his large hand on my thigh, trying to calm me.

Skating and his mother. The only two things that made me nervous enough to break out in hives. I could already picture her and her disapproving frown and that mental image made my neck itch like crazy.

“Are Kappy and JP coming?” I asked as we drove past mansion after mansion.

“Yeah, they should be there already,” he said distractedly.

My shoulders relaxed with a noticeable sigh of relief. If I embarrassed myself, Kappy would do something worse to make me feel better, I was sure of it. He was always like that.

Colt snorted. “Wow, they make you feel better, but I don’t?”

I rolled my eyes. “Your mom hates them more than she hates me.”

“She doesn't hate you,” he said with a chuckle, “but fair enough.”

When we finally pulled onto his street, it was obvious that the party already started by the amount of fancy cars lining the curb. We had to park a couple houses down from his. Colt opened the car door for me and guided me by the small of my back toward the party.

The Conover's front lawn was basically a hill. The brick mansion with blue shutters sat on top of the hill, making it look even more imposing if that were possible.

A few people were milling about the front of the house, but most of the party was out back by the pool.

As we marched up the steep driveway lined with blue hydrangeas, Mrs. Conover caught sight of us. Her eyes drifted over my dress and her face morphed into a deep frown.

I stutter-stepped and almost broke an ankle in my stupid heels.

“Woah, babe,” Colt caught my arm and held me steady. “Careful. Those ankles are important.”

“She hates me,” I hissed.

“Who cares?”

I whipped my neck to face him. My mouth dropped open. That was the first time he didn't deny it. “So she does!”

“No.” He looked shocked, like he couldn’t believe he just slipped up. “She doesn’t.”

A whine escaped my throat. He was totally lying.

His eyes softened and he cupped my face with his palm. “Baby, who cares? My mom doesn't like anyone, we went over this,” he said with a forced chuckle.

“You don’t care that she doesn’t like me?” I asked glumly, scratching at my neck, which was now probably breaking out in hives. This just didn’t seem fair. My parents loved him. My mom thought he was “such a responsible young man,” and my dad, who barely came out to this side of the state, always wanted Colt to come over so they could chat about hockey.

Colt winced when he spotted my rash and grabbed my hand to stop me from scratching. “C’mere.”

He pulled me to the side of their mansion so we were hidden from sight from the rest of the party, then he backed me up against the brick. “The only opinion that I care about…” He peppered my jaw with kisses until he made it to my mouth. “On this whole fucking planet…” He kissed me deeply, making me go a little dizzy, then broke away. “Is yours, Meredith Bennett,” he said in a low voice. In a commanding move, he pulled my leg up and hooked it around his waist, then pushed against me, making me feel how hard he was. I loved when he manhandled me like this, sometimes it was the only way to stop my overthinking, and he knew it. His strong hand gently grasped my jaw. “Got it?”

“Colt… there are people,” I whispered with a laugh.

He leveled me with a look that had a thrill racing through me. “Got it?”

“Yes,” I laughed. “Got–”

He claimed my mouth again, teasing my lips apart and fervently kissing me. He made it hard to care who was watching because I suddenly only cared about him.

He took the claw clip out of my hair and carelessly tossed it over his shoulder. “I love your hair so much,” he whispered against my lips, then pulled my hair so he had more access to my neck. He sucked and kissed and bit down my throat, making my knees buckle. He totally felt it because he chuckled against my skin.

“Colt,” I gasped, grabbing at his back.

“I got you, baby,” he whispered. His eyes got that dazed look in them that happened whenever he was filled with lust, and that made me take leave of all common sense, recklessly throwing all my cares away just to be in the moment with him.

Smoothing my hands over his hair, I pulled his mouth back to mine.

His strong hand slid up my skirt, the rough callouses scraping against the inside of my thigh, and then he squeezed my thigh, making me gasp into his mouth. I was completely lost in him until a shrill voice announced, “Colton Archibald Conover!”

We broke apart, our eyes wide with shock.

He bit out a curse and shifted in front of me, caging me in with his arms on either side of me, as if he could hide me. Both of our chests moved rapidly.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing young man? And you –

A loud crash sounded behind us, cutting her off. Then someone shouted: “Sorry!”

We both knew that voice.

“Kappy,” we whispered, then collapsed against each other in laughter.

His mother was now running in the opposite direction, back to the party to figure out what kind of mess he made.

“Remind me to thank him,” he whispered with a chuckle. He dropped a kiss on the top of my head, then rested his chin against my hair. “I love you, baby.”

“I love you, too,” I said, looping my arms around him. “You ruined my hair though.”

“No, I fixed it, it looks perfect. I love it like this.” His hand went to the base of my skull and he gave me a little massage, making a tiny moan escape my lips. His hand stilled.

Breathing out a deep sigh, I asked. “Okay, ready to go?”

“Eh…” he grunted, “I need a second.”

I laughed against him.

“Moving is not helping this situation, Bennett,” he said with a goofy grin on his face.

“I’m not even sorry.” I laughed into his chest more.

He dipped down to growl in my ear, “And I’m not sorry your panties are soaking wet,” before playfully biting it.

Attraction flooded my core. My face burned with a blush and I swatted his chest.

He sighed and brushed my hair behind my ears. “Alright, let’s get this over with. You don’t have to say a single word to any of these people if you don’t want to, alright? Just stick with me.”

I swallowed hard and nodded.

“Then we can leave and have our own fun, yeah?” He flashed a wicked grin and grabbed my butt one more time before straightening my dress out for me.

Now I couldn’t wait to leave so it could just be the two of us again.

We’d gotten close to sex a few times, but I always cut us off because I wanted to wait until after my run for the Olympics. He knew that, and he never pushed me, but… I still couldn’t wait to dance around that line with him.

Colt intertwined his fingers with mine and kept hold of my hand while he led us to the party, stopping to chat here and there as we went.

I couldn’t get over how good he was with people. He seemed totally at ease while I was an anxious mess beside him. He could instantly charm with his signature grin, and he asked questions, like he truly cared about each person. He was a master at small talk.

As we made our way through the party, I started seeing him in a new light. At some point, he stopped being the shy boy at the rink who struggled to handle all his emotions. He was a mature adult… Who was about to move out of the country on his own. I knew right then that he’d be able to handle being a pro hockey player. He’d handle the press, the fans, everything. He’d be good at it. And I was proud of him.

When we finally made it to the back where the tent was stretched out behind the pool, he asked, “Let’s get food, yeah?”

Inside the tent, people were lined up for barbeque food, which smelled amazing. Mrs. Conover hired a private chef for all her parties.

I stood behind Colt while he loaded up his plate with double scoops of everything. I went slowly, mentally calculating how much I should have. I needed to be careful because we were heading into competition season. Things with my new partner, Andy, were working out really well, and I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. Andy’s coach, Vlad, who had recently teamed up with Iryna, already mentioned that it’d be best if I lost a couple pounds.

My brain now weighed everything I did off the ice with how much it could impact my skating. How I slept, how I worked out, how much I ate, everything was about skating. Everything except Colt. He was just for me.

Colt hesitated when he saw my plate. “You sure you don’t want more, babe?” he whispered down to me, his eyebrows knitting together in concern.

“Yeah, I'm not that hungry,” I lied.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but then some old men dressed in button down shirts and ties came over and surrounded him in conversation.

I easily slipped away and sat out by the pool with Kappy and JP, listening to their funny stories while we ate.

Colt kept giving us longing glances. At one point he mouthed, “ save me .”

“Your boy’s goin’ places,” Kappy, who was sprawled out on a lawn chair, said. “Like, even if hockey doesn’t work for him, he’s gonna own a bank or some shit.” Opposite of Colt, Kappy looked completely disheveled. His white dress shirt was rumpled, unbuttoned, and rolled up at the arms. On closer inspection, I recognized that white shirt as one of Colt’s.

JP was also starting to look a little messy, his tie– also Colt’s– hung undone around his neck. He pulled off his dress shoes and tossed them aside before rolling up his pant legs to dip his feet in the pool.

“Yeah, he is. You guys are, too.” I smiled and smoothed my dress. “Going places, I mean.”

“You think?” Kappy asked, pushing up his dark hair.

JP stared at me with his serious blue eyes, waiting for my answer.

“Yeah, I really do.”