Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

ORION

I narrowly avoided the temptation to smash my stick into the face of one of my opponents. I’d be sent off for the rest of the game, if not the season, if I had.

I wouldn’t rule out smashing him in the face off the ice though. Prick deserved it. No one trips Orion Scully-Evans and gets away with it. I wouldn’t kill him because he didn’t succeed.

Lucky for him, we beat the Sunrays by two points. We should have beaten them by more, but I’d take the win. I had no fucking choice. Being better than they were wasn’t good enough. We deserved to be the fucking best.

"I saw the way she was looking at you. You’re getting some tail tonight," one of the guys said behind me. Coast Riggs.

"Fucking right I am, she was ready to get on her knees and suck my cock in here." Tiger chuckled.

No trophies for guessing who they were talking about. Elenna’s friend, Wren. It was nothing but dumbass locker room talk, so I ignored it.

Until another guy joined them and said, "Aidan’s wife can suck me off any time. Have you seen her mouth? It was made to take a dick."

The other two laughed. "If she was mine, I’d spend half my life down her throat. I hear she’s?—"

I turned around, identified the speaker as Spooner, one of the team’s wingers and lunged at him. I grabbed him by the collar and rammed his back straight into one of the lockers.

"What did you fucking say?" I growled.

He looked at me in surprise. "What the hell, man? Get your fucking hands off me." He tried to shrug me off, but I held him hard.

"What. Did. You. Say?" I growled again.

"Just talking about the coach’s woman, no big deal. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed her ‘fuck me’ mouth? Are you gonna say no if she’s on her knees in front of you?"

I saw red. My vision blurred with hot fury. "You don’t talk that way about Elenna."

The prick actually laughed. "I heard she’s fucking Fin too. Let me guess, the slut is spreading her legs for you as well?" He looked amused with himself until I drove my fist into his face.

Bone crunched. Blood sprayed out of his face, covering my jersey.

He cried out in pain. It wasn’t quite as satisfying as silence. The inability to make a sound because I killed the motherfucker.

"Fucking hell." Hands grabbed me from behind and pulled me off him before I could smash my fist into his face again and again. I tried to fight them off, but they held me tight. Two of them. Tiger and Coast.

"You need to chill the hell down, bro," Coast said.

"I’m not your fucking bro," I snarled. "Get your hands off me."

One of the team’s staff already hurried forward to press a towel against Spooner’s face and lead him away.

"And you wonder why we’re losing," Tiger snapped. "Save the fight for the opposition, dickhead."

"He deserved it." I managed to shake them both off. "They should be more respectful to Elenna."

"I didn’t see you jumping in to defend her friends when we were talking about them," Tiger pointed out. "I guess Spooner was right then. You are fucking her too." He shot an amused glance in Coast’s direction.

"Unless you want me to break your fucking nose too, back the fuck off," I said. I sucked in a hard breath. "For the record, if Aidan heard him talking like that, he would have ripped his nuts off. I’d be here for it."

I stalked away to pull off my jersey and wash Spooner’s blood off me. If we were alone, I would have pounded the prick until there was nothing left but pulp. They would have had to use his teeth to identify him. If they weren’t shattered into pieces.

I ignored the muttering behind me, got in the shower and turned the water on until it was warm enough to rinse blood and sweat from my skin and hair. I was pissed off with Spooner, but I was also pissed off with myself.

Coast was right. We shouldn’t be fighting amongst ourselves. Spooner should have kept his stupid mouth shut. Locker talk about a single woman was bullshit enough. Saying shit like that about Elenna…

I resisted the urge to put my fist into the tiled wall and turned off the water. I stepped out to dry myself off.

Towel wrapped around my waist, I walked out of the cubicle to see Finley and Aidan both watching, clearly waiting.

"I’m fine." I held up my fist. "No need for any ice. I appreciate your concern." I opened my locker and started to pull out my street clothes. Jeans and a T-shirt. I was always warm, even in the middle of winter. Even when everyone else was wearing coats, scarves and gloves.

"Smartass," Aidan snapped. "Spooner claims you punched him and that it was completely unprovoked. I’m pretty sure he’s full of shit, but this is your chance to tell your side of the story before you get benched for a couple of games." He crossed his arms over his chest like he was my father or something.

For the record, I knew who my father was, and it wasn’t Aidan Draeger.

Finley looked equally unimpressed.

"It was provoked," I said. "He was being an asshole. Then he got in the way of my fist." I didn’t want to miss any games, but we know what happens to snitches. Yeah, at times we were a step up from high school.

"Spooner is known for being an asshole," Finley said. "Most people know to ignore him."

He also wasn’t my father.

I shrugged one shoulder. "He was being disrespectful about women."

Aidan narrowed his eyes. "That’s nothing new. Women or one woman in particular?"

"If I answer that, Spooner gets a one-way ticket to a shallow grave." I didn’t know why I gave a shit. He was replaceable, just like the rest of us.

Aidan’s lips pressed together in a tight line. "What did he say about Elenna?" His voice could have frozen a fresh cup of coffee.

I shook my head. "It doesn’t matter, I set him straight. He won’t be talking about her again."

Finley muttered a few obscenities under his breath. "Did it have anything to do with our…arrangement?"

I pulled my T-shirt over my head. "He seemed to think that because she’s with both of you, she’s fair game for anyone else. Like I said, I set him straight."

Aidan growled. Literally growled.

"Fucking dirt bag," he snarled. "You’re right about the shallow grave."

Finley put a hand on his shoulder. "Don’t do anything rash. How do you think she’d feel? We could have been more discreet."

"Fuck that," Aidan snapped. "What we do is our business. If I have to make an example of Spooner to remind everyone else of that, then that’s what I’ll do."

"He already has a broken cheekbone." Finley jerked his head towards me. "Possible broken jaw. He’s going to be out for a while. That’s enough of a reminder. No need to go off half cocked."

"I’d be going off full cocked," Aidan said. "He needs to?—"

"Why don’t you ask Elenna what her thoughts are on this?" Finley suggested calmly. "I don’t think she’d want you to have someone killed because he said some cavemen stuff about her."

Finley was right. She’d be angrier at what they said about her friend than anything Spooner said about her. She was very protective of Wren and Sinclair. As they were protective of her. Not as protective as Aidan, Finley and me, but they looked out for each other.

Aidan looked ready to chew rocks, but after a few long moments he nodded reluctantly. "Fine. I won’t have him killed, but only because people will ask questions and I don’t want it getting back to her. No one talks about this to Elenna. Understood? I don’t want her thinking she can’t do whatever she wants to do because she’s being judged by a bunch of cocky pricks."

"Understood," I said. I didn’t want her to hear about it either. She didn’t deserve any of it. Although, she did have a very fuckable mouth. If she was on her knees in front of me, I wouldn’t say no. I’d fuck her mouth so hard she saw stars.

Fortunately, my towel covered my cock, which was quickly getting hard at the thought.

"Of course," Finley said. "We should play it low key for a while, until things simmer down."

"No," Aidan said immediately. "I won’t have her feeling ashamed of any of this. If we start acting differently, she’ll notice. We should be more transparent about our arrangement, not less. The sooner everyone realises how normal it is, the better. That includes you."

He nodded towards me. "If you’re going to be part of this, I won’t go hiding it. Take Elenna out. Be seen. Both of you. If anyone says anything about her again, speak to me and I’ll deal with it. Don’t risk damaging yourself because some narrow minded fuckwit has something to say about it." He fixed me with a glare like the shit Spooner said was my fault.

I wanted to argue that Elenna was more important than hockey, but I ground out, "Right. I’ll try to avoid punching the snot out of the next prick who opens his mouth."

I wouldn’t rule out using a hockey stick or a gun, but I could have broken my hand and that would have jeopardised the team, and not gone unnoticed by Elenna.

I needed my hand for finger-fucking her. I would have regretted not being able to make her come with my hand. A small part of me wanted to punch both of the men in front of me because they had touched her and fucked her, and I hadn’t.

But I would.

"We should go and join the celly," Finley said. "The fact the three of us aren’t there will raise eyebrows. Especially both of you. Considering how many goals you saved tonight, they’ll all want to buy you drinks." He patted me hard on the shoulder.

If he was anyone else, I would have jerked away, but Finley had a way of making people comfortable. Even guys like me, who were uncomfortable around most other people. I was the intense, angry, hockey god that others sidestepped because I wasn’t warm and fuzzy like other guys. Aidan and I had that in common. We commanded respect, if not friendship. Although, he was still working to get mine. For now, I’d get along with him for Elenna’s sake.

"Are you two going to buy me drinks?" I rarely smiled, but I was capable of a deadpan joke.

"Aidan will," Finley offered. "If you’re lucky, I might too."

One of Aidan’s eyebrows twitched up. "Sounds like Finley is buying first. I wouldn’t want to rob him of that privilege." Before Finley could protest, he added, "I insist. You can thank me later."

"Asshole," Finley teased.

"You’re not the first person to make that observation," Aidan said flatly. "I doubt you’ll be the last. You’re just the most recent."

"I hate to be unoriginal," Finley complained. "I better come up with a better word for you then. How about pillock?"

Aidan turned to me. "I’m starting to rethink my decision not to have a shallow grave dug for Spooner. I could have them make it big enough to put Finley in as well." His smile was faint.

I snorted an almost-laugh. "You’re the head coach. It’s not my job to contradict your decisions."

"Ha! That hasn’t stopped you yet," Aidan said. "Cocky prat."

"I’ve been called worse," I said. No doubt I’d be called worse in the future. Especially if Spooner came back. Guys like him usually didn’t know when to give up.