Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

FINLEY

"You wanna talk about it?" Orion sat on a seat in front of me, putting on his skates.

"Nope," he said without looking up. "We have enough shit to deal with."

His shoulders heaved as he sighed. Now he looked up, but didn’t quite meet my eyes.

"It wasn’t shit, okay? I should be focusing on the game and Aidan’s plan." Not quite an apology, but I got it.

I sat down on the edge of the chair beside his. "Yeah, me too. Just wanted to clear the air, you know? We have a lot riding on the next couple of days and I don’t want things to be awkward. You still have to trust me with your equipment. No pun intended."

It was a long time since I thought about another guy’s equipment. Aidan and I didn’t have that kind of relationship. Ever since I met Elenna, her and everything about her, was stuck in my brain.

My life was about her and hockey and that was about it. That kiss the other day reminded me other people existed. Orion existed. Not as a replacement for her, but…

Hell, I didn’t know. It might be nothing more than another complication none of us needed. Not right now. But my brain was all about precision and being methodical. If an issue came up, I dealt with it, rather than dwelling on it.

The situation with Elenna was different because of Aidan, but this… This was different because the timing was all sorts of fucked up. We might die tomorrow.

On the other hand, if we did, shouldn’t we live today as best we could?

"I trust you with my…equipment." Orion looked more awkward than I’d ever seen him. He was cocky and confident, arrogant and self-assured.

Or so he came across.

He wouldn’t be the first person with false bravado. Not the last either. Elenna had started to peel back his layers, but now I was curious to see what was underneath for myself.

"Of course you do." I patted him hard on the shoulder. "You’re an excellent judge of character."

"I don’t know about that." He smirked and leaned over to fix his laces.

I sensed he had something to say, so I waited and gave him time to put together the words.

Finally, he said, "Do you have a lot of experience with other guys’ equipment?"

Any other time, I would have teased him for his choice of words. Instead, I decided on direct honesty.

"A little. Not in a few years." Then, as usual, I went for a bit of levity. "Mostly I’ve been celibate on account of my ugly face."

He responded with a short, half a laugh in the back of his throat. "Not everyone can be as hot as me."

"Or as modest." I crossed my knees and looked out over the locker room.

Most of the guys were almost ready, some fixing helmets into place or pulling on gloves.

For the most part, they didn’t say much, their minds occupied with mental preparation.

Coast and Tiger teased each other quietly in the corner. Something about Tiger being infatuated with someone. Fuck only knew how long it would last. Guys like them had attention spans about as long as the average regulation period.

"Why waste time being modest when you’re this awesome?" Orion looked amused, but didn’t quite smile. He didn’t even do that when we won a game. What would it take to make him grin?

"I’m sure you’re rolling in endorsement proposals," I said. "Let me guess, underwear and your own brand of perfume. I can see you in an ad campaign right now."

I held my hands in the air in front of me and sketched out the shape of a big screen.

"Standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, looking off into the distance, white underwear full of about five socks." I dropped my hands and ducked to the side as he went to punch my arm.

"I don’t need socks in the front of my underwear," he said smugly. "Five is a very specific number though. Is that how many you use?"

"Nah," I said lightly. "I need six. Between that and my ugly mug, it’s a wonder Elenna is interested in me. It must be my personality and ability to make a fucking good chocolate cake. The way to a woman’s heart, and all that." I grinned at him, but my gaze dropped to his mouth. He had the plushest lips I ever saw on another guy.

I swallowed and looked away.

"I should get you to teach me how to cook after all this is over," he said. "Then I could keep being her favourite."

My gaze swung back to him. "Who says you’re her favourite?" I pretended to be offended.

"Who is whose favourite?" Elenna asked. She held a skate in one hand and new laces in the other. She started to push the laces through the eyelets.

"Orion was just saying he’s jealous of me because I’m your favourite," I said. I closed out that statement with a firm nod.

"Fin is delusional," Orion told her. "I’d never say that, because it’s not true."

"You’re right," she said. She paused to concentrate for a moment.

"See?" I said triumphantly.

She stopped and glanced at me. "I don’t have a favourite. I care about all of you equally."

"But if you did, it might be Aidan, because he’s the one whose ring you wear," Orion said softly.

I exchanged looks with him. Something passed between us and I nodded slightly before looking back at our gorgeous woman.

"Like I said, I don’t have any favourites." She gathered the ends of the laces and held them up to see if they were even, before tugging the shorter end.

"Not amongst them." Coast must have overheard at least part of the conversation.. "Everyone knows I’m really her favourite. And if I’m not, I should be." He winked at her.

"You’ll play really well with two broken arms," Orion told him.

Coast grinned. "Even with two broken arms, I’d play better than you."

Elenna stepped in front of Orion. I grabbed him to keep him from jumping up and doing anything rash.

"You’re fucking delusional," Tiger said to Coast. "Stop trying to stir up shit."

Coast shrugged and jammed his helmet down onto his head. "Just trying to lighten the mood, bro. You know what Aidan said about us needing to get along better as a team."

"Teammates don’t hit on other guys’ women," Orion snarled.

I held him harder until he managed to relax. "He’s just fucking around."

"If he keeps fucking around, he’s going to find out." Orion shook me off.

"Ignore him," Elenna said. "I’m not bothered by his bullshit and I’m not interested in him. Save it for the ice."

"What she said." I glanced at her. "Coast isn’t your favourite, right?"

She laughed. "He’s my favourite first line Demons centre who’s usually in the starting lineup, and not a guy I want to date or fuck. He’s not your competition."

"I knew that," I said as if I hadn’t asked. Even a guy like me gets insecure now and again. Only a little bit though. Sort of.

I mean, Coast was a good looking guy and if Elenna wanted him too, I’d support her, but three of us seemed to be enough for her.

She slid me a look and a warm, reassuring smile. Fuck, she made my heart flip every time. Not to mention making my cock and balls both harder. I knew exactly how I felt about her, but now was not the time to express it. Not in a locker room full of smelly hockey players and testosterone.

"Who’s ready to kick some Echidna ass?" Aidan shouted out.

"Us, as long as they’re not literally echidnas," Coast called back. "I prefer my prick in my pants, not my foot."

"You should have been called the Clowns, not the Demons," Aidan told him. "All right, get out there and puck them up!"

"Are you and Orion all right?" Elenna sat beside me, her eyes on the game.

"I think so," I said. "What do you think about what happened?" We’d skirted around the issue until now. Personally, I was still getting my head around Aidan telling us what to do and how fucking hot that was. It took me a while to admit to myself kissing Orion wasn’t just me getting caught up in the moment. Once I was honest with myself, I could be honest with them.

"I liked it," she said. "What do you think about it?" She looked over at me. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine and dandy," I said lightly. "You know me, I go with the flow."

She gave me a, ’really, you’re going to play it that way’ look. "What way do you want the flow to take you?"

She put a hand on my thigh. "You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready. It’s a big deal. Or maybe it isn’t and that’s okay too. Whatever you guys do, you know I’ll support you."

"You’re the best," I told her. "I’ll be honest and say I dunno what might happen. For one thing, we may be dead and gone this time next week."

She flinched. "We won’t be. We’ll all be fine. I trust Aidan to get us through this. I know you do too."

In spite of the strength of her words, there was unease behind them. The plan to have Ike spy on the Fiorellis should have been ironclad too, and it turned badly so quickly no one had time to get him out.

Or… they had, but the Brantleys turned their backs and pretended they weren’t involved. Either way, he was equally dead.

"Yeah." I looked back at the ice as Orion ducked and wove around an opposition player.

He moved effortlessly, like he was born on the ice. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he could skate before he could walk. Every movement was natural, fluid. So was his stick work. Hockey stick that was, although watching him fuck Elenna was already a cherished memory.

Picturing the way his cock slid in out of her made mine stand up and pay attention.

As casually as I could, I rested my hand over my groin, palm up, while at the same time trying to convince my cock to go down. The whole arena didn’t need to see me getting a boner.

"He’s really that good isn’t he?" she said just loud enough to be heard over the roar of the crowd.

"He’s at least as good as he says he is," I said with a grin. "Maybe better, but don’t tell him that. His head is big enough."

"Yes, it is," she said slyly.

There I was, thinking about his cock again. And her pussy. Would anyone notice if we stuck away for a quickie in a corner somewhere? Shit, they would, or that was exactly what I’d do. I promised my cock I’d have time with her later. He’d have to be content with that for now.

"If you’re not careful, you’re going to corrupt my innocence," I joked.

She laughed. "I’ll apologise in advance if that happens, but I’m not sure who’s doing the corrupting around here."

I leaned over and whispered in her ear. "You never need to apologise for leading me astray. Although, I think you’re right, I don’t think you can. I have a map on my phone that tells me exactly where to find the road there."

She laughed again. "That wouldn’t surprise me one bit. I think I have that app too."

She leaned against me. I draped my arm across her shoulders. I didn’t care who might look and pass judgement on us. If they were jealous or condemning, that was their problem.

I was living my best life with the best three people I knew.