Chapter 9

MAX

"Two fucking hat tricks in one game? And the rookie? Corey's instincts were right on about the kid," Frederickson said as we made our way down the long hall leading to the visiting team's locker room.

I should be fucking ecstatic. We were one game away from advancing to the damn cup semi finals in my first year as head coach, but all I could think about was Sophia.

Every night, I picked out a damn entry from her journal. And last night's hit me like a pissed off New York Ranger who missed his mother and fucking Sunday dinner.

Last night, her words, hand written and fucking beautiful, filled with all the reasons she said those words to me.

No catching feelings…

Every page revealed another window into the woman who haunted me.

Broken

I escaped the twisted bars of the cage you kept me in.

Gasping, crying, begging..

Heart broken and shattered from the storm.

I walked the streets of the memories you lied to me.

Empty, broken, forsaken.

Lonely and shattered from your love

I sank to my knees the way you always commanded.

Burning, craving, pleading.

Knowing you never meant to save me the way you promised.

Kept, secret. Oaths, forsworn.

Without you.

But never free.

e.liza

But right now, my vision filled with Sophia LeCavalier in the stands with Jules, cheering on the Revenge. Fucking gorgeous.

In Jacob fucking Hale's jersey. Wearing his number.

I managed to push away the thought of grabbing her in the middle of the game and making her take it off or pulling Hale's off out of spite until the final buzzer sounded.

Two fucking hat tricks and a postseason win were huge accomplishments. But all I could think about was Sophia. And reminding her of what I had said to her at Jules house after I stole her keys.

Okay, maybe not steal. More like helped make sure she didn't make the biggest mistake of her life by going out with Hale. Even if the two of them had gone out for coffee a few days later. But that was it. And I returned her keys the next day, by leaving them at the front desk with an anonymous note.

I raked a hand through my hair as Alaric rambled on. Fucking win meant more press obligations, and less time to find Sophia. Hell, she probably had a car waiting to take her to the airport just to piss me off even more.

After the obligatory post game media conference, I headed back into the locker room where various family members and girlfriends surrounded the players as they celebrated the win. Most of the guys had showered, only Kas, Oliver and I had stayed longer answering questions.

Jules ran past me and jumped into her sweaty boyfriend's arms. "Cricket? What the fuck are you-"

Her eyes sparkled, and she grinned. "Playoff win hat trick," she said with a note in her voice I steadfastly ignored yet failed.

"Please, for the love of God, go away," I grumbled as I pushed past them. Jules jumped down, and hugged me.

"And I am so proud of my big brother," she added, giving me a peck on the cheek.

I murmured my thanks as I caught sight of who stood off to the side. In the wrong jersey. Eyes narrowed, I stalked towards her as her spine straightened, defiance in her gray depths.

"Nice game, Coach Grumpy Pants."

"No Iceman?" I asked low enough so only she heard me.

She stuck out her bottom lip in a fake pout. "That would be bad manners, considering I'm wearing another man's jersey, now wouldn't it?" She faked a yawn. "Well, since I've faithfully delivered my girl to her hat trick man, I'm heading out. My job here is done."

"What? Not going to congratulate the man whose jersey you're wearing, Sunrise?"

Her eyes lit with a mischievous glow. "Who says I'm not?"

She spun on her heel and left me standing there, seething, and ready to take her over my knee. A slow smirk spread across my face.

I knew exactly how to remind Sophia I wasn't a man to be messed with unless she was ready and willing to face the consequences.

"Hale," I barked. The tall goalie came over, minus his equipment. He stood only an inch taller than me, and if he hadn't caught my girl's eye, I would've liked the guy. "Do me a favor. Make sure Sutton gets to his room without any…complications and stays there. Last thing we need is the rookie getting in over his head with some girl or three."

Hale nodded with a grin. "Poor kid isn't going to know what to do with himself after that game."

"Exactly." I played on Hale's good side, and had guessed correctly. He would most likely not desert the rookie in favor of Sophia because he knew the consequences. And truthfully, protecting the rookie was his roommate's unspoken duty. And Hale was all about honor.

I, however, had no qualms about a little manipulation in order to get what I wanted.

Less than thirty minutes later I stared at the nondescript white door in the hallway of the hotel the team booked for the night, debating on whether to knock on the door, and use Jules' key to enter the room she was supposed to be sharing with Sophia.

Sneak in, or make her open the door.

Either way, she had to know she couldn't avoid what was about to happen. Wearing another man's jersey was like throwing gas on an already burning inferno and being surprised when it didn't fizzle out.

The spark between us, no matter how much she tried to deny it, built from the very first time she sat down next to me at that bar. And nothing would stop it now. The black sharpie I'd taken to carrying in my back pocket burned, as if it couldn't wait to make contact with her skin.

Fuck, now I was imagining inanimate objects wanting her as much as I did.

I decided to go with the one option that would fool her into thinking she had a choice, and knock on the door. Two sharp and precise raps of my knuckles.

The silence in the hallway echoed as footsteps neared the other side of the door. Stillness, and then I could almost hear her sigh and then a sharp intake of breath. Foolish as it was, my body knew where she was, even as she tried to lie to us both and pretend nothing happened or was happening between us.

Sophia lied like she had become so accustomed to doing to herself and no longer knew how to face the truth. Like it was something to be feared.

Not happening any longer.

"Let me in, Sunrise." I placed my palm flat on the outside of the door, and exhaled a breath while I waited for her defiance. At least this way, she could fight and think and then let me in on her own terms. Or so she thought. Neither of us had a choice, really, since the first time we touched.

As much as I tried to stay away, seeing her flirt at Christmas, then later made the possessive side of me simmer. But when she wore fucking Hale's number, red haze clouded any chance of logic or the way I let her believe the words she said to me. About how she couldn't or wouldn't or didn't feel anything between us.

From here on out, my only mission? Show her that despite what happened in her past, and I had no doubt it had something to do with fucking ‘Pink Houses" and her brother's best friend, her present held a different meaning altogether.

As did her damn future.

I'd built a career on setting goals and achieving them, even if I had to tilt the cards in my favor. Once in a while I thought about the small notebook that fell out of her purse the morning she left after the sweat-filled night of sex we'd had. How her words weren't just a creative outlet, but a way to deal with whatever feelings and memories she kept deep inside, buried or kept in a box locked away until they spilled out onto the page.

A glimpse into the woman she hid beneath all the false bravado and sass. I fucking loved her sass, though, and how she went toe to toe with me. And the way she looked out for my baby sister.

The damn cat, however, was a different story. I was convinced she communicated with the little demon and told her to torture me whenever she could.

Demonic and adorable, Daisy reminded me a little of Sophia. Adorable, feisty, and with claws until you learned how to make her purr. The only difference, Daisy refused to play nice.

Ever.

Fucking cat.

"Maybe I have company."

"You don't."

"How do you know, Coach Grumpy Pants?"

"Because if you did, he wouldn't let you out of his sight let alone near another man." Silence. "Open the damn door, Sunrise."

The door whipped open, but before she could turn away I grabbed Sophia's wrist and gave her a quick once over. And growled. Because hiding her fucking body from me was Hale's jersey. Her eyes flashed in defiance. Then I noticed her legs, long and bare. Knee socks. And a smirk on her face when my eyes reached hers again.

"Like what you see, Vaughn?"

"Oh, little girl, you have no idea." I kicked the door closed behind me, bent and scooped her over my shoulder, ass high in the air. I landed a hard smack on it, and she yelped. "That's only the beginning, sweetheart." A quick glance told me her room was similar to mine, and I headed into the bedroom off to the right and set her on her feet before I sat down. With a growl I yanked her over my lap, face down and deftly pulled the damn jersey off her body. "That's the last fucking time you wear someone else's number, understood?" I didn't wait for an answer , and spanked her ass. The thin thing she wore bared her to me, and my cock, already ready for action, hardened even more at the sight of my handprint on her ass. She yelped, and I spanked her again in the same spot. She tried to wriggle away, but I held her in place. "Answer me, Sophia."

She glared at me over her shoulder but didn't utter a sound other than the yelp when I landed another swift smack to her other ass cheek. "Fine! I understand."

My hand slid up her back and unsnapped her bra. I ran my fingers along her spine, and pressed my hand flat. Skin heated, her breaths came faster and her skin flushed with arousal. I spanked her again, then rubbed my hand along the red mark. She tried to arch her back but only ended up pushing her ass higher in the air. "And you won't be going out with anyone else, either." Another mark on her skin as she moaned and nodded, already lost in the moment. "You can lie to me all you want with your words, Sophia, but the sounds you're making? They tell the truth. You love this, and I bet if I slid my finger just a little lower," I murmured, my tone soothing and commanding all at once as my finger traced along the crack of her ass. I hooked a finger in her thong, and pulled it out of my way. The material slick and wet and doing nothing to hide her tight pussy from my ministrations. A finger slid along her, and I found her clit, swollen and begging for my touch.

"Oh God," she moaned as I circled the bundle of nerves and applied just enough pressure, her hips bucked. "Please." The word came out of her lips, a plea and a confession all in one.

Sexy as hell.

"So wet and ready," I growled as I ran my finger along her slit, then slid on inside with a groan, and added another. "Do you think you deserve to come, little girl? After teasing me and answering the door like that, in another man's number?" I twisted my fingers, hitting her G-Spot, then pulling them out. She squirmed and made a desperate sound. "Look at me, Sophia," I commanded. When she complied, I brought my fingers to my mouth and sucked them clean. "I've never forgotten how good you taste, all these months. Or how you felt when your pussy clenched around my fingers. My cock. How your eyes watered when I fucked your mouth, choking you until you came without my hands even touching you because you loved being used by me. Being mine." I spanked her again, her summer storm gray eyes widened, then shuttered as I fucked her again with my fingers. Two, then three, stretching her. "Do you want my cock? Or should I make you come all over my fingers?"

"I need…" she bit off a whimper as I fucked her with a relentless pace, then pushed knuckle-deep as her inner walls clenched. I twisted and curled my fingers, loving how her body responded. How her ass, red with the marks I gave her, looked. With my other hand, as she came, I uncapped the damn Sharpie with my teeth, then wrote my number when I played on her ass, right on the reddened skin where my handprint laid.

She writhed, her body taking over her mind, and made a keening sound as her release coated my hand and dripped from her pussy. Body shuddered, sweat soaked, and every part of her bared and opened to me. Body and soul.

Now, I just had to work on her heart.

And figure out how to tell my baby sister I fucked her best friend and fell for her.