Page 66 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)
BEAR
THE SéMA-AUTOMATIC
Fuck being friends.
They were about to lock me in the pound for how much pussy I’d eat. Now that my check was in my account, I’d take June out to dinner. Show her how much of a gentleman I could be before I had her ass-up at home.
Once she saw how green the grass was, she’d never want to leave.
Everything was falling into place, I couldn’t believe it. I was actually settling in with my team, we had a brand-new coach, and I scored June. Holy shit.
“We’re professionals,” Denali reminded us by the entrance, anticipation thick in the air. “Not fanboys, we’re hockey players.”
The front door’s handle jiggled and everyone shifted forward, watching, craning our necks, waiting.
This was it. The real beginning of the Gladiators.
The door pushed open and everyone held their breath.
A tan guy in a neon jacket shoved his way through. He peered at the ceiling of the Colo and whistled.
Not Sémajuste.
“Uh…are you—uh—lost?” Nick asked, confused.
The guy scanned the team and laughed. He moved past us, heading deeper into the Colo.
We exchanged more confused looks, no one was sure what to say or do when the door opened again.
More people in neon safety jackets poured through, sunglasses propped on their foreheads, then came fancy people with bluetooth headphones, loudly having conversations, people in polo shirts, more people in polo shirts, until a line was streaming into the Colo.
“I’m your new strength coach!” someone shouted, shaking my teammates’ hands.
“I’m the equipment manager?—”
A woman with her hair cropped to her ears gave me a brisk handshake. “Director of operations, nice to meet you?—”
I was overwhelmed by people swarming into our arena. The Colo wasn’t swarmed, ever. More people poured through, more handshakes, until the doors opened wide once again for our big reveal.
Anthony Sémajuste.
“Holy crap,” Montoya whispered.
Surrounded by his assistants, Sémajuste arrived in a professional navy suit, a pair of sleek glasses over his nose. He’d gained a paunchy physique since leaving hockey, but he still had the confidence in his walk, an assuredness that didn’t vanish with age.
“Gladiators!” he bellowed, grinning wide.
Nobody listened to Denali’s instructions, my teammates jumped in front of each other to shake his hand.
“I’ve been an assistant coach for the AJU for five years running.
I’ve never had the pleasure of a head coach whistle before.
” He pointed to Denali and me. “Captain. Alternate captain.”
“Denali Maddox,” Denali introduced himself.
I held up a hand. “Bear?—”
“I know who you are, I’m part of the TIHCC too,” he said, amused. His eyes settled on my face and his eyebrows raised. “Bear, I thought you were drafted to Boston. Who’s this June Basil you belong to now?”
Laughter ricocheted from the team, and I grinned, face flushed.
Before I could explain, he directed his attention to the only other person blushing, and blushing way brighter red than I was. He arched an eyebrow. “You must be June Basil.”
“Hi, sir,” she squeaked. “We tried to wash it off.”
Sémajuste reached for her hand to shake. “Lovely to meet the co-owner of my team.” He gave her a good-natured smile at her apologies and shook Cleo’s hand too, directing them to the front. “Walk with me, I want to check out my new home.”
Our team followed after him as he strode around the rink, laughing at comments from his workers and shaking his head good-naturedly at others. It was pretty obvious his crew was devoted to him.
He clapped his hands, directing his comments to us when he turned around at the end of the rink. “Ground rules are a good start! I believe in honesty, respect, and being open with my team. Any questions?”
Denali raised his voice. “Could we talk about our goals, sir?”
“Goals?”
“We want the Gulf Coast Cup.”
The silence stretched for long seconds as Sémajuste gazed around the crowd of faces. “I’m sure we’ll work our hardest but…”
“We don’t want the Gulf Coast Cup,” Denali corrected himself. “We’re committed to it. We’re going to win.”
“The Gladiators haven’t won the cup before.”
“We’ll be the first to do it.”
“It’s been months since you’ve had a proper coach,” Sémajuste said, rubbing his hands together. “You’re behind everyone else in the conference. You’d have to eat, sleep, and breathe hockey.”
Montoya’s hand shot to the air. “Are you saying it’s impossible, sir?”
“I guess what I’m saying is…” A huge grin split across his face. “When do we start?”
Everybody was on top of the world when we filed into Gianna’s, pulling tables in the back until we were congregated together. Denali raised a beer. “To the fucking Gladiators!”
“The fucking Gladiators!” everyone shouted, slamming our drinks together.
“Glad for Gladiators!” Montoya sang, chugging down his drink.
“We’re taking hockey seriously now,” Denali said. “No drinking, no partying, no distractions?—”
Nick choked on his beer. “Okay, Coach Vernon.”
“This isn’t some Vernon power trip, this is us deciding to do this,” Denali insisted. “If we want the Gulf Coast Cup, it’ll take sacrifice. We need to agree as a team. No more crazy shit for the rest of the summer.”
“Did I hear boring?” Elijah asked.
“ Yes, ” Denali said, ignoring the sarcasm. “We’ll have a boring rest of the summer.”
June’s phone rang and she caught sight of the name, flashing the screen to me— King . “I’ll be back,” she promised, slipping out of the booth.
“I was thinking of ordering a jersey for June,” Cleo said, sipping her espresso martini. “I’m putting together a goodbye box of Gladiator memorabilia for her.”
“Goodbye?” Pickles repeated. “What do you mean goodbye?”
“June has…uh…” Fridge drummed his fingers on the table. “Three weeks?”
Sully frowned. “Until what?”
My good mood disappeared. “June’s leaving RV, she’s moving back in with her parents.”
“What?” Elijah blinked. “I thought that was a joke.”
More mutters erupted from the table, teammates asking if she was actually leaving or if we were kidding, until everyone fell silent.
A beat passed before Cleo cleared her throat. “We could have a goodbye party? If we do it on a Sunday, Miles can come.”
The thought of a goodbye party hurt more than I was willing to admit but I knew June would like it. “Yeah, let’s do it.”
“It can’t be a party-party,” Denali warned. “We’re not jeopardizing?—”
“The last party,” Nick interjected. “Final chance for us to have some fun before we buckle down into training. Come on, Captain.”
The table was a chorus of guys hitting their fists and empty glasses against the table, trying to convince Denali before he put his head in his hands. “Fine,” he relented. “A lowkey party. Just us.”
“When I think of lowkey, I think of us,” Elijah chortled.
“ Don’t, Elijah.” Denali grinned. “You’re such an asshole.”
The guys debated what kind of liquor we’d buy, who’d handle the playlist, if a beer pong tournament constituted a ‘lowkey party’ but this was going to be June’s night.
I knew the perfect way to make it hers.
I typed the address on my phone. “I know where we should throw the party.”
Our dorm felt different when we called it a night. I threw on a t-shirt and boxers, listening to the sounds of June finishing her night routine before I pushed her door open.
“Where are you sleeping tonight?”
She turned away from me, pulling on a shirt. “Um, I think it’d set the wrong precedent if we slept in each other’s bed. This would be a good—um—boundary to have.”
“Hm.”
“We should talk about the timeline. We can do a friends with benefits for the rest of the summer…and I’ll help you with the dating profiles in, like, preparation.”
Awesome, the girl I wanted was eager to push me to somebody else. I grunted. “Hm.”
“Can you turn around? You’re making me self-conscious.”
“Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“But it’s from the back and—” She touched her side. “I’m trying not to think like this, but I have hip dips now. I—I guess I’m not used to them.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud—it’s been a crazy day.”
I didn’t know how to respond. Nothing really captured how much I loved her body. I loved watching her, touching her. Loved how much more color she had now that she was eating more. Was that wrong to say?
I nudged her against the bed.
“Bear, we have to go to sleep,” she whispered.
I dropped to my knees, gently pulling down her shorts until her hips showed.
“I know what you’re doing,” she said softly, touching my hair. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s a nice thought but you can’t kiss this kind of thing better?—”
I sank my teeth into her hip.
“Oh, fuck! ” June jerked away but I brought her back with my fingers against her panties.
I licked the bite mark and bit her again. June cursed, squeezing my hair between her fingers while I sucked. Her panties were soft, but I wanted something softer. I brushed them aside and drew my fingers along her slit.
“ Fuck .” She squirmed. “Bear, you’re—you’re going to give me a hickey?—”
“Don’t worry,” I muttered against her skin. “I’ll give you another one to match.”
“Oh— oh my god ?—”
I tilted my head, working on another bruise. “I love your body,” I muttered, biting her again. “Fuck, I love your body.”
I finished, shifting her around to face me. Her mouth fell open when she saw what I did. “Oh my god, Bear.”
The crisscross of bite marks and bruises brought a grin to my lips as I bent to give the same treatment to the other hip. Her hand met my forehead, stopping me.
“I get it, self-love, all that crap,” she panted. “Do you have a condom?”
“Do you want me to eat you out?”
“ Yes, ” she breathed out and yelped when I bit her untouched hip. “Forty, stop playing with me?—”
“Where are you sleeping tonight?”
“I…what?”
“Answer the question.”
“I—I’m sleeping here.”
“Oh. A goodnight kiss then.”
With her panties pulled to the side, I pressed a kiss to her pussy, slick to the touch. She tried to keep me between her legs, but I pushed to a standing position.
“Bear, wait?—”
I ran my hands over her hips, inspecting the bruises. “You’re so sexy. Have a good night.”
“Are you seriously leaving?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why are you leaving?”
“You’re not being nice.”
“How am I not being nice?” she asked, exasperated. “I told you to get a condom.”
“Spend the night with me, baby,” I whispered.
June fell silent. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
I pressed my lips to her neck, gently kissing down to her collarbone. “I want to bite you in bed. Better yet, sit on my face and I'll jerk off, I want to cum while you drip on me.”
“We can have sex,” she said softly.
“That’s not all I want. Not even close.”
Gently, I lifted her shirt—no bra, thank fuck—and slipped my head underneath, kissing down her breast.
“Come to bed, baby.” I ran my tongue in a circle over her nipple, and she gasped. “I want to wake up with you.”
“It’s—it’s not—” Her words stuttered as I sucked her nipple, nuzzling her. Fuck, her tits were fantastic. I was already addicted to the taste, running my tongue under her nipple, applying enough pressure to hear her pant, no real relief.
I bit her softly. “I want to do this when I wake up.”
“Bear…”
“I’m begging. What do you want from me?”
“Um—I—” She swallowed. “I guess…for tonight…”
Before she could change her mind, I swooped her over my shoulder and headed to my room. Just for tonight. Sure. She could believe that. When I set her down, I fell to my knees, kissing her hip with a single bite mark.
“Bear—”
“I’m not done. I want you to look at them when you wake up.”