Page 29

TWENTY-NINE

RILEY

Puck Kings

Mavvy

Can someone host team dinner this week? We’re getting the guest bathroom remodeled and there’s shit everywhere.

G-Money

Like… actual shit? That’s disgusting.

Mavvy

No, idiot. Like tools and materials and tiles.

G-Money

OH. That makes more sense lol.

Sully

I can’t wait until I retire. No more social gatherings. No more group chats. No more going places I don’t want to. I can sit in my house all day and not have to talk to anyone.

G-Money

You’re still stuck with us for now, Goalie Daddy!!!

Easy E

Yeah, and when you retire, we’re going to track you down and knock on your window every single day!!!

G-Money

Ooooh, stalker behavior. You know how much I love that.

Mavvy

Speaking of, who’s hosting book club this month?

Huddy Boy

I think it’s my turn? Fair warning: Lucy is going to ask to paint everyone’s nails before she and Madeline go out for the night.

If you tell her no and make her cry, I will not be happy with you.

G-Money

Don’t let Sully near her lol. He makes everyone cry.

Huddy Boy

Believe it or not, she loves him.

Mavvy

Huh. Weird.

Did everyone have a good NYE?

Me

Uneventful for me.

Easy E

We gotta get you back out there, Mitchy. I’m sure you have TONS of DMs from girls who would love to spend time with you… if you know what I mean ;)

Huddy Boy

Everyone knows what you mean, Ethan.

Me

I’m all set. And I haven’t opened Instagram in months.

Easy E

Could you send them my way then, plz?

I’m getting tired of using my hand.

Mavvy

Probably because no one else wants to touch you with a ten-foot pole.

Easy E

Ouch, Cap.

G-Money

Someone bring GTA 5 to dinner, please. I can’t find my copy anywhere.

Huddy Boy

It’s at my house, Grant.

G-Money

Thank god!!!

*Sully has left the chat*

*Mavvy has added Sully to the chat*

Sully

I haven’t known peace in years.

G-Money

And you’re never going to with us around!!

Me

I can host dinner this week. I haven’t had anyone over in ages. My doorman is starting to think I don’t have any friends.

Mavvy

He’s going to be in for a rude awakening when we all show up.

G-Money

I’m going to make a shirt. RILEY AND GRANT 4EVER

Me

That’s unnecessary.

G-Money

Is it though????

* * *

I toss a lime in my hand and set it on a cutting board. Grabbing a knife, I slice it into small wedges and drop them in a glass bowl on the counter.

“Are you a chef now?” Grant steals a crouton off the top of the Caesar salad I made and pops it in his mouth. “Why are you in here with a knife?”

“I’m making garnishes.” I drop the knife in the sink and wash my hands. “In case someone wants to add something extra to their drink.”

“Wow. I’m barely able to get a paper towel to wipe my hands when Maverick and Emmy host dinner and you’re out here distributing garnishes ? You should be in charge more often.”

“Thanks, G.” I crane my neck, looking toward the front door. “Are we missing anyone?”

“I’m pretty sure everyone is here. Oh. Lexi hasn’t shown up, but I heard Piper tell Emmy she was running late.”

“Cool. I guess we can get started.”

“Can I ring the bell?” He practically jumps up and down and reaches for the bell we started using last year to get everyone’s attention when the food is ready. It’s an ugly brass thing, and I groan when he lifts it off the table and shakes it multiple times. “Okay. I don’t want a noise complaint from my neighbor.”

“Please. Like anyone could ever hate you.”

“I’m sure plenty of people hate me.”

“Nah. You’re a good dude. Now, Ethan? He’s bound to have some enemies.” Grant dives for a plate and starts loading up on green beans and mashed potatoes. “The two times we’ve played against New York this season, he’s had his highest penalty minutes. Won’t fucking stop chirping their center on face offs.”

“Does he even know their center? Or is he being an idiot and starting shit to start shit?”

“Guess they were rivals at BC and BU. I think there’s bad blood there.”

I hum and step out of the way so everyone can load up their plates. Piper gives me a hug and tells me everything looks great. Madeline adds a tray of brownies to the long line of food, and Hudson doesn’t bother waiting for her to finish unwrapping the dish before grabbing one and shoving it in his mouth. There’s pushing and shoving, and Emmy waits patiently next to me while Maverick gets her plate ready.

“Wow. Look at that service.” I lift my chin to Maverick balancing the food on his forearms. “You’ve got a winner there, Hartwell.”

“I do, don’t I?” She smiles and nudges my shoulder with hers. “You doing okay?”

“Fine, yeah.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Mitchell.”

I bark out a laugh. “I forgot how much of a hard-ass you are. Today has sucked. My leg hurt during morning skate because I was standing for too long. Everything’s pissed me off up until you all getting here, and I’m tired as hell.”

“That’s more like it. If you want to escape, I can handle everyone.”

“Nah. I’m good. Being around my people helps.” I scan the room again, disappointed. “Do you know when?—”

“Sorry I’m late.” Right on cue, Lexi bursts into the kitchen with a box tucked under her arm. “I had a meeting at the arena that ran long and I’ve been going nonstop for hours.”

Everyone stops to say hello to her, and it takes a few minutes before she makes her way around the kitchen and stands in front of me.

“Hey,” I say, and the syllable cracks. “You made it.”

“And I brought chocolates.” She hands over the box, and I smile at the assortment of treats secured in neat little rows. “Please accept my apology for my tardiness.”

“Nothing to apologize for.” I take the desserts and set them on the counter out of sight from the heathens causing mayhem in the kitchen. The cleanup is going to take me hours. “You must be hungry. Grab a plate. Do you want a drink?”

“Sure. I’ll take a gin and tonic, if you have it.”

“I can make that happen.” I grab a glass from the cabinet, not mentioning I went out and bought a handle of gin to add to my liquor cabinet in case she asked for some. “I got some limes for you too.”

“My lime guy.” Lexi grins, accepting the drink and taking a sip. “This is my first time at your place besides helping you up to your door and storming into your living room. Do I get a tour of your apartment before dinner? I want to learn all your secrets.”

“Secrets.” I laugh and gesture for her to follow me out of the kitchen packed with bodies and down the hall. “I don’t have a lot of those.”

“Come on. You have to be hiding something. An ex-girlfriend in your closet? A box of pictures of people’s feet?”

“That’s what you really think of me? I’m a murderer with a phalange fetish? I’m honored, Lex.”

“Which toe is your favorite? It’s the pinky, isn’t it?”

“God, please stop.” I gag and point out the bathroom and spare bedroom. “You’re going to make me sick.”

“The big toe. I knew it.”

“You’re a goddamn smart-ass.” I push open the door to our left so she can make her way inside. “Welcome to my incredibly boring bedroom.”

Lexi puts a hand on her hip and surveys the space, nodding as she goes. “Curtains? A headboard? A laundry hamper ? Oh, my god, Riley. You’re a fully functioning adult male.”

“You sound surprised.”

“I am. The bar is low, and I’m impressed.”

“Please tell me some of your horror stories so I can feel better about myself. What’s the worst apartment you’ve ever been in?”

“Worst apartment?” Lexi bends to survey the bookshelf shoved against the wall that houses my favorite novels. She touches each book, smiling when she gets to certain titles and pulling out her phone to take pictures of others. “There was the guy who shared a room with his sister.”

“I hope it was a studio apartment.”

“Nope. A three bedroom. They were really close and didn’t like to sleep in separate rooms.”

“I just threw up a little.”

“So did I when he said we had to be quick because him and his sister had a movie to watch together. In his bed .”

“Damn. My curtains make me look like I have my shit together, don’t they? I might be missing a limb, but at least I’m not into incest.” I grin and sit on the edge of the bed. “Tell me more.”

“There was the guy with the army of stuffed animals, which I don’t mind. I know people have items that are sentimental or bring them comfort. I wrote a paper on that for a psych class during my undergrad, and I’d never make fun of someone for what brings them joy. What bothered me was when he turned them all around when we had sex because he didn’t want them watching us .” Lexi sets her drink on my dresser and opens the top drawer. “And then he apologized to them after we finished because we took too long.”

“Fucking Christ.” I shake my head and lean back on my elbow. Down the hall, I hear an argument over a slice of pizza, and I throw a pillow at the door so it shuts. “You need to find new people to sleep with.”

“You didn’t have anything weird about you. We got along just fine, didn’t we?”

I dredge up the memory of her with her head tipped back and her thighs open wide. The underwear of hers I still have shoved in a drawer and how it felt to have her nails dig into my shoulders when I had my head between her legs.

Just fine sounds like an understatement.

“We did get along just fine,” I say slowly, and from the way she grins, I wonder if she’s thinking about that night too.

“What about you? Are you going to tell me some of your—” Her mouth drops open when she gets to the bottom drawer of my dresser. I didn’t even see her open the middle ones. “Oh my god .”

“What?” I sit up and frown. “If you find any feet pictures in there, someone planted them.”

“Are these ropes ?”

Oh, fuck.

I haven’t used them in so long I forgot they were in there.

I could deny they’re mine. She’d believe me if I said they were a gag gift from one of the guys on the team. We do stupid shit like that all the time with each other, and a collection of ropes wouldn’t be the weirdest thing one of them has given me.

But a loud, annoying part of me wants to be honest with her.

She’s seen me when I’m weak and vulnerable and pissed off at the world. Why would I hide it from her?

“Yeah,” I finally say. “They are.”

“What the hell are they for?”

“I sail sometimes?”

“ Riley .”

“Okay, fine. They’re, uh, for sex. I have certain… interests in the bedroom.”

The room is so quiet, I swear I can hear my heart racing.

“You didn’t… when we…” She holds up a rope and glances at me. “In the hotel room?—”

“It’s a preference, not a requirement. I can get off just fine without it. Clearly.”

“What is it exactly?”

“Being in control.” I stand and walk to the dresser so I’m next to her. Being this close feels like I’m about to get into some trouble, and I can’t bring myself to care. “With consent of course.”

“Of course,” she echoes. “How do you… is this something you advertise?”

“No. The last thing I need is someone from the media branding me as a guy who likes to hurt women when that’s not what I do at all.”

“What do you do?”

“Anything. Everything.” I take the rope from her hold and lift my chin in the direction of her hands. “May I?”

“Yes,” she breathes out. “Please.”

The word almost short-circuits my brain when I gently push her palms together. “I said I like control. That means being the one to dictate when a partner touches me. When I touch a partner. When they come.” I use the rope to secure her wrists with a single column knot. It’s a simple knot, one that can be easily released by pulling on the free end of the rope, because I don’t want her to think she can’t escape. “It includes bondage. Eliminating senses like sight and sound. Punishment like spanking if they don’t listen and rewards when they do.” I bend the rope so she has to hold the excess in her grip, and her inhale is sharp. “Everything is with consent, like I said. And safe words.”

“Do you do this your first time with a woman?” Lexi whispers. She turns her wrists to look at the ropes. “How do you know their boundaries?”

“Never the first time, and only after a long conversation. Like I said, I can get off just fine without it. I’ve had a few relationships where I didn’t use any of this because the woman wasn’t comfortable with it, and that’s fine by me.”

“How do you even find out you like this?”

“I’m an athlete. Or, I was. I can’t speak for all guys who play sports, but I think a part of the control factor is written in our DNA. As for learning how I knew I liked it, I, um, did some experimenting.”

“You don’t strike me as someone who…” She trails off, still staring at the rope. “Do the guys know?”

“No. I told you I like to keep private things private. There’s nothing to tell.”

“This is a lot to process.”

“Let me take these off of you.” I reach for the rope, but she yanks her hand back to her chest before I have the chance to release the knot. “Are you okay?”

“I-I…” Lexi bites her bottom lip. “It’s embarrassing.”

“You found my secret stash of sex toys, Lex. I could crawl in a hole and never come out. We’re well past embarrassing.”

“Moment of honesty?”

“Anything. It doesn’t leave this room.”

“I-I’ve always wanted to try something like this.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“A hookup where I give over control. It feels like I’m always in control with my job and my personal life. The guys I’ve been with in the past always made me lead the way in the bedroom. They took my independence and sexual forwardness as someone who likes to be in charge, when I?—”

“Didn’t want to be the one with the power?” I finish for her, and the dip of her chin tells me I’m right. “Have you ever used ropes in the bedroom?”

“No,” she whispers.

“Have you ever been restrained with anything? Someone’s tie? The belt of a robe?”

“No.”

“And that’s something you want to try?”

“Yes. I might hate it, but… it’s one of my biggest fantasies. I’ve never felt safe enough with someone to explore it and find out.”

This is very dangerous territory. My teammates are fifteen feet away and could come in here any minute. We said just once . I’ve spent weeks trying to get Lexi out of my head, and seeing her wrists turn a pretty shade of pink from where the ropes press against her skin is making forming coherent thoughts really fucking difficult .

Especially when it sounds like she’s implying she feels safe with me.

“I want to respect your rules,” I croak. “We agreed we would sleep together one time. Doing this—” I gesture at the knot and will myself not to get hard. “Goes well past that.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Lex.”

“This is—” Lexi tries to release the knot but can’t. “Forget I asked. Can you?—”

“I’ve got you. Stop moving for me? Thank you.”

I pull the loop on the excess part of the rope until it loosens, and when I untuck the rope from where it’s pressing against the inside of her wrist, it falls to the floor. I curl my fingers around her wrist, inspecting her to make sure she’s okay, and smooth my thumb over the tiny mark that was left behind.

“I should…” She shifts and licks her lips. “The girls. The team. Dinner.”

“Right. Yeah.” I drop the discarded rope back in the bottom drawer and shove it closed. “Don’t forget your drink.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you later?”

“My house. Nowhere really for me to go.”

“Right.” She laughs, but it’s forced. “Thanks for giving me a tour.”

“Sure.” I shove my glasses up my nose to give my hands something to do. “No problem.”

Without saying anything else, she turns for the door and disappears down the hall. I watch her leave, feeling like I definitely fucked up.