Page 6 of Honey Undone (The Hornets Nest #5)

JENSEN

“ T ake me to tonight's Hillcats game,” I bombarded Van in the locker room.

“Good morning to you too, Jenny. How was breakfast, you look particularly fit today, new workout routine?” He angled his massive frame in my direction with a scowl on his face as he stripped from his damp practice gear.

“What?” Mine scrunched up in confusion.

“Making a conversation with a teammate before demanding shit from them is a social norm you dickhead.” He laughed and shoved me back playfully with one hand. “This about that girl, isn’t it?” He asked, slipping into a clean shirt.

Yes . “Maybe,” I said, stepping back as he turned around to face me fully. “Has anyone ever told you how handsome and tall you are?”

Van shook his head with a laugh, “yeah Zoey all the time. You don’t have to suck up,” he said, clapping a massive hand on my shoulder.

“I don’t?” I gave him a confused smile.

“I was going anyway, it’ll be nice to have some company. We’ll leave the Nest in thirty. And wear a hat.” He grabbed his bag and left the locker room without another word.

“Wear a hat…” I mumbled to myself, what the fuck was that supposed to mean? I shoved all my shit in my bag so I could run up the hill to the Nest and get clean clothes. Van would absolutely leave me behind if I wasn’t fast enough and I needed to see her.

I had never moved up the hill so fast. I slid into a pair of jeans and tossed a t-shirt on before swiping a hat from the dresser. Van was waiting on the steps outside when I finally made it back down the stairs. He looked me over with a scowl.

“You have to keep your hat on, Cosy’s rule.” He pointed to it.

“Why?” I asked, pulling it down over my head.

“Because, pretty boy ,” he mused, slapping my cheek. “You’ll take away from the game and that’s rude. If you come, you keep your head down and your mouth shut.”

“I can do that,” I said, just trying to keep my tone even so he didn’t pick up on how excited I was to see Adeline. He stopped just before his truck and turned back to me.

“I’m not your wing man here,” he warned me.

“I don’t need a wingman, Mitchell.” I laughed.

“You’re cocky for a man that can’t get a date,” he joked.

“What about me makes you think I can’t get a date?” I looked down, chewing the gum in my mouth with my back teeth, my arms wide covered in dark ink and looked back up at Van. “I’m a single, well educated, tattooed, semi-professional baseball player.”

“What’s the problem then?” He challenged.

I laughed and tugged the door open, staring at him with a grin on my face, “I’m picky .”

Van stared at me for a moment, no doubt trying to figure out a jab but he gave up after a moment and said, “you forgot arrogant idiot . Try to behave,” he added, “and no gum in my truck.”

“You keep adding to the rules, how am I supposed to remember them all?” I teased, spitting the gum out and climbing in.

“You’re well educated, you’ll figure it out,” Van chuckled and pulled from the driveway and out onto the street. The drive to the pitch wasn’t long and I knew because of the game I wasn’t going to get a response out of her, but I checked my phone a hundred times anyways.

The stadium for the Hillcats was a shared space where they played opposite days of the soccer team and alternate weekends with the Lacrosse teams. What I wasn’t expecting was how packed the arena was when we arrived .

“People really like rugby…” I said following Van up the steps to the back of the bleachers.

“How have you never been to a game?” Van grumbled, tucking his head down as a group of college girls found seats in front of us.

“Between practice, games, drinking and school?” I shrugged. One of the girls looked back at us, her blue eyes looking me over slowly from top to bottom. I gave her a wink and she melted into a puddle of giggles as she turned back to her friend.

“What didn’t you understand about keeping your head down and mouth shut?” Van nudged me.

“I didn’t say shit,” I said with a weak laugh, smirking at him and leaning against the concrete behind my back. “Who are they playing?”

“The Gators,” Van said, handing me his phone. The roster meant nothing to me but my eyes dragged down until I found her name. Adeline Sarah - Number Seven - Winger.

I had no idea what it meant but at least now I knew her number.

When the girls came onto the field, I sat up straighter and Van laughed at me but it was easy to ignore his mocking when she stepped onto the field.

Her hair was braided back in two thick cords that rested over the shoulders of her navy jersey and I could see the smile on her face from where we were sitting.

“Fuck,” I swore with a sharp inhale of air as she spun on the field. The shorts she was wearing rode up on her strong thighs and hugged tightly to every single curve. “Please never leave me behind again,” I said to Van, swallowing tightly at the sight of her.

He patted me on the back and leaned forward to come shoulder to shoulder with me. “You have no idea, Jenny,” he laughed.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out what he was talking about.

Once the game started, so did the competitiveness.

They were fast, really fast. I’d never seen the kind of speed some of them produced.

It was clear that they relied heavily on Kaia Keegan, Sunday Black and Adeline.

The three of them were unstoppable in the pockets.

If one managed to sneak by, the other two were quick to produce a line behind them as they pushed down the field .

It was rough. Every time one of them took a hit my whole body tensed as I waited for them to rise.

The game itself moved quickly, there was barely a whistle blown and all of the preconceived notions of how rugby is played went out the window.

Van cheered his sister on with every person she wrapped up and put down into the dirt.

It was impressive to see players of their size flying around that quickly.

The endurance involved was practically witchcraft. I spent the entire game in awe of them.

I flinched forward as Adeline was tossed into the dirt, her body contorting backward to present the ball to Sunday who was giving Cosy the space to wrestle with the opposing teams player in the pile up.

The play moved on and it took Adeline a moment longer to push from the turf and orient herself on the field.

A streak of blood poured from her eyebrow down to her jaw line but she didn’t stop moving.

Her legs carried her with precision down the field, darting around other players until she was able to back up Sunday.

The ball transferred hands quicker than a blink and Adeline goose-stepped out of danger to her left and into the scoring zone. Darting around to the middle of the posts to press the ball to the ground.

“Breathe,” Van slapped my knee and I inhaled. “They’re tougher than any of us, that hit probably tickled.”

He could have been right but it didn’t mean that my heart wasn’t in my throat just watching her get knocked around like that by players twice her size.

“Shit,” I winced as the action instantly started again.

There wasn’t a moment to breathe between the plays and the ball bounced out of bounds.

Adeline stood on the line, watching her teammates position parallel to her in a line of four.

Rhea Drake, the back of the line was quite possibly the biggest woman I’d ever laid eyes on.

Pure muscle, she had to be close to six-two and she lifted Sunday off the ground like she weighed nothing.

Pushing her into the air to snag the ball as Adeline reached for the pass over her head into the field toward them.

She slipped back into play and within seconds her and Kaia were racing down the field side by side just trying to avoid hits from the opposing team.

“Are you serious about her?” Van asked a moment later. The loud buzzer that ended the game echoed around the arena and the Hillcats came together in celebration of their hard fought win. Covered in grass stains and freshly blossomed bruises, they had more than earned it.

Adeline tilted her chin to the sky, her hands hanging loose at her sides. Her jersey was rumpled and dirty, her face covered in mud and dirt, and she looked like an angel. The light from the arena bathed her flushed skin in luster as she took in the win. I’d never been so impressed.

“Yeah.” I turned to look at Van.

“Good because chasing after that one is a death wish,” he said and I wanted to ask what he meant but he was smiling so it couldn’t have been that bad… Van stood from his spot as the arena started to empty.

Chasing. I had never been so desperate for something.

I felt like an idiot when my heart rate picked up at the thought of her and fuck , all I did was think about her.

That day at the stadium, her hair moving around in the wind, hazel eyes highlighted by the setting sun and lips parted as she giggled with her friends.

It was like that moment in time was frozen in the forefront of my mind and it burned brighter than any memory before.

Screwed the moment I saw her, and willing to upend everything just to keep that feeling.

The problem was, I was homesick for Adeline.

Homesick for a girl who refused to give me the time of day.

Mother fucker.

I was turning into a fucking simp.

“Stay here,” he warned as I went to follow him down the bleachers.

“Will you tell her I’m here?” I asked him as he jogged down the steps and he turned back but only to give me the middle finger before he disappeared out of sight.

“Cool,” I huffed and sat back against the concrete. I tossed my hat off and ran my hands through my hair. It had been too long since that first game, I needed Adeline back in my gravity so badly I was starting to feel pathetic.

I pulled my phone out, opened my messages from her and typed out at least four messages before I gave up trying to sound like a total flirt. I leaned forward on my knees and watched as the arena emptied and the staff started to clean and prep for whatever was next .

I pulled up her name on Instagram and scrolled through her feed.

She posted one of three things, food, rugby and the most insane photos of herself.

Ones that made my mouth dry and feel like I was looking at something private.

There was a mirror in her room that showed off the softer tones of her style with pastel comforters and tons of pillows.

The majority of the photos were her body from the shoulders down.

Her lengthy form made of tight luscious curves begging to be grabbed and kissed, I shifted on the bench to get comfortable.

I wanted to map every inch of her with my lips and teeth.

Baggy t-shirts, underwear pulled over her broad hips, her soft stomach demanding attention resting against the band on display more often than not.

My favorite of them all was one of her in her rugby jersey and a pair of small shorts, her hand pressed against her stomach, lifting the jersey just enough to give view of her ass in the mirror.

I wanted her hands in my hair and her ass in my hands .

I shifted again, it had been a long time since a girl had made my dick hard with pictures.

It was like I had side stepped back through puberty and couldn’t control the thoughts that were pumping the blood around in my body.

Fuck.

I zoned out thinking about Adeline pulling my hair and suddenly I needed a cold shower.

“Earth to loverboy,” Van called up to me from the bottom of the bleachers. I jumped from my position and cracked my shins against the row of seats in front of me. Van barked out a loud laugh. “Cosy wants dinner, you coming?”

“Just Cosy…” I shook out the pain and took the steps down toward him.

“Take it or walk home,” Van said plainly and I shrugged.

“I am kind of hungry,” I said and he threw his arm around me.

We waited for her by the truck and she appeared from the arena with a few girls on her tail.

Cosy was a girl version of Van, funny, friendly.

She was like the big sister none of us asked for but she had always been around.

Her burgundy hair was pulled up into a bun and there was a nasty bruise forming on the inside of her arm.

She turned to say goodbye and that’s when Adeline stepped out into the light of the parking lot.

I straightened out against the truck and Van followed my eyeline to where she talked to his sister quietly.

Her hair was damp and loose, covering the bandage over her eyebrow but her smile filled my chest with unbearable warmth.

“You’re like a cat in heat, relax,” Van started to laugh and slapped my chest.

Adeline swung a busy, heavy looking keychain in her hand and waved bye to Cosy, her eyes scanning over the lot until she found Van first and waved. I held my breath as she spotted me. Her smile turned into a soft smirk, and her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink.

She stopped in her tracks, staring me down and even though every muscle and nerve in my body was screaming at me to go over to her. I forced myself to play it cool, shrugging one of my shoulders and turning my attention to Cosy as she approached us.

Adeline stood in the corner of my eye line for a moment longer before she shook her head and wandered through the lot to her car.

“Shotgun,” Cosy said, pushing me out of the way and climbing into the front of the truck. Usually I’d fight her on it but I didn’t care today. I waited another couple of seconds watching Adeline get into her car before I slid across the back seat of the truck.