Page 17 of Meet Your Match (Kings of the Ice)

I AM THE MAYHEM

Maven

T he crowd was so thick outside of Boomer’s, I had a panic attack when the black car dropped us off.

I’d ridden with Vince, Jaxson, and Carter, and while all their eyes lit up with excitement at the multitude of people clamoring to party with them after their win, I’d shriveled into the corner of the car.

I was cursing Livia under my breath for not agreeing to come out with us.

She had clients early in the morning, so I understood, but I hated that I didn’t have her here.

It wasn’t that I had an issue with crowds. Hell, I’d been in one of thousands of people at the stadium without issue. But a sea of people clamoring to get a glimpse of who’s in this car, a sea of people who would be staring at me when I exited this thing?

My brow was sweating just thinking of it.

I was used to being behind the camera, and Vince must have picked up on that fact, because he frowned when he looked at me over his shoulder and saw what was no doubt my very hesitant expression.

“Hey,” he said. “Look at me.”

Screams ripped out when our car came to a stop, and security fought to keep people back, like the guys were rockstars instead of athletes. I supposed it was one and the same in this city.

A warm palm sliding over my knee called my attention away from the chaos, and I found Vince, his eyes set on mine as his hand squeezed.

His massive, talented hand, one that could score goals and mold art from clay. He smoothed his thumb over the skin just below the hemline of my skirt, and I swallowed, not daring to look down at where he touched me.

“You’re with us,” he reminded me. “And we’ve got you. Okay? We have a VIP area in there that’s completely roped off. You only have to be in the crowd for a few minutes while we make our way in.”

I nodded, a little embarrassed by my anxiety. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“Your phone.”

“What?”

“Pull out your phone. Pretend like you’re recording, or actually record it, we don’t care,” he added, and the guys nodded behind him.

“The seas will part for you, Maven. Everyone knows you.”

Those words from Carter made me blink.

Everyone knows you.

I hadn’t considered that, hadn’t thought about the fact that my social media accounts were the most watched in the city right now. I didn’t know if that made me feel better or worse .

With a final nod, I pulled a deep inhale through my nose to prepare me, and Jaxson opened the door for us to climb out.

The crowd cheered when we did, but it wasn’t the nonstop, high-pitched screams you’d hear for a rock band.

It was loud and deep, a sea of grown men hollering their approval and respect for the team.

Of course, there were some women in there, too.

Plenty of them. But they didn’t crowd us when we got out like I thought they would.

Vince grabbed my hand, anyway.

I tried not to focus on that, on how small my hand was in his as he led us through the small opening they’d made for us to make our way into the bar. I tried not to let it impact my breathing, how confidently he held me, how proudly. He pulled me through that crowd like I belonged to him.

My free hand held my phone, and I clicked the button on the side to start the video as I followed Vince in.

“Maven! We love you!”

I followed the source of the chant, smiling a little when a group of three college-aged girls waved excitedly at me.

“Told you,” Vince whispered in my ear, tugging me close enough to do so. I felt his breath warm on the shell of my ear, and a shiver spread over my skin.

“Are you two dating?!”

“What’s it like, Maven?”

“Vince, let’s do pottery together!”

“Vince, let’s fuck,” someone else cheered louder, and that made everyone laugh.

Except me.

Vince took all of it like a champ, winking at the girl who’d offered herself up before we ducked inside the bar. It was even louder once inside, but the bouncers didn’t stop us for an ID check or anything else before ushering us to the back corner, and up a small set of stairs to the VIP area.

I felt like I could finally breathe once we were behind the ropes, and Vince dropped my hand, high-fiving one of his teammates with it a moment later while I tried to gather my bearings.

Boomer’s was more of a club than a bar, as the guys had made it sound.

Strobe lights and lasers flashed in the foggy darkness, go-go dancers shaking their asses on the bar while patrons slipped dollar bills into their garters.

A DJ was front and center, and he pointed back to the team’s VIP area before spinning right into their win song, which made the crowd roar and jump and dance wildly as the team celebrated from our little corner.

I couldn’t believe they were still letting people in. The place was already packed, and all I could think of was what the hell would happen should a fire break out.

Warm, long fingertips wrapped around my hip, nearly encompassing the whole of me as Vince pulled me into him from behind.

“Drink?” he asked in my ear.

My eyes fluttered shut, but I forced them open again, turning more to break contact than anything else.

“Please,” I said over the music.

Vince nodded toward one of the tables in the back of our secluded area, each piled high with bottles. He poured ice into a tumbler and topped it with mostly Grey Goose, and a small splash of pineapple juice before handing it to me.

I downed the whole thing .

I was still grimacing when Vince took my glass and refilled it on a laugh. “You can hang out back here if you want to be out of the mayhem.” He nodded toward some cushioned booths in the back. One was empty. The other had two hockey players with a girl in each of their laps.

“What about you?” I asked.

A slow, lazy grin spread on his beautiful mouth. “I am the mayhem.”

I didn’t have Vince long before he was being pulled away by his teammates, and I took his offer, curling into the smallest form of myself I could on a booth in the back.

I watched from afar as the team partied in a way I hadn’t witnessed since college.

They took shot after shot, dancing and horsing around as they raged into the night.

Smoke swirled from vapes and cigars alike, mixing with the lights to create a heavy, neon fog.

But even as I tried to make myself invisible, the guys wouldn’t let me.

Carter came back to grab me at one point, pulling me to the front to meet his brother who was in town for the game.

I’d no sooner sat back down before Jaxson was sitting beside me.

He’d brought two girls and a couple other teammates with him, and he made me part of the conversation, making sure I felt comfortable.

And I did.

I felt like I belonged there with them, like no one was judging me for being the lowly reporter, even though they knew I was in a different class than they were.

At one point, I noticed Vince saying something to one of his teammates. The next moment, that teammate was walking over to introduce himself to me, to sit and talk and make sure I wasn’t left alone .

I wondered if he’d done that all night, if he was the reason I hadn’t had a spare moment to feel out of place.

It made my chest hurt in a way I wasn’t familiar with, to think he cared about me, that he wanted to make sure I had a good time.

But it also put all my defenses up.

I hated that. I hated that even when someone was doing something nice for me, I had this devil in the back of my mind telling me it was all a farce. I couldn’t trust Vince, or anyone who I felt was bred from a different cloth.

James had done that to me.

I wondered if that damage could ever be un done.

But then I remembered what my therapist had said — that trauma response was good for us. It kept us safe. It kept us from repeating a mistake, and thus the pain that came with it. It showed us red flags when we used to ignore them or make excuses for them.

I was glad I had my guard up. It was a sure-fire way not to get hurt again.

The night went on.

Every now and then, one of the guys from the team would invite women from the crowd behind the ropes. They danced with some of them, pulling their barely covered asses into their laps as they swayed to the beat. Others, they tugged into a corner to make out with, wasting no time.

I took photos and videos from my corner when the moment felt right, mostly when Vince was goofing around and smiling that megawatt smile of his.

But as the night dragged on, I felt less and less inclined to stay — especially when the heavy bass of the music seemed to thrum like a heartbeat between the players and the girls who were desperate for their attention .

“Dance with me.”

I was in a daze when the request came, and I glanced up, finding Vince smiling a drunken smile down at me.

His hair fell into his view a moment before he ran a hand back through it, styling the messy waves with just that motion.

His pouty lips were curled slightly at the corners, his eyes glazed and dangerously inviting.

He held out a hand for mine.

“Oh… I’m okay,” I said.

He cocked a brow. “You’ve been sitting there all night. Come on,” he said, wiggling his fingers. “Dance with me.”

There was a dare in his eyes, and if I gave in to the way my heart raced at the way he watched me, I would have slid my hand into his and let him lead me onto the floor.

But where this was a night out celebrating for him, it was a job for me.

Things were going better than I’d ever imagined. Reya and Camilla were ready to hand me anything I wanted if I continued to pull this off. And nothing mattered more to me than remaining professional — which dancing with the devil disguised as Vince Tanev would make very difficult to do.

“I’m really okay,” I said again, offering a small smile.

Vince looked a little disappointed as he dropped his hand, but it lasted only a moment before he shrugged. He refreshed his drink and sucked half of it down with his eyes still on me.

“Suit yourself,” he said.