Page 6

SOLACE

The moment we parked out front of the Chimeras home building, I knew today was going to be all sorts of fucked up. Hux’s head wave in my direction gave me advance warning, and I knew I screwed up by skipping practice. But when his gaze dropped to focus on Hallie, my happy moment dissipated.

“Wait here,” I murmured, leaving her at my car, watching me with a frown as I jogged across the parking lot to meet Hux halfway. “Sorry I missed this morning Cap,” I greeted him. “Had some shit to tidy up.”

We didn’t often get to call in a freebie, and it'd been years since I used one.

He rolled his shoulders. “Not about you.”

I glanced over his shoulder at the door where Janelle had been loitering for the last week. “Where’s your side piece?”

He shook his head. “Story for another time. Take her away for the day. Don’t let her in.” He glanced past me, his face tightening. “Fuck.”

I looked over my shoulder at my car with no Hallie beside it. She must have headed around the back. I’d catch her in a second. “Damn. What’s up?”

He passed over his phone. I scrolled through the photos, my gut tightening. There were snaps of Hallie and me in the sponsor’s office earlier in the week, fighting. My hand was captured between her legs. Her head tipped back, bliss written across her face. Hell, the sight thickened my cock. Any other time I’d give into my own pleasure, but not like this. The next were at the gym, and I knew what they’d show.

“Who the fuck took these?”

Hux rolled his shoulders. “Dunno. We have a security issue, for sure. But man, her job’s gone.”

I stared at him, horror bringing my breakfast back up. Tossing his phone into his chest I turned on my heel, sprinting to the back of the building, but she was already inside.

“Hallie,” I yelled. “Hallie!”

I headed for the kitchen, but changed my mind when I remembered I’d had her thermos refilled at a local cafe before she got up. She wouldn’t need it. Pivoting on my heel I aimed for the office and knew what I'd find before I got there. Because I had a horrifying, sudden understanding of what happened, why she was so upset with me yesterday.

I gripped the office door and yanked it open to find the WAGS clustered around her, but the pictures weren’t displayed on phones like I suspected. No, they’d taken it a step further.

They had projected the scenes I’d just viewed on Hux’s phone onto the fucking wall.

Hallie, my private, introvert little Hallie, stared up at the pictures of the two of us together and they were beautiful. So goddam beautiful that she could be a model for any fucking company whether these women could see it or not. I sure as fuck knew the team saw it. A deep sound rose in my chest as I barreled my way into the office, pushing between ranks and slapping the back of more than one head who’s owner had to adjust his pants when he couldn’t take his eyes off the real thing.

“Let’s get you out of here,” I murmured in Hallie’s ear, sliding my fingers around her arm.

She stood frozen, but when she turned to me, her face was devoid of emotion. “No.”

“Huh?” I watched her carefully for signs of a breakdown, but the tears from when she talked about the asshole ex cheating on her weren’t there. Alright. Let’s see how this plays out. But the moment she hurt, I was taking her straight out of there. “What’s on your mind, beautiful?”

“I’m not leaving,” she said firmly, pressing her heels into the industrial grade carpet under her feet.

Hux burst through the front doors, the captain gone all gung-ho. His eyes trailed over the scene, over her, and the red marks I’d left visible on the inside of her thighs. He wasn’t the only one to spot them, and the word toy made its rounds in the WAGS cluster in a not so subtle whisper, subtlety not really being their thing.

The Chimeras captain swallowed hard, raising his eyes to meet mine as he blew out a hard breath. Get her out of here, he mouthed.

I shook my head. Her choice, I replied, gripping her arm tight anyway. Despite my resolve and hers, if Hallie looked like she was going to crack, we were gone. If I had to pick her up to take her out, I’d do it and wear the consequences later. Anything for her. And I was an inch from calling it. Hell, the only reason I stayed was because she asked it of me.

“Whoever has the originals of these can hand them back, or delete them. Please,” Hallie added in a clear, loud voice that stopped all conversation in the office.

“Damn, girl.” I stared down at her, proud as motherfucking punch of the girl I loved who refused to be cowed by the pathetic attempt at bullying that had the opposite effect on every man in the room.

The corner of her mouth quirked. “I’m sure Solace would like them for personal use.”

Hux laughed out loud, leaning back against the doors, barring exit in that direction. I nodded over my shoulder. Shannon took up position at the back of the room, trapping everyone inside.

“It doesn’t matter.” Janelle stepped out from behind her desk, her hair pulled into a demure ponytail, wearing the baggiest brown dress I’d ever seen on that woman. “She can’t work here after that.” She gestured to the mess on the wall where Hallie rode me in the gym.

Damn, I needed to remake that scene with her and have her clean the equipment with her tongue while I took her from behind.

I scoffed. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’ve been screwing around with Hux for over a week, and before that every time you bent down, I got to say hello to your great-grandmother right along your gene line, baby ,” I tacked on with a sneer, belatedly noting her red-rimmed eyes and backed off the sarcasm an inch.

Hallie tilted her head to one side. “But she’s not with Hux anymore, are you?”

Janelle stepped back, shook her head and retreated to her desk. “Do whatever you want, Hallie,” she said in a small, tired voice, so unlike her usual outspoken personality that I stared.

But Hallie seemed to get it, still wrapped in her strange mood. “Did you meet Kylie Smart, Hux?”

The captain leaned away from the door, his show of bravado dropping. I squeezed her arm in warning.

“He came out to tell me,” I murmured. “He’s on your side.”

“And I’m on his,” she replied enigmatically, her voice lowered as she looked up at me, her eyes clear.

I studied her and nodded, ignoring the ongoing slideshow of us fucking overhead. Someone had the sense to stop the thing, and the room dimmed a little.

“Yes, actually, he did.” The girl with the gold nails and the fake hair to match from the kitchen yesterday before Hallie went nuts on me sauntered across the room, sliding her arm through Hux’s. She smiled brightly—too fucking brightly for the occasion—at everyone who gawked at the stranger in our midst. “I don’t think he’ll be playing with office girls anymore. You should probably reconsider, too,” she said to me pointedly. “I’ve already removed her from one player before.” She dismissed Hallie as though she was nothing, studying her gold, primped nails.

Hallie flinched.

All that show—the pictures of us fucking in full sight, the bullying, the words, the fat shaming in the lunchroom… everything, and this woman made her react?

The penny dropped for me in full. “You’re the other woman.” I stared at Kylie. “The puck bunny Hallie’s ex cheated on her with.”

Kylie didn’t bother to look at me, intent on doing something with those damn talons attached to her fingers. Which meant she missed Hux’s look of disgust aimed right at the top of her head.

Cap shook his arm free. “Get off me. And get the fuck out. I should have known better.”

Kylie glanced up at him. “I’m sure you’ll get over it. These things happen.”

I straightened behind Hallie. “Cap said get out. You want me to ring security?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Want your photos back, big boy?”

“Fuck this.” Hux dived into her bag, grabbed her phone, and tossed it to me. “That’s yours now, man. Do what you need. I got this.”

Kylie snarled at him as I texted security. It wouldn’t hurt for a little back up. Hux didn’t need a litigation case on his hands after everything. A wail went up from the side of the office. Hux sent an alarmed glance at Janelle who dissolved into tears at her desk as he escorted Kylie from the building under duress.

The door shut behind them. No one moved.

Well, no one, except for Hallie who took her coffee, the one I bought her before we got breakfast, and placed it in front of Janelle. “This one stays hot for hours. It’s really good, too. I think Solace has good taste, but don’t tell him. We should probably try to find that coffee shop later, okay? Go for a walk?”

Janelle lifted red rimmed eyes to meet Hallie’s face and nodded with a trembling lip. “Okay,” she whispered.

Hallie hugged her and I swore my heart exploded on the spot.

Somewhere in the back, one of the boys whistled. I promised myself I’d give him a reprieve of a day before I hunted him down.

Hux reentered the room, swept an inked hand through his hair, and offered me a tired nod. “She’s banned from the grounds. Someone send a warning out to the other clubs about the show pony stalker before she infected them all, for God’s sake.”

“I’ll do it.” Hallie turned back to me and slid her arms around my neck. “Love you, too,” she whispered in my ear softly, but somehow loud enough for the entire office to hear.

“Damn, I need to find a girl like that,” Hux muttered soberly.

Not that I blamed him, but this one belonged to me, no matter how she called it. We could argue about semantics later. Hux nodded at Hallie. No one said anything as I picked her up and placed her ass on the chair that had been hers, though she was due a career shift in my opinion.

It looked like my girl kept her job and won some hearts at the same time.

Including mine.