Page 34 of The Break Out (Denver Dragons #3)

34

I wake up alone in Colton’s bed. It’s so unbelievably comfortable I don’t want to leave the softness of the mattress, the pillows, the blankets. Add in the fact that I can still smell him, and it makes my insides feel warm.

Throwing an arm over my eyes, I groan not liking my body's reaction. Forcing myself to leave the comfy cloud, I decide to take advantage of being alone here to do something extremely important. Snoop through his stuff.

Since I’m not sure how much time I have until he gets back, I start in the bedroom, quickly glancing in the nightstand and dresser drawers. The nightstand has a box of condoms which is to be expected. Though, despite what I said last night, I can’t help the jealous thoughts of who else has been in here. In his bed. Maybe he’s left them like this to snoop too.

I shake the weirdly jealous thoughts away and continue my searching. I make a pit stop in the kitchen to get a drink of water, which is when I see the note he left me .

Baby Collee, I had to go to practice. I’ll be back soon with coffee.

No need to run away, I’ll take you home.

XX

Colton

Glancing at the clock, I’m not sure exactly what time his practice is or for how long, but I assume I don’t have a ton more time before he comes back. I find myself peeking into rooms to see if any of them may have something interesting. Which is how I ended up finding an extra bedroom that had a pile of boxes in it.

When I open the first one, I see a variety of sports memorabilia. Mostly hockey, but there’s a stack of baseball cards and a deflated basketball. The next box has pictures. I instantly recognize Colton, he’s younger and he’s with the boy from the obituary I found. Josh.

They’re both smiling in every single photo I find. Josh is on Colton’s back; another one he’s pretending to choke him and Colton is making a dramatic face. Another is them both asleep on a couch with the tops of their heads touching. Another is both of them in hockey gear. Josh is several inches shorter than Colton, but they have matching eyes and beaming smiles as they lean on their respective sticks.

I go to pick up another stack when a deep voice behind me makes me jump, dropping the pictures instantly.

“What are you doing?” Colton questions.

I stand up instantly, even though he already caught me. “I was just looking. ”

His eyes move from me to the box. “Find what you were looking for?” His voice is sharp.

“I don’t know what I was looking for,” I answer honestly, looking down at my feet. “What happened to him?” I dare to ask.

He doesn’t say anything right away and I finally lift my gaze up to his. I expect to see him angry, but I don’t. He looks…hurt. I open my mouth to tell him I lost my brother too, but can’t make the words come out, so my mouth closes again.

“You ready to go home?” he asks, and my shoulders that I didn’t even realize were hiked up, deflate.

I thought maybe he would share something with me. Share a part of himself with me that could show that he’s a human under his tough exterior. A human with feelings and that those feelings could maybe be shared with another person. But he doesn’t. He shuts down just like I do, which is why I can’t even be upset about it.

The only thing I can say is, “Yeah.”

He doesn’t follow me when I go back to his bedroom to change back into my clothes. Though part of me wants to keep his t-shirt on, I reluctantly change back into my own sweater. When I walk out to find Colton, I see him staring at the painting in his living room again. I don’t think he notices me yet, so I just take a second to look at him.

His light brown hair is slicked back and slightly damp from the shower he clearly took after practice. I can see the bulge of his muscles underneath his hoodie as his arms are crossed across his chest. The sweatpants he’s wearing hug his thick thighs. While his body is mouthwatering as always, I’m drawn to his eyes staring at the splattered colors. His silver eyes look conflicted while lost in thought.

I shift on my feet, and a floorboard creaks, making myself known. He looks over at me, but the look on his face doesn’t change.

“You ready?” His tone is flat.

“Yeah.”

We go to his garage and I’m a little surprised he still wants to take his motorcycle; I figure he would want some distance from me with the way he’s acting. Even after he helps put my helmet on and we’re on the bike I try not to be plastered against him, but he grabs the backs of my knees and pulls me forward so I’m as close to him as possible.

When I wrap my arms around his middle, I rest my helmet against his back and try not to think about how disappointed I would be if this was the last time I got to feel him.

We get to my apartment sooner than I would like but I pretend like I’m okay like I always do. I’m standing when I hand my helmet to him, and he has taken his off as well and takes mine.

“See ya around I guess,” I say when the silence between us has gotten awkward.

I turn to walk away, but I’m stopped with a warm hand on my wrist. He doesn’t say anything, just pulls me back toward him .

Giving him an expectant look because he’s giving me mixed signals right now, I realize I should probably apologize, and I start to do just that when he finally speaks.

“I’m not mad at you.”

“You seem like it,” I retort, automatically regretting it. I don’t mean to be bitchy with him. I’m the one who messed up here.

He just shakes his head. “I’m not, I just,” he sighs, “I don’t talk about him. With anyone.”

I can’t help it; I close the small distance between us so I’m standing right in front of him as he still straddles the bike. Lifting my hand, I brush my fingers through his hair softly.

“Maybe you should,” I tell him. Fully realizing the giant hypocrite I’m being right now. “It could help.”

“If I don’t talk about him, then sometimes I can pretend he’s still here.” His deep voice sounds so vulnerable, and it makes my heart crack for this giant man in front of me.

“I understand. I really do,” I agree. I never forget that Brandon is gone, but if I don’t think about things too deeply, or talk about them I can pretend my family isn’t so broken.

He brings his hand up to the back of my neck, pulling me down the couple inches to meet his mouth in a gentle kiss. Just a simple pressing of lips. His tongue teases mine slightly when I open for him, but everything about this kiss is delicate. Even his grip on the back of my neck isn’t rough, but more comforting .

“Come to my game tomorrow.” It’s not a question, but I nod anyway.

With another kiss I’m tempted to invite him inside, but I know that’s not a good idea. Clearly, we are both in weird headspaces now and I’m still not supposed to want him. We break apart and he gives my neck one final squeeze before letting me go. I instantly miss the warmth, and only grow colder each step I take away from him and I don’t even think it has anything to do with the weather.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Princess. I want to see you in a jersey, preferably mine,” he calls after me and the side of my mouth kicks up in a smile, noticing his teasing is back.

“You’ll get what you get, Wheeler. You’ll be lucky if I even show up,” I sass.

He smiles, pulling his helmet over his head and kicking the bike into gear. I turn to walk into my building when I hear him rev the engine and then take off. Finally feeling like I can catch my breath.

One thing is for sure, there’s no way I can show up tomorrow wearing his jersey. We both know it, but I do have an idea that might make it fun to mess with him a little bit.

“Brynn!” Audrey greets as I step into the friends and family suite at the Dragon’s game. She’s wearing one of Charlie’s jerseys like a dress with black boots that reach over her knees.

“You look amazing,” I tell her. I wish I had the confidence to pull off what she’s wearing. Since I’m on the taller side even an oversized jersey would be way too short on me. Which is why I have leggings under the Collee jersey I’m wearing, paired with black ankle boots.

She spins, making the jersey rise a little bit, but not enough to reveal anything. “Thank you, so do you. I’m sure Brent loves you wearing his number.”

I roll my eyes. “He couldn’t give a shit. He used to bring me to every game and even then, wouldn’t make me wear a jersey.”

“And what does Colton think?” She gives me a knowing look.

My eyes widen at her. “He shouldn’t care.”

She looks me up and down with a smirk, “He’ll care.”

“You’re crazy. No alcohol for you tonight, you’re already on something.”

She laughs. “Just high on orgasms, my friend. Always just high on orgasms.”

I bite the corner of my mouth on a laugh, turning to hide the blush because I’m not going to admit I know how that feels. She would never judge, because Audrey is the least judgmental person I know, but I still can’t bring myself to tell her.

“But seriously, I’m drinking. Do you want anything?”

“I’ll take a seltzer, but I’ll come with.”

After we grab our drinks, Audrey convinces me to go down to the ice level with her for warmups. I’m reluctant because I have seen hockey players stretch more than I ever should in a single lifetime, but she guilts me by bringing up that Chandler isn’t here to do it with her because Evie is struggling with sleep, and she was actually asleep when she would’ve had to leave for the arena and wasn’t going to mess with that.

Which is why I’m standing here as the players skate out of the tunnel. Audrey cheers next to me, especially when she sees Charlie. After the guys skate around for a minute, and shoot some pucks toward the net, Charlie skates by where we’re standing, taps on the glass with his stick, and winks at his girlfriend.

My eye catches on another player who is currently across the ice, on his knees, stretching out his groin. His gaze is locked on mine as he does the warmup exercises.

“Your boy is showing what he’s going to do to you later,” Audrey jokes.

I snort out a laugh, breaking the intense eye contact with Colton. “He wishes.”

“I bet he does,” she says, bumping my shoulder.

After warmups are over, we head back up to the suite. I’m still nursing my drink, but Audrey gets another one on the way up. We’re joined by a few other WAGs who have always been decently nice to me, but I think it’s because I’m a family member, not a WAG, so they don’t hold the same judgements I know fall on Chandler and Audrey.

I’ll always stick up for them, even though I know Audrey can more than handle anything thrown her way.

The game starts and I can already tell this one is going to be intense with the way both teams are going at each other from the second the puck drops.

Throughout the first period each team draws multiple penalties, but it’s the second period when things start to heat up. Vince gets checked face first into the boards so hard he falls, and Matt is on the other player within a second, but the whistle blows and they’re pulled apart before anything else can happen.

My eyes find Colton, unsure of how he would react to the scrum because he’s always down for a fight, but I don’t know if he would actually defend any of his teammates. He’s standing, leaning on the boards like he’s ready to jump out onto the ice.

The player who checked Vince gets a boarding penalty and the Dragons start their power play and try to use the one-man advantage to score the first goal.

I notice a certain player keeps messing with Colton, enough to be annoying, but not enough to draw another penalty. I’m impressed as Colton focuses on the puck and doesn’t give in to the antagonizing.

That is until that player gets the puck on a breakaway and all the energy is on chasing after him to stop him from getting into the Dragons zone. Colton tries to regain possession of the puck, swinging his stick, doing his best not to draw a tripping penalty. He doesn’t get it before the player reaches Colver, and instead of trying to shoot from a normal distance, he keeps going way too fast, then trying to shoot when he’s too close, hitting Colver with his stick moments before crashing into him.

The arena erupts in anger for the outrageous move by the opponent. The anger quickly turns to cheers as Colton has grabbed the player by his jersey, yanked him up, and is pounding his fist into his face repeatedly.

The rest of the team joins in, causing an all-out line brawl. Colton and the other player are the center of it all, and despite the efforts from the refs he’s not letting up. They’re both on the ice, helmets knocked off, blood contrasting the white. I find myself biting at my thumb, worried for the source of the blood, but from the look of everything I don’t think it’s from the man I know.

The brawl is put to a stop, and I watch as Colton and the player are separated and sent to their respective tunnels. Other players are sent to the penalty box, but it’s clear those two have been ejected.

“Well shit, your boy is in trouble,” Audrey says.

“He’s a dumbass.” I shake my head.

“You going to go check on him?”

My eyes swing to hers. “What? No, that’s not allowed.”

Audrey rolls her lips between her teeth. “Hasn’t stopped Chandler…or me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just saying there was a game a couple years ago, Brent got hit pretty bad, Chandler went to check on him and–”

“Ew. Stop, too much info. Not needed. ”

Audrey laughs. “Just go, maybe he’ll take his left-over aggression out on your body.”

“If I get caught, I’m telling them my name is Audrey Hudson.”

“Do it,” she challenges, nudging me toward the elevator.

With a sigh, I go, knowing this is probably a dumb idea, yet I can’t deny the idea of doing something so forbidden is pretty hot.