Page 59

Crew

K ota never had a father, never had a male figure in her life to trust. Raised by no one besides a strong woman, she had no choice but to grow up and be the same.

I finally had that last missing piece to the puzzle, and everything made sense as to why she hated me in the first place.

I always figured there had been something about her past that made her so cruel and cold-hearted towards men. The fact that she even opened up to me said a lot. She trusted me, and as good as that made me feel, I felt terrified all the same.

Because it meant there was more at stake here.

It seemed to be unsaid between us that we were no longer just fucking, but I was completely petrified to say the words aloud. I was scared enough thinking the words to myself.

I’d never felt this way before. Looking back, I was pretty sure I’d never caught feelings for anyone ever.

It was part of the reason why I never hooked up with a girl twice— out of precaution. If I never hungout with a girl more than once, never allowed myself to get close her, then no feelings could be caught, and no one, including them, would end up more hurt than if I just broke things off after one night.

Now, I had shot myself in the foot.

The five-four girl who spat fire was no longer my greatest enemy. She was the person I wanted to see at the end of each long day, the person who could calm me down just by sitting next to me.

The little things about her that used to irk me no longer did. Now, I was curious about every move she made, curious as to what was going through her mind every second.

Not to mention how fucking stunning she was. I’d always thought she was attractive, ever since that first night when she glared at me with deadly malice, hands folded against her chest as she stood there, pissed-off in a skin-tight dress and sky-high heels.

So much had changed since then, and now, she wasn’t just attractive. Lots of girls were attractive. But I’d seen her up-close dozens of times, had studied her fragile features as she slept, had memorized every inch of her body.

Kota was stunning. And I didn’t want anyone else looking at her. It felt like I needed to hide her from every other guy on earth, to shield her so that they didn’t have the chance to see the tiny pieces of her that I’d been blessed with seeing.

We were past catching feelings. Way past it.

I mean, for fucks sake, I just bought her a two-hundred-dollar bracelet without thinking twice about it.

And the look on her face when she saw it was worth every dime.

***

Kota and I had gotten good at our routine. We had it all laid out, based on Lane and Bridget’s routine. They were too predictable, sticking to their precise schedules that they never stepped outside of.

Today had been a little different than a normal Saturday though. We had a game, which we won, keeping our record pretty solid with only four losses this season, all to top five teams. It was very likely that we’d move up from third in the nation to second by next week. If we were lucky and the University of Michigan lost their game tonight, then we might even move up to first.

Other than having a game today, it definitely wasn’t like a normal Saturday given my fuckup.

I played fine. Actually, I played more than fine, getting a hat trick, my second of the season. My fuckup didn’t come on the ice though— it came afterward at the apartment when I accidentally called Kota “babe” in front of our roommates and had to play it off like I meant for the comment to be towards Lane.

Which brought the embarrassment to a whole new level.

Now, we were conned into going to the celebratory party at the hockey house when all I really wanted to do was lay in bed with Kota beside me while I iced the fuck out of my whole body. I took some brutal hits tonight, same as Lane.

I had never been one to sit out of a party before, so it was already weird that I wasn’t feeling up to it tonight, but I guess we were going anyway.

I wanted a bit of time alone with Kota before we were thrown into a house full of people. Either she felt the same way, or she simply read my mind because we both gave excuses as to why we were going to head to the party a bit late.

I told Lane that I had to run to the liquor store.

Kota told Bridget that she needed to hop in the shower.

We knew it wouldn’t buy us a lot of time, but if there was enough time for me to grab her and kiss the fuck out of her without rushing it, then I’d be content.

Our half hour of free time was spent with me kissing her neck while she attempted to do her makeup, giggling at the wet kisses and questionable hickeys my lips were leaving in their wake. Then, getting yelled at for said questionable hickeys and watching Kota try to cover them up with makeup and complain about having to wear her hair down when she was originally going to put it up.

I watched Kota slip into a denim skirt and tiny black shirt and immediately had thoughts of ripping it all off.

Sliding her lip gloss back and forth across her lips, I wrestled my gaze away from her, knowing that I shouldn’t start something that we didn’t have time to finish.

Either way, my common sense seemed to fly out the window. Regardless of how hard I’d been trying to control myself, I couldn’t, grabbing Kota’s wrist and bringing those lush, wet lips to mine.

I hummed against her at the taste. Cherry. My favorite lip gloss of hers.

“You taste so fucking good,” I mumbled against her.

Her mouth ticked upwards into a smile, lips still on mine before she pulled away with just enough space to respond in a breathy tone. “You usually only say that when your head is between my thighs.”

Was that an invitation?

Either way, I took it as one, hands gliding beneath Kota’s skirt and planting themselves on her ass before lifting her and tossing her onto the bed.

My head was between her thighs in seconds, kissing and licking and sucking in all the ways I knew were her favorites.

Her sinfully satisfied moans saturated the room, reminding me of how much I loved when our roommates were gone.

I didn’t stop until she came on my tongue, and it was almost instantly the moment after that my phone rang in my back pocket. I would’ve ignored the call had it not been Lane.

“Hello?” I gulped, catching my breath.

“Hey, uh, where you at?”

Kota and I were one step ahead and had already turned our locations off. “I’m at the liquor store with Cody,” I said, wiping my mouth off with the back of my hand.

The suspicion in his voice was tangible through the phone. “Uh, Cody’s here.”

Panicking, my eyes shot to Kota, who was staring with her lips unsurely puckered, a nervous gleam in her eye. “Oh, did I say Cody? I meant Keith.”

“Right... Well hurry up.”

“Will do.”

Kota and I hauled our asses to the hockey house, arriving a half hour later than we’d originally planned to.

It was the beginning of March and still pretty cold out, especially at night, so I had Kota go inside first to avoid having her stand out in the cold. Plus, there was no way in hell I’d let her stand outside at night by herself anyway.

After waiting ten minutes, I went in, and it didn’t take long to find Lane and Bridget, standing off around the bathroom. Jett weirdly dropped his head and scurried off as I approached. “Hey,” I nodded to my roommates.

Lane smiled, but his response fell out through a sigh. “Hey.”

“There’s a lot of people here,” I crossed my arms, glancing around.

“I know. It’s fucking ridiculous.”

I could’ve sworn I caught Bridget’s hand clutch onto Lane’s forearm as a group of people squeezed passed.

I ignored it, because there were a lot of people here and she was probably just trying to steady herself on someone that wasn’t a stranger.

Then the thought went through my head again— there were a lot of people here.

Where was Kota?

Panic-stricken, I circled around myself like a dog chasing its own tail. That protective side was coming out of me again— or maybe it was a possessive side. Who knows?

“You good?” Lane asked, raising a brow.

“Yeah... yeah, I just... don’t know where Keith went with my beer,” I sputtered a lie.

“Ah,” he gave a nod, but it seemed like he wasn’t convinced.

I didn’t currently care.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” I yelled over my shoulder, already on my way towards the kitchen.

I knew Kota and I wouldn’t be able to talk much or hangout like we would when no one was around, but I’d feel better at least being able to see her and make sure she was okay.

There were too many people present that I didn’t know. I didn’t even think anyone on the team really knew who any of these people were. This wasn’t a rare occurrence though. Whenever we had major, important wins and a party followed, random people always showed up like they’d been invited. But with that, came a load of issues.

Spills. Broken furniture. Lots of fights. Random guys trying to pull girls they had no business pulling— especially girls that were walking around by themselves, unclaimed.

Which was exactly what Kota was right now.

I didn’t trust a single guy in this house that I didn’t personally know. Not that my teammates wouldn’t hit on her, but they wouldn’t pass any boundaries. They had morals and respect. I couldn’t say the same for all the strangers.

Kota was leaning against the kitchen counter, chatting with a girl that I didn’t recognize at first glance. But after a minute, I realized it was Patricia, the friend Kota introduced me to on the night we hooked up for the first time.

Kota didn’t spot me, but I breathed out a sigh of relief anyway. Patricia said something that made her laugh, and she flashed a smile so beautiful that I thought I might pass out on the floor.

I was tempted to go to her, but TJ and Cody were in view, and I didn’t want them to get any ideas. Especially TJ, who was still determined to figure out who I’d been sleeping with.

I thought about New Year’s when TJ was asking for permission to hook up with Kota. It bothered me then; it infuriated me now. I could’ve stomped over and clocked him in the jaw just from the thought.

And maybe I would’ve if I didn’t spot the red solo cup in Kota’s hand.

Before I knew it, I was trampling through everyone in my way.

“Where’d you get that?” I barked frantically.

Her brows furrowed, nearly touching as she glanced down at her cup. “Jett. Why?”

Another sigh of relief.

“There’s just a lot of random people here. I wanted to make sure it didn’t come from a stranger.”

Her annoyed expression melted, and her shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath. “I’d hope you know I’m smart enough not to take drinks from strangers.”

“I— I do, I just... was worried,” I admitted.

“Hello,” Patricia smiled, butting in.

“Hi,” I said heavily, acknowledging her before turning back to Kota. “You need anything, you come grab me immediately.”

She rose a brow, hiding behind her cup as she took a questionably long gulp. “Okay, Dad.”

I shook my head through a smile. “Ew. Don’t.”

She giggled and dropped her head, her straightened hair creating a curtain between us as I reluctantly left her.

For the next hour or two, I maintained a safe distance, doing my best to not let the guys catch on to what was going through my head.

The time was spent getting interrogated once again by TJ, listening to Cody recap some fight that happened between Matt and a random spectator, and watching Jett hand off vodka lemonades to pretty girls, his typical MO.

But the second all the guys had wandered off, leaving me alone, there was a tap on my shoulder.

The girl standing before me was around Kota’s height, beach blonde hair cascading past her shoulders. Judging by her sparkling blue eyes and perfectly white smile, there was no indication that she was closed-off or vicious like the girl I’d somehow become obsessed with.

“Hi, I’m Sloane.”

“Hi,” was all I greeted her with.

“You’re Nicholas, right? Or do you go by Nick?” she asked.

“I go by Crew actually.”

“Oh, sorry,” she grinned again, slightly sheepish.

“You’re good,” I replied.

Sloane was dressed like it was July. Her red tank top was suffocating her skin, black jean shorts snug on her thighs like they were giving them a hug. She seemed outgoing, easy to talk to. She was the kind of girl I used to pick out in a bar.

As she started talking and talking, I wasn’t sure if she’d ever shut up. I probably would’ve been into it if this happened six months ago, but regardless of how pretty she was, there was somehow no attraction to her, no urge to jump into her game of flirtation. I didn’t want to be a dick and tell her outright that I wasn’t interested, especially since she was just making small talk and not making an actual move.

Sloane’s brows drew together, and she turned, realizing she’d been tapped on the shoulder. As she swung around, I caught sight of Kota and my jaw fell open.

Kota’s hand was up, her fingers wiggling, waving in a condescending manner, matching her condescending, snarky smile. “Hello,” she greeted Sloane.

Unsurely, Sloane took a small step backwards, nearly bumping into me. “Hi...”

Kota’s tone remained calm, but the threat was clear. “I’m sorry, but I’m gonna need you to fuck off.”

“What?” Sloane scoffed, face twisting into anger.

Kota gestured to me. “This one is kinda off-limits.”

I wasn’t sure if Sloane was blind to the predator she was taunting or if she just preferred danger, because all she did was cross her arms and say, “Is that so?”

Kota’s brown eyes darkened, practically turning black.

Uh oh.

With a villainous grin, Kota responded, “Yes, that is so, Blondie . Now please fuck off before those pretty blonde locks end up in my fist rather than on your head.”

At that, Sloane ran off, and my hand was clutched around Kota’s bicep in seconds, leading her through the crowd.

“What are you doing? Where are we going?” she snapped.

“Home,” I said.

“Why?”

“Because I’m so turned on, my vision is blurring.”

She didn’t stop me as I rummaged through the sea of people flooding the house. I didn’t care if any of my teammates saw us right now. Hell, I didn’t even care if Lane and Bridget saw us.

I was so jealous last time I saw her talking to Bobby, and now that her jealousy was shining through, it verified that she felt the same way about me that I did about her. She didn’t want me talking to other women. She wanted me all to herself, and that was hot as hell.

I pushed the front door open, and we dashed home.