When they left that evening, Seraphina was reminded that they had a mini-roadtrip before they flew back to Newport Beach. The Gulls were scheduled to play the Houston Rangers tomorrow and then the Phoenix Rattlesnakes two nights after that. She had completely forgotten that in all of her scheduling. When she realized if she traveled with the team, she would be expected to make an appearance at both games, Seraphina okayed it. She hadn’t traveled with the team for her entire tenure and decided since she was already with them, it might be fun to watch them play as a visitor than just at home. She asked the girls if they wanted to go home because of some scheduled obligation but nobody took her up on her offer of flying them home. Even Emma, who always seemed to be busy, was able to go on the little getaway.

She sat with Brandon on the plane and the two held hands once again. It calmed Seraphina down just like it did before. Other than that, they did not touch. Seraphina still didn’t know what this was, and just because she was open to seeing where it went didn’t mean she needed to force her team into being around it.

Somehow, she fell asleep and her head hit Brandon’s shoulder. She was out until the plane landed. Then, Brandon gently woke her up. She felt refreshed, safe. Glad she didn’t have to worry about reacting to the plane landing. To her, that was always the worst part of being afraid to fly, that little bump that always occurred right after the plane touched the ground at that speed.

The team was transported over to the hotel by bus and by the time they checked into their rooms, it was well after midnight and the players were due for an eight am skate even though the game wasn’t until the next day.

Seraphina had given Brandon a copy of their room key but didn’t make any plans with him on whether he would come up or not. That was entirely up to him and she wasn’t going to wait around and figure it out. Even when Katella asked whether Thorpe would be here, Seraphina answered honestly: “I don’t know.”

“Negan is,” Katella said. She gave her sister a long look. “I’m here if you need me, Sera.”

Seraphina nodded once. “Thanks,” she said.

Just as she was dozing off, however, Seraphina heard the door to her room click open and the soft, familiar footsteps of Brandon. Through slitted eyes, she could see his tall figure crawl onto the bed, could feel his large hand cup her cheek, and then he gave her a long, slow kiss.

“I didn’t think you would come,” she murmured in a sleepy voice.

“And resist being next to you?” he asked. “I’ve been wanting to do this for over a year and a half. We have a lot of time to make up for.”

He gave her a long, lasting kiss, sending shockwaves through her system and making her knees go weak. Thank goodness she was lying down or else she would have fallen off-balance like a clutz.

"Wait," he murmured against her lips. "Wait, wait, wait. We have to talk about this, Seraphina. I want you... I want to be inside you. Fuck, I want you. But I can't just... I won't." He stopped and looked her in the eye. She could tell by the clenched jaw and the hard eyes that it took a lot out of him just to control himself. He wanted her just like she wanted him, and it took everything in her to resist him, to hold back from seducing him - because she knew if she kissed his neck and caressed his body he would succumb and save the talking for later - because she knew this was important to him. And if it was important to him, it should be important to her as well.

"Okay," she agreed with a nod of her head. "What would you like to talk about?"

"Us," he said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I want to talk about me and you and what this is. My feelings haven't changed, Sera. If we're going to do this, I want to do this right. I'm not going to half-ass this. I want you completely. I don't want you with anyone else. I don't want you only to have sex with you. I want to be in a relationship with you where we hold hands and have sex and make plans. I can't do anything less."

Seraphina bit her bottom lip and nodded. "I know," she told him. "I've been giving this a lot of thought. And I agree. But we can't go public, Brandon. Not right now. Maybe not for a while. I would need to talk to my lawyer and make sure we’re covered legally. And if we're not, we might have to keep our relationship a secret for a while. For however long I'm owner of the team or you’re on my team."

"But you would be with me?" he asked. "I know it's undercover, we have to hide things for a while, but you would still be with me?"

"Of course, Brandon," she said, looking at him with wonder. "I want to be with you out in public. But would you be willing to wait for that?" She wasn't sure if this was going to work at all but she was willing to try.

"I'd do anything for you," he told her sincerely. "Just as long as we got-"

Now it was her turn to shut him up with a kiss.

–

Brandon Thorpe didn’t have many friends.  Truth be told, he didn’t have any friends.  Even his own teammates didn’t socialize with him much, and he was their captain.  Of course, he didn’t take it personally.  He understood that he hadn’t actually put himself out there so it wouldn’t make sense for them to make the effort when it was his responsibility to reach out and contribute in some way as well.

He didn’t particularly care one way or the other.  He knew that out on the ice, his team had his back, regardless of how they personally felt about him.  It was what you did when you were on a team: you had your team’s back no matter what.

Well, most of his teammates had that mentality.  Negan and Matt Peters, Katella’s ex, didn’t get along and Negan hadn’t gone out of his way to pretend he liked the guy.  Although, if Brandon was being honest, he couldn’t really blame Negan.  Peters had run his mouth – which wasn’t like him – about Katella and Negan protected his girl, regardless of who was doing the talking.  Negan wasn’t the sort of man to subscribe to the philosophy of bros before hos, and Brandon had to respect him for it.  Brandon was also against that adage because he grew up with women – a mother and a sister.  If anyone ran their mouth about them, he would have no problem putting them in their place no matter who said it.

“Hey.”  Thorpe picked his head up from the ice, looking over to see Negan standing by his goal post, nodding at him.  Because it was a light practice, he wasn’t wearing his helmet.

“Hey,” Brandon acknowledged in return.

“How’re you doing?”

Brandon cut Negan a sideways look.  It wasn’t as though he was suspicious of Negan’s motives, per se, but at the same time, Negan wasn’t the sort of guy to talk if he didn’t want to talk.  He’d always been cordial and respectful with Brandon – and a lot of that might have had to do with the fact that Brandon was captain – but Negan never skated over during a quick break of morning skate to ask how he was.

“In regards to?” Brandon asked, hoping it didn’t come out like he was being a smartass.  Because that definitely wasn’t his intention.

“Your hand,” Negan said, glancing at Brandon’s right hand.  “You beat the shit out of Stevens.”

“The guy deserved it,” Brandon said.  Technically speaking, he shouldn’t be practicing right now.  And he really wasn’t.  But he at least wanted to skate with the pads on, keep his legs fresh, practice holding his stick even with the pain.

“They always do,” Negan agreed with a nod, crossing his arms over his chest.  “Look, I’m going to get straight to the point.  You don’t really talk that much and you kind of come across like a dick.  But you’re my captain and after what happened last night, I want you to know I have your back.”

Brandon glanced over at him.  “You didn’t have to tell me that,” he said.  “I know you guys do.”

“Look, I’m not really good at this whole talking thing,” he said.  Brandon glanced over at him, his lips curled up into a gentle smirk.  “But I just want you to know, I really respect what you did out there.  Yeah, you fought and we fight in hockey.  But I was out on the ice when Stevens was running his mouth, and if you hadn’t jumped in and taken care of him, I would have.  He shouldn’t be talking about Seraphina that way.  It’s such bullshit.”

“You sound like you understand,” Brandon pointed out.

Negan snorted, crossing his arms over his chest and looked down, shaking his head. There was a wry smile on his face before he picked his eyes up and looking at Brandon. "I don't talk much," he said again, "but I figure you're in the same place as I am. Dating a Hanson sister is not a walk in the park, let me tell you."

Brandon pushed his brows up. "That fight," he said, "when you went off on Guzman."

Negan nodded. "Guilty," he said. "The guy was running his mouth about Kat to Peters, Peters wasn't doing shit. I'm not talking bad about my team, but Jesus, that's your owner, kind of. You know? Even though you broke up, she's still part of your family. You defend her."

"It doesn't look like Peters needed to defend her," Brandon pointed out. "Not when she had you."

"Like I said," Negan said. "I know what you're going through."

Brandon gave him a look from the corner of his eyes. "Are you here to tell me that you understand but we should still be putting the team first since we're so close to a guaranteed playoff spot?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

Negan tilted his head to the side. "Absolutely not," he said. "If anything, I'm the opposite. That's not to say that I wouldn't put the team first, but if someone talks about my girl in a particular way, where or not he's only trying to get in my head, I'm going to make him realize he can't fucking talk about her that way, you know?"

Brandon nodded once but didn't say anything. He understood where Negan was coming from. He lost it, just like Negan did. The difference was, Negan was known for being an instigator. He was known for running his mouth and trying to get the other team's players off the ice in order to get an advantage. Ironically enough, Guzman hadn't even targeted Negan. Negan just reacted, which meant Guzman must have been saying some pretty bad things about Katella. Brandon couldn't blame him.

"The problem is, you've put a target on your back," Negan continued, looking at him with serious brown eyes. "If other teams know how you feel about her, they're going to try and get you off the ice. We can't have you off the ice. We're a good team but you've kept us in games we should have lost. We need you. So if anyone runs his mouth about Seraphina again, just let me know and I've got him, okay? I'd rather sit for five than lose you for the whole game. I don't want to risk it."

Brandon was surprised by Negan's comments. He nodded his head, trying to cover up that surprise.

"Thanks, man," he said.

Negan nodded. "Sure," he said, sticking out his gloved hand.

Brandon tapped it with his own.

"Just so you know," Brandon said quickly. "The team is better because you're on it."

Negan gave him a wolfish grin. "I think that that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," he said. "In fact, I think that that's the only thing you've really said to me."

Brandon chuckled. "I guess I'll have to work on that," he said.