Chapter Nineteen

Matthew

It’s been four days since I’ve tied her to this bed. Four days since I told her she’s mine. Four days since she admitted she’s mine. The first night I untied her and tied her to me just in case she would take off running. She did worse. She yanked me so hard while I was sleeping I thought my shoulder was dislocated. We showered together, ate together, watched television together, fucked each other like rabbits, and the whole time she was tied to me. I loved every single fucking second of it.

Now here we are in the bathroom after four days. My body has never been more relaxed in my whole life. “I have to be at the rink tomorrow morning for practice skate.” I spit my toothpaste out of my mouth while she stands at her side of the sink brushing her teeth. My white big plush robe hangs on her. It’s four sizes too big. “We play tomorrow night.”

She spits out her toothpaste and rinses out her mouth. “I’m aware.” She glares at me. “I hope you know that you ruined my vacation.”

I wink at her, obviously irritating her even more. “Please, you're trying to tell me that four days home with your reality television shit playing wasn’t better than Mexico?”

“No.” She folds her hands, the front opening a bit more, showing me her one plump breast. She is also sporting some of what I call ‘love bites’ all over her. In discreet places of course. Nonetheless her breasts have them, her inner thighs, her shoulders, the back of her neck. I stopped myself short of sucking on her neck this morning while she rode me. Instead, her left tit got it. I reach out, pulling her to me. “You ruined my beach vacation.”

I don’t have time to say anything because her phone rings.

She walks to the side of the bed, picking it up, shooting me a surprised look. “It's my father.” She looks at the phone again then at me. “Hey, Pops!” she says, sitting on the bed.

I take my cue to go downstairs and make sure everything is closed up. Walking back upstairs, I see her in bed under the covers watching television.

“Everything okay?” I ask her.

“Yes, he wanted to know how my beach vacation was. When I told him I got the flu and couldn’t go, he asked me to meet him for lunch tomorrow and I’ll stay in the office and head to the game with him.”

I walk to my side of the bed, getting in, lying on my side. “You’re beautiful. Every single time I look at you I hold my breath.” I grab her hand and kiss her inner wrist. “This was the best four days I’ve ever had,” I tell her softly. She sinks down in the bed, coming to me so now we are face to face, chest to chest. She doesn’t say anything. She just kisses my lips.

“You owe me a Mexican vacation when this season is over. I’m going with or without you. FYI. And if you tie me to this bed one more time”—she leans in—“I will set your balls on fire while you sleep.”

“Babe, you know all this sweet talk gets me all hot and bothered.”

“I’m out of commission tonight. My vagina is closed. Besides, if we have sex one more time you might chafe,” she says, cuddling in closer to me. “Save the energy for tomorrow night, big guy.”

I smile at her, kissing the top of her head while we both fall asleep. When the alarm rings I roll over, getting out of bed, watching Karrie sleep. She is on her stomach, the sheet to her lower back, her hair fanning her pillow. A bite mark is on her shoulder right next to the hickey I left. I smile to myself. She’s mine. Fucking forever if I get my way. I lean down on her side of the bed, kissing her shoulder before I get dressed and leave for the rink.

Once I get to the rink, I get ready to go on the ice with Phil and Luka. We skate around, making plays and shooting the puck. Coach skates on the ice with the rest of the team, where we spend the next two hours going through all the new drills. By the time I skate off the ice I’m happy to get my skates off. Coach comes in after going to the board. “We are going to have some shifts with the lines that I’ll be making tonight. Expect some changes.”

With that he walks off while I rip the tape from my socks, forming it into a ball.

Max speaks up, “Fuck, I’m tired. Five days of fucking and drinking. I need another vacation.”

I look down at my other sock, ignoring him while he talks about his whole five days off.

The guys around us start talking about television shows and about the beach vacation a big gang of them took. I get up going into the shower, making a note that I will be taking Karrie to that house in Mexico that Cooper bought Mom. Once I’m dressed I walk out, going to my phone and calling Cooper.

“Hey, son,” he says as soon as he answers.

“Hey.” I smile. He’s been calling me son since almost the beginning and I love it.

“You okay? How was your time off?” he asks while I hear the twins in the background.

“Good, good, nothing crazy. We just stayed home.”

“We?” he asks me.

“Yeah, Karrie and me,” I say to him, looking around to make sure I'm alone. “She’s the one.”

“Matthew, son,” he starts talking quietly, “you need to be a hundred percent sure of this. Her father is your boss. The biggest media mogul on the east coast.”

“I would die for her. Remember when you met Mom and you said you want to be the one who makes her smile?”

“Yeah.” His answer comes out soft as he probably remembers just that moment.

“Well, I want to do that. I’ve never wanted to do that before in my life, but with her I want to make sure she smiles all the time. I want to be the one who laughs with her, who wipes her tears, or who kicks the shit out of whoever makes her cry.”

“Okay, son, when do we meet her?” Just like that he doesn’t try to talk me down, doesn’t try to tell me how stupid it sounds that after three months I’m head over heels in love with a woman who was going to go away without me.

“I want to bring her home as soon as I can.” I’m almost home when I stop at the corner store and pick up a bouquet of pink tulips. “We are going to the west coast tonight, and we will be back next week.”

“Oh, we are going to my college friend Austin’s new restaurant opening on Saturday. Why don’t you come by?”

“Yeah, we play Friday and then get three days off. Send me the details so I can set it up.” I smile, thinking about finally seeing my family again. We FaceTime all the time, but it’s not the same. “You guys are going to love her.”

“She makes you happy, that’s all we ask for, son.”

I hang up as soon as I walk up the steps to the house. Opening the door walking in I see that I’m all alone. I walk to the kitchen where I put the flowers in a vase, bringing it up to the bedroom so she can see them. She fixed the bed before she left, so I just fall on the bed, grabbing her pillow so I can smell her, and just like that I nap till my alarm goes off, telling me it’s time to get going.

Walking into the arena by myself is weird. I usually have Karrie with me. I go in search of her, wondering where she is. When I see her talking to Mindy and her father I walk up to them. “Hey.” I nod to them and take in Karrie. I haven’t seen her since I left her in her bed. She is wearing tight black pants that look like they were painted on with a peach shirt and a big scarf around her neck. Her gray jacket hangs open and loose.

“Hey, there he is,” Mindy says. “We were just discussing how happy we are you are attending the kids’ gala with us.”

I put my hands in my pockets to stop from reaching out and yanking Karrie in my arms, even just to have her next to me.

“Now, if you excuse us, Doug, I need you to sign off on the press release.” He kisses Karrie goodbye and they walk away.

I get closer to her, watching her eyes light up. “I missed you,” I say low so no one can hear.

“Did you?” Her hand glazes mine. “Good. You can show me tonight just how much you missed me.” I’m about to grab her and find an empty closet when the rest of the team slowly trickle in. “Go be a star, Grant. I’ll see you after the game.”

I nod at her, walking past her into the room. On the center board are the lines for tonight. I’m paired with Phil, which isn’t a surprise, but we are put on the first line with Brendan. I don’t have time to celebrate before Max comes in and sees the board.

“What the fuck is this?” He looks at the board and then around the room. The players never make eye contact with him. He comes up to me, toe to toe. “You think you can come in here and take my fucking spot, Rookie?”

I shake my head, not even giving him the time of day and planning on moving back, till he grabs the front of my jacket in both his hands. “I’ll make you pay for this.”

I feel some of the guys at my back, but I don’t need them. “Max, on the ice I have your back because I have no choice, but in here, on the street, I don’t. I’m going to give you three seconds to take your fucking hands off me before I break them both and you won’t be able to hold a hockey stick for the next six weeks.” I look down at his hands and then up at him. “Two.” I don’t even start at one when the Luka comes in and takes Max’s hands off me.

“Calm down, Max,” Luka says, but not before the coach, who has been watching this whole thing, finally speaks.

“You want back on that first line, earn it.” He looks around the room. “No one hands anyone anything. Not in my locker room.” And with that he walks out but not before Max storms out of the room.

“He’s a fucking tool,” Brendan says from his seat. “Ignore him.”

The rest of the guys share the same opinion, but I keep my comments to myself. Instead, I get ready to show them on the ice why I belong on the first line.