Chapter 26
Miller
Just as I promised to the nosey bitch of a reporter, I absolutely kicked ass and I skated every moment of the semi-finals with Mia in mind. It was a hard game, in fact, one of the hardest I’ve had but I kept on and in the end, I did it for Mia.
The boys all stopped me in the locker room right before heading out and let me know that they were all doing this game for Mia too which nearly brought me to my knees, seeing how the boys had all turned into men over the space of the season. I couldn’t have been prouder of them.
I thanked them all and got out on that ice and as a team, we pushed our way right through the semi-finals and into the final where we will be skating for that championship, it just happens to be the LA team that beat us last year but I won’t let that happen. Not on my watch. These boys have worked too hard to let it slip through our fingers once again.
We all celebrate in the locker room with a quick speech from Coach Harris before getting back into our suits to head out for the after-game reporters.
Following our duties and strict instructions from Coach Harris, Tank and I find our girls and head back to the hotel. “So, Coach isn’t letting us leave the hotel tonight so I was hoping you’d join me for dinner in the hotel restaurant?” I ask Dani as we all step into the elevator.
“Are you asking me out on a date?” she says with a flirty tone in her voice.
“And if I am?” I smirk.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she says, stepping out of my arms. “I have a boyfriend back home and I’m not too sure how he would feel about me accepting a date with a superstar,” she jokes.
“What’s your boyfriend going to say if he found out the superstar is going to be feasting between his woman’s legs later tonight?”
Her eyes widen and she gasps as her face goes bright red. “I can’t believe you just said that out loud” she scolds.
“Is this an open invitation?” Sophie asks from beside us.
“What?” Dani screeches as Tank looks over at her with curiosity.
“Ah, what?” I ask.
“Get your mind out the gutter. I meant the restaurant dinner not the feasting between my best friends’ legs,” she scolds.
I look down at Dani. “What do you think, babe?” I ask.
“Why not?” she says. “It’s a hockey trip so you should be with your team as much as possible. After all, you’re graduating soon and this was the last college semi-final you’ll ever be a part of so you may as well make it count,” she says.
“Alright then, I’ll see if a few of the boys want to join us,” I tell her.
“Make sure you invite Coach Harris. I don’t want him to feel left out,” she demands.
“Yes, boss,” I mock.
“Shut it,” she laughs.
An hour later we find ourselves down at the all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant meeting the rest of the team. The rest of the Dragon’s appear over the next few minutes and before you know it we’re all digging in, even Coach Harris, who I must admit was thrilled that we had thought of inviting him.
I’m sitting with my hand on Dani’s lap to one side and Tank hungrily scoffing down his dinner on my other as I down my own plate when the captain of the LA Team makes an appearance behind me with a few of his teammates. Great, the biggest douchebag on the planet wants to interrupt my dinner. Wonderful. The whole table suddenly quietens down as every eye turns in their direction as they try to figure out what the fuck they want.
“Miller,” he says, holding a hand out to me.
I get up out of my seat and reluctantly shake his hand. “Trent,” I scoff, letting him know just how much I don’t appreciate him. “What do you need?” I ask getting straight to the point.
“I just wanted to come and wish you luck with the championship tomorrow,” he says.
“That’s bullshit. Why are you interrupting my dinner with my team?”
He smirks over at me as he looks up and down the table. I notice Tank standing beside me with Dani now also on her feet, looking between us, clearly aware of the tension radiating off me.
“I heard about your sister,” he says with a sick smirk. My back stiffens and I thank God this dickhead didn’t actually use her sweet name. Why the fuck is he even talking about her? “A picture was posted of her today,” he explains. “It’s a damn shame though, I would have liked to test out that pussy. I bet she was real tight,” he winks.
I see red and storm towards him with my fists outstretched. How dare he? Tank wraps his arms around me and tries with everything he has to hold me back as a few of my teammates get up to help him out.
Dani gets up in my face and tries to get my attention. “Get out of my way babe, I don’t want to hurt you,” I snap to her.
“NO,” she demands, grabbing my face and forcing my attention to her. “This is what he wants. You knock him out now and you’re suspended for tomorrow’s game and lose the championship. You can kiss the NHL goodbye as well.”
“Dani. Move.”
“No. He is scared of you. He is chicken shit. He knows you’re going to kick his ass tomorrow and he is doing whatever the fuck he can to eliminate the competition and come out the good guy. You are not throwing your future away because of this piece of shit,” she yells, indicating to the dickhead behind her.
“Come on, man,” Tank says to me. “She’s right and you know it.”
“Fuck,” I yell, finally able to see reason. Tank pulls me back one more step and I reach out to take Dani in my arms when she holds her hand up for me with a scowl.
She turns on me and gives me her back. She looks up at Trent and I so desperately want to pull her back, away from that piece of shit. “You’re a real fucking big man speaking ill of Mia like that,” she snaps. “But if anything, you’re the biggest. Fucking. Idiot. You’ve just sealed your loss for tomorrow because I know for a fact Miller will not stop until he has defeated you and made you look like the absolute fool that you are. He will humiliate you. You will be the laughing stock by the end of that game and when that final buzzer sounds, you better watch the fuck out,” she warns then goes to walk away.
“Ooh,” he laughs. “I love a fierce woman, why don’t you come home with me tonight?” he smirks.
Dani turns back around to him, rears back and punches him square in the nose with everything she possesses. I hear the distinct sound of bone breaking and stare at her in shock.
Trent roars out in pain as blood pours from his nose and lunges for my girl. No fucking way. I grab Dani and pull her right out of the way and lucky for that fucker, his boys pull him back. Yeah, as soon as I kick his ass tomorrow on the ice. I’m going to deal with this mother fucker man to man.
His boys drag him bleeding out of the restaurant and I turn to check Dani over.
“Fuck,” she cries, shaking out her hand with tears of pain in her green eyes.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” I say. “Let me look at your hand,” I ask, reaching out to her.
“No. No fucking way,” she snaps, pointing a finger at me. “How dare you almost throw away your future on that piece of shit,” she scolds.
“Baby, I’m sorry,” I say reaching out to her again. “Please let me see your hand.”
“No,” she snaps again in frustration and squeezes her hand together to create a fist. “Fuck, that hurts.” she groans.
I step into her and take her hand in mine to look it over to find it already swelling like a bitch. “Baby, I think you might have broken something, let me take you down to the medical centre.”
“No, I’m sorry Miller, I love you but I’m just so angry with you,” she says.
“What? Did you not hear what he said?”
“Yes, I heard it, it was terrible and I hope to God you deal with it later but you were so ready to throw it all away and that pisses me the fuck off.”
“Yep, I agree with Dani,” Coach Harris says, suddenly beside me. “Sophie, take Dani to get checked out and Tank, take this dickhead upstairs and knock some sense into him. I’ve had enough of this bullshit for one night. I’m going to bed. All you girls be ready for a 5 am training session,” he snaps, then turns on his heel and stalks out of the restaurant.
“Fine,” the whole team grumbles. I lean in and give Dani a kiss on the lips and am relieved when she kisses me back. She turns and leaves with Sophie while Tank drags me upstairs.
“What the fuck are we going to do about Trent?” Tank asks as we step into my room, just as riled up as me.
“I don’t know yet but there is no way that fucker is getting away with disrespecting Mia like that.” I growl.
“I agree, but promise me whatever goes down happens under the radar,” he says.
“Yeah man. Mia would hate me if I threw it all away like that. Dani was right,” I tell him as I sink down on the bed.
“That she was,” he says. “But I’m pretty fucking impressed with your girl man. Did you see the way she put that fucker in his place then socked him? Fuck, I didn’t know she had it in her.”
“Yeah,” I laugh. “She was fucking awesome.”
Dani comes back a few hours later, strips off naked and crawls into bed with a groan. “Hey baby,” I murmur, pulling her against me. “You still pissed at me?”
“No,” she sighs, turning in my arms to face me. “But you were an idiot.”
“I know, you were right,” I admit. “How’s your hand?”
“I broke my pinky,” she murmurs.
“Damn. I’ll have to teach you how to throw a proper punch.” I tell her.
“You mean you weren’t impressed with my performance?” she gasps.
“I was definitely impressed, I was so fucking hard.”
She laughs and scoots up in bed to kiss me. “I’d jump you right now but my hand hurts too much and you have to be up early,” she tells me.
“Ok baby,” I say, taking her bandaged hand and giving it the gentlest kiss I can possibly manage.
“You’re going to win the championship tomorrow, Superstar,” she murmurs on a yawn.
“Yeah babe,” I say, pulling her in. “Go to sleep,”
“K.”