Chapter 3
Danielle
“Holy Shit,” Sophie says as the boys pile off the ice and head into the infamous locker room. “What is Tank doing on the team? There is no way I’m going to be able to keep it to a one-night-stand now.”
I laugh at her misery. “I think we have bigger problems,” I say, glancing down at Coach Harris. “He hates us. He’s probably waiting for us to screw up so he can kick us out of here.”
“Yeah, but he will come around, once this all gets going and he sees some results he will be all for it,” she says. “Now get your ass downstairs and get a photo of them in the locker room.”
“What?” I squeak. “No way. I’m not going in there.”
“You have to. You’re the photographer. I mean, I’m coming with you, I’m not missing that, but you’re the one with the skills Missy, now get off your ass.”
“Fine,” I grumble as I get up. “What do you need a photo of them in the locker room for?”
“So I can add it to my spank bank,” she laughs.
“Be serious,” I scold, bopping her shoulder.
“I think we need something exciting to kick it all off and the boy's locker room has always been taboo, prohibited, dark and intriguing. It’s the Garden of Eden and all the ladies are dying to know what kind of fruit it holds so we are going to show them.”
I smirk at her reasoning, though, I can’t complain about that. We make our way downstairs and twist our way through the maze of hallways as we search out the boy’s locker room. We come up to the door, after following the noise and smell of sweaty men.
I go to knock on the door to warn them we are here but Sophie walks straight by me. “Cover up boy’s, we’re coming in,” she announces as she barges her way in. I follow behind her and I feel the heat instantly rise to my cheeks. Damn it. I keep my eyes down, trying to give them a little bit of privacy but as Sophie chats and giggles away, I realize that these boys don’t care, they are all extremely confident in what they’ve been blessed with and from what I can see, so they should be.
Sophie begins to explain what we need to the half-naked boys and they agree straight away and begin huddling around for a photo. “Hold on,” Tank calls. “We’re missing Miller.”
A few of the boy’s moan and tells us to get on with it but Tank insists we wait, after all, Miller is the captain and what locker room photo would be complete without the captain?
Not two minutes later Miller walks out of the bathroom, just showered with his towel wrapped around his narrow waist, giving me the perfect view of his toned chest and abs that lead down to the perfect mouth-watering ‘V’, drops of water glisten off his perfect body and heat begins to flood in my stomach as an intense need comes over me. I raise my eyes instantly locking on his and I realize I’ve been caught checking him out. He smirks at me but goes to join the boys.
I raise my camera and take a few shots, some with them posing but some just natural, which to me, comes off a lot sexier. “Ok, thanks, guys,” I say, placing the cap back on the lens. “You can get dressed now.”
I scramble as I try to flee the locker room. “Dani,” I stop in my tracks and turn to figure out which of these sexy men is needing my attention. I look around and find none other than Miller’s eyes on me, he indicates with a slight jerk of his head for me to join him. I walk over and stand before him, very aware that he is still glistening with water that slowly drips from his dark hair and is wearing nothing but a very loose towel.
“Like what you see?” he smirks as he reaches into his locker and pulls out a sharpie.
I make a show of looking him over then give a non-committed shrug. “Nah… Seen better,” I tell him.
“I doubt that,” he says, his dark eyes flaming. He takes my arm and sends shivers right through my body. I watch in confusion as he uncaps his sharpie and begins scribbling his number right down the length of my arm.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I shriek, pulling my arm out of his firm grasp and fixing him with an unimpressed look, while simultaneously ignoring the way his intense eyes bore into mine. I look down at my forearm to see the first half of his number, taking up at least half of my arm.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m giving you my number,” he says smugly.
“You know, there are much more conventional ways to give a woman your number,” I explain.
“No, this way you can’t tell me you lost it,” he smirks, then reaches out, taking my hand in his and finishes it off. “Call me,” he demands once he has completed branding my arm. Geez, this guy comes on strong.
“Don’t think so,” I say, enjoying the way his eyes dance as he watches me.
“You will,” he smirks with confidence. I give him one last smile and turn my back, making my way out of the locker room.
“Hey,” he calls, I turn back around just in time to see him drop his towel to the ground, an evil smirk dances on his handsome face and I can’t help but look down. My eyes widen in shock. Wow. He is one glorious man, “See you around.”
I feel my cheeks flame as need rushes through me once again and I stutter out a, “Yeah,” which comes out extremely breathy and I swear there may have been a little moan. Crap. I need to get out of here before I jump him. How embarrassing. He smirks again at my reaction as I scurry out the door and run right into Sophie.
“Watch it, cow. What’s the hurry? I’m dying to get back in there,” she laughs.
“Oh, shut it. I just got flashed by the Captain and he branded me with his number,” I say holding up my arm.
“Damn, you work fast, he’s hot. When are you calling him?” she asks, grabbing my camera and flicking through all our photos, then going back to the last ones and zooming in.
“I’m not calling him, he’s the biggest player on campus,” I tell her.
“What? That’s ridiculous,” she says, then her eyes widen as if she has just discovered a secret. “Did he not have a lot to show for himself? I’m surprised. You know, maybe he is a grower, not a shower.”
“Oh my god, shut up. And for the record, I was extremely impressed with what I saw. I’m just not ready to date, not after what happened with Brett.”
“Whoa, slow down, cowgirl. Who said anything about dating? Whatever happened to just sex? I’m sure he would be down for that. I bet he is the bomb in bed,” she says looking extremely smug.
“No, you know I can’t do that,” I tell her. “Sex for me is more than just a quick pump and dump. There has to be a connection. I’m a relationship girl, not a ‘One Nighter’ like you.”
“Hey, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,” she grins.
“Yeah, that’s never going to happen,” I confirm. “Now, what do you think of the photos? I think we have heaps to get the first story out, though I liked the idea of the ‘Hockey Hottie of the Week Bio” I add.
“Yeah, I liked that too. Did you just come up with that one? I don’t remember talking about it before.”
“Yeah, it just kind of popped into my mind, so I rolled with it. Maybe we should start with the newbies, leave the more popular guys till their following is back.”
“I agree,” she says. “Now let’s get home so we can show Jared all these photos. He is going to die when he sees this.”
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I get home and make my way down to my bedroom as I dig my phone out of my bag. I make myself comfy on my bed and bring up my mother’s number.
“Dani Bear, how are you?” my mother’s shrill, excited voice beams after the second ring. “When are you coming home? We miss you,” she says as I hear Dad calling out hello in the background. God, I miss them. It must have been Christmas when I last saw them and even that nearly sent me broke.
“Hi Mum,” I smile. “Miss you too, hopefully, I can make it home in the next few weeks.”
“That would be great darling. How're your classes going?” she asks, falling into our usual weekly conversation.
“Yeah, so far so good. We got this huge assignment in Communications that’s worth 50% of our grade and I’m paired with Sophie, which is great. The only downfall is that we’re stuck being the hockey team groupies for the year.”
“Really?” she asks interested and I can practically hear the smile in her voice. I imagine her flopping down on her old couch, her dark hair high up on her head. “Why do you make it sound like such a bad thing? I bet there are a lot of good-looking boys on that team. Have you met them yet?”
“Mum,” I groan. “I’m not interested,” I tell her, giving the little white lie as I haven’t been able to get the image of Miller Cain dropping his towel out of my mind. “I told you I’m not dating and even if I were, it’s not going to be one of those guys, no matter how hot they are.”
“Come on darling, don’t you think it’s about time you got back on the horse?” she asks.
I put my phone down and hit speaker as I make my way across my room to pull out my nail polishes. “No mum, I don’t. Why are we having this conversation again? You know how I feel about all this.”
“Baby,” she scolds. “It’s been months since you left Brett, maybe finding someone new will be good for you. Dating is healthy.” Damn it, why did she have to go and bring up Brett.
“No mum, I don’t think so. It’s way too soon. I just want to enjoy being single. If the right guy comes along, then he comes along, but until then, I’m not actively searching for him,” I say, searching through the polishes and pulling out my favourite red and get to work.
“Why do you have to be so difficult? You get that from your father, you know?” she laughs “But one day, whether you like it or not, some amazing guy is going to come along and sweep you off your feet. I just hope you’re open to it when he does.”
“I know, mum,” I grumble with an eye roll.
“You better not be rolling your eyes at me, Missy,” she says.
“I’m not,” I laugh as I move onto my other foot.
We chat for another half hour discussing classes and the assignment when I hear Jared getting home.
She doesn’t let me hang up until I’ve promised to send her the pictures from the boy’s locker room which is exactly what I do.
I hop up, hoping my nails have fully dried and make my way into the kitchen, following the inticing smell of Chinese food.
“Yum,” I say, making my presence known, noticing Jared and his boyfriend, Ashton, sitting up on the counter. “God, I hope that’s to share,” I say as my tummy begins to rumble.
“Girl, I know better than to come home without bringing you ladies dinner,” Jared smirks.
“I thank God for you every day, Jared,” I say, crossing the kitchen and wrapping my body around his in the tightest hug.
“Shut up and dig in,” he laughs, pulling a clean plate out of the dishwasher behind him.
“What’s that smell?” I hear Sophie call from her bedroom.
“Get your skinny ass out here,” I yell back. “The boys bought us Chinese.”
She comes rushing down the hallway in nothing but her pyjama shorts and hot pink bra. She smirks when she sees the plate Jared has just retrieved for her and grabs it enthusiastically. “What do you say to a movie night?” she asks the room.
“I’m in,” Ashton pipes up, hopping off the counter and making his way into the lounge room, being sure to smack Jared on the ass on his way past. We all follow behind with our dinner and flop down on the couch.
“This is amazing,” Sophie grumble’s as she stuffs another forkful into her mouth.
“Mmmm,” I agree, shovelling in my own.
Jared places his plate down on the coffee table and heads down the hallway, coming back a minute later with pillows and blankets. He heads over to our shockingly poor DVD collection before turning back at us. “It’s either the notebook or Burlesque?” he asks.
“Burlesque,” we all say in unison, though Sophie and I grumble it with full mouths.
He laughs and gets on with loading the DVD. “You bitches are going to give yourselves muffin tops if you keep eating like that.”
“Don’t stress,” Sophie smirks. “I get enough action to have to worry about a muffin top.”
“Oh, and what about you?” Ashton asks me with eyebrows raised.
“I’m fine,” I huff, earning a scoff from both Sophie and Jared. “What? I am.”
“You’re not babe,” Sophie says. “But you will be if Miller Cain has anything to do with it.”