Chapter 21

Erik

Blue’s hand feels right in mine. In fact, I don’t remember anything feeling quite this right. About the closest I can compare is perhaps the first time I put on skates and stepped out onto the ice for the first time when I was five, but even that doesn’t really measure up.

The only thing I know is that while I might not stop being in awe over this feeling, I’ve stopped questioning it. I just accept that it is.

As we walk through the lobby of the Desert Sun Country Club, I give a sidelong glance at Blue.

Fucking stunning.

“I totally underestimated how that dress would affect me,” I tell her offhandedly. The low-cut, black dress with a side slit to mid-thigh was made for her. Or rather, made for me.

She shoots me a brief glance accompanied by a smirk. “How so?”

“Well…when you tried it on, I thought it was elegant and sexy and really just perfect on you. But couple it with the hair, the makeup, the jewelry, and those fuck-me-all-night-long heels with that strap around the ankle, I’m not sure I’ll be able to contain myself around you.”

Blue stops dead in her tracks and I do the same. Her eyes sparkle with mischief and she starts to tug me back in the direction from where we just came. “Then let’s go back to your place. You can strip me out of this dress and I’ll leave the shoes on—”

“No way.” Laughing, I turn our direction back toward the reunion party. The Grand Ballroom A. “Nice try, Blue. But we’re going to this high school get-together and you’re going to enjoy yourself.”

“Fat chance,” she mutters.

Blue’s been trying to back out of this event all week but I won’t let her. I want her to go back and confront her past. I want her to shine tonight because I want others to know how brilliantly awesome she is. I already know that shit.

We reach the ballroom with its big double wooden doors and strains of music filtering through. A bad rendition of “Misery” by Maroon 5.

Turning to her, I bring my hands to her shoulders. “Okay…I need you to be mentally prepared.”

Blue tilts her head to the side. “For what?”

“For people in there to stare at you. It’s going to happen because they have never seen a creature like you before. They’ll be in awe. Possibly green with jealousy. It could cause problems.”

Blue snorts and purses her lips. “These people have all seen me before.”

“Not the Blue Gardner you are tonight,” I say as I pull my chin in to look down her body. “They’ve never seen a dress like that on a body like yours. Or hair as beautiful, or skin as soft. Those shoes are going to cause a few hard-ons, and baby…those diamonds are going to make some women drool.”

Blue holds out her wrists and examines the bracelet I’d given her tonight. It’s an 18K white-gold bangle with forty-eight brilliant round diamonds, total of five carats. She tried to refuse it when I gave it to her this morning so I had to fuck her silent. She accepted it after that but only because I think she was too wrecked from the orgasms I’d given her.

I had wanted to get the matching necklace too, but it only came in a sixteen-inch length and I’ve observed Blue tugging at her uniform scarf around her neck enough to know she doesn’t like anything but my lips constricting that area. So I went with just the bracelet.

Her eyes lift up to mine and her smile is the most genuine thing that has ever been handed to me before. “You’re incredible, Erik. I really, really think you are the most amazing man I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.”

“That’s perfect,” I say with a laugh and hold my arm out to her. “Because I think the same of you. Now let’s go show our total awesomeness to these people.”

We enter the ballroom and immediately hit a throng of people. It’s like prom night all over again. There’s a live band and a rotating crystal ball above the dance floor. The lights are muted low and several round tables that seat eight are scattered about. Tuxedoed waiters walk around with silver trays of finger foods and glasses of red and white wine. Flowers and streamers in green and white decorate the space and I’m guessing those are their high school colors.

It’s a weird attempt to re-create a high school dance in an adult, country-club environment. While the Desert Sun Country Club is private and has a fairly nice golf course attached, it’s not in the upper echelon of clubs. Still, the woman that put this on had to spend some big money since there was no fee to attend and help defray costs.

The lead singer of the band announces they’re taking a break and the people on the dance floor break apart and return to tables, others heading up to what looks like a cash liquor bar. Without the music, the din of a few hundred people talking buzzes in the air.

“Blue,” a woman calls out and we both turn that way.

A petite woman with curly hair just above her shoulder walks quickly toward us with a glass of red wine in her hand. She has a bright smile and a quick glance at Blue shows she’s got a reciprocal one on her face.

The women hug, exclaim over how good the other looks, and then hug again. When they break apart, Blue introduces me to her high school swim teammate, Ellen Richman.

“Ellen went east after high school,” Blue explains to me. “Swam for Duke and still lives in North Carolina.”

“Athletic and smart,” I say as I shake her hand.

“Did you see Her Royal Highness?” Ellen asks Blue in a conspiratorially low voice, nodding her head across the dance floor.

I turn my attention that way, taking note of three women standing together. They’re talking but it’s clear they’re talking about other people around them. They’re intently staring at a woman not ten feet away with smirks on their faces, and then they incline their heads in and whisper to each other as they eyeball her down their noses.

“That’s Christina Hodgins,” Ellen explains to me with another nod. “The woman in the ivory dress. She put on this little party and loves spending her husband’s money. His name is TJ and he’s a big real estate developer around here. The woman in the red dress is her mean girls’ cohort, Krystal Breen. She’s a pediatric nurse at the hospital and is sleeping with more than one doctor there. I’m dying to see who she brought as her date. And the third is Belinda Montenegro. She left her husband of one year for her shrink who’s twenty-four years older than her.”

I stare at Ellen with my mouth open in surprise. Blue laughs while Ellen explains, “My sister still lives here in Phoenix and is actually a nurse at the same hospital Krystal works at. She hears all the gossip and duly reports it to me.”

I decide I immediately like Ellen.

Keeping my arm around Blue’s waist, I listen while the women reminisce and catch up on recent happenings. At one point, Ellen includes me in on the conversation. “And what do you do, Erik?”

“I’m a professional hockey player,” I tell her. “For the Vengeance.”

“Oh, wow,” she says in awe and then turns to Blue with a grin. “Well done, Blue.”

Ellen turns back to me. “Sorry I didn’t recognize you. I do watch hockey but I don’t follow it that closely to know players on other teams. I’ve been to a lot of Cold Fury games back in Raleigh, though.”

“We’ll have to get together when we travel back to North Carolina to play them,” I tell her, assuming Blue will like that idea. It’s clear these women were friends and like each other.

“That would be awesome,” Ellen says and then whips her head to look back to Blue. “Hey…do you still play chess?”

“Not really,” Blue says. “You?”

“Yeah…I joined a club when I was at Duke and still play some weekends.”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute,” I drawl as I raise my hand and wave it between the two women to butt in. I then focus my attention only on Blue. “You were really in the chess club in high school?”

“I told you I was,” she chides with a smirk.

“When you said you had a ‘distinctly nerdy love for the chess club,’ I just thought you were being euphemistic.”

Blue and Ellen howl over that, hanging on to each other. When they finish, Ellen informs me, “Blue is really, really good.”

“I bet,” I say appreciatively as I look at my girl, admiring the new layer that was just peeled away for me.

“Holy shit…it’s Erik Dalhbeck,” a male voice says from my left and before I can even fully turn that way, a man is butting into our intimate little circle and shoving his hand at me. “Hi…I’m TJ Hodgins.”

I shake his hand and just stare at him, because he introduces himself to me like I should know who he is. When I don’t respond, he stammers, “My um…wife put on this little soiree.”

I’m forced to reply out of politeness. “Nice to meet you.”

“Man…what an honor to have you here at our party.”

I don’t respond.

He loops an arm around my shoulder. “You have to let me buy you a drink.”

The man then attempts to pull me toward the bar but I don’t budge and he’s not big enough to move me. When he gets the hint I’m not moving, he changes tactics and looks over to where his wife is standing. “Hey…Christina, honey,” he calls out. She turns to look at him with a bland smile and you can tell she doesn’t want to be interrupted. “Come over here. I want you to meet someone.”

I don’t need to be touching Blue to sense the way her body tightens as the woman that bullied her in high school makes their way over. But I’m digging it because I want this woman to get a good look at Blue. I want her to see her the way I see her.

Christina and her pack make their way over to us. They don’t spare Blue or Ellen a glance, and I can’t tell if they’ve just forgotten them in the eight years since they graduated or if they know exactly who they are and are ignoring them on purpose.

Regardless, TJ introduces me to the women. “Best fucking enforcer in the league,” he proclaims as he claps me on the shoulder. He sort of giggles like a girl as he nudges his wife. “And he’s here at your party, honey.”

The minute TJ said I played for the Vengeance, all three women’s demeanor immediately changed. They reminded me of cats going on high alert when they first notice their prey. After I give a polite nod to each woman, I snag Blue around the waist and turn her toward the women. “I’m here with Blue Gardner.”

The three women turn as if they were one unit and I can tell by the slight disdain in their gazes that they know exactly who Blue is and had seen her prior to this. I also notice at this point that TJ notices Blue and his gaze goes as predatory as his wife’s but for a different reason. His eyes stayed glued to her tits and my fingers curl even more protectively around Blue’s waist.

“Hi, Christina,” Blue says with a warm smile. Because she’s Blue. She then turns to the other women. “Krystal…Belinda. You are all looking beautiful tonight. Haven’t changed a bit since high school.”

They just stare at Blue for a moment, faces blank and cruel. Then Christina’s lips curve upward in a smile that is neither genuine nor warm like Blue’s. “Well, yes…Hi, Blue. I thought I recognized you.”

Krystal and Belinda mumble their hellos, looking put out that their attention is forced there. TJ just stares at Blue’s chest.

“So how long have you two been dating,” Belinda asks Blue as she eyeballs us suspiciously.

I don’t wait for Blue to respond. “Five years. Our first date was five years ago.”

Even though I don’t take my eyes off Belinda, I can feel the mirth vibrate through Blue’s body as she moves in closer to me. Her arm goes around my waist and she squeezes me.

I shoot a glance to Ellen, who looks warily at the three catty women across from Blue. I’m going to guess she was bullied too. A quick look to TJ and I can see his gaze has not wavered once from Blue’s breasts.

Deciding to lay it on thick, I go ahead and flat out lie to the woman. “Been trying to get her to marry me for years. I’m sure I’ll wear her down one day.”

The women stare at me in astonishment, as if they can’t understand why Blue would be such a catch. And because she might actually have been elevated above their ranks, I see it in Christina’s eyes that she wants to knock her down. It causes me to brace hard as I wait for it.

“Blue,” Christina simpers as she looks slowly down Blue’s body, and my eyes snap back that way. “That dress is so cute.”

My girl blinks in surprise at the compliment before saying. “Thank you. Yours is gorgeous too.”

Christina’s smile is dismissive and she turns to Krystal, playfully tapping her on the shoulder. “Of course, I could never pull off something that wasn’t designer, but Blue does an amazing job of it, doesn’t she?”

Before I can defend the seventeen-hundred-dollars I’d dropped on that dress or the nearly ten grand for the bracelet, and that doesn’t even take into account the Louboutins on her feet, Christina turns her attention to me. “You should have seen Blue in high school, Erik.”

My jaw locks tight and Blue tenses up beside me.

Christina shoots a quick look to Blue. “No offense.” Then she looks back to me. “But she was such an awkward little thing.”

I stay utterly still, not knowing where Christina is going with this. She slides her eyes over to her husband, sees him eyeballing Blue’s tits and she sucks in air through her nostrils. Her eyes go positively malicious then and she looks back to me. “Quite the ugly duckling, you know. But I suppose she ‘blossomed’ somewhat.”

Christina even uses air quotes when she says “blossomed.”

“In fact,” Christina continues on as her two friends sidle in closer, wanting to feed off the nastiness of her words. “Once, in high school—”

“What the fuck is wrong with you people?” I ask in a low voice that cuts sharply across Christina.

Her chin jerks inward and she blinks at me in surprise. “Pardon?”

“Pardon?” I mimic her, pulling Blue in closer to me. “I said, what the fuck is wrong with you crazy people?”

Everyone is utterly silent except for Ellen who gives a distinctive snicker behind her hand which is covering her mouth.

“How do you think it’s even remotely okay to talk like that about someone, and right to their face?”

I get nothing back from the women except affronted stares. TJ stares at Blue.

“I suspect,” I continue on in a scathing voice, “you do it because you’ve always done it and no one’s been brave enough to call you on your shit. I suspect women like you are so down on yourselves, the only way you feel good is to make fun of someone else.”

A long gust of air releases from Blue and her entire body goes lax as I take up her defense. I hope she enjoys this.

“I feel sorry for you,” I say in a hard voice to the group. “You’re missing out on knowing the most beautiful, generous, caring woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. You could be better people if you just soaked in a little bit of Blue’s goodness. But I expect you’re so mired in your pathetic misery, you don’t even know how to go about doing that.”

Turning to Blue, I cup her chin and tilt her head back to look at me. “These people are beneath you.”

I get nothing back but a smile.

It’s neither grateful nor affirming. In fact, there’s nothing within it that has a thing to do with these people, but has everything to do with just me. I memorize the profound feeling of euphoria it stirs within me and turn back to Christina.

“Thank you for inviting us,” I tell her with a slight bow and a charming grin. My hand slides down to take Blue’s and I look over my shoulder at Ellen. “We’re going to go grab some drinks at the Sneaky Saguaro. Want to come?”

“Absolutely,” she beams back at us.

Bringing Blue’s hand up to my mouth, I kiss the back of her hand and release it. “You and Ellen head out to the car. I’ll be out in a moment.”

Blue doesn’t question me, rather turns and loops her arm through Ellen’s. “Come on.”

No one says a word as the women walk to the double doors. I turn to TJ, who’s eyes are now pinned on Blue’s ass. Once she’s out of sight, he finally turns his focus to me.

My fist is there to meet his nose.

One short jab because a full cross by me would seriously hurt the dude. But it’s enough to make his knees wobble as he screams like a little girl, cupping his bleeding nose. He sinks to the floor, crying.

Leaning in toward Christina, I murmur, “Got a real man there, didn’t you?”

I don’t wait for a response, but stride toward the door thinking this evening went better than I could have ever imagined.