Page 11 of Spiral
“I will.”
“Okay then.”
“Okay.”
He hesitated at the door, then turned to me and leaned down. His lips werethis closeto my ear. He smelled of sweat and yuck and exercise, but fuck, it was good.
“That was one of the hottest hookups of my entire life,” he whispered and left.
Holy hell.
I was hard and shaky because Craig was a potent mix of every chemical and physical thing that turned me on.
I had to stop myself from calling him back.
Chapter Six
Craig
I had barely exitedthe coach’s office when my brain finally got a tight hold on the situation. My feet stalled next to a snack machine.
That had been one of the hottest hookups of my entire life.
“Stupid, stupid, triple stupid,” I growled softly then thunked my forehead into the glass of the snack machine. Four times. On the fifththunka bag of cheesy puffs fell to the tray. I took them, shoved two bucks into the tray, and ripped the bag open. What I needed now was comfort food and a swift kick in the ass. I shoved handfuls of cheesy goodness into my mouth, chewing aggressively, my thoughts a whirlwind. When would I learn? When would my stupid dick stop shoving into normal conversations with beautiful, smart men? Why did I do these things?
A soft clearing of a throat stole into the beatdown of myself. I jerked my head from the glass of the snack machine, spun, and found myself staring at Jamie. Had he gotten better-lookingsince I’d left him five minutes ago? Impossible. Yet not. His tie was a thin blue one that made his eyes sparkle and glow.
“Hey,” I coughed out, sending orange powder into the air.
One side of his mouth twitched. “Enjoying those, are you?”
“Yeah, I always eat cheesy doodles after a workout.” Damn it. That was a secret. No one should know about my cheesy doodle fixation. If the team dietician found out he would roast me like a sesame seed. But I had blurted it out because my mouth seemed to think that was something clever to say.
“I call them Wotsits,” he announced with a nose wrinkle and then walked off. My gaze fell on his tight ass in those sexy khakis. An ass I’d ravaged at his request. An ass I would give up this bag of snacks and any future cheese puffs to sink into again. He glanced back just once, a lurid glance over a shoulder that screamedFollow me for more delightsand I took two steps before common sense arrived to slap me in the face.
“I need help,” I mumbled, shoved four Cheetos into my mouth, and jogged off to find a quiet place to call my sister. The video room was empty, so I ducked inside, flipped on the lights, saw a bright orange handprint on the switch, and then used my elbow to wipe it clean. My ass found a chair in front, the seat creaking as I sat. I wiped my fingers on my hoodie then pulled my phone out of the front pocket. I could care less if I had big streaks of cheese dust on my purple Storm hoodie. This was an emergency. I hit Claudia’s contact button for a video call. No way in hell was I trying to type out the chaos in my head. I waited and ate more cheesy treats as the call rang through. When she picked up my cheeks were full. She pulled on her glasses—little wire-framed ones like John Lennon used to wear—and sighed dramatically.
“What’s going on now?” she asked, the sound of her cute little voice making me feel less panicked.
“So, there’s this man…”
“Craig…”
“I know.” I pushed two doodles into my face and chewed then swallowed. “I’m so stupid.”
“You arenotstupid. When it comes to men you’re just easily cock-blinded but otherwise you’re damn smart. So, first stop using the S-word for yourself. You know we do not allow that word to be anywhere near us.”
I loved her to bits. She was a little bitty thing, like a sprite or a pixie, with brown curls and chocolate eyes like mine. We’d been quite a good skating pair. I could fling her around with ease as she weighed less than my hockey bag. Neither of us had planned to make careers out of figure skating, so when I’d switched to hockey my sister had done solo for a few years and then went to college. She still skated recreationally when she could find the time. Claudia worked for a women’s charity now, was single and loving it, and had a Chinese Crested Dog named Bruno.
Actually, Bruno was my dog. Leon had given him to me for our first anniversary and it had been love at first sight for me. Sadly, because of the break-up, Claudia was now his guardian. She loved him as much as I did and spoiled him rotten. Even though I knew he was in a good home I still missed him. Bruno and I had spent more than one night curled up together, him licking my face as I battled with tears and crushing self-doubt after a vicious verbal flailing from my ex.
I spoke to Bruno for a few minutes, him sat on Claudia’s lap, and then he trotted off to sunbathe. I could relate to how Oliver felt having to leave his most precious possessions with someone else while he played hockey.
I’d felt terrible leaving him with her at first, but my travel schedule was terrible from September through June. My sister worked from home most of the time and was much better suited for a dog in terms of hours spent with the little stinker. I tookover in the summer, spending my off time with her and Bruno hidden away in a small town in Michigan.
Hidden hopefully being the key word.
Because Leon wanted Bruno back—not because he loved Bruno, but because he wanted to hurt me.
