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"Jamie Knight caught me in a sex club last night."
Her face blanches, complete shock overtaking her expression. Seeing her speechless is almost worth the hell I'm going to catch for this. Almost.
"A sex club?" she hisses. "You mean a strip club?Pleasetell me you're speaking Canadian, and you actually mean a strip club."
I shake my head. "Uh, Canadians speak English, Kelsey. I mean, a sex club. The kind with rules and safe words and people fucking all over the place."
She nearly swallows her tongue.
"She only saw me because some asshole was harassing her, so I stepped in." I leave out the part about kissing her. And the part about telling her about her making my dick hard. Kelsey is probably too young to have a stroke, but better not to risk it, right? "I'm not sorry for stepping in, and I won't apologize if it fucks up my reputation."
Fuck that. I'd do it again if I had to make the choice a second time. Even if it hadn't been Jamie, I'd have stepped in. But the fact that it was her all but guaranteed I was putting an end to that bullshit. I still want to hunt that fucker down and rip his throat out for touching her.
"Oh, Jonas," Kelsey sighs. I can tell by her expression that she isn't pissed, though. More resigned, I think. She knows I did the right thing.
"In my defense," I say, "I wasn't there for the hell of it. I was looking for my pain in the ass sister."
"Parker was there?" Her eyes widen.
"Yes. No. I don't fucking know. Probably not." I shove a hand through my hair, muttering a curse. "She says she was at a goddamn wine festival at the Parthenon." The shit checks out. The damn festival is calledDionysus. "How the fuck was I supposed to knowGone to Dionysus, don't wait upmeant a wine festival I've never heard of and not the goddamn BDSM club Kellan talks about?"
Kelsey brings her hand to her lips. I see the smile in her eyes, though. She's laughing at me.
"It's not funny," I growl. "Do you have any idea what I went through last night? I'm pretty goddamn certain I saw a country musician railing a model on top of a table."
"It's a little funny."
"The table had hooks built into it, Kelsey."
Her lips twitch.
"I kissed Jamie."
Her laughter dries up. She drops her hand, staring at me with wide eyes. "You kissed her?"
"Don't worry." I scowl at the wall behind her head. "That's as far as it went. I know what I want doesn't fucking matter here, given the circumstances." I huff out a breath. "I kissed her and sent her on her way like a good little team player."
It took every ounce of strength I possessed to do it, but I did it. And I'm still pissed about it. I want her, regardless of what the rules of this brotherhood say. I want her, regardless of how untouchable she is or what anyone has to say about it. I want her, period. And right now, I'm mad as hell that I can't have her. Teams don't fucking work without trust, and my teammates don't trust her.
"You like her," Kelsey says.
No, I don't like Jamie. I'm pretty fucking certain I'm in love with her.
I never thought about what life would look like for me after hockey. I'm not the kind of guy who thinks that far ahead. I live one game, one season at a time. But a career in the NHL doesn't last forever. My big ass may be stubborn, but my big ass is getting old too. I'm thirty-one. I've got maybe half a dozen good years left before it's time to hang it up and move on. And more and more lately, living one season at a time isn't enough.
I tell my teammates I'm never falling in love and that I'm never getting married. But I look at what Wes has with Laney and what Gray has with Camila, and I feel…envious. Because the only woman who has ever made me want that shit is the one I'm not supposed to want. I watch her from across the arena, and I think,Damn. I want to go home to that.
And last night, Ifinallyhad her in my arms. She was right there…and I was stupid enough to let her go. I called her the enemy. I've been kicking my own ass for the last twelve hours. I woke up this morning, fully expecting to see that she'd run the story simply because I was a dick last night. It's what I deserve. But she didn't run it.
"Why didn't she take the story I practically dropped in her lap?"
Kelsey makes a sound that can only be described as a dying cat.
I pull my gaze back to her to see her shaking her head at me.
"You rescued her from a creep, kissed her, sent her home safely, and now you're confused as to why she didn't publish the story about you being in a sex club?" she asks, staring at me like I have two heads. Which, I mean….
"She's a gossip reporter," I say, and instantly regret it. We're all more than our jobs, aren't we? Shit, I hope so, or my teammates and I are in serious trouble.
