Chapter 3

“It’s a big game, Liv…and you always have excuses. Just come tonight, pleaseeeee,” Harley wheedled.

Harley was the only family member I could stand, and even rarer, one of the only people that I trusted in the world. “You can wear one of your disguises and sit next to Maddie, no one will ever suspect that the great Olivia Darling is at a hockey game. Especially since you’ve been a ghost for the last two years.”

I didn’t know how long it would take for the world to forget what had happened…but maybe.

“It’s a big fucking deal, Liv. I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t.”

I winced. More from what he wasn’t saying than what he was. Harley and his girlfriend had basically been my only support since I’d woken up in that hospital. They were the only ones to believe me when I said I’d been drugged…the only ones not to make me feel like I was crazy.

Public events were definitely not my thing anymore, but he was right…with a little disguise, who would know?

I grabbed a wig and a Seattle jersey he’d sent me, making sure to hide every lock of my dark auburn hair. Frowning, I stared in the mirror. I couldn’t wear sunglasses, that would be a surefire way to get noticed at an L.A. event. It was basically the M.O. of all the celebrities after all. And I hadn’t replenished my stock of colored contacts. I slipped on a baseball cap, hoping that would help hide me more. Between that and the fact that my face was bare of the heavy makeup I used to wear every day…would that be enough?

Staring at myself, I couldn’t help but start to think about all the things that could go wrong. My heart thundered against my ribcage. My trembling hands tried to adjust the baseball cap, but there was no hiding my face.

My chest tightened, each breath becoming shallower, more erratic, as anxiety wrapped around me like a tightening vice. The room felt smaller, like it was closing in on me. Flashing lights filled my vision and then the questions began…all of the questions.

The moment the heavy courthouse doors swung open, a barrage of piercing flashes assaulted me. Blinding and relentless, they broke through the carefully constructed façade I had worn for the courtroom.

The air was filled with the deafening roar of paparazzi voices. They swarmed like vultures, eager to catch any hint of weakness or vulnerability.

‘What did you take this morning, Olivia?’ one of them had shouted, a twisted grin on his face as he elbowed past my bodyguard. ‘Why are you lying?’

“Stop,” I screamed at my reflection, feeling in that moment that maybe I was actually as crazy as everyone thought I was.

I turned away from the mirror in disgust and strode towards the door before I could have second thoughts.

Fuck this. I was going to the game. I was a “has been”. A nobody. With nothing.

One night out wasn’t going to change that.

I didn’t call for my driver. He would tell Jolette and Marco I’d left and then there would be questions.

I walked a few blocks down from my place and waited for Maddie to swing by to pick me up in her Uber.

Maddie’s enthusiasm was infectious as she hopped out of the car, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement. Her short blonde bob framed her face perfectly, and she was also wearing Harley’s jersey.

‘Liv!’ Maddie all but screeched, throwing her arms around me. ‘You ready for the game? Your cousin’s a nervous wreck!’

I glanced anxiously down the sidewalk, like any minute now someone would pop out and come at me.

But of course, no one was paying attention.

Relaxing slightly, I nodded at Maddie and climbed into the car with her as she immediately chatted away on all the latest WAG gossip.

As we drove through the city, I held onto the seat like the nervous wreck I was, glancing at the Uber driver every couple of seconds, sure that he would recognize me.

But he didn’t even spare me a second glance…

My nerves only increased as we pulled into the arena’s parking lot and I saw the swarms of people everywhere.

“Hey,” Maddie whispered, putting a hand on top of my shaking one. Her eyes were filled with concern…and pity.

That was what I hated most of all. The fact that the whole world pitied me now.

“We don’t have to do this. Harley will survive. He’ll pout and complain because he’s a big baby, but he loves you. He’ll understand.”

I shook my head. “No. I’m fine. I just…don’t get out much,” I whispered back lamely, sneaking another glance at the driver who still seemed to not be paying attention to me.

For some reason, the offer to leave was enough to settle me so that I could get out of the car and walk with her into the arena.

As we walked, my confidence slowly increased.

I was just one of the masses. No one was giving me a second look. And if they were giving me a second look, it wasn’t one filled with recognition.

Which meant…I could just live. In the moment. Like everyone else.

A grin touched my lips. Because wow…

After grabbing some popcorn, we made our way to our third-row seats, right behind the L.A. Cobras’ goalie.

I took it all in.

The electrifying atmosphere. The crowd’s excitement. The cheers and roars echoing through the arena. The way the ice glistened under the bright lights. The players doing drills as they warmed up.

And through it all, there was no one screaming my name, no one in my face. I was just one of the crowd.

It was heaven.

Harley skated by with a confident grin on his face. I waved at him, and he shot us a thumbs-up before focusing back on the game. Maddie squealed and tucked her arm in mine, her legs bouncing in anticipation.

The game began, the competition on the ice was insane. I’d been to Harley’s games in college, but they’d been nothing like this. He’d been in the league for two years now, which happened to coincide with me hiding for the most part, so this was the first professional game I’d actually been to. Watching him on TV definitely didn’t give the same vibes and excitement as actually being at the arena.

“Is every NHL game like this?” I whisper-yelled as Harley was slammed into the boards by an L.A. player.

“Mmmh. I think everyone’s playing harder because of the playoff implications. They both have to have a win tonight to even have a chance,” she explained, shrieking in my ear when Harley made a shot and it was saved by the L.A. goalie.

‘Fuck, Walker Davis is good,” she growled as we watched him make another save after that.

I rubbed at my ear, wondering if I’d ever regain the hearing I’d just lost with her screeching. “He does seem pretty good,” I murmured, watching him move.

“Don’t ever tell Harley I said this, but it’s pretty freaking cool that we’re getting to watch Ari Lancaster and Walker Davis play. I mean, they’re basically the best in their positions…and they’re eye candy in the yummiest possible way.”

She shot me a side glance.

“Like I said…don’t ever tell Harley I said that.”

I snorted and shook my head, staring at the two players in question.

It was hard to tell with their helmets on.

“Lancaster is new to L.A. this year. He used to play for Dallas and then after they won the Cup last year, he abruptly asked to be traded here.”

I frowned. “How come?”

She giggled and pretended to swoon. Pointing over towards the L.A. bench, my eyes caught on a sign being held up behind a beautiful girl.

“Mrs. Lancaster is my baby angel face. Do Not Touch,” I read out loud, snorting and then staring at Maddie with wide eyes. “What the heck?”

“I know. It’s the cutest. That’s the girl he requested the trade for. And now they’re married.” She squirmed in her seat. “It’s a love story right out of a book or something.”

“Mmmh,” I responded, wondering what it would feel like to be loved like that. It was certainly something I’d never experience.

I couldn’t get anyone to love me.

With each cheer and roar of the crowd, I was getting more into the game, the excitement feeding my own. Maddie screamed and yelled at every play, and her energy was contagious. I settled into my seat and found myself relaxing, the tension and worries I’d been feeling melting away.

Harley got slammed into the boards again, this time by Lancaster, and we both winced. Maddie leaped to her feet, “Fucking asshole!” she screamed at the L.A. player.

I snorted. This was actually pretty fun.

To rub more salt in the wound, the goalie blocked another shot, right as the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the period.

As if possessed by the spirit of a die-hard fan, I shot up from my seat and screamed at the L.A. goalie, ‘You fucking suck, Davis!’ The words slipped out of my mouth before I even realized what I was doing, and once I did, I was dying. What the fuck was I doing? People were going to look at me.

But it was the person I didn’t expect that actually did…

The goalie turned and stared at me, our eyes locking in a silent exchange that sent a shiver down my spine.

Wow.

He was pretty.

The kind of pretty that made you dizzy, and slightly obsessed. And wondering what having that for yourself would even be like.

I didn’t know that people existed like that in real life.

And I’d been surrounded by pretty people for years.

But not like that.

How had I not heard about this guy before? His name should have been all over L.A.?

He had lifted his helmet, revealing a mess of brown hair, tousled in a way that looked more like he’d just rolled around in bed after a hot night of sex rather than played a period of a hockey game with a helmet on. He had a sharp jawline and intense blue eyes that seemed to pierce right through me.

But it was more than his looks that was getting me. He also had some kind of undeniable magnetism, an allure that was holding me captive.

I couldn’t help but stare, enchanted by his beauty, as if he were a work of art on display for my eyes only.

And then…he blew me a kiss.

A fucking kiss. One that had fans squealing all around me.

I was immediately jealous of them seeing it. An insane part of me wanted to snatch it out of the air so that no one else could claim it for themselves.

I wanted to keep it for myself, like a dragon hoarding its jewels.

For the second time today, I wondered if I had actually gone crazy.

I glared at him for drawing attention to me…even though it was my own fault…and then I yanked my gaze away, pretending to stare disinterestedly at the banners hanging in the rafters of the arena.

“Wow,” Maddie whispered, elbowing me in the gut.

I grunted and shot her a look.

“I feel like I need a smoke after watching that interaction,” she commented with a smug grin, her eyebrows rising and falling lecherously.

“He was just egging me on,” I told her, but it felt like I could still feel his gaze. Like he was tracing the lines of my body, doing something to me that I wasn’t going to come back from.

It was official. I’d been without human companionship really for so long, that I was creating something that couldn’t possibly exist.

That was all it was.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the goalie skate towards his bench. He stopped to talk to someone in a Cobras polo for a minute and then he disappeared from sight for the period break.

Had they been looking over here?

Surely not.

What if he was trying to get me removed from the game for yelling at him?

No…I wasn’t yelling anything that anyone else wasn’t.

I was pretty sure that was how sports events went.

“Too bad he’s going to be on the other side for the next period,” Maddie commented, still watching me closely like she could see the crazy thoughts in my head.

“Mmmh,” I muttered non-committedly.

Her answering grin was honestly a little feral.

I ignored her and happily glanced around the arena. I hadn’t had fun like this in…forever. The thrill of being out in the open, surrounded by the anonymity of the crowd…it was like a breath of fresh air. For once, I was simply blending in. I loved it.

The game proceeded on and as the clock wound down, I was feeling pretty bad for Harley. He’d played a great game, but L.A. was just better.

I was also feeling a strange sense of sadness about leaving.

Which I was not about to admit may have had something to do with having to leave Walker Davis’s presence.

I’d found myself tracking his every move…for the entire game.

I had the strangest urge to curse him out again, just to see if he’d blow me another kiss.

Which was crazy. I was an under-the-radar kind of girl now. Something in this stadium had definitely gotten to me.

It had almost seemed like he’d glanced at me several times during the game. But that had probably been wishful thinking.

Not that I wanted anyone to pay attention to me.

It was a weird thing that for the first time in years, I was rethinking that.

The buzzer sounded and Harley and the rest of Seattle skated off the ice dejectedly as the L.A players moved towards their bench like their asses were on fire.

“What are they doing?” I asked Maddie as we stood up and prepared to leave—or I prepared to leave. Maddie was going to go meet up with Harley before they both flew home.

“I bet they’re watching the Dallas game,” she answered, pulling up the score between Dallas and Detroit on her phone. “L.A. had to beat Seattle to have a chance at all, but then Dallas had to win too.” She huffed. “All Seattle had to do was win to get to the playoffs. I can’t believe they blew it.”

We watched as Dallas’s #13 did some kind of crazy puck handling and scored a goal for the win. The fans around us had already been going crazy, but now the players were too.

Maddie stood up. “Let’s get out of here. I hate watching other teams celebrate.” I stood up to follow her and all of a sudden a grizzled old security guard was standing at our row.

Maddie and I stared at him, unsure.

“Please exit through the ice, ladies,” he said in a no-nonsense voice, gesturing to where fans were pouring onto the ice in celebration.

Maddie pointed to the people who were also filing up the stairs…the normal way. “We can just go up that way. It’s not a big deal.”

“We’re asking everyone in the first five rows to exit through there. For safety concerns,” he added…almost as an afterthought.

“You want us to exit on the ice?” I asked, confused. Maddie’s forehead was also scrunched up. Evidently this was a new one for her as well.

“Okayyyy,” Maddie murmured, grabbing my head and leading me down a few steps and around, to where people were flooding the ice.

“This doesn’t feel like a safety precaution,” I called to her as I narrowly missed getting my nose bashed in by an eager fan holding a giant “I Love You, Lancaster” sign, my feet slipping as I tried to walk on the slippery surface. I’d never been particularly coordinated.

“It’s fun to be out on the ice. Fuck…there’s Ari Lancaster,” she whispered, coming to a sudden stop and grabbing onto my arm like she needed it to keep her from jumping at him.

“You’re hopelessly in love with Harley and Ari’s married!” I reminded her, feeling my own kind of shaky in the face at how good looking Ari was.

But he wasn’t as good looking as that goalie.

Walker. That’s what she said his name was.

“I know I love Harley. I’m just having a fangirl moment,” Maddie retorted.

“Can you fangirl after we get off the ice? It’s getting full.” My gaze watched everyone nervously.

“Give me one more moment,” she hissed, and I said a silent prayer.

I’d gotten comfortable during the game, but being on the ice with everyone walking around and yelling, nearly bowling into us…it was making me nervous again. It just took one person recognizing me to set everyone off.

And I wanted to keep this night for myself. I didn’t want to have to explain it to Jolette and have her ruin it…just because she could tell it brought me joy.

Suddenly an arm swung around my waist and carried me forward.

“Eeeek!” I shrieked, only to be set down a little bit away. “What the hell?” I snarled, prepared to have a hissy fit on whoever had dared to grab me like that.

But when I swung around, all the anger immediately fled my body. Replaced by white hot…lust.

It was him.

The L.A. Goalie.

Walker Davis.

He was staring at me, an amused smirk on his full, perfect lips.

I felt dizzy. Confused. Caught…

A weird feeling, but there was something almost predatory about him. Not in a gross way. But in a way that told me this was the way man had meant to be created. Like all the DNA in the world had come together in its most perfect form…and come up with him.

I’d thought his eyes were just blue, but this close to him, I could see a kaleidoscope of colors. The blue was interwoven with subtle hints of emerald green and flecks of steel gray, and I was beginning to think that magical powers were real because he seemed to have ensnared me with his gaze.

His brown waves actually had sun-kissed highlights adding depth to the strands. Even in the harsh lighting of the arena, his locks seemed to shimmer. Like he was some kind of mystical god or something.

“Wow,” he murmured, and I ached, because maybe a part of me had just fallen in love with the sound of his voice.

It was like honey, warm and smooth as it slid across my skin.

Wow indeed.

I’d never written a song about a real man. But Walker Davis may have changed my mind.

“Ahem,” Maddie inserted, clearing her throat in an over the top way and bringing me crashing back to reality.

A reality where I was standing way too close to this stranger. And the reality that his arms were still around me.

I shivered, but not from the cold of the ice. I shivered from the need pulsing through my body. Need I hadn’t experienced since…

The old memory creeped in and like a bucket of ice water, everything was gone. And I was the numb void I’d been for years once again.

“Excuse me,” I murmured, attempting to extricate myself from his embrace. Even though a part of me wanted to snuggle into him.

“Sorry, you were—ah—about to be knocked over, and I guess I got a little carried away trying to save you,” he said with a grin. His voice was a low, husky rumble, like his words were just for me. Like this was an intimate moment he was trying to make our own.

I’d always had a wild imagination. It’s what had made me so good at writing songs. But the scenarios my brain was coming up with at the moment were on a whole other level.

“I’ll see you later,” Maddie mouthed just beyond him, pointing to the exit. “You stay here with the hottie.”

Or at least I think that’s what she’d just said.

The crowd was starting to dissipate…at least a little. And glancing around, the ratio of players to fans was improving. But a lot of the ones left were yelling Walker’s name…asking for autographs. I didn’t want them to notice me.

Which meant I needed to leave.

Besides large crowds…and small crowds…I also didn’t do celebrities.

And staring at Walker Davis’s beautiful face, the face that hadn’t strayed from mine since the moment I’d turned around…I was definitely looking at a celebrity.

“I’m Walker,” he offered, his voice low and still way too sexy…

I opened my mouth automatically, a part of me prepared to give this stranger whatever he wanted…his voice and face and everything way too convincing…

And then I slammed it shut. An idea forming…

This god of a man was clearly attracted to me.

The way he was leaning towards me…how he couldn’t tear his gaze from my face…the way he was biting down on that bottom lip…

He at least wanted a minute of my time…and maybe I could give him a little bit of that. If given the chance—what woman on this planet wouldn’t?

But not as myself.

He was too beautiful for my brokenness.

“Violet,” I finally murmured. His eyes flashed in response to my name, but he didn’t challenge it.

“Walkie,” a deep voice called out, and then an arm was slung around Walker’s neck, a tattooed arm…that led to another gorgeous face…with very similar features.

A familiar face.

Cole Davis. Frontman for Anarchy…an up and coming band I’d been obsessed with over the past year. Their show with the Sounds of Us was the only show I’d been tempted to sneak out for last year.

What was my life right now?

There was something almost disappointing about the way his eyes slid over me, no recognition that I’d once been his peer.

That I’d once been bigger than him.

“You did so fucking good, bro. You were a killa,” he drawled in a light southern accent that matched his brother’s. A second later his gaze met mine. “Well helloooo,” Cole crooned with the signature charm that he was known for.

My eyes couldn’t stay focused on him for more than a few seconds though. His brother’s face was like a tractor beam, pulling me in. Still giving me that light, overwhelming, woozy, delirious feeling.

Beguiled curiosity. That was how I would describe the way Walker was staring at me. Like I was a puzzle he had to figure out.

I’m not going to tell him that there’s nothing to see. That I’m an empty husk that’s been sucked dry of anything redeeming or worthy.

Tonight, I’m going to be Violet, free of my past…free to have fun.

In a couple of hours I can go back to misery.

“I need to get laid,” Cole complained, dragging my attention back to him. “If it was possible, I’d be pregnant right now from the way you two are looking at each other.”

Walker’s eyes gleamed and he seemed to preen. Like that was the biggest compliment his brother could have given him.

My whole body flushed in embarrassment, because Cole was right…I was definitely eye fucking his brother.

“I’ll just leave you two to…celebrate,” Cole murmured, whispering something in Walker’s ear before he ambled away, immediately surrounded by three beautiful girls.

“Disney,” a sexy voice called, and then the guy that Maddie had been dying over skated next to us. The beautiful blonde she’d said was his wife was wrapped tight in his arms. I cocked my head, confused at the nickname.

“I’ve got Linc on the phoneeee,” Ari Lancaster sang.

Walker immediately paled and all the smooth confidence disappeared. In its place was a stuttering, nervous, adorable mess. “He’s on the phone? Did you tell him he was amazing? I⁠—”

“Good job to you too, Walk,” a deep voice drawled. Ari turned the phone and there was a majorly gorgeous blonde guy on the screen. Golden. Not blonde. That was a better word to describe his hair…and his face. Wait…it was the #13 that Maddie had pulled up on her phone. The one that scored that crazy amazing goal.

Seriously, how had I been missing out on the fact that hockey players were this gorgeous? Forget actors and models…this was where it was at. My gaze flickered over to an L.A. player nearby who seemed to be glaring at the back of Ari’s head. Ok, maybe some hockey players were this gorgeous. That guy definitely wasn’t.

“Golden Boy,” Ari said suddenly, like he could read my mind. “I think you broke Disney. He’s got this crazy look in his eyes.”

Ari turned and winked at me, like I was in on the joke, and then his gaze dropped back to his wife, a besotted, slightly insane look on his handsome face as he stared down at her.

“We’re going to get drunk,” Ari commented to the guy on his phone. He held it up in front of Walker. “Say goodbye, Linc.”

“Bye Lincoln,” Walker stammered. And I finally got it. Walker totally had a guy crush on this dude. I cocked my head. At least I thought it was just a guy crush…

They left, but Walker’s attention went back to me. Was this where he told he had to go? That he needed to celebrate with his team? I wanted him to stay…just a little bit longer.

“So what happens next?” I asked tentatively.

Walker

I marry you.

That was the first thing that popped into my fucking mind when she’d asked that.

Which meant that I’d officially lost it.

But I couldn’t imagine the man who could look at her and not crave her. Need her. Be desperate to own her all to himself.

I’d only gotten high once. Cole had gotten ahold of some verrry potent weed when we were teenagers. And the three of us, Parker, Cole, and I…we’d gotten so stoned we couldn’t move. I’d never done it again. I’d hated losing control, being unable to restrain myself.

But I was feeling that way again. Like maybe I wasn’t calling the shots over my body anymore. Like maybe some other part of me had taken over.

She was like a petite fairy princess, like something out of a movie—and yes I was aware how that matched my new nickname. Fucking perfectly.

Or an angel…yeah, that was a good description for her.

She was tiny, with a delicate look about her, like a precious porcelain doll. And those eyes. They were this crazy shade of…gold and green with a stunning golden ring around the irises that I’d never seen before.

She had full lips that were made for my cock and—alright…that took a turn.

Or maybe it hadn’t taken a turn. I’d been fucking dying for her since the moment I’d seen her. And now up close…

Well, let’s just say if I didn’t get inside her tonight, I would in fact cease to exist.

“We should get drunk,” she said suddenly, almost desperately, actually, as she looked around.

I kind of didn’t want to get drunk. I just wanted to go home and touch her and fuck her and keep her…

Okay, down boy.

But if she really wanted to…I think maybe I’d give her whatever she wanted from me.

“Walker,” a voice called out. I sighed, wishing everyone but Violet would disappear. And then I forced myself to glance over at Sam Williamson, one of our rookies, who was running out on the ice shirtless with a bottle of Jack. “I scored a fucking goalllll!” he slurred, somehow already drunk.

I glanced around, realizing that the stands and the ice had almost cleared. Hmm. I guess time goes fast when you meet your new reason for existing.

‘Fuck yes, you did,” I told him, mustering some enthusiasm as I reached out and pulled Violet into me when his gaze happened to fall on her.

“It’s time to collect, Davis,” he said seriously, offering me the bottle.

Collect?

Oh fuck.

Why did I let Ari fucking Lancaster get me in these situations?

“Maybe we can do this after practice or something…” I suggested, an edge of panic creeping in.

I glanced around desperately. Where even was Ari? Getting drunk I could understand. But this was his fucking fault.

“A deal’s a deal, Walker,” Sam said. Some more of my teammates started to file out onto the ice, catcalling and all well on their way to getting wasted.

I glanced down at Violet. “I’m really sorry in advance about this,” I muttered, thinking she was adorable when she was confused.

I picked her up, and she squeaked. As I skated her a few feet away, a safe distance from my rowdy teammates…I was thinking it was a dangerous thing. Touching her.

It was the kind of thing you could get addicted to.

She stared up at me with a bemused little grin, like she wasn’t sure how she’d gotten herself in this situation, and I was confident she had flight risk all over her.

“Please don’t leave. And please remember that it’s not usually like this,” I begged, wishing there was some sort of, I don’t know, handcuff, around…? So I could prevent her from leaving.

That was a weird thought.

She was still staring at me, confused, biting down on that full bottom lip of hers and making me feel slightly feral.

I dragged myself back over to Sam, shooting looks at her every few feet to make sure she was still there. Yanking the Jack Daniels out of Sam’s hands, I started gulping it down for some liquid courage.

Not that I particularly cared about streaking. Other men seeing your balls was basically part of the athlete life.

But I did care what she thought about the whole thing.

Somehow, a few months ago, Sam had gotten drunk and started practically bawling about not getting a goal. He’d been on the team for a month, just brought up from the AHL, and he was convinced that he was going to get kicked off if he didn’t make it happen.

Ari had decided that Sam needed some encouragement in the form of us streaking or…I actually wasn’t sure what the motivating factor was.

But the point was, that I was the only one on the ice, about to freeze my balls off in front of the prettiest girl I’d ever seen.

And Ari fucking Lancaster was nowhere to be seen.

So okay…maybe Ari and I had also both been really, really drunk when this bet had taken place.

But still…

Sam handed me a large sock with a chin nod, like he was doing me a huge favor by helping me avoid a dicksickle.

Okay, fuck, maybe he was.

“Take it off,” Tommy called, waving a shirt above his head and chugging a beer.

I flipped him off.

Glancing back at Violet, she was still there…and she was still eyeing me, a confused…and hungry gleam in her gaze.

The hunger I could work with.

And for her patience…I should at least give her a show.

I peeled off my jersey, revealing the chiseled contours of my chest…keeping my eyes on her the entire time. Normally I’d be cold, and my nipples could cut a dick being shirtless out on the ice. But I was feeling rather toasty at the moment.

Her eyes were glazed and she looked a bit shaky as she stared at me, like I was actually the eighth wonder of the world.

It was probably how I’d been looking at her too, though.

And fuck, I was getting hard. She couldn’t look at me like that. Popping a boner in front of my teammates was not my idea of a good time.

Sauerkraut, bunnies, crushed turtle shells, green peas…

I went through my usual list of things that were sure fire ways to get rid of a hard on.

But they weren’t fucking working.

Lincoln Daniels telling me I have a small dick!!!!

Phew, that thought was actually terrifying. My dick went down…at least a little bit.

“Stunna,” another of my teammates called out, but I couldn’t give them my attention even if I tried.

Look, the amount of times I’d gone streaking in my life was not something I was proud of or would ever admit. Guys are idiots, and streaking came with the idiot territory.

But this was actually torture. I’d already taken off my pads while we’d been watching the Dallas game, but it was still a process to get the rest of my fucking clothes off.

I turned away from everyone and undid my pants, pulling off my jock strap and cup and sliding the yellow and purple sock on my cock, because that obviously had to be done first. Thank fuck it was a proper size.

Hercules had to be taken care of.

The pants came all the way off and there I was, standing in my skates with nothing but a striped sock on.

I turned around and her eyes widened, a rosy glow hitting her cheeks. Her gaze was focused on my socked cock, and her mouth dropped open.

That was a good sign.

Well, I thought it was. Or she could just be embarrassed for me. I tried not to think about that.

Also…I was pretty sure there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

Violet made a choking sound and she swayed in place.

Fuck, no. Maybe she was thinking I was hideous? I mean, I’d never had confidence issues before. But I was experiencing them now.

I swung by Sam and grabbed the bottle of Jack out of his hand while I made my loop around the ice, my teammates cheering and yelling ridiculous things as I skated.

Was this real life right now?

Also, if anyone was recording this, I was going to break my stick over their head.

Except Violet. She could record it for her spank bank if she wanted.

Streaking around the ice, butt-naked, with a bottle of Jack in hand? It had to be the most ridiculous bet I’d ever agreed to.

I really hoped that fucking Coach didn’t come out and see this.

The cold air hit my skin as I skated, and I shook my head as my idiotic teammates howled with laughter and threw their jerseys onto the ice as if it were some kind of bizarre approval ceremony.

‘No shrinkage!’ one of them yelled, and I rolled my eyes as I glided past.

I mean, even if I did have shrinkage…I’d still be bigger than all of them.

I took a long swig to drown the growing embarrassment. The fiery burn in my throat seemed to offset the chill, or maybe that was just the alcohol messing with my senses.

Violet had her hands in front of her mouth, and her body was shaking as she laughed at me.

‘Having fun?’ I called out to her, trying to sound casual despite the fact that I was skating around in my birthday suit.

She nodded, bending over as her laughter increased. ‘This is really weird,’ she finally giggled.

I stuck my tongue out at her as I passed, shaking my ass a bit for good measure. But that made my dick swing, which made the situation even more embarrassing.

One more lap and I called it. Honestly, I couldn’t even remember all the terms of the bet, but I was done.

If they wanted more, they could go get Ari.

The guys hooted and hollered for a bit longer before someone yelled something about shots and they filed off the ice.

And then…it was just Violet and I.

She was standing where I’d set her down, her arms wrapped around her body…shivering.

“Fuck, sweetheart,” I murmured, rushing over…only to remember that I was just wearing a cock sock when her eyes widened.

“Right…give me one second and then we can get off the ice and get warm,” I told her hurriedly, grabbing my stuff and almost falling over as I tried to put on clothes.

In my hurry to try and put pants on…my sock got pulled off.

“Holy dick,” she breathed as my dick popped into view and, to my horror, I got an erection.

“Fuck. I’m sorry!” I screeched.

She squeaked and covered her eyes as I scrambled to put something over my dick.

But then I did fucking slip, my skates going over my head as I fell to the ice, my dick flopping around at half mast for her to see.

“I’m sorry!” I screamed, a note of hysteria in my voice.

“I mean, congratulations,” she sputtered, waving the hand around that wasn’t covering her eyes. “That’s, really, big. It’s a big…deal…fuck.” Her words gave out in an embarrassed whisper.

Look, I wasn’t exactly Mr. Cool twenty four seven.

But I had never, never in my life done anything as remotely awkward and humiliating as what was happening right now.

And in front of the girl I was desperately trying to impress…and keep.

Violet still had her hands in front of her eyes as I struggled to my feet and spun around so my dick was out of sight. A minute later I’d managed to get my pants, and my shirt on.

“Is it safe?” she called out, and I snorted. I could just see it now in the headlines…”Marked safe from Walker Davis’s freakishly huge dick.”

“I’m dressed,” I answered instead. Because she wasn’t safe from my dick.

Not by a long shot.

She slowly lowered her hands like she was expecting me to have lied and still be prancing around with my dick out.

“I can’t say, in my wildest dreams…did I imagine tonight going like this,” she mused.

I laughed, pushing my hair out of my face. “I would agree with you on that—your first time seeing my cock should have been a much less shameful experience.”

She flushed and I examined her for a moment, noting the perfect pinkness of her lips, trying to ignore the lust licking at my veins. Her gaze flicked down to my…pants…like she was afraid Hercules was going to make an appearance again.

Fortunately, he was locked up tight.

Violet’s cheeks were still rosy and embarrassed…almost like she hadn’t seen very many dicks in her life.

I studied her closer, unable to stop myself. Her face was bare of the heavy makeup most girls I knew wore. And she looked young.

Fuck.

Really young…

I bit my lip, a roar of satisfaction in my gut at the way she tracked the movement.

“You’re legal…right?” I finally blurted out, not sure for the first time in my life if I really cared. We could move to North Carolina.

Violet snorted. “Yes,” she said, like the question was funny. But she didn’t tell me how old she was.

The sound of laughter reverberated from the tunnel just then, and a flash of what looked awfully like terror streaked across her perfect features.

I finally skated closer to her, unable to keep myself away.

She was staring at me warily now, like the sound of other people had broken a spell.

“Hey Walk, there’s a huge party upstairs, you coming?” Tommy called, his arm around a puck bunny that stalked the team relentlessly.

“In a minute,” I said back, raising my eyebrows in what I hoped was the sign for…you should put three condoms on if you touch that girl’s pussy.

He just smirked and disappeared out of sight.

“I should probably head home,” she murmured, a note of dejection in her pretty voice.

A knot formed in the pit of my stomach at her words, and panic surged through me, like an electric shock—the trifecta complete when a cold sweat broke out on my forehead.

‘No—I mean…why?’ I finally managed to choke out.

“So you can go celebrate?” she said slowly, like she didn’t know why she was leaving either.

“I think you should celebrate with me.”

Again that fear, that I desperately wanted to understand, spilled across her features.

“You’ve seen most of us at our worst already,” I cajoled. “Everyone will get much dumber and much drunker, but that’s about it.”

I grabbed her hand, trying to keep the awe off my face at how fucking soft her skin was.

She didn’t need to know that I would be the only hand she’d be holding for the rest of her life.