Power Play (BTU Alumni #1)

by Alley Ciz

  “I also told you he hit me. But I may have underplayed the facts.”

  “Okay, keep going.”

  The hockey team was having the end of school year party. She was in the dining room playing beer pong with Jase like usual. The team was excited about gaining Jase as a member of the team in the fall so they were already trying to haze him.

  The only thing that would have made the coming fall better was if she was attending Brighton Tynes. Instead, she and Skye were going to NYU. It was a bittersweet feeling. Sure she was super excited to go to NYU but by being in New York she wouldn’t get to spend as much time with the team as she had been able to this past year.

  In the current game of beer pong they were playing, all she had to do was hit the last cup and the game would be theirs. She lined up her shot and blocked out all the harassment she was receiving from the guys and sunk the cup.

  “Yes! I love being your partner sis.” Jase picked her up in a huge hug.

  “Thank you, thank you,” she said taking a bow.

  “Come on JD, rematch, best two out of three?” Billy demanded while he gave her a noogie on top of her head.

  “Dude watch the hair,” she said as she pulled away. Glancing at her watch, she sighed as she noticed how long Tommy had been missing. “Sure, just give me a minute, I want to find Tommy. Somebody has to protect me from noogies because clearly my own brothers aren’t up to the job.” She sent a glare in Ryan’s direction.

  “Hey what did I do?” Ryan said holding his hands up in surrender.

  “Nothing.” She shook her head and went off in search of her missing boyfriend.

  She didn’t find Tommy in the kitchen or the living room so she decided to see if he was upstairs. Once upstairs she noticed the door to Tommy’s room was cracked open, which was odd because the guys normally kept their doors closed during a party. She figured that’s where he had to be.

  As she pushed open the door she wasn’t prepared for what she found. Tommy, on his bed shirtless, with his hand up some brunette puck bunny’s skirt.

  She was completely out of her element.

  She stood there, jaw open, at a complete loss for words. She must have made a noise at some point because the brunette looked up and tapped Tommy until he looked in her direction.

  Finally she came to her senses. “We’re so over,” she said as she turned to walk out of the room

  Before she could make it anywhere Tommy grabbed her by the arm and pushed her against the wall. The breath whooshed out of her lungs and her head bounced against the wall.

  “What do you mean we’re over?” Tommy screamed in her face.

  She lifted a hand to her head, still trying to recover from the hit she took. After she checked to make sure there was no blood, she looked up into Tommy’s eyes and gasped at how crazed he looked.

  “It means,” she paused to take a deep breath, “if you want to fool around with other girls, you’re done fooling around with me.” She pushed away from the wall and moved to get around him.

  Abruptly Tommy backhanded her across the face and her head banged against the wall again. “We’re done when I say we’re done,” he screamed in her face.

  What the what?

  It took a moment for her head to clear. She swallowed down the panic threatening to overwhelm her at how vulnerable she currently was. “That’s not how it works Tommy. I’m not going to be with someone that cheats on me. I’m gonna be with a guy who treats me right and that clearly isn’t you anymore so goodbye. Now get your fucking hands off me.”

  She jerked out of his hold and moved toward the stairs to head back down to her brothers but Tommy was quicker. He grabbed her by the back of her shirt and jerked her against his larger body.

  “You don’t get to leave me you little bitch. If I can’t have you no one can!” Tommy punctuated his statement by promptly shoving her down the stairs.

  She hit the middle of the staircase hard on her left shoulder causing it to dislocate. As she continued to tumble down the stairs, she smacked her head at the bottom before she crumpled to the floor.

  The guys heard the commotion coming from the stairs and went to see what was going on. They weren’t prepared for what they found. Jordan was hunched over on the floor and Tommy was standing at the top of the stairs. Automatically Jase ran to where she was lying on the floor.

  Her twin knelt next to where she laid crumpled on the floor. He wasn’t sure if he should touch her or not so he just let his hands hover above her. “Jordan, are you alright?” He asked, concern evident in his voice.

  She struggled to sit up when Jase reached her side. She touched her right hand to the spot on her head just above her eye and when she pulled it back it came away with blood— a lot of blood. She looked from her hand to her brother’s horrified expression. By this point Skye and Nick had also reached her side.

  “Oh my god is that blood?”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Is anything broken?”

  “What happened?”

  The questions all came at her once. She wasn’t quite sure who asked what. She looked up the stairs at Tommy and shuddered when she realized he seriously just tried to kill her.

  Ryan noticed Tommy still hadn’t come to see if she was okay and when he saw the terrified look on her face he knew Tommy was responsible for her fall.

  “Someone call the cops and an ambulance,” he shouted as he ran up the stairs.

  Some of the guys caught on to what Ryan had figured out and went to help him with Tommy.

  “So I went to the hospital, got my eyebrow stitched up and my shoulder popped back into its socket. The cops came to take my statement. Tommy’s dad is a big time lawyer so he only ended up having to pay a fine and got two years probation. When the school found out, coach kicked him off the team and the school expelled him.” She concluded her story and waited for his reaction.

  JAKE SAT THERE stunned. He couldn’t even fathom what she had been through. Never in a million years would he have guessed it. He had assumed there was more to her story, but this, hell no.

  After the initial shock wore off, he realized he still had to respond to her revelation. She sat with her arms folded across her chest, as if trying to hold herself together. She looked as if she were awaiting the arrival of the firing squad instead of waiting for his reaction. Her furrowed brow brought his attention to her eyes and part of what she told him suddenly clicked into place.

  He reached out and ran the thumb of his right hand across her left eyebrow. “Is that how you got this scar?”

  She nodded her head in answer.

  His expression instantly hardened. “Son of a bitch,” he growled. “That bastard is lucky I didn’t know this earlier otherwise he wouldn’t have made it out of the bar tonight.”

  He was relieved to see her smile at his statement. True, what had happened to her with Tommy was terrible but he didn’t want her to use it as a barrier between them. He moved his hand from her face to the back of her neck and started to tug her toward him. “Come here.”

  She allowed him to pull her over to cuddle into the crook of his arm, letting out a sigh once she was in position.

  He positioned her with her legs draped across his and the rest of her resting alongside his body.

  He used his free hand to angle her face up to his. As he spoke he ran his thumb across her cheek. “Wow that was easier than I thought it would be.” He smiled revealing his breathtaking dimples.

  “What was?”

  “Getting you into my arms.”

  “Oh.” She looked down when she spoke.

  He was having none of that. After the night’s events and learning the truth of her breakup, he was done letting her push him away. He didn’t care if they had to keep their relationship a secret or not, as long as they both knew they were together.

  He pushed her chin back up with his finger and before she could stop him, he kissed her long and deep.

  This kiss was different. Earlier when she asked hi
m to kiss her, he was hesitant, not wanting to remind her of being attacked. But when she kissed him back, he cradled her head in his large hands and deepened the kiss.

  “This is insane,” she said when once she found her voice.

  The left side of his mouth hitched up into smile. “What is?”

  “That I’m making-out with you on a couch in the middle of the hockey house.”

  “It’s awesome, right?”

  “No.” She paused to shove him in the chest. “It’s not awesome… what if my brothers walked in while you had your tongue down my throat, then what?”

  “I told you earlier they aren’t coming back to the house?”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah. You must have really been out of it.” His smile took on a devilish quality. “And if I’m not mistaken you were the one with their tongue down my throat.”

  “Details, details.”

  There was a long moment of silence. Eventually, Jake broached the subject he was nervous about. “So… where does all this leave us?”

  “I have no idea.” She sighed. “All I know is I can’t keep my distance anymore.”

  “Finally!” He punctuated his statement with a quick kiss and then reached over and turned on the TV.

  With a soft laugh she settled back against him and within a few minutes fell asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Jake was woken up by the ringing of a cell phone. He reached his arm behind him to grab his iPhone before it woke up Jordan. He wasn’t going to answer it but when he saw Ryan’s name on the caller ID he knew he should.

  “Hello,” he answered.

  “Hey man, how’s she doing?” Ryan asked right away.

  He looked down toward the sleeping Jordan and smiled. They watched a little late night TV to unwind after the stressful events and eventually the two of them fell asleep right there on the couch. At some point in the night he pulled the throw blanket from on top of the couch over them. Currently Jordan’s head rested on his chest and the rest of her was stretched out down his body. He should feel guilty for deceiving his friends but things between him and Jordan were too right for him to feel anything but happiness.

  “Okay I guess… she’s sleeping right now.” He slid himself out from underneath Jordan’s body and did his best not to disturb her. She stirred a little when he moved but she quickly settled into the pillow he vacated.

  He stood there for a moment watching her sleep. Some of her hair fell across her face when she shifted positions. He reached out to tuck it back behind her ear.

  As he watched her sleep, he couldn’t help but smile at the fact that she wasn’t putting up any barriers between them anymore.

  He made his way into the kitchen to finish his conversation with Ryan. “So what’s happening?”

  “My parents were planning on having a barbeque today so we’re gonna have the guys from the team over. Also Maddey’s parents will be there and her dad offered to be our liaison with the local police, so Jordan can give her statement to him instead of having to go down to the station.”

  “Sounds good. I’m sure Jordan will want to head home after she wakes up.”

  Ryan hesitated before he answered. “Well that’s actually the reason I’m calling you this early.” He paused again. “Jase and I realized after last night that we can’t keep the rest of the guys in the dark about what happened between JD and Tommy, so we want them to come over before she gets here so we can fill them in. And then later on we can fill you in.”

  “There’s no need, Jordan told me what happened last night after we got back.”

  “She did?” The shock was clearly evident in Ryan’s voice.

  “Yeah.”

  “Like everything?”

  “Everything.”

  “Everything everything?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Wow.”

  “No kidding.” He rummaged through the fridge for something to drink. He settled on the orange juice and poured himself a glass. “But do you think it’s a good idea to keep Jordan out of the loop in all of this?”

  “Probably not but I don’t want her to have to relive it all over again, so for now we keep her out of it and we’ll suffer the consequences later on.”

  “You’re a braver man than I.” He replied on a laugh.

  “Yeah… Anyway I told the guys to be here for one o’clock so try and keep her there until two if you can.”

  He looked at the clock on the microwave to see what time it was. Luckily it was already after noon so he figured he could handle two more hours. “I should be able to handle that.”

  “Thanks, bro.”

  “No problem, see ya later, man.” He closed the phone and turned to make a cup of coffee.

  JORDAN AWOKE TO the sound of Jake’s voice and the smell of coffee coming from the kitchen. The pillow she was on smelled like him and she snuggled deeper into it thinking about the night before. The horror of her encounter with Tommy was still fresh in her mind. What pissed her off the most about last night was that right when she thought her life was getting back to normal, Tommy came around and messed everything up again. A part of her knew she would never be able to forget the crazed look he had in his eyes.

  But then those images faded away and ones of her on the couch with Jake filled her mind. Him holding her close as she told him the truth of her past with Tommy, him leaning in to kiss her and her not stopping him, all followed by falling asleep practically on top of him.

  She reached up and touched her lips to check if they were bruised from kissing Jake. They felt fine but she couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face at the memories of the night before. It amazed her how quickly the sheer terror of Tommy’s assault faded around Jake. That’s what he did for her. He was her safe place.

  She meant what she said when she told him she was done keeping her distance from him. She’d been thinking of ways to approach her brothers with the knowledge of her feelings toward one of their teammates and thought maybe, possibly, she could ease them into the idea. But after last night’s fiasco she knew they would be even more protective than ever. If that was even possible.

  She released a frustrated sigh and sat up. First things first, she had to find out where they actually stood in this mess.

  She made her way into the kitchen and found Jake leaning against the counter, ankles crossed in to front of him, sipping a cup of coffee. She smiled and started to make her way over to the coffeemaker next to him.

  “Hey beautiful,” he said when she looked him in the eye.

  “Hey yourself.”

  “Come here.” He placed his coffee cup on the counter and opened his arms for her.

  She took her cue from him and walked into his open arms. He quickly enfolded her into a tight embrace, hugging her to his chest and resting his chin on top of her head.

  “What I wouldn’t give to start everyday off just like this,” he admitted into her hair.

  “Jake…” She looked up at him, uncertainty swimming in her eyes.

  “Hey…” He reached up to cup the side of her face with his right hand, running his thumb across her cheek, like he did so often. “What’s wrong?”

  The feel of his hand caressing her face felt so good she wanted to stay like that forever but she had to know what was really happening between them. She had never been a coward before, not even when facing Tommy, so she wasn’t going to start now. This, whatever this was, was too important to chicken out of now. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she looked into Jake’s warm green eyes and asked the question she was afraid to ask.

  “I was just trying to figure out what exactly is going on between us.”

  She felt his body exhale before he relaxed against the counter more. “We’re together now, babe.”

  “But what does that mean?” She started worrying the corner of her lower lip.

  “It means…” He broke off and pulled her into a kiss.

  The kiss started off gentle but as Jake trac
ed the seam of her lips, she opened up to him and once she did he deepened the kiss. After she was thoroughly kissed, he pulled away and finished what he was saying.

  “That we’re together now. I’m tired of people coming between us.”

  She was still reeling from his passionate kiss so it took a moment for her to answer. “But, Jake, my brothers weren’t going to be thrilled to begin with that I like a member of the team, now after what happened last night with Tommy I’m sure they are going to be even more set against it.”

  “Jordan, baby, I have waited too long for you to let me in to let a little thing like your brothers stand in the way of me being with you now.”

  “But…”

  He cut her off before she could finish. “No more buts. We are together now, in layman’s terms, you’re my girlfriend, I’m your boyfriend, that’s all that matters. The rest are just details we’ll figure out as we go along.”

  She could hear the determination in his voice and knew he was right. Since the moment they met she had been drawn to him. It felt right whenever she was with him so she knew he was worth the risk. But there was still one thing they had to clear up.

  “We have to keep us a secret though until we figure out what to do about Ry and Jase.”

  “As long as I know you’re mine, that’s all that matters. The rest is just semantics.”

  Chapter Thirty

  It was after two o’clock when they pulled up in front of their houses. The block was lined with cars up and down both sides of it. Jordan climbed out of Jake’s Jeep and looked at the activity going on at her house and leaned back against the passenger door.

  “Why do I feel like I missed something really important?”

  Jake couldn’t help but laugh at the perplexed expression on her face. “Ryan called me this morning and said your parents were having a barbeque so they invited the team over as well.”

  “That explains all the cars.” They made their way up to her front door. As they walked up the driveway she recognized a familiar car. “Looks like you’re gonna meet my godfather today,” she said pointing to the tricked out Viper parked behind her father’s car.