by Kat Mizera
He sighed. “There’s no price, Ellie. It was a birthday present and it was wrong of your mom to threaten you with it.”
“But you’re the one that’s here, not her.”
“She’s waiting in the van. She’s hurt.”
“She’s hurt?” I stared at him. “What is there for her to be hurt about? That I won’t follow her dreams or because I might repeat her mistakes?” I hadn’t planned to say that last part but it slipped out anyway.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “How did you find out about that?”
“She worked here for a long time. People talk.”
“She was pregnant. She had no choice but to marry that guy. Him leaving her was a blessing. If he hadn’t, I never would have met her and you wouldn’t be here, so all the scandal was worth it.”
Scandal? Yikes. I didn’t know what to say to that because I had so many questions. “What happened to…the baby?”
“She lost it. The gossipmongers didn’t tell you that part?”
“They didn’t say anything about a baby.” At least that much was true.
“There was damage after the miscarriage. We didn’t think she could have children at all, so you were a surprise. But it was her only viable pregnancy and that’s why she’s so protective of you, Ellie.”
“So instead of building a relationship with her only child, she goes out of her way to push me away?”
“As I’ve said repeatedly, you two need to talk. I wish you’d reach out.”
“She’s the adult. I’m the kid. And I didn’t do anything wrong.” I don’t know why I was being stubborn about this, but the wounds caused by the rift between us ran deep and just this once, I needed her to make some sort of apologetic overture.
“Will you come home this weekend?”
“The team is playing Dartmouth,” I said automatically. “It’s a big rivalry I can’t miss. But they’ll be on the road in two weeks, so maybe I can come home then.”
“All right.” He nodded, turning to Patrick. “You’re welcome to come with her at some point, Patrick. We’d like to get to know you better if you’re someone important to Ellie.”
“Thank you, sir, I’d like that too.” They shook hands again, Dad hugged me and handed me the keys, and then started heading away.
“Where did you park the car?” I called after him.
He shrugged as he kept walking. “It’s not my car—how am I supposed to know where it’s parked?”
I laughed in spite of my annoyance.
“That’s cold,” Patrick said, laughing. “Funny, but cold.”
I elbowed him.
“Two minutes, elbowing!” he yelled.
“Are you putting me in the penalty box?” I asked, wiggling my eyebrows.
“Maybeee…”
“Sounds like fun!” I made a run for the door.
19
Patrick
Between hockey, studying, and spending every spare second I had with Ellie, I didn’t have time to think about the Sidewinders or the growing pressure my dad was putting on me. He was calling every few days now, and if I didn’t answer, he’d call Paxton to find out where I was and what I was doing. Luckily, my twin was adept at putting him off, but it irritated me.
On the plus side, I was having the best season of my hockey career so far, my grades were all A’s, and my sex life, well, Ellie and I spent a lot more time naked than I’d ever imagined we would. In general, my life was pretty fucking great and I’d unofficially made the decision to stay in school next year, so I was caught off guard when my phone rang and I saw a Las Vegas exchange flash on the screen. That had to be something related to the Sidewinders and I quickly answered.
“Hello?”
“Patrick? This is Anatoli Petrov from the Las Vegas Sidewinders.”
I almost shit myself. Toli Petrov was one of the leading scorers in the league and a veteran both on the Sidewinders and in hockey, so it took a second to find my voice and get over the shock that one of my heroes was on the phone with me.
“Uh, hi. Yes. Hello.”
He chuckled. “You had a hell of a game Saturday night,” he said, referring to our game against Dartmouth.
“Thank you.”
“Management is definitely looking forward to having you on the team here and so am I—hopefully before I retire!”
“I’m working on it,” I said slowly. “I have another year here but I’ve been waffling on whether or not to go pro before I graduate.”
“Well, we’d like to entice you. The reason I’m calling is to invite you to Montreal the first weekend in March. It’s a Sunday game and my understanding is that you’re off, so if you’d like to come, hang out with us a little afterward, it’ll be a good chance for you to ask all your questions and get a feel for the vibe in the locker room.”
“I’d love that.”
“If you have a significant other, he or she is welcome to come along.”
“She’d love it,” I replied automatically. “Thank you. It sounds great.”
“Someone from the team will call in a couple of days to give you flight info. You’ll fly in that morning and fly back late that night.”
“Oh, wow, thank you. I’m excited to meet all of you.”
“We’re excited to bring you on board.” He paused. “Is there anything you want to ask me now or would you rather wait?”
“Honestly, the biggest question on my mind is whether or not to play in college another year or to go pro at the end of the school year. I’ve done the pros and cons on paper and the only con is that I’m afraid if I leave now, I’ll never go back to finish my degree. It’s only three classes, though, so Ellie, my girlfriend, keeps telling me I can do it virtually.”
“You have a lot to consider,” Toli said thoughtfully. “But let me see if I can help at all. From the perspective of hockey, the team is going to wait for you whether you come next season or the season after, assuming you continue playing at the level you’ve been playing. You have to make this decision based on what’s best for you in the long run.”
“But if it was you,” I said carefully, “would you leave college and go pro now?”
“I never went to college but my younger brother did. We’ve both had long, successful careers in hockey, even though we took different paths in getting here. Me, personally, yes, I would go now. But I’m not you. Nate Calloway came to us from college—talk with him when we meet up in Montreal. He might have better perspective for you since he’s already been through it.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I will.”
“All right, well, take it easy and we’ll see you in a few weeks.”
“Thanks again, Toli.” I hung up and immediately texted Ellie.
PATRICK: Want to go see the Sidewinders play in Montreal in a few weeks? All expenses paid!
ELLIE: Hell, yes! Did they invite you?
PATRICK: Toli Petrov, who’s a pretty big deal in hockey, called me personally.
ELLIE: OMG, that’s amazing! This means they’re watching you, right? And are, like, seriously interested?
PATRICK: They drafted me… I think they’re pretty serious about me! LOL.
ELLIE: And they invited me to go to Montreal, too?
PATRICK: Yup. My significant other was specifically invited.
ELLIE: I feel very special.
PATRICK: You were special long before this, babe.
ELLIE: And you might get a very special gift tonight to celebrate…
PATRICK: Will you be naked?
ELLIE: Maybeeeee…
PATRICK: I’m intrigued.
ELLIE: LOL. See you later.
Ellie met me at the door of her room wearing a robe. I almost laughed when she dropped it the moment I shut the door behind me, but her naked body was nothing to laugh at. I yanked off my own clothes in record time, but before I could grab her, she’d pushed me onto the bed on my back and then crawled over me. Her eyes were glittering with desire as she stroked my cock.
; “How come you haven’t asked me to do this before?” she murmured, dipping her head and pressing a chaste kiss on the tip.
“Because…uh…I wanted to…uh…wait until you were…uh…comfortable.” It was really hard to concentrate when the most beautiful girl in the world was kissing your dick.
“I’m comfortable.” She opened her mouth and licked a line along the length of my shaft, and I moaned. “I’ve been dying to try this.”
“Well, don’t let me stop you.” My head fell back as she sucked me partway into her mouth. Jesus, if this was her first blow job, I was a very lucky man because it didn’t get much better than this. Deep-throating was overrated; I far preferred being balls-deep in her pussy over her mouth. But magic happened any time we were together. Our sex life just kept getting better and I didn’t understand it. I’d had a lot of sex over the years, but it all faded to nothing now that I was with Ellie. Her body, her mouth, her soulful eyes, they all kept me completely mesmerized, both in bed and out.
She sucked a little harder and I dug my fingers into her hair, moving her head with a steadier rhythm until she got the hang of it. And then she was off and running, using her hands and mouth to work me into a frenzy. Grazing my balls, scraping her teeth lightly along the sensitive skin, she had my number from the get-go. My staying power was always at risk when we made love because her touch was literally magic. For me anyway. A few strokes here, a kiss there, and—bam! I shot off into her mouth like a freakin’ freight train and I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed I couldn’t hold out more than a couple of minutes or proud that she’d learned how to read me so quickly.
“Mmm,” she said, licking her lips as she sat up. “What are you going to teach me next?”
“What do you want me to teach you?” I asked, pulling her up so she was resting across my torso, her mouth close to mine. “A little ass play, maybe? Sixty-nine? Orgasm denial? What about—”
“Orgasm denial?! What the hell is that? Nobody’s denying me any damn orgasms, mister!”
I laughed at her indignance, kissing her pouty lips. “I’m kidding.”
“On the other hand, sixty-nine sounds fun…”
“Next time,” I said, flipping her on her back. “I need to reciprocate what you just did.”
“Now that definitely sounds like fun.” Her legs fell open and I dove between them. Going down on her never got old and I did it almost every day we were together. Which was every day unless I was on the road with the team. We essentially lived together now, so I had access to her day and night, and her waiting for me naked was always fun. Waking her up by going down on her was my favorite, though I enjoyed it any time.
Sometimes I took it slow, getting her all worked up until she was begging me to let her come. Other times, it was a race to see how quick I could get her off. And that’s what I was doing now. I had a trick up my sleeve that my gut told me would make that happen even faster tonight, and I swirled a finger in her juices in preparation.
I circled her clit with my tongue as I slid my finger back to her ass. She was completely caught up in what I was doing, so she didn’t notice at first. I kept my touch light, skimming her asshole before attempting anything more. Then I captured her sweet little pleasure bud between my lips while simultaneously pressing the tip of my finger into the tight, puckered hole.
“Patrick!” Her breath left her in a rush and I pressed my finger in a little deeper before she clenched in protest.
“Easy,” I whispered. “Just the tip of my finger. Let me in and then I’m going to make you come so hard you won’t care how I do it.”
The word no wasn’t in Ellie’s vocabulary when it came to sex and this was no different. She took a deep breath and I distracted her by sucking on her clit some more. She was squirming, alternately arching into my face and bearing down on my finger, so I got her right on the edge of orgasm and then slid my finger all the way in. She gasped as I bit down, and then she exploded around my face. I could barely breathe as she clenched her thighs around my head, but damn, it was pretty watching her lose control like that.
“Holy fucking shit, did you just finger my ass?” she demanded, laughing.
“I did. And you fucking came like a lunatic. I thought you were going to snap my neck with those thighs of yours.”
“Sorry.”
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“Nope.”
“Let me wash up. Be right back.”
A minute later, we were snuggled up together under her heavy down comforter and she moved right into her favorite position against my chest, her legs twined with mine.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do when you leave me,” she whispered in the darkness.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered back as we dropped off to sleep.
20
Ellie
Valentine’s Day was tomorrow and I had no idea what to do for Patrick. He was with me almost every night now, but my room was small and my twin-size bed was cramped for a guy his size. He never complained but I wondered if he missed the bigger bed at his apartment and if it was bad for an athlete like him to sleep with a girl draped all over him. It probably wasn’t a big deal, but I worried about him because he worked his body so hard with hockey. I was often amazed at how much it took for him to stay in shape. He practiced and played games with the team but there were also workouts in his free time that blew me away. I’d gone on a run with him once and thought I might die trying to keep up.
I wanted to do something nice for him, like a professional massage or something, but it really wasn’t in my budget. With my future more uncertain than ever, I was trying to be frugal, but I hated not doing something special for him on our first Valentine’s Day together.
“Kissing games,” Harley said when we ran into each other in the coffee shop.
“Kissing games?”
“Yeah, like watching an episode of Friends and every time Joey does something stupid, you have to kiss. I mean, you can get creative, but that could be a fun way to spend Valentine’s Day.”
“That does sound kind of fun.”
“You could cater it to hockey, too. Put on a game and every time the team he’s not rooting for ices the puck, you kiss. Every time his team gets a power play, you kiss.”
“I could probably make a list,” I said thoughtfully.
“And then you’ll end up getting naked anyway.”
We laughed.
“So where have you been hiding?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “Here and there. That guy I was hooking up with ghosted me, so I’m kind of doing my own thing these days. Guys are too much of a headache.”
“They’re not all like that,” I said gently.
“Yeah, you got lucky.” She paid the cashier and took a sip of her drink.
“Patrick is pretty special,” I admitted. “I don’t know how I found him, but I’m so glad I did.”
“You deserve a nice guy,” Harley said, smiling over at me. “Just keep your options open, you know? He’s going to be going off to the pros, whether it’s next year or the year after, and your Ph.D. is going to take longer than that.”
“Shit!” I suddenly remembered I’d never checked back with Dr. Lancet. “I have to go see my advisor. I’ll call you later!” I grabbed my coat and coffee and ran out the door. I hurried across campus and into the building where his office was.
I’d forgotten all about checking in with him and I wanted to have my ducks in a row before I saw my parents again. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to say to my mom, but I wasn’t as mad now that I had my car back and I just wanted them to understand me. To let me follow my dreams and find out who and what I was going to be on my own. They couldn’t do that for me, and while I now understood that my mother had dropped out of medical school because she’d been pregnant and gotten married, that wasn’t me. I wasn’t completely sure where I was going professionally, but I knew that wasn’t it. Maybe with Dr. Lancet’s help I could shift my focus,
and if I presented them with something more concrete than computer science, they’d understand that I could figure out my future on my own.
“Ellie!” Dr. Lancet was just leaving the building as I arrived and I fell into step beside him.
“I’m sorry I haven’t come by before now but I’ve been so busy.”
“It’s all right, my dear. I do have some news for you, though.”
“Oh, tell me.”
“First of all, I believe there’s a professor needed for the Intro to Biology course during both summer sessions. They’re both hybrid classes, so you’d only have to physically be in the classroom for the labs, not the lecture portion. Second, Dr. Phillips in the biotech department would like to talk with you before you do anything else. So, while I don’t know what you’ll discuss with Dr. Phillips, I have a feeling he’ll work with you to move over some of your credits while helping you come up with a game plan for going forward. Everyone here wants to see you succeed. You’re a very special student, Ellie.”
“Thank you,” I said gratefully. “I’ll go over there now and make an appointment.”
“Very good. Well, I’m late for a class of my own. Stop by any time, dear.”
“Thank you!” I waved and headed in the opposite direction. I couldn’t wait to tell Patrick the news.
Patrick had a team meeting that night so I worked on the kissing game idea. I picked up some colored cardstock at the bookstore and printed cards with it. Each one would go into a bag of some kind and he could pull one out every so often and we had to do whatever it said on the card.
I’d also picked up his favorite candy—strawberry Twizzlers—and a card. I hid everything at the bottom of my laundry basket and then tried to focus on my project. With everything going on, I wasn’t sure if I needed to finish it or not, and the indecision was messing with my mojo. Dr. Lancet had given me hope that I could switch over to biotechnology, which was what I truly loved, but it felt like I’d wasted a lot of time and energy on something for no reason other than to spite my mother.