I couldn’t explain why, but I was surprised to feel the slight jolt of electricity at having Sean’s hands on me. I was intentionally blocking him out the entire evening and focusing instead on the surprising camaraderie I was building with Devon. Something changed between us over the course of the evening, and I slowly began to forget my frustrations from our previous interactions. I never thought I would forge a friendship with the man; and while I could say that I was surprised it conspired over hidden dicks in paintings, I wouldn’t say that I wasn’t pleased that it happened.
I pulled my arm from Sean’s grasp and backed away from him slightly. Sweat prickled my brows, and I tried my damnedest to recall just when it got so dang hot in the studio. “Yeah, thanks,” I said while reaching behind my back to untie the paint-splattered apron I was wearing.
My fingers fumbled clumsily at the ties, and I grunted in frustration when I realized that they were so tangled I wouldn’t be able to undo them by myself. I searched frantically for any of my friends. A combination of the beer and the warm fuzzies I was feeling over my pleasant evening clouded my mind.
Cam, Nate, and Lindsey were gone, and Devon was still on the opposite side of the studio showing off his painting to the brunette instructor. I sighed with resignation when I finally accepted that Sean would be my best bet for actually getting out of the goddamn deathtrap. I motioned to the apron and turned away from him. His fingers worked gently to untangle the mess I made of the strings, and I continued to remind myself of why exactly I was so damn mad at him.
I caught sight of my painting and giggled at the sight of outlandish butterflies I painted there. I’d been perfectly content to cleverly hide my dicks in the waving fields of wheat we painted up until the point I noticed Devon painting his ridiculous cloud. My competitive streak won out over the reserved part of me that thought we were pushing our luck, and I mixed my paint to a peachy flesh tone. I refused to accept that I might be bested by him and begun painting the butterflies with reckless abandon.
“What’s funny?” He asked while pulling the apron over my head with nimble hands.
“Dickerflies,” I said with a chuckle before grabbing the painting.
I shook my head and continued to chuckle as I headed toward the cubbies. I needed to find my purse and my friends. The longer I stood around with Sean looking so apologetic and hot, the less likely I was to stay mad at him. After all, it’d been over a year since I had sex, and my lady-bits seemed to have a Sean Tremblay homing device lately.
Sean followed me at as I covered the distance of the studio. I pulled my cross body over my neck once I retrieved it from the cubby. I turned to Sean after another cursory glance around the studio didn’t reveal any of our friends. Well, other than Devon, of course—who was still chatting up Saggie. I shook my head with a sigh.
“What?” He asked me after a few moments of awkward silence.
“Look, I’m still just really upset with you.”
“I get it.”
“You do understand what you said to me, don’t you?” I asked as I moved through the crowd and toward the exit. He followed a little too closely for comfort. I quickened my pace.
Sean sighed as the first gust of cool February air washed over our bodies. “You’re upset with me,” he started, and I ground my teeth together and closed my eyes. Deep lungfuls of ocean air helped to start to clear my hazy mind. “And I do think I get it,” he stated. I searched for any sign of my friends in the parking lot of the little strip mall we were in as he continued, “I never meant to say that you’re a slut.”
I was only half listening to his words. My friends were nowhere to be found. Clearly, Nate and Lindsey thought abandoning me with Sean would force me back into his arms, lips puckered and legs spread. “Uber exists for a reason, dumbasses,” I muttered while setting my painting on the ground and propping it against my leg.
“What? Charlie, are you even listening to me?” He asked. I didn’t respond, so he continued, filling the awkward space between us with his apologies. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I really think you should give me another chance to prove that I’m into this.”
I pretended to not pay attention to his words in favor of digging in my purse for my cell phone. A triumphant smile spread across my face when a phone started to ring. I dug deeper, but my smile dropped when I heard Sean say, “Hey, it’s my little brother Spencer. He doesn’t call a lot, so I’m going to take this.” before moving away from me and walking toward the opposite side of the parking lot.
Feet pounding on the pavement behind me caught my attention, and I startled slightly at Devon’s laughing voice. “Hey, I didn’t mean to lose you in there! One of the instructors was telling me about that loud group that was across the studio from us. They thought your butterflies were adorable from so far away and wished that they’d done something similar.”
Devon’s breath puffed in the chilly air as he rounded me. He offered a smile, and I was distracted by the sight of him standing before me, the cool February wind whipping his jersey around his body. My attention was back on my bag after only a few seconds of staring at his stupidly handsome face. I shook the startling thought from my mind and tried to focus on the search for my missing phone. Get it together, Richmond; you’ve got enough on your plate with Sean.
“That’s funny,” I muttered only half listening to his words. I crouched low over the ground and upended the contents of my purse onto the pavement. A quick glance revealed that the phone was actually missing, and I silently commended my best friends with begrudging respect. They knew how to get what they wanted.
Devon’s hand appeared in my line of vision, and I flushed at the sight of a tampon held gingerly between his fingers. I snatched it from him and began to hastily shove my belongings back into my purse. Afterward, I rested my head in my hands and tried to simultaneously breathe deeply and stay balanced on my haunches. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. It couldn’t be nearly as bad as I imagined it was, right?
“Are you okay?” Devon asked, and the proximity of his voice caused me to jolt out of my near-relaxing pose. He was crouched next to me, hand extended but carefully not touching me. Concern flashed through his whiskey-colored eyes, and a breeze ruffled his jersey. His amber eyes flashed under the lights in the parking lot, and I wondered if my mind would create the taste of whiskey on his lips if I leaned forward and kissed him.
A shiver convulsed through my body, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the chilly February air or my sudden urge to pull the man close and run my hands through his hair and kiss him senseless. Hey, Vagina, we’ve only been friends for like three seconds, okay? I shook my arms out as I stood, partly to discourage them from wrapping around Devon as tightly as possible and partly to pump some blood through my veins.
— D —
“Nate and Lindsey left without me,” She bit out. “I was gonna get an Uber home, but my phone’s missing. And honestly, I’m a little too drunk and cold to deal with this, Sean, and you.”
Charlie looked torn somewhere between the urge to yell or cry as she shivered in the cool February breeze. I immediately felt like a complete asshole. Her shirt was long-sleeved, but the sleeves were sheer, and she was actually shivering a lot. “You’re cold?” I asked, and she shrugged noncommittally.
In one swift motion, I pulled my jersey over my head and pushed it into her hands. It wasn’t as thick as a jacket, but the material held body heat pretty well. “I’m not putting your jersey on,” she said, pushing the fabric back toward me.
I rolled my eyes and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I tapped into the ride-sharing app before glancing up. She stood, shivering, with her mouth slightly open. “I’m trying to be a gentleman, Charlie. I’m not gonna stand here and let you be cold if I can help it. Now, what’s your address?”
“Excuse me?” The jersey hung limply in her hands, and she stared at me with a startled look on her face.
“I’m ordering you an Uber. I’m not as big an asshole as you
seem to think. Now, what’s your address? The sooner I get you an Uber, the sooner I can get one for myself.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Jesus,” I rolled my eyes and thrust my phone at her, “just put your address in yourself then. And will you put that goddamn jersey on? I’m not gonna watch you shiver just because you’re too stubborn to do anything you don’t think you want to do. I get it, we’re not really friends or anything, but you need help, so let me help.”
Charlie sighed and accepted my phone. Within a few short seconds, the phone was back in my hands and she was pulling my jersey over her head. She lifted the collar of the jersey and inhaled deeply before her eyes drifted closed and her head fell back. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of her in my jersey, the sun-kissed tone of her skin popping against the black, gold, and white material. I wondered what she might look like in nothing but the jersey, and I allowed myself a brief moment of fantasy.
A stutter in her breathing pulled me back to reality. Charlie’s hazel eyes were still closed, and her hair flowed down her back from her head’s resting position. A slight grimace crossed her face, and it was apparent she was lost in the memory of another time.
“Hey,” I said softly, and her head popped up. Dazed eyes opened, and she blinked at me slowly. “Are you okay?”
A shuddering breath was her response, and I shifted slightly from one foot to the other. Her hazel eyes were watery, and she seemed to be on the verge of some type of breakdown. I wasn’t entirely sure what, if anything, I’d done to earn this response from her.
“Chrome,” she choked out with a breathy sigh, and I cocked my head to the side.
“Huh?”
“Your cologne; you wear Chrome,” she responded, and I found myself nodding. “So did my ex.”
I wasn't sure how to respond, so I didn’t. Her eyes sank closed, and I crossed my arms over my chest. Her shoulders heaved, and tears slipped down her face. The part of her lips was subtle, so was the hitch in her breathing. I’d just decided she might’ve been the prettiest crier I’d ever experienced when Sean came jogging back over.
“The fuck did you do, dude?” He asked after taking one look at her. Her eyes popped open, and she wiped frantically at her eyes.
I opened my mouth to respond but was cut off by her Uber pulling in. I stepped between her and Sean and placed a finger gently under her chin. I could practically feel the waves of Sean’s anger rolling over me. Sean: 0. Devon: 3. She stared at me with hazy eyes, and I said, “Your Uber’s here. You good to get home? You got keys to your house?”
She nodded, mute, and I picked up her painting and purse from the ground at her feet. Sean glared as I walked her around to the passenger side door but thankfully didn’t try to intervene. I made sure she was safely buckled with her belongings in the floorboard as he stood on the other side of the car and glowered. The need to gloat over the turn of events was tempered by the urge to ensure Charlie made it home safely. I leaned through the open window to talk to the driver, letting her know that Charlie’s ride was on me.
She turned to say thank you, and there was a gentleness lacing her tone that I’d never heard from her before. My stomach clenched. A waft of my cologne must’ve rushed over her again because she inhaled deeply before burying her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook, and I laid a hand on her back and rubbed a circle there momentarily. After a few short seconds, I let my hand drift away from her back and said thank you to the driver.
Sean at least had the decency to wait until the window was up and the car was pulling away to open his mouth. “Dude, what the fuck was that?”
“I don’t know. She was cold, so I gave her my jersey. Then she just sort of broke down.”
He scoffed and ran a hand roughly through his hair. “Yeah, drunk chicks do that, but that’s not what I mean. Why the fuck did you get her an Uber?”
I rolled my eyes. “Her friends left her, and she’s drunk. It was the decent thing to do.”
“You had no fucking right to do that. I stepped away because my brother called. I wasn’t just leaving her on her own, and I was gonna make sure she got home. I needed that time with her to apologize for the other night, and you had no right to step in like that. Back the fuck off,” he spat before lumbering off.
My blood boiled, and I wanted to run after the man and pummel him. I felt the familiar guilt gnawing at my core over pushing Sean and Charlie toward each other. I wished that I discouraged the man’s interest in her, telling him just how difficult it could be to date a girl like her. But I couldn’t have if I wanted to. Because girls like her were easy to date, and I’d all but blown my chance.
I inhaled deeply, hoping the cool air would temper the heat in my veins and began to walk. My feelings for Charlie may have befuddled me, but there was no confusion over how I felt about Sean. It wouldn’t be a good idea to end up at the apartment at the same time as the assistant captain since I wasn’t certain kicking his ass would be an approved team activity.
Chapter 10
— C —
I woke up wrapped in Devon’s jersey. The scent of his cologne clung to my skin stubbornly. Showering didn’t help erase the crippling feeling of guilt raging through my body that morning. He’d been such a gentleman to me, and I was a total raving lunatic in return. I cried over his cologne, and still, he treated me with respect.
I knew I’d be useless at work, so I called in. Hearing the derision in Ms. Gable’s voice as she said we would have a discussion about my attendance the next time I bothered to show up didn’t help my mood. A headache that I probably couldn’t fix with ibuprofen was forming stubbornly between my eyes.
I sat at the bar in my kitchen, a cup of coffee braced in my cold hands, and glanced back and forth between my phone sitting on the counter and the jersey folded neatly on the arm of my cream colored couch. I gritted my teeth as I reread Lindsey’s text message that was proudly displayed on the screen of my phone when I found it on my coffee table that morning.
Today 6:13 AM
Hey lady! Sorry for taking your
phone last night. But aren’t
you glad that we did? You’re
literally wrapped in Sean’s
jersey right now, snoring all
softly and adorably. I’m sure
you’re super exhausted from
all of the amazing sex you
guys had last night. I’m a little
upset-okay or EXTREMELY
upset-with you for not letting
him stay the night. Seriously,
why don’t I ever get the
chance to ogle that hottie
shirtless? Annnyways, text me
when you get up. I want all
the deets. Smoochie woos!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Today 11:15 AM
I didn’t sleep with Sean last
night. He didn’t even come
home with me.
What, why?!?! And why did
you have his jersey on?
It was Devon’s jersey, not
Sean’s.
WHAT
I need his number. Can you
get it from Cam for me?
Charlie, what did you do?! Did
you sleep with Devon? OMG
how was it? And why didn’t he
stay the night?!!!!! I would love
to see that hottie shirtless,
too. Holy shit, how big is his
dick? Is it like huge? He looks
like he’d have a totally huge
dick. Are you okay? I know it’s
been awhile, and that kind of
stuff can fuck a girl up.
Lindsey, just get his number
for me, please.
I rolled my eyes at Lindsey’s characteristically inappropriate response and returned my focus to the cup of coffee and my internal struggle. The Devon that showed up last night was completely different from the version of him that I created in my head. I’d
come to terms with the fact that it was my attitude and assumptions that caused him to act the way he did the first night we met. But I wasn’t going to budge on the fact that he was a total douche-canoe on his own the other times we interacted. It was hard to reconcile the mega-douche that I created in my head with the caring and respectful man I’d been with the evening before.
When did I miss the shift in his personality? I built him up as some major asshole in my head. He proved he could be a gentleman the night before with his jersey and the Uber. I was way drunker than I should’ve been, and Devon went out of his way to make sure I got home safely without insisting on taking me home himself like some kind of chauvinistic asshole.
Why was he so kind to me? I spent the past six weeks being a complete and total asshole to him. My phone pinged with another text and pulled my mind from my contemplation. I picked it up to see a text from Lindsey with his number. A few moments of me staring at my phone passed, but something inside of me wouldn’t quite let me text him.
My mind was pulled to thoughts of Sean Tremblay. While his comments about puck sluts and Lindsey were entirely uncalled for, I couldn’t help but feel I was treating him a little too unfairly. Guilt gnawed at my stomach. He’d been trying doggedly to apologize to me for two weeks, not caring that I wasn’t responding to his messages. And my hazy mind seemed to recall an apology from the night before.
My sigh was resigned. I definitely owed him an apology, and I owed it to him soon.
— D —
Days that I got the apartment to myself were rare, and I learned to take advantage of them early. Cam and Sean were alright as far as roommates went, but they lived together for so long that all personal barriers were non-existent between them. No amount of bitching on my part could convince them to shit with the bathroom door closed or not barge in on me when I was taking a shower. The number of times I got to masturbate in the shower since I moved in with them was zero.
Breakaway: A Hockey Romance Page 11