Reckless King

by Maya Hughes

  “I think I’m going to like the way you celebrate New Year’s.” My words were choppy.

  “I think I am too.” His hand around my waist tightened, and his hips rocked with mine.

  He slipped his fingers from my waist to the zipper at the back of my dress. The metallic slide of the zipper was the only sound other than our shuddering breaths. His strong hands sank into my skin from my shoulders to my exposed waist, and I let out a moan.

  My rocking was more insistent and urgent as he lifted me. I let out a mewling sound that quickly turned into a happy sigh when he undid the zipper of his jeans and slipped on a condom. In a motion so quick and practiced I almost thanked the hookup gods, he jerked my underwear to the side and sank into me.

  “Oh shit,” I hissed as his mushroom tip parted me and he plunged into me in one fierce stroke.

  Tugging down the front of my dress, he dipped his head and captured one of my nipples in his mouth. It was the only reprieve I got before the sharp cant of his hips dragged a moan from deep inside.

  “Damn, Kara.” His words reverberated through me as he pressed his lips against my shoulder.

  His firm touch and dirty words whispered in my ear set me off in minutes. It was like he’d figured out exactly what I needed after two nights and he was determined to give it to me as many times as I could handle it. Maybe even more than I could handle, but I was happy to let him push all my boundaries.

  Like he’d been working through the study guide nonstop, his fingers were there, parting me and strumming my clit in perfect time.

  “Oh God.” I bit his shoulder, and my fingers sank into his arms as his muscles strained beneath me. One hand massaged my ass. His persistent, expert strumming had my eyes rolling back in my head.

  I came apart at the seams on his lap, riding out the waves of my climax as he whispered in my ear.

  We tumbled over onto the bed, and our laughter bounced off the walls. This was the most fun I’d had in a long time—well, since the last time. It was exactly what I needed. Sweaty and exhausted, I battled to keep my eyes open, draped over Heath’s chest. His energy seemed to know no bounds, and I was happy to be an experiment in how far someone could be sexed into exhaustion.

  His fingers traced an intricate line across my back. Each pass was another part of my body that belonged to him. I lifted my head and stared up at him. He had his eyes closed, but opened them when I moved. The time blinked on the alarm clock on his nightstand.

  “Happy New Year.” My voice was raspy and rough from voicing my appreciation of the orgasm he’d wrung from me.

  He glanced over his shoulder and smiled. “Happy New Year.” He cupped my face and pulled me up to his lips. “I think this was an excellent way to start things off, don’t you?”

  The words caught in my throat, and I nodded. This was the start of something that would change my life, only I had no idea how much.

  14

  Heath

  I woke up later beside Kara. Her black hair covered the pillow next to her, and my hands itched to tangle my fingers in it. My phone buzzed.

  “Your phone’s been buzzing a lot.” Kara cracked an eye open before yawning and rolling over.

  I leaned over the edge of the bed and snatched it up off the floor.

  Declan: WHERE ARE YOU?!

  I shot straight up, and Kara sat up beside me. I scrolled through the rest of the messages. My stomach dropped, and I called him right back.

  “Get here now!” He ended the call and texted me the location. My heart leaped into my throat. University Hospital.

  I don’t even know if I said the words, but I threw on my clothes and Kara got dressed right alongside me.

  “You don’t have to come.” I shoved my feet into my sneakers.

  “It’s okay. I can drive. You don’t look like you should be driving.”

  She was probably right. My head was swimming. All the lights in the city conspired against us getting there, and if I’d been driving, I’d have been tempted to floor it right through the red lights. It was almost seven on New Year’s Day. The streets were deserted.

  Everything moved in slow motion as we raced through the doors of the hospital. The old feelings came flooding back. My squeaky shoes on the tile floor as I’d walked into the room where my mom lay in a bed, bruised and beaten. Please be okay. Please be okay.

  Shaking off those nightmares from the past, I glanced over at Kara. My footsteps echoed in the stairwell. We burst through the door on the fifth floor. My hand was wrapped tightly around Kara’s. I stopped at the nurses’ station, and they rattled off the room number. The stop hadn’t even been needed because I rounded the corner and came face-to-face with the entire team and Colm, Ford, and Emmett.

  Drawn faces and red eyes met me as I walked past them.

  “Hey, man.” Declan’s reached out and squeezed my shoulder. His green eyes were ringed with red.

  “What the hell happened?” My voice sliced through the murmuring voices and the doctors walking past. It took me a second to realize it wasn’t Kara’s hand that was shaking—it was mine.

  “Drunk driver. Preston was taking Imogen home last night, and someone plowed into them.” The fire burned in Declan’s eyes.

  “How is Imo?” My heart leaped into my throat.

  “She’s okay. A few scrapes and bruises, but she’s fine. She’s in there with him now. She said he turned the car so his side took the brunt of the impact.”

  I closed my eyes as the soft thud hit me in the chest. That was exactly the kind of thing he’d do. Without thinking, he’d have done everything he could to protect her. I swallowed past the lump in my throat and asked the question I’d been dreading since I’d seen everyone faces when I turned the corner.

  “How is he?”

  Kara squeezed her fingers tighter around mine. Her warmth helped drive away some of the cold.

  “He’s pretty messed up. He’s got a broken leg, fractured wrist, his face is a mess and…there might be some spinal damage.” Declan had tears in his eyes.

  Fuck! I ran my hand over my face. My blood boiled and my head throbbed. I wanted to wrap my hands around the responsible party’s throat after I beat them senseless. Kara gasped, and I released my hold on her fingers.

  My eyes snapped to hers. She massaged her hand as I pushed those images from my mind.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. I didn’t act on that kind of anger and rage.

  She gave me a weak smile. “It’s okay.” She slid her hand back into mine, and I held it to my chest, against my pounding heart. I felt sick to my stomach. We stood between Declan and Emmett against the wall outside the room.

  “The older we get, the more life likes to throw us curveballs.” Colm stared straight ahead at the wall outside Preston’s room.

  “The lengths he’d go through to get out of a rematch.” Emmett’s attempt at a joke fell flat, and he ducked his head. The somber mood stretched on as some doctors went in and out of the room. His parents and Imogen stayed inside.

  After a while the nurses shooed us into the waiting room where we each took turns pacing, like our movements would somehow repair Preston and get him up and walking again. The door swung open, and two older people stepped inside with Imogen and Preston’s little sister, Becca next to them. His parents. All the guys stood, waiting to hear.

  “We wanted to say thank you all so much for coming. It means the world to us and to Preston.” His mom wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye, and she had her hand wrapped around Imogen’s.

  Imogen’s sweater was ripped some at the shoulder like the seatbelt had dug into her. The bandage on her head did nothing to hide her bleary eyes and ashen skin. Her right arm was in a brace. She looked like she’d seen a ghost.

  “He’s stable. They need to wait a little while for the swelling to go down before they’ll know about his legs.” Her voice cracked, and his dad squeezed her shoulder. “Your coach is in there with him now, but I know you’d all like to see him. They said if you g
o in two or three at a time, that would be fine.”

  I let the other guys go first. Colm, Emmett, and Ford went in for only a minute to say they’d be up for a rematch whenever he was back up and on his feet. Everyone made their visits short. He’d been through a lot and needed rest.

  Declan and I went in last. Kara held down the fort in the waiting room. Preston’s parents and Becca had gone home to get some clothes and stuff. Imogen was curled up in the seat at Preston’s bedside, and Coach sat in a chair on the other side of him.

  The mottled bruises on the side of his face sent me straight back to seventh grade. I’d told myself I was giving everyone else a chance to say what they needed to him because they’d been waiting longer than I had, but I’d been putting this off. Seeing him like this, laid up in a hospital bed, brought up so many memories I’d worked hard to forget and let go of… And the building anger that someone had done this to my friend.

  The urge to find the driver and make him feel exactly what Preston felt had my hands fisted at my sides. I jerked back, stopping in my tracks. I was not that guy. I was not an angry monster fixated on hurting someone. That wasn’t me and it would never be me, but the simmer that threatened to overflow when someone I cared about was hurt made me want to break things. And I hated how much I wanted to follow through.

  “Hey, man, all this to get out of us bugging you about going pro,” Declan joked with his voice tight as he took Preston’s uninjured hand and wrapped his hand around it.

  Preston attempted a chuckle before wincing and holding his side.

  “You know me. Always looking for the easy way out.” His smile came out as a grimace with his split lip and bandage around his head.

  “That’s exactly who you are, Preston ‘Easy Way Out’ Elliott.”

  “Sorry for the scare. And I’m sorry about the season.” He stared down at his arm. That feeling of uselessness was one I knew well.

  “Are you out of your mind? This is not your fault. Not even close. We’re glad you’re doing okay. And we’re glad you’re okay too, Imogen.”

  Imogen rubbed Preston’s hand and stood, resting her forehead against his and murmuring against his skin. Her head whipped up, and she had tears in her eyes. She glanced up at me and gave me a small smile.

  I hadn’t been able to play for almost two months while my arm healed when we’d left California. The stakes hadn’t been as high as they were for Preston, but moving to a new place and not having the beach nearby, hockey had been my respite. Not setting foot on the ice for that long, it was like I was losing my mind.

  Coach pushed forward in his seat. “We’re glad you two came in together. I’ve talked it over with Preston, and we think we know the best person to take over in his spot for the rest of the season.”

  I glanced over at Declan. He was the natural choice. One of the best and the guys rallied around him. I had a big smile on my face as I stared up at Declan, who stared right back at me.

  “We want you to be the captain.”

  Coach’s words came out as a jumble. I swore he’d said he wanted me to be captain. My head snapped to Preston, lying in the bed, with my eyes wide.

  “What?” I tilted my head, still not convinced I hadn’t missed a part of the conversation.

  “We picked you, Heath,” Coach added, not giving me any room to misinterpret what he’d said.

  My eyes shot to Declan, and he nodded.

  “Me? Why me?”

  Preston shifted in the bed. “You’re an excellent player. You’re almost unstoppable out on the ice, plus the guys all respect you. They’re going to need someone who stays cool under pressure and can also kick their asses in the rink.”

  “But…” The words died in my throat. I was faster on the ice than anyone on the team, but captain?

  “You’re who we need.” Preston’s eyes shone with sincerity, but somehow the walls of the hospital room shifted and closed in on me.

  “Heath, you’ve got this.” Declan’s voice called me back from the bottom of the well I was falling into.

  I wrapped my hands around the small rail at the end of Preston’s bed. My white-knuckle grip made it rattle against the side of the bed.

  “You might not know it, but you’re not only our fastest, you’re also one of our most patient and driven players. I know you don’t think anyone notices the extra work you put in with the new guys.”

  “I’m only helping them get adjusted or find their groove.”

  “Exactly!” Coach’s hand landed on my shoulder. He squeezed it, and I glanced back at him.

  “That’s exactly what we need in a coach.”

  “I’m nothing like Preston. I couldn’t do everything he does.” I nodded toward Preston, who had Imogen perched at his side.

  “You’re right. You can’t.” He grinned at me. “And you don’t need to. We don’t want you to. Every captain has their own style, and you’ve been a leader in the team without even knowing it. Keep doing what you’ve been doing and step up to the plate. We need you to bring this season home, Heath.”

  I glanced between all their faces in front of me. They needed me to do this. I needed to do whatever it took for this season to go down the way we all wanted. Finish it off right. Take the team to victory.

  “You cool with this?” I locked eyes with Declan.

  “You’ve got this. I’ll be there backing you the whole way.”

  “Looks like I’m the new captain.” The words tumbled out of my mouth, and I had a pit in my stomach. Was I really doing this?

  I’d never let myself take on that kind of responsibility. Never trusted myself with something like that. Keeping all my intensity on the ice was how I kept myself from ever going overboard. Never letting those things that got to me boil over into a place I’d stayed far away from. With so much on the line, I couldn’t screw this up.

  Preston’s parents showed up, so Declan and I gave them the space they needed. We said our goodbyes and stopped by the waiting room to pick up Kara.

  Coach caught up with us in the lobby.

  “I know you’re worried, Heath, but you’ve got everything you need to do this. You’ve got the skill, patience and drive to keep everyone in line. Three months is all we need to clinch another championship, and you’ve got it, son.”

  We got outside, and the temperature felt like it had dropped another ten degrees. Kara tightened her hand around mine.

  I flinched as Coach’s hand landed on my shoulder. I hated it when he called me that. He didn’t mean anything by it, but it brought back a flood of memories I’d rather leave buried. Coach got into his car and pulled away.

  “You coming home?” Declan zipped up his coat and tugged the collar higher.

  I glanced over at Kara. “Do you have anywhere to be? Or are you cool if we drive around for a little bit?”

  “I can do whatever you need me to do.” She gave me a small smile, and I loved her.

  I knew it was too early.

  I knew it was in-fucking-sane, but I loved her.

  “I’m going to go out for a bit to clear my head.”

  Declan nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I need to go tell Mak. I didn’t want to worry her.” He left, and we walked to my car.

  “I’m good to drive now.” I held out my hand for the keys. She hesitated before putting them in my palm. Her hand rested on top of mine.

  “I’m really sorry about your friend.” She wrapped her arms around me, and I dropped my head, burying it in her hair. Her touch, smell, and presence warmed me up even in the biting cold.

  “Let’s go.” I walked her around to the other side and opened the door for her before climbing in on my side.

  I cranked up the heat, and she rubbed her hands down the side of her dress. I winced. She had to be freezing, but she didn’t let on. “Where to?”

  “I don’t really know yet.” I cranked up the heat and threw the car into drive.

  15

  Kara

  We drove in silence for a l
ong time, and at first I thought we were driving with no destination in mind. I chanced a glance at him. He wasn’t speeding or anything, but the determined look in his eye had me thinking he knew where he was going. Maybe he did, even if he thought he didn’t.

  “Heath?”

  His head snapped up like he’d forgotten I was there.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?”

  He dropped a hand off the steering wheel and rested it on my thigh. “I’m good. Thanks for asking. Sorry about this. I needed to get out of there for a bit. My mind clears when the open road is laid out in front of me and I push forward into new territory behind the wheel.”

  “I get it. Out on the open road. You can focus on that, and it helps your brain work out the stuff you’re dealing with.”

  He peered over at me. “Are you sure you’re not a psych major?”

  I chuckled. “Definitely not a psych major, but I get needing to zone out sometimes. I’m here for you if you need to talk.”

  His hand tightened on my thigh. “I know.”

  I spotted a big green sign for Shore Points. “Are we going down the shore?” That was going to be crazy freaking cold.

  His lips pressed together in a thin line, and he took the exit before the sign. “No, let’s go get something to eat. Are you hungry?”

  My stomach rumbled, and his eyes got wide. “I could eat.” We’d been at the hospital since early this morning and other than some vending machine candy, neither of us had had anything. The heat blasted right into me, thawing out the deep freeze from the hospital waiting room and the brisk January morning.

  We pulled into a diner parking lot. It was empty. Maybe people were crashing already after their night out. I’d started nodding off once the car warmed up. Heath’s hand was clamped over my legs. He gave me a squeeze when it was time to get out.

  “Let’s get some food.” He hopped out, and I opened my door, not waiting for him to come around and do it.

  I slid my hand into his, and we walked up the steps to the diner. A woman who looked like she’d been working there for decades showed us to a booth. We slid into opposite sides with our hands still clasped on top of the table.