Need Your Number: Tampa Thunder Series
Need Your Number: Chapter 25

This kiss says more than I think words could. We finally separate.

“Fiona,” Zane says.

“I know, Z. I have heard you whispering it since before Christmas,” I say.

He pulls me into another kiss. “You knew?” he asks.

“Yes, I just wanted to tell you in a special way, because this meant a lot to me. I wasn’t sure I would ever feel this way,” I whisper into his chest.

“I love you, Fiona Campbell,” he says. I just smile and keep holding him.

“Let’s go home, sunshine.” He grabs my hand and we head home.

When we get home, I head to the bathroom to change. When I come out, Zane comes over and leans on the door frame

“Come here, baby girl. Let me show you how much I love you,” he says.

I step up to him and he slightly cages me into the doorframe with one arm on the top and the other grabbing my chin and tilting it to him. My heart is pounding, and I have an ache between my legs. Zane leans in, kissing me, sliding his muscular thigh between my legs. While we kiss, I start to rub myself on his leg, trying to relieve the ache I have.

“Are you going to get yourself on my leg, Fi?” he murmurs against my lips.

“If you don’t do something about it soon,” I murmur back with a smirk.

He picks me up and tosses me on the bed.

“Get rid of those clothes,” he says as he strips down. Once we are both naked, he looks at me with the most loving eyes before he pulling me to the edge of the bed and kneeling.

“So sweet and pretty. I love this pussy,” he murmurs with his mouth on my clit.

He starts delicately, with just his tongue swirling and sucking on me, before he adds two fingers. It feels so good. My breathing is coming in shallow now. I grab his head and wrap my fingers in his hair. I can feel myself about to reach climax.

“Go ahead, baby girl” he whispers, and I let go.

Climbing on top of me, he lowers himself slowly, taking his time sliding into me. He grabs the headboard and begins to thrust deeper and deeper into me, the movements slow and controlled, like he wants to savor every moment. He starts to speed up and we are both on the edge. As we both orgasm, I feel the tingles so deep in me my body shakes, and I clench tight around him.

“I love you, Fiona,” he moans mid-climax and my eyes start to well with tears.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” he says, worried.

“Yeah I am fine, just overwhelmed with emotions. I love you too, so much,” I whisper.

“Aww, sunshine, it’s okay,” he murmurs, dropping a kiss on my temple. We both clean up and then we snuggle and talk as we drift off to sleep. Things feel perfect right now. I am so happy.

Sunday is our usual routine of breakfast and movies. Zane has no studying to do so we end up deciding to going out on a date for dinner. I put on a form fitting blue dress and wear my hair straight down with a pair of wedges.

“Wow, you look amazing Fi!” he whistles out.

“You clean up pretty good yourself,” I say, winking.

He does look great in his khakis and sage green button up with the sleeves rolled. It might be January, but it’s Florida and the weather is pretty nice. I grab a white cardigan, just to be safe, though.

We go to a cute steakhouse for dinner in downtown and hit up one of the local speakeasy bars for drinks. We never go out because of our schedules, so this is a fun change for us! I get some cute pics of us, because what kind of social media guru would I be without my own personal social media profiles looking updated?

While I am updating my Instagram, I scroll past a post from a GU hockey player. He posted a pic of him, Justin, and another guy. The caption says, Looking forward to making it to the championships. #floridaherewecome

My stomach drops. “Where are the championships hosted this year, Z?” I ask, obviously upset.

“At the Tampa Thunder arena. Remember everyone was talking about a huge weeklong party at Slapshots? Are you okay?” he says, concerned.

“I must have been half listening. I remember the party, but I didn’t realize that the game is here,” I tell him. “Justin’s teammate is posting about their return to Florida. I just haven’t seen him since the parking lot and I am a little worried he might try something. But I know I am being ridiculous.”

He pulls me into a hug. “You will be okay, but you are valid in being worried. We will all keep an eye on you, babe. If you don’t want to sit on the glass at the championship game if we end up making it, I understand,” he reassures me.

I kiss him. “Thank you, babe, but I will of course be on the glass. I won’t miss your championship game. I believe you guys will make it! I am sorry for ruining our date, I just scrolled past when I made a post about us,” I utter to him.

“You ruined nothing. I will never be mad at you. Emotional abuse like Justin did isn’t something you just get over, honey. I will be here every step towards healing that you take. Now let’s get some ice cream on our way home,” he declares.

Zane makes me completely forget my worries; he is like magic when it comes to that. He is the definition of if he wanted to, he would. He is always there for me and supporting me, never letting me get the best of myself. This is the kind of man that all those songs, books and movies are about.

I have my interview with the Thunder soon. I am waiting on my email with the date. But I am starting to wonder what I am going to do if he gets drafted somewhere else. After Justin, I always said I will not choose a man over my career. That was before Zane, before the love of my life, who I can’t imagine not being around. I have a lot to consider. If he can get another Florida team, or even a Georgia team, we can make long distance work. If not, I will need to consider if I want to interview with other teams and colleges wherever he gets placed. I am too happy right now in my life to stress. I am going to crush the interview and then after the draft we will address where we go from here.

Zane pulling up to the ice cream shop snaps me out of my thoughts. When we walk in, I just grab his hand and smile. I won’t let Justin or careers ruin this. We love each other and I have to believe that will be enough.

My positive thoughts are killed when behind us walks in Zane’s ex, Holly. I see her first but I don’t say anything. He hasn’t seen her but he does pull me in front of him, resting his chin on my head and wrapping his arms around.

“So what do you want, sunshine?” he says.

“I am going to get the butter cookie,” I say, praying we can get through this ice cream trip without incident.

Holly scoffs behind us, and when we look over, she rolls her eyes.

“No need to cling to him, honey. I am not after your man. Enjoy my sloppy seconds! He will leave you soon enough. Then he will crawl back to me when he realizes your innocent act isn’t as fun in the bedroom. You will never be able to handle him and pleasure him like I can. He likes it rough, not missionary,” she giggles, and turns to her friends.

“Fuck off, Holly, I would never go back to someone who sleeps with the entire athletic department,” Zane says.

“Fuck you, Zane, I got tested and it’s not like you fuck raw anyways, so get over yourself. You are only going to last so long being vanilla with your basic bitch,” she says.

I place my hand on Zane’s chest to tell him I got this. “Well, Holly, I might be innocent, but in the bedroom, it’s different. I don’t think Zane is thinking of you while I wear his hand like a necklace, and he fucks me raw, yelling that he loves me as he cums. Since we live together, he has bent me over every surface and fucked me without a condom over and over, going to sleep telling me how much he loves me each night. He claims me out in public. So just stop. You lost him, and he won’t be coming back. He is plenty satisfied,” I declare, before turning back around.

I order my ice cream while the employee stares at me with his mouth wide open. I clear my throat, and he apologizes and starts making my order.

Zane kisses me. “I love you even more now, Fi. That was hot as fuck. Get your order so we can go home” he says.

Getting my ice cream, we head to the Jeep.

“I am so sorry, I do not know where that even came from. I just am at my wit’s end with ex’s messing with our date night!” I tell him.

“Babe, I loved seeing her get told off; nothing is ruined. Let’s head home and watch a movie. We both have early days tomorrow,” he says, kissing me before closing my door.

Waking up Monday, I groan, not wanting to head to work. Zane starts his new semester today, so he doesn’t want to get up either.

“I will make Shepherd’s pie for dinner if you get up. You have class before dryland, babe, get up! It’s your last regular season game as well. BIG WEEK! Let’s go!” I tell him, wanting to be sure he is up before I walk out the door.

“I am up Fi, don’t be late for your meeting with Marissa and Coach,” he groans, still in bed.

“Fine. I am leaving! Bye, I love you!” I yell out, walking out the door.

I head straight to the meeting room when I get to the rink.

“Good morning,” I say.

“Good morning, Fiona,” Marissa says.

“Morning,” Coach echoes. “We just wanted to inform you that your interview with the Tampa Thunder is Friday morning. We will go with you for the first part before we head out to the airport for the final regular season game.”

“Oh, wow, so soon. Ok! I will be ready,” I say, excited.

“Moving on to playoff season plans… we have two weeks off, then our first game is at home. Let’s be sure to get fans ready and hyped up. Are you planning on traveling with the team for the other away playoff games?” Coach asks.

“That is the plan,” I say.

“Ok. I will plan to put you and Miller in the same room since you live together, and you will sneak into each other’s rooms if I don’t,” he says, stoic.

I chuckle lightly. “Sounds good, Coach. I won’t let you down with the fans, and I won’t distract Zane. I know room sharing and girls before games is usually a no-go,” I say.

“I think you not being there with him will distract him more. That boy is head over heels for you,” he says, a smile cracking his face.

We finish the meeting after a quick review of the playoff ticket sales so far.

Friday morning comes so fast. The entire week flies by with Zane getting into the groove of his new classes and my playoff prep for all the socials. I feel like I have been glued to my laptop and iPad even when I am home, trying to make sure I curated the perfect algorithm-friendly posts. I haven’t had time to prep with interview questions, but I feel confident.

While I get dressed, Zane heads out to the stadium, wishing me luck. Fortunately, the interview is at our rink, thanks to Coach, so I can breathe a little easier and feel comfortable in my own space. I end up wearing my hair half-up, half-down in loose curls, with some light makeup accentuating my eyes. I pick a navy blue pantsuit and white shirt with black heels, embracing the colors of the Tampa Thunder.

Arriving at the rink, I head to my office to drop off my stuff, and almost cry when I walk inside. There are two vases of flowers from Zane. There is also a pile of Airheads, a hand-drawn four-leaf clover, and to top it off, he dropped off a coffee. I look down and see him and Luke shooting pucks on the ice. I send him a quick thank you text, telling him I love him. Then I head downstairs to one of the most important interviews of my life.

The Thunder’s head coach and team press director are so nice. They waste no time going over my profile for the team. Marissa brought the analytics from last season compared to this season. Coach discusses my professionalism with the team, and how I take the time to really get to know the players so I can adequately show them in content. He is even quick to note my relationship with Zane never affected my work with other players, and I never showed favoritism. I was thankful for that, because I know it could have been a concern.

An hour later I feel really good about how it went. They said I will hear back in four to six weeks because they have a few interviews left. Marissa says they want to watch how I handle the playoff content. That makes sense to me, but they could have waited to interview me until then so I wasn’t stressed waiting. But I don’t make the rules.

I head to the airport with Zane so I can get a little extra time with him. I tell him all about the interview and he listens to every detail intently. When we get there, he picks me up and kisses me passionately.

“I am so incredibly proud of you, sunshine! You deserve everything coming to you! I can’t wait to stand behind you, cheering you on,” he murmurs into my lips.

I tell him I love him and to kick ass, because I will be watching! Another kiss, then he is boarding the plane.

How crazy is it that my future professional hockey player boyfriend is telling me he can’t wait to stand by my side cheering me on? I should be saying that to him. He is the one that will be playing sports professionally. But I don’t miss the importance of his support. A lot of women don’t get support like Zane gives me.

Time to head home and stay busy until my man comes back.