Twisted Collide: The new sports romance in the Redville Saints series
Twisted Collide: Chapter 36

What a fucking day.

Being near her was torture. Watching her cry was fucking awful.

The only good part of the day is having Molly back.

Which is the only reason I said yes to Hudson’s invite to go to the bar. Molly and the rest of the team are here. The only problem is, it’s not just them.

Hellfire is here too.

So what am I doing? Drinking alone at the opposite side of the bar.

I’m not much better than my father, am I?

“Are you ever planning on coming over and saying hi, big brother?” I turn over my shoulder to see Molly right behind me.

I arch a brow, and she furrows hers. “I don’t think so.”

“You can’t always be this antisocial, Dane.”

“Sorry, do we know each other?”

Molly’s lip twitches, then she shakes her head at me. “I’m going to go hang out with everyone. When you get your head out of your ass, join me.” She stalks off in the direction of the rest of the team, and I lift my drink and take another swig.

To my surprise, no one else comes over to coax me to join them, which is fine by me. I’m more than happy doing my own thing.

Once my glass is empty, I stand from the barstool, and one thing hits me right away. I’m pretty drunk. Not shit-faced, but definitely feeling good.

The good news is I don’t have a game tomorrow.

The bad news is, I do have one later this week, and being drunk even a few days before can fuck up my game.

The depressing news is that I couldn’t muster two shits to save my life. And therein lies the problem.

I look toward where she sits with Hudson and the other guys on the team.

Come out, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.

Bullshit. Not being able to touch her isn’t fun. Instead, I’m just pissed.

Needing a moment to myself, I move toward the back door of this place. I don’t want to talk to any of them, and I certainly don’t want to see her having the time of her life, so instead, I choose to head out the door.

Once outside, the brisk October air hits me in the face.

It does help sober me up. Maybe it was the haze of the bar and the company that had me feeling so fucked up, but now in the darkness of the night with the wind blowing in my face, I’m no longer feeling like a weight has been dropped on my chest.

Eventually, I’ll have to go back into the bar and settle up with Hudson. I don’t need him buying my drinks, but I need some distance right now to get my head on straight.

I walk a few more steps until I see the small park adjacent to the bar. Since I have no desire to socialize, this is perfect. It’s empty. No lights, no people, just calm.

I take a seat and close my eyes, inhaling slowly and then exhaling. What is it about her that has me tied up in knots?

It’s her presence.

I want her near me, and when I can’t have her, it feels like I’m drowning.

This is why Coach should never have offered her to me as an assistant. Now that I’ve tasted what life would be like with her in my presence, I don’t know how I’ll go back.

I take another deep breath, and when I exhale, I hear a sound beside me.

“Why are you out here all alone?” The voice I dream about says from behind me. I turn over my shoulder and peer up at her.

“The better question is, why are you out here? Shouldn’t you be inside, laughing at Hudson’s jokes?”

There’s no hiding the jealous tone in my voice. If she hears it, she’s gracious enough not to make any indication. Instead, she gives me a small smile. “I saw you leaving, and I wanted to say . . .”

“Say what?” I cock a brow, interested to know what she came all the way out here to say.

“Thank you for today.” She bites on her upper lip, looking a bit uncomfortable.

I shake my head. “You don’t have to thank me. I’m here for you if you need me. I know we’re a bit of a trainwreck—”

She arches her brow. I smirk. “Okay, a whole lot of a trainwreck. But I care, you know?”

“I care about you, too.” She reaches out but stops herself before she touches me. “Want company?”

I shrug, which seems to be an open invitation for her to lower herself onto the bench beside me.

“What’s going on with you?” she asks.

I lift my hand and scrub at my face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re extra grumpy,” she clarifies.

“Wow. I’m grumpier than normal? Is that what you’re saying?”

“It is. What gives?”

I pivot in my seat to face her, which is probably a stupid idea. It’s easier to pretend it’s not about her when I’m not looking at her, but when I see her under the moonlight, I can’t deny the pull she has over me. She looks angelic, her golden hair like a halo floating around her.

I clear my throat. “Again, I’m not following. What did I do now?”

“You just look miserable. You never smile.”

I cock my head. “I smile.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah? When?”

My chest rises and falls. “Whenever you’re around and I forget myself.” The words slip out of my mouth before I can stop myself.

She bites her lip, and her eyes look bottomless, vacant, and sad. “I also make you frown.”

I tilt my chin down, a small movement but an agreement. “You do.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t have you,” I admit. I’m not sure if it’s the darkness or the alcohol, but my tongue feels looser with my secrets. Her eyes go wide, clearly shocked that I’ve told her this.

Then she reaches out her hand to touch me. I shouldn’t let her. It makes me feel too much, but now that we have, I can’t replace it in myself to push her off.

“Why can’t you have me?” Her voice is barely a rasp.

I want to laugh, but I don’t. The truth is too depressing. “You know why,” I grit out, my mouth dry like the desert.

Her features are hard, yet so soft. “My dad.”

“Among other things.”

Josephine’s eyes glide over my face, looking for answers. “Such as?” she asks.

“You deserve better.”

She gives me a small smile. “And here I think you’re perfect.”

I can’t look at her, so I turn away, focusing on a tree in the distance. The leaves slowly sway in the wind. The sound almost calming. “You don’t know me,” I mutter. “Or the things I’ve done.”

“Then let me in.”

I frown. “I want to.”

“But?”

“But . . . I can’t.” I wouldn’t want to burden her with my secrets. “I’m fucked up.”

“Pot meet kettle. If you’re fucked up, what does that make me?”

I turn to face her. “Perfect.”

Her hand reaches up and twirls a lock of hair. “I’m hardly perfect.”

“To me, you are. You’re a perfect sunshine on a dark day.”

A soft smile plays across her face. “I thought I was Hellfire.”

That makes me laugh. “You’re that too.”

“Then why can’t we?” She puffs out her chest, a deliberate move to keep me from thinking straight.

It almost works. “I already told you—”

“My father . . .” She huffs. “Who cares about him? Not me.”

“I do,” I say. I want to tell her about my relationship with him, but something tells me it wouldn’t go over well right now, and to be honest, I’m so goddamn tired of pushing her away. I don’t want to now.

She leans into me. “He doesn’t have to know . . .”

I’m not sure if I’m just not in the right state of mind. Maybe it’s the booze, or perhaps it’s just her . . . maybe she’s cast a spell on me, but I can’t object.

I don’t want to.

I’m not ready to let her go, so I won’t.

Under the moonlight, she looks ethereal. A goddess sent down from heaven to tempt me, and fuck it, I’ll let her.

I cross the small amount of space that separates us until our lips are only an inch apart.

She exhales, and I inhale her. I lift my hand and run the pad of my thumb against her jaw until I lift her gaze to meet mine. All I see is want.

She licks her lips, and my eyes drop to watch. Her lips are full and plump, waiting to be kissed.

I cup her face and decide to give us both what we want.

At first, when our mouths touch, it’s slow and soft, but then I deepen it. I kiss her faster, harder, and rougher.

I need her to know how desperate I am for her. To be inside her again.

I know our time together is fleeting. No way can this last, so it makes me want to enjoy every second I have with her.

She pulls away from me, and our gazes meet. “I want you.” Her words tickle my lips.

“I want you, too.”

Her hand drops to my pants, and the sound of my zipper lowering echoes through the air.

I look around, making sure we are still alone, and when we are, I lift my hips, allowing her to free me from the confines of my pants.

In the distance, I can hear a car honk. I know this is risky, and we shouldn’t do this here. But once her hand wraps around my shaft, all objections die on my tongue.

All logic is gone.

My need for her outweighs everything. “Get on top of me.”

She moves to stand and slowly kicks off her panties. Then, with her skirt as our only coverage, she straddles my lap. Leaning forward, I trail my lips down her neck and across her collarbone.

I lift one of her breasts out of her top and suck her nipple into my mouth. She squirms against me.

“More.”

I pull back on a pop. “You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Rub me against your pussy. Get me nice and wet.”

She lifts, and I feel her damp skin against the sensitive crown as her essence coats me. “Put me inside you. Fuck my cock, Hellfire.”

She moves an inch, and her walls give way as I enter her. She’s too fucking tight. I bite my lip to stop the moan from escaping as I slowly fill her.

I lift my hips until she’s all the way seated on me.

“Pull your skirt back. I want to see you taking my cock.”

She moves her hands, pulling the material back, and when she does, my dick jerks at the sight in front of me.

Her pussy tight around me.

She rocks backward, and it feels so good, but it’s not enough.

Placing my hands on her hips, I lift her almost off me, my cock dragging through her wet skin, and then I pull her down, thrusting all the way back inside.

The view is fantastic.

Watching my dick covered in her juices has me working my hands faster. As I pull her off, I groan in satisfaction, and when I thrust back in, she does.

“Fuck, you feel good,” I say, observing as my cock sinks back inside her.

I could watch us all day.

She tightens around me, and her breathing gets choppy. She’s almost there.

“Touch yourself,” I groan. “Make yourself come on my cock.”

She follows my orders to perfection, reaching out and rubbing at her clit.

I watch as she works. Rubbing furiously.

A tingling feeling spreads across my body as her walls grip me.

“Just like that, Hellfire.” Her fingers move faster, and then her whole body spasms around me. I thrust up once more and follow her over the edge, my dick jerking inside her as I coat her walls with my come.

As soon as I return from my high, reality settles in. I just fucked Josephine in a park where anyone could see.

Fuck.

I lift her up, and as my dick falls out of her, my come follows.

Fuck, why does she look so hot with my come inside her?

I can’t be thinking this right now.

We could have gotten caught, and we’re lucky we didn’t.

She moves to standing and straightens her skirt.

“Now what?” she asks.

“We leave.”

“Together?” Her voice sounds soft and unsure.

“As much as I want to parade you around looking thoroughly fucked, knowing you smell like me, I don’t think either of us is ready for the consequences.”

“But . . .”

I take a deep breath. “I don’t want to, but I think we need to.”

“So that’s it?” I can hear the disappointment in her voice.

I stand, tucking my dick back into my pants, and step up to where she is. I tilt her head up. She looks so lost, and I hate it. What I would do to make her smile. To be the person who makes her feel alive. How does that even look? She makes me feel alive, but can I be that for someone else?

I don’t deserve her.

My whole life is a lie, and if she gets involved with me—guilt churns in my belly.

I should let her go.

Tell her that this is done. She deserves better than to be my dirty little secret. Because that’s all she can be.

If her father replaces out, my whole hockey career would be at risk.

Would that be the worst thing?

Yes. You love hockey. I don’t have to play professionally.

Molly.

You play for Molly.

She needs this job.

I keep trying to get her to do something else, but she refuses, so until she replaces something that she’s passionate about, I can’t take this away from her. This means there’s no future for me and Josephine, not while I play for her father.

“For now.”

“And that’s a bullshit answer.” The lost girl from moments ago is gone, replaced with one filled with resolve.

I lift my hand and run it through my hair, pulling at the roots. “I don’t have an answer for you right now. I want you, but—”

“No buts. You want me. And I want you. We are both adults. We’ll just be careful.” She walks away and turns to look over her shoulder at me. “Starting right now.”

Then she’s gone.

Leaving me wondering what just happened.

I’m pretty sure by not objecting, I just agreed to have a secret romance with the coach’s daughter.