Picks & Pucks (22 page)

He was midstep when he looked up and saw me. The bag he was carrying tumbled down a couple of steps, and he raced up the stairs and grabbed me in a tight embrace. His heart beat hard against his ribs, and when I opened my eyes to look at him, I couldn’t stop myself.

“Oh God, it’s so good to see you,” I said.

I kissed him hard, and he groaned into my mouth, lifting me off the ground. He carried me into my room, not taking his mouth off mine.

“Are you sure?” I muttered against his lips.

“I’ve always been sure,” he said. He kicked the door shut and dumped me on the bed.

This time it wasn’t slow and easy. It was fast and dirty. CJ grabbed my shirt so hard, buttons shot around the room. His pants ended up around his ankles, and I was only able to get one leg out of my jeans before lube was dripping down my crack. We spilled the box of condoms all over the floor.

“I’m not going to make it, Justin,” he whined.

“Lay back,” I commanded.

He took a deep breath and stared at me as I stood up and shoved him back on the bed. His dick lay on his stomach, hard, red, and leaking.

“Don’t come,” I said, slipping the condom on his dick. He bit his lip and groaned as I slowly turned around, backing toward him. I tried to kick my pants off, but I didn’t want to waste time messing with my clothes.

“Justin,” CJ moaned as I climbed on his lap.

He held his cock and gripped my hip, guiding me down. Slowly he filled me until I was sitting on his lap with our balls touching. He ran his hands up and down my back, waiting patiently for me to adjust.

“Not going to last. You feel so good,” he panted when I rose up and bounced back down. I grabbed my cock and pumped. This wasn’t going to be a drawn-out lovemaking session. We both wanted to get off.

“Close,” I panted. The moment I said it, his fingers dug into my hips and he lifted me off him. One second I was riding him, the next second he flipped me on my back like a choreographed dance move, driving hard into me. The headboard pounded against the wall, shaking the demons who were watching us.

“C’mon, Justin,” he grunted.

“Yeah, right there,” I said. He moved faster, until he let out a strangled grunt. He stayed in me but sat up and watched as I stroked my dick harder, twisting my wrist until I released all over my hand.

He brushed a sweaty strand of hair off my face before planting a kiss firmly on my lips.

“Holy hell,” CJ whispered. He quickly cleaned up and collapsed on the bed, spread eagle. I rolled to my side, leaning on my elbow, and stared at the guy in my bed. The demons watched carefully, inching forward to hear if I was going to say anything meaningful. But all that came out of my mouth was a satisfied sigh when he wrapped his arms around me and pulled the blankets over us.

Everything about the night had been good—the sex, the guy, and the sleep. When I woke in the morning with him next to me, snoring softly, my heart pounded in my chest and the butterflies swarmed in my stomach. I tried to stamp the feelings down, make them go away, but that only made them worse. I hardly knew CJ, but I felt like I was falling head over heels in love with him.

Several demons chuckled, so I flipped them off.

“Mmmm, morning,” CJ said, running his hands over my chest. My body automatically responded to his touch, and if I didn’t shut him down, we’d be having sex again.

“Don’t get any ideas,” I said. “I have to get to the rink. Paris is right around the corner.”

“Tease,” he said.

“I’m not doing anything,” I said.

“You’re here.”

His dick poked me in the back, giving me no choice but to crawl out of bed. “You’re a maniac,” I said.

“You did this to me,” he said. He kicked the blankets off and spread his legs, grasping his cock. His mouth fell open as he stroked, and I heard him whisper my name.

“Stop it,” I said weakly.

“You seem to have the same problem,” he grunted, pointing at my obviously very interested dick. He continued to stroke himself, moaning until I snapped and attacked him.

I was late for practice and had to listen to Marina list the virtues of not wasting her valuable time.

“And no more visible love bites,” she said, smirking.

I immediately placed my hand on my neck and tried to cover the evidence. I was going to kill CJ.

“If you need advice on strategic places to hide them, just ask,” she said.

I skated away from her, red-faced and very embarrassed. I spent the next couple of hours listening to snarky comments about my sex life while we polished the two new programs.

“That was a very good practice,” Marina said. She handed me a towel to dry my face. “You definitely have an added spring in your step. Your hockey boy is a good thing.”

“My… what? There is no…,” I stammered. “You be quiet.”

“You need a nice boy to settle you down. I know the last few have not been good for you or your skating,” she said. “But this one makes you soar. I can see the joy in your face.”

“Why are we talking about this?” I asked. The demons floated by, laughing at my discomfort.

“Because, sometimes, I like to see you squirm,” she said, smiling. “Sometimes, I need reminding that you are human, because when you are on the ice, you do not seem real.”

I scowled at her and put my skate guards on my blades, then scurried down the tunnel before she could embarrass me any more.

“You have a costume fitting,” Marina reminded me. “Janae should be here with them shortly.”

I waved so she knew I heard her before I ducked into the locker room.

“Hi,” CJ said, startling me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you,” he said. “I finished my workout and thought I’d come say hi before I hit the ice. The program looks great.”

“You were watching?”

“I watch you a lot,” he said. His eyes were fixed on me, making me shift uncomfortably. My dick was waking up again, and I didn’t need to deal with that problem.

“CJ, you should be more discreet. People are going to figure out that we… er, we’re… you know.”

“We’re what, Justin?”

He stepped closer to me, crowding into my personal space. I backed up until I bumped into a bench and sat down. He towered over me.

“What do I mean to you?” he asked.

I was saved from answering him when Eli burst into the room. “Costume time,” he said. “Oh, was I interrupting something?”

“No,” I said immediately. “CJ was just leaving. He has practice.”

“We will finish this conversation,” he whispered. He pressed his lips against mine, slipping his tongue into my mouth before I could stop him.

Eli cleared his throat and tried to whistle.

“Later,” CJ said. “Take pictures of the costumes.”

Eli nodded, and we both stared as CJ left the room.

“Holy shit,” Eli said. “That was fucking hot. The boy knows how to make an exit.”

“Fuck,” I said, hiding my face in my hands. “This is crazy.”

Eli sat down next to me and fanned my face with his hands.

“Show me the costumes,” I said.

Someone knocked on the door. “If that’s CJ again….”

“Are you decent?” Janae asked.

“He’s never decent,” Eli called out.

I swear I could hear Janae rolling her eyes. “I’m coming in,” she said, pushing the door open. “You’re not even changed.”

“CJ,” Eli said without even looking at her.

“Oh, say no more.” She chuckled, and my face went bright red again. Eli handed her costume number one, and she tossed it in my face. “Go change.”

I grumbled and told them both to keep their noses out of my business. They laughed and started talking about CJ’s body. I tuned them out, quickly changing into the colors of Gryffindor.

The outfit was wonderful. Eli patted my ass and whispered that CJ was going to adore the pants. I shook my head and fiddled with my tie, while he scooted behind and snapped some pictures.

The costumes were given the stamp of approval from Marina. Now it was my turn to try them on the ice. If they were uncomfortable in any way, we needed to fix the problem before we debuted the programs.

This was the only time I was allowed to make the decision without Marina or anyone else breathing down my neck. I would be in full costume without anyone else in the arena.

One of my favorite things in the world was standing at the edge of a newly surfaced sheet of ice just waiting for me to put my blade on it, to cut designs into the pristine surface. The quiet scraping of my blades cutting into the ice and the sound of my breathing was all I could hear. I came to a stop, tucked the tie into the grey sweater, and turned on the music of
Harry Potter
.

The costume worked well. No binding or fabric riding up to expose skin. It was good, and I left the ice to change into the
Braveheart
costume. As I wandered down the hall, that eerie feeling of eyes on me slithered across my skin. I looked around, but saw no one. I figured it must be my demons messing with my head.

The music for my long program was powerful, and somewhere in the middle of the program, I forgot my purpose for skating. When the notes died away, I bent at the waist to catch my breath. Everything was perfect, falling into place like it was meant to be, just as Janae had said. The demons wiggled, reminding me to be on my guard. Things had a way of falling apart when I wasn’t paying attention.

Janae and Marina were pleased when I reported everything stayed where it was supposed to with the costumes.

“I must confess,” Marina said. “I peeked when you were skating to
Braveheart.
It is a wonderful program. You are going to blow everyone away when you debut it.”

“You aren’t supposed to be watching,” I scolded. The words held no bite, and she smiled.

“Your mama would be proud of you,” she said quietly.

A warm breeze whispered against my cheek, and I knew she was there. The demons huddled in a corner, frowning at the obvious joy on my face.

“Back to work,” Marina said.

I whined for a few minutes, but I knew she was right. Paris was around the corner, and Marina seemed to be toying with the idea of debuting the short program in Paris instead of waiting until the Grand Prix final. I tried to tell her it wasn’t quite ready and there wasn’t any guarantee I would make the final. She rolled her eyes but said nothing. We never talked placement at a competition. I’d inherited my dad’s superstitious nature when it came to competing.

He once told me that he wore the same pair of socks through a playoff run. He wouldn’t even let my mother rinse them out, telling her she would be washing away the good luck. My mother had freaked and made him keep them in the car. His team ended up winning the Frozen Four that year. I wasn’t sure what happened to the socks. I hoped he wasn’t still wearing them during playoffs.

A lot of hockey players I knew were superstitious. Danny wouldn’t let anyone touch his hockey stick until it was properly taped and ready for action. Even then, he preferred no one come in contact with the stick.

My weirdness had been to change the laces in my skates when my team lost a game. It transferred to skating. If I had a bad practice or rotten program, I changed the laces. Once I freaked Marina out by using neon pink laces. She refused to let me skate until I changed back to black ones. I stuck my tongue out at her and nailed three quads in a row. She let me practice with the pink laces, but drew the line at competition, saying they would be too distracting for the judges.

Other things distracted me over the next three weeks. The team played at home for the next two weekends, so CJ and I were able to spend time together. The only disturbing thing was the feeling I was being followed.

“Are you coming to the games this weekend?” CJ asked.

“I’m becoming a die-hard hockey fan.” I said. “You can’t blow me off now.” He smiled, fanning the tickets out in front of my face.

“You’re my only fan,” he said.

“No, I’m not,” I insisted.

“I’m a fan,” Eli shouted from the other room.

“I wouldn’t mind if you were my only fan,” he whispered against my ear.

“Hey,” Eli yelled. “I’m hungry. Quit messing around. Don’t make me come in there and separate you two.”

“He’s right. I need to get dinner made. You have to be back on the ice at seven.”

I leaned against him, stealing his warmth. He hugged me tightly.

“I could get used to this,” I whispered against his chest.

We somehow managed to have dinner every night. CJ cooked most of the time, but Janae and Eli got in a few nights. Everyone laughed when I made pancakes from a box, but no one seemed to mind. I never claimed to be a fancy cook.

Sleeping was a joy, along with a few entertaining nights, but most of the time I was on the ice, working my ass off to get the short program ready for Paris. I still thought Marina was insane, but she was the coach and seemed to believe we were ready to freak the shit out of the skating world.

I came off the ice frowning, with nerves blossoming in my stomach. Practice had been tough, and I was questioning debuting the program. Marina told me it was going to be just fine. I rushed down the tunnel to change out of my costume and get home to CJ. I suddenly stopped when I heard shouting coming from the hockey locker room.

“You need to tell Coach,” Spock shouted.

“No, I can handle it,” CJ said.

I moved closer to the door so I could hear them better.

“CJ, you could get hurt.”

“It won’t come to that. Just forget about it,” CJ snapped.

I backed into my locker room, wondering what the hell was going on with CJ. Maybe it was time to have a talk about his past.

“Hello, skater boy,” Eli said as he strolled through the door.

“Hi, Eli,” I said.

“I’m so fucking freaked about Paris. How much of my jewelry am I going to have to take off to get through customs?”

“What are you talking about?” I said.

“Paris.”

“You aren’t coming to Paris,” I said.

“What do you mean, I can’t go to Paris?” Eli said, his face falling.

“I’m sorry, but you have finals coming up, and I need you at Nationals,” I said.

He snorted and frowned, looking like I had crushed all of his dreams with my words. Eli was so upset I forgot about the argument I’d overheard between Spock and CJ.