Page 68 of The Power Play

“You proud of that, pretty girl?”

She nods. “Fuck yeah. It’s sexy to have you lose control for me.”

I grab her hips, flip her onto her stomach and she lets out a squeal. I smack my hand against her ass sharply before climbing off the bed. “Go to bed.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she retorts playfully.

I chuckle as I jump into my shower quickly and change my underwear. When I come back into her room, she’s asleep again, on her stomach and holding her pillow. She didn’t pull up the blanket again so her ass is exposed, and I have to bite my knuckles while convincing myself we both need sleep and I can’t fuck her right now.

With every ounce of willpower I have, I climb into the bed, covering her with my t-shirt and then the blanket. I don’t pull her against me even though I’m dying to, but I need to show her I’m fine with this. Cuddling would be too far, even though we’ve done it before. I settle into the bed and try to go to sleep.

Despite how tired I am, it takes longer than I would prefer. When I finally drift off to sleep, I could have sworn Audrey ended up scooting closer to me while draping her arm across my chest.

It’s beentwo days since I came home, and I did end up ordering a new bed. Reluctantly. I picked the longest shipping option because there’s no rush to have any reason to be kicked out of Audrey’s bed.

We have a home game tonight and my teammates and I just got off the ice from our warmup when I hear my name called off to the side before entering the locker room. When I turn, I’m met with the face of a person I never wanted to see again.

I’m frozen in place while the rest of my teammates file into the locker room. I narrow my eyes at the woman as she approaches me.

“Charlie, can we talk?” Tabitha asks and it pulls me out of my frozen state.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I snap, looking around to see who all would see us.

“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”

“And I thought you would take the hint. I can’t do this with you right now, I have to get back in there. We are about to start a game.”

“I know, I just didn’t know what else to do to get you to talk to me.”

“Maybe stop? There’s nothing to talk about, Tabitha. That ship sailed four years ago. Give up.” She flinches at my harsh tone, but I don’t care. “How did you even get back here?”

“It doesn’t matter. Look, I just have to know, are you really with that Audrey girl?”

I hate the way Audrey’s name sounds in her mouth. I can hear her distaste and it pisses me off even more.

“Don’t talk about her. You lost the right to know anything about me or what I do and with whom when you tried to play me.”

“So, you are with her?”

I roll my eyes, “Yes. Okay? Bye.”

She scoffs, “Real classy girl, Charlie. Come on, she’s not the type to stay with long term.”

I’m seething, “And how would you know? You don’t. You don’t know anything about her, and you don’t know anything about me anymore. Don’t try to contact me anymore. I have to go.”

I turn and start walking back into the locker room when she tries one last ditch effort.

“I still love you,” her voice calls.

“You should’ve thought about that before you tried to use me.”

I don’t turn around to see the look on her face, I just join my team and I’m so mad. I’m ready to get out onto the ice right now. I need the outlet.

Collee notices something is up and approaches me cautiously.

“You good?” he asks.

“Mhmm,” I mumble.

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