Page 5 of In Too Deep

“This shit won’t fly in the future. If there’s going to be a change in the team’s practice schedule, I need to be consulted before it’s made. Do you understand?”

Baby girl.The pet name I’m dying to use sits right there on the tip of my tongue. But I’m glad I hold it back as another alpha growl shakes the air from beside us. I pull back with a glare, ready to curse out whoever is interrupting this rare moment of close proximity, but I catch myself as I realize it’s Spencer.

A glance over his shoulder reveals that the rest of the team is making their way to the event, picking up beads and silly hats. But Spencer has purposefully put his broad-shouldered body between me and Tori and the crowd. Though I do notice that Oliver and Elijah are hanging back, not-so-casually leaning against some of the glass doors within earshot of this exchange. Eli has his head on a swivel, but Oli’s amber glare is leveled directly at me.

“You okay, Tor?” Spencer asks, but his attention doesn’t leave my face.

My grip on Tori’s arm was never tight enough to restrain her, so she’s able to slide her wrist free and take a step back. I study her closely, noting the bright pink flush coloring the bridge of her nose and cheeks. Her pupils are slowly shrinking, bringing back the gemstone blues of her irises.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” she says, and it makes the alpha part of me preen when I hear how breathless the words are. “Just clearing some things up. Right, Coach?”

She gives me that defiant chin lift, and I smirk.

“Yeah, just making sure we’re on the same page. But you owe me one for this,” I throw back, glad I’m able to achieve the light, teasing tone I intended.

She narrows her eyes at me, but nods all the same. Tori knows just as well as I do that the list of favors she owes me isn’t a short one. As she walks away, Spencer is at her side, his hand hovering on her lower back, just above the curve of her ass. Once the two join Ace and Joker, the four of them make their way into the party, moving together as a unit.

As I watch their retreating forms, jigsaw pieces made of memories start to fall into place. But I push the puzzle aside for the moment, forcing myself to think about tonight’s game. Tomorrow, after I get some proper sleep, I’ll set to figuring out this mystery.

Until then, I force a tense grin onto my face and head into the arena, walking toward my contractual obligation with all the enthusiasm as a condemned man marching toward the gallows.

I want to blamethe lack of sleep or the fucked-up schedule for the reason we lose our last game before the Christmas break. But I was taught that lying, even to yourself, isn’t something to be tolerated.

I’ve been watching Coach all day, ever since I stepped into what was looking to be a heated exchange between him and Tori in the lobby. I’ve never seen Logan act like that, even going back to when he was my coach at U of Michigan. He’s the level-headed one, the type of person who wouldn’t be caught dead showing that something got under his skin. But the way he looked at Tori…

I couldn’t tell if he wanted to choke her or fuck her. And that bothered the hell out of my alpha instincts. More than usual.

So I’d been watching him and Tori all day, my guard up whenever they were within shouting distance. I probably came across like an ass at the fundraiser, hardly speaking to any of thefans who came up to me. It was too easy to slip back into my media smile, the one I’d perfected in San Francisco to cope with the pressure they put me under. But the entire time, my eyes were locked on Tori, following her to keep her as safe as I could without physically being at her side.

Once we got to practice, it was easier to get back to thinking about hockey, but just barely. The brief contact I’d had with Tori was informative in ways I didn’t expect. She looks good, at least on the outside, but I could sense something’s changed, something she has been keeping close to her chest. Her skin is clearer, the slightly tanned surface practically glowing to my eyes. Her dark roots are coming in again, creating a stunning gradient down the strands until they reach the blonde tips. Her blue eyes, one just slightly darker than the other, sparkle like gemstones. She’s physically as gorgeous as she’s ever been. But her scent...

When we first met all those years ago, I remember how her sweet tea and magnolia scent nearly kicked my teeth out when I’d entered her borrowed nest to help her through her heat. My heart ached from the homesickness it drew up within me. But when we crossed paths again, her scent was more subdued. I really had to focus to find it in a crowded room, and if there were too many people, it would get lost. Beta scents are often like that, present but not overpowering. But today, I could smell her from fifty yards away without needing to think about it. And up close, it was like diving headfirst into a swimming pool of it. I had enough wherewithal to look around, to clock the reactions of my teammates, but none of them seemed to have such a visceral reaction to Tori’s omega perfume as I did. Well, none of them except Eli and Oli. But they kept their distance, trying not to draw attention to their interest in her.

I’m jolted from my thoughts as the locker room door slams open, Coach striding through it like a man on a mission. I sigh ashe scans the suddenly silent room, his glare falling on me even as he addresses everyone.

“We should have won that one. You all know that. And the only reason I’m cutting you guys any fucking slack is because of how fucked our schedule was today. Enjoy your break, but I expect all of you to come back here focused and ready to push hard toward the playoffs. There won’t be room for distractions. Am I understood?”

I hold Logan’s stare, and I notice Oli and Eli stiffen on either side of me, almost like they’re tensing to jump from their seats on my behalf. My heart skips a beat at the show of solidarity, but it’s not necessary. If Coach and I are going to get into it, we’ll do it where there aren’t so many witnesses.

Thankfully, fisticuffs don’t prove to be necessary as everyone mumbles their agreement and Logan storms off almost as fast as he came. It’s only once the door swings closed that Eli leans in.

“Why was he trying to glare a hole through your head?” he mutters, covering up the question with the ripping of Velcro.

“He thinks I’m distracted because I stepped in this morning,” I say simply, not willing to discuss this further with so many of our teammates around.

Eli pauses for a moment, as if expecting me to say more, but I just shake my head and bend down to unlace my skates. We can talk about Logan’s attitude toward Tori later, and that’s if Tori wants us to do anything about it. But knowing her, she’ll just brush it off as alphas being alphas. I can only hope that this isn’t any deeper than Logan simply being cranky about his schedule. But we’ll just have to wait and see.

Eli is practically vibrating in the front passenger seat as we make our way over to Tori’s house after the game. We’re a little later than we would normally be, as we went back to our place to gather our pre-Christmas gifts and surprises. And despite Oli’s fretting, we’ve still got plenty of time to get where we need to go and do it without being seen.

“Do you think she’s going to like this? What if she hates it?” Oli asks, not for the first time since we agreed to this plan. He’s been the one with the most concerns, which isn’t all that surprising. He doesn’t seem like the grand gesture sort of guy.

Eli reaches over and pats his partner’s shoulder a few times. “We’ve taken every precaution and thought about every contingency. She might be the most type-A person I’ve ever met, but she’s still an omega.”

And he would know the most about what omegas want. He comes from a massive polycule, with enough siblings to skate a regulation hockey team, and he was given the best education of the alpha-beta-omega dynamics. He’s reassured Oliver plenty of times that even if Tori balks at first, her instincts will secretly love this.

Oli carefully maneuvers us through the darkened streets of Tori’s neighborhood, most of the houses dark while their inhabitants sleep. But the one house with its porch light still on, and a soft glow emanating from behind the living room curtains, just so happens to be our destination. Oli pulls into the driveway, parking carefully outside the garage. We all share a last look before we open the doors and head inside.

Eli’s knuckles barely touch the wood of Tori’s front door before it’s practically ripped off its hinges with the force Tori opens it. And then she’s launching herself at Eli, her arms tight around his neck. He laughs and cradles her, not even hesitating to adjust his grip as she jumps again, wrapping her legs around his waist.

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