Page 21 of The Enforcer

Chapter Nine

Joaquin

Iwas thankful for this road trip. More thankful than I should have been. Kenna wanted me. That much was obvious. And whether I wanted to admit it or not, the fact remained that I wanted her, just as badly, if not more so. I knew that simply because I fucked her in her bedroom, I left hickeys on her skin. It was like a part of me didn't give a shit about being caught. It was almost like I wanted to be caught so we wouldn't have to sneak around any longer.

Which was absolute crap.

I might have been an enforcer for a professional hockey team, but I was still fucking scared of Matt if he ever found out I was fucking his daughter.

Fuck.

I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Kenna. I couldn't. I had to come down the stairs and hang out with Matt. Kenna had stayed upstairs and it would have been weird if I went out of my way to say goodbye. I didn't think either of us had the ability to stop the look that would have passed between us. It would have been too familiar, and Matt would have realized everything.

That was the last thing I needed.

I went home and packed up. We left early the next morning. It was the end of October. It was starting to cool down in Houston, but that wasn't really saying much. The nights were warm here. There might be a chill in the mornings, but it didn't last. It was like summer was having difficulty letting go and turning over to autumn.

Our team piled onto the private jet. I saw Ryan Hart give his girlfriend a long kiss. Everyone knew he was dating his step-sister. That should have been disgusting. It should have made the two of them never want to go out in public in fear of how people would view them.

But clearly, they didn't give a shit.

It made me feel slightly better about my attraction to someone half my age, to my best friend's daughter. If Ryan and his girl could make out before a goodbye, maybe Kenna and I being together wasn't that big of a deal.

I snorted.

Maybe in the future. Right now, Matt would kick my ass without hesitation, and I wouldn't blame him in the slightest.

I took my seat and tried to sleep on the plane as we traveled west. We were going to play the California teams - the San Francisco Prisoners, the Hollywood Stars, and the Newport Beach Gulls. I loved traveling out to California because everyone was laidback and minded their business. It was refreshing. I bet it would be more acceptable out here if Kenna and I were a thing than it would have been at home.

I shook my head. I needed to stop thinking about the possibility of us being together romantically. We fucked a couple of times. That was it.

And yet, I couldn't get her out of my head.

We touched down in San Francisco a few hours later. I wanted to sleep for a few hours, but that didn't happen. I was typically able to fall asleep on planes. It wasn't that difficult for me, unlike the majority of the population, but I couldn't fall asleep , no matter how I tried.

We filed out of the plane and headed to a nearby bus the team had rented out to take us to our hotel. We got in late so we didn't have to head over to a game, which was a nice reprieve, considering I was exhausted and my head was swimming with thoughts I wasn't in the mood to tease out.

The hotel was about a mile from the rink, which was perfect, because it meant we didn't have to wake up super early to get to morning skate on time, something I appreciated because I was most definitely not a morning person.

The team had a whole block of rooms - nothing fancy, not even suites. More like a place I could sleep in, which was perfect because it was exactly what I needed.

When I got to my room, I unpacked what little I had and decided to take a shower. I needed to wipe off the stench of the plane and ease the tension out of my body that seemed to be there since I started this whole thing with Kenna. Of course, I could always stop this thing with Kenna, but the idea of doing something that drastic made me bristle.

I refused to take those measures unless I absolutely had to.

I stripped out of my suit - I understood why the management insisted that whenever we traveled, we wear suits, but it made for an uncomfortable plane ride, even if it looked professional - and left the clothes crumpled on the tile floor. I turned on the shower and waited until it was warm before stepping inside and letting the water pepper my body.

For a moment, I just let the water fall on me. I did nothing except close my eyes and let myself relax.

Up until Kenna popped into my thoughts.

Should I have texted her when we landed? I wasn't sure. It wasn't as though we discussed what our relationship was. I hadn't called her my girlfriend and she hadn't promised to date only me, even when I was away. I wouldn't be surprised if she was over it by the time I got back. I was once her age. I knew how phases worked.

And yet, even though I understood it, I wasn't terribly happy about the thought of it. I didn't want her to find anyone else, especially while I was away. I had looked at this road trip as a blessing, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was something that was going to keep up apart.

Maybe that was a good thing.

When I finished with my shower, I stepped out and dried myself off. I shouldn't have been surprised to see myself stirring, my dick already hard, just thinking about Kenna and what she did to me. I'd never had a woman affect me like this before, and it was difficult for me to control myself and my reactions.

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