Hat Trick (D.C. Stars, #4)

by Chelsea Curto

For the ones who fight even when they want to give up. I’m rooting for you. (And for the readers who love a hockey player that wears slutty glasses… Riley is for you)

Craig Cunningham, a former member of the Boston Bruins and the Tucson Roadrunners, an AHL team in Arizona.

If the man next to me doesn’t get his goddamn hands away from my ass, I’m going to break his fingers.

Yasss lexiii

What’s next? Is someone going to ask for my screen name rather than my phone number?

I have bad news lexi lol

I need to get laid, but I’m not that desperate.

Thank god lol i was about to say

I wish I had the balls of a mediocre white man who thinks he’s hot shit. I’d be unstoppable.

“That’s a cute crown he’s wearing.” “Isn’t it? I’m going to make him keep it on when we get home later.” “Thatta girl.” I pat her thigh.

I’m not supposed to have a favorite player on the team—and I love all the guys I work with—but Riley takes the top spot.

“I’m a good boy, Lex,” he tosses back. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

She’s attractive. Out of this world sexy with her long, toned legs and sly grin. I’m pretty sure I’ve had heart eyes for her since the minute we met, but I’ve never tried to cross that line.

I’m twenty-six. She’s thirty-two.

The life of every party and vivacious as hell with witty comebacks and a laugh that would bring any man to his knees. And if it were me down there, I’d wear a collar and crawl if she asked me to.

“I don’t have a death wish, but you might because the one who’s not giving you any attention? That’s my wife, and I don’t like when people touch what isn’t theirs. Any other questions?”

“I do something bad, then he punishes me.” Christ.

“Did you tell him about the dream you had? The one with me, him, Hud⁠—” “You’re cut off, Miller.” Emmy puts a hand over his mouth. Her red cheeks match her hair. “One more word and you’re on the couch tonight.”

I’m pathetic.

The world stops spinning when I burst outside. I tilt sideways, close to falling over, and I brace myself on a light post. Riley. Not going to make it. This can’t be happening. He’s too young. Too talented. Too much of a nice fucking guy. I just saw him. I laughed with him. I made him smile.

“He’s not… let him be okay. Please let him be okay. I’ll help him get better. Just… let him be okay.”

“I’m going to get him skating again,” I whisper to Piper and Emmy. “Lex, I don’t⁠—” “Hockey is his whole life.” I stare at the doors leading to the patient rooms. “I’ll work with him. We’ll do it together.”

I’ve always been a determined bitch. Once I put my mind to something, I don’t stop until it happens, and I’ll be damned if Riley goes down without a fight.

The team and the league mandated therapy sessions for me when I got out of the hospital, but I’m not ready to be psychoanalyzed when I’m still so mad at the universe.

I paint to decompress and read romance books, for fuck’s sake. But here I am, thinking about things I want to break and the things I want to yell at the people who piss me off. Spoiler alert: it’s every-fucking-body.”

I’m not asking you to give me a mile, Riley. I’m not even asking for a foot.” “I hope not. I only have one now, and it would be pretty fucking rude of you to take that from me.”

They don’t try to get me to come out, but I know they’re there. And it makes me cry into my pillow.

“Kids.” I snort. “That implies someone is going to want to fall in love with this.”

“I’m a mangled and messed up piece of a human.”

“I don’t think anything is going to be easy for me again.”

I might be smiling sweetly on the outside, but inside, I’m hoping he chokes on his breakfast.

“She wasn’t finished speaking,” Riley says, deathly low. The look in his eye is murderous. A shiver races up my spine when he curls his fingers into a fist. My cheeks turn bright red when he stares at my boss and tilts his head to the side. “And her name is Lexi. L-e-x-i. That’s not difficult, is it? Treat her with respect and get it right, or I’m leaving.”

I think I need to get my head checked, because that outburst was the hottest display of emotion I’ve ever seen in my goddamn life.

LMAO

The romance books I read are right: having a guy turn a little unhinged and defend your honor is sexy as hell.

“Funny. I don’t see you walking around with a missing fucking leg. Until you do, I’m the one making decisions about who works with me. The only way I’ll agree to this is if Lexi is the one in charge. It’s her plan. It’s her job, and she outranks everyone on your team. Do I make myself clear?”

“I’m a woman in a male-dominated space. I’m the only female head athletic trainer in the league, and I’m the first to hold the title. Even if I don’t believe I can do it, I say I can. So, no. I haven’t always been this confident, but I’m getting there.”

“I hate living like this, so I want to be able to handle it. But I’m not sure I’m going to be able to.”

“Of course you are, Mitchy. You have me in your corner,”

“If there’s one thing I love to do, it’s prove everyone who’s ever doubted me wrong. That’s w...

“Yup. Tough love, Mitchy. Do you want me to kiss your ass?” I blush and dip my chin. There are a lot of things I’d like Lexi to do to me—with me and for me too—and none of them are appropriate for the workplace.

Women in the past have used all sorts of phrases to describe me: cute. Sexy, but in a nerdy way. Hot as hell when I slide a blindfold over their eyes. The man of their dreams when I kiss their wrists, untying them from the ropes I like to use to keep them still while I eat them out.

You can do it. For her, I’m going to try my damn best.

“At least buy me dinner first, Lex.” “Oh, Mitchy.” She grins. “Don’t tell the others, but you’re my favorite.”

Come April when the boys are making a playoff push, I’ll be watching from the tunnel. Alone. A forgotten has-been.

Instead, he’s wrapping his arms around me. He’s hugging me so tight, my feet come off the ground. “Fuck,” I mumble.

“Jesus Christ, man. I’ve been so fucking worried about you,” he says.

“Don’t go dark. You can do that shit with the media and people who don’t know you, but don’t do it around us, okay?”

“You are. Which is fine, Riley, but we’re your brothers. We want to see the messy and fucked-up parts of your life, okay? After my mom passed, I was broken. The guys on the team were the only thing that saved me. And I’m not saying you need to be saved. Just… let us be waiting with a life jacket if it starts to feel like you’re drowning, okay?”

“You are important.”

Plus, Lexi is smiling at me. She’s looking at me with wide, hopeful eyes, and that damn crush of mine wins out because I like seeing her happy.

Ethan spots me. “Mitchy,” he calls out, jumping to his feet. “I have an awkward question for you.” “No, I will not get a dick piercing to match yours,” I answer, and Grant snickers. “Not my style.”

ETHAN IS THE ONE WITH THE PIERCED DICKKKK

“Don’t talk about her ass. And don’t include her in any of your jokes,”

“I’m leaving. Congrats on the loss,” I say. “Glad to know you all suck without me.” “Wow. Way to kick us when we’re down, Ri.”