“I’ll wait until we get home to shower,” I tell him. It hasn’t taken me long to call his place ‘home.’
He sits down on the bench and pulls his gloves off. “But I want to fuck you in the shower,” he says.
The muscles between my legs tighten, but I ignore them. “I suspected as much,” I say, “but I’m not taking the chance that one of the coachesor cleaning staff is still hanging around and will walk in on us.”
He pulls off his shirt. “The risk of getting caught is part of the fun.”
“Another time,” I say. “My legs are already wobbly from our little free skate. I’m not sure I can handle the thrill of possibly getting caught having shower sex so soon.”
He sighs and pulls me forward by my hips so I’m standing between his legs. “Fair enough,” he says, “but you understand that if you deny me now, that’s only going to carry over to what I do to you when we get home, right?”
My stomach flips. “Carry over how?”
He shrugs. “Maybe I’ll tie your wrists to your ankles and fuck your ass tonight,” he says.
I let out a long breath. I love how dirty he is, and I won’t let myself think aboutwhyI love it so much.
“If that’s the price I pay, so be it,” I manage.
He grins at me. “Alright then. As long as you’re willing to accept the consequences, we’ll wait until we get home. Stay here, and I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“I’ll wait out in the hall,” I say. “No offense, but this locker room smells like twenty sweaty men.”
He chuckles. “Not gonna argue with you about that.”
I head for the door. I briefly consider staying long enough to finish watching him undress, but if I see Ash naked, all my resolve about shower sex will go out the window.
I slip out into the cool, less-pungent air of the hall and take a deep breath. If people only knew the reality of how those locker rooms smell.
The sound of cart wheels on vinyl flooring draws my attention. One of the custodial staff is pushing a large laundry bin down the hall, and I feel a huge sense of relief at turning down shower sex. This guy almost certainly would’ve walked in on us.
I lean against the opposite wall to give him plenty of room to get by me or to go into the locker room, but he stops in front of me.
I’m lost in thought, so it takes me a second to realize he’s just standing there. I look up, ready to apologize if I’m in his way, but the words freeze on my tongue. I know this guy from somewhere, but I blank on where. Maybe he’s one of Ash’s guys I’ve seen following me.
Then it clicks into place.
“Barry?” I ask, finally recognizing ManOfYourDreams89, the guy with whom I had my first InSync date. The one who tried to pick me up at home and who wanted to order the same thing I did.
“I didn’t know you worked here,” I say. I frown at his expression, which looks annoyed, even angry.
“Yeah, for several months now,” he says. “Not that you’d notice.”
I frown deeper. “When would I have seen you?”
He huffs a laugh. “I walked right between you and that hockey player when the two of you were having an argument in the hall one day,” he says. “He grabbed you and shoved you into the equipment room.”
I open my mouth to explain, but he cuts me off.
“I figured you’d be mad and come stalking out, but no.” He shakes his head. “For some reason, you women seem to like the big neanderthal assholes that push you around.”
I shake my own head, but he starts talking again before I can formulate an explanation.
“You all say you want a gentleman, someone who treats you right,” he says, and I can hear his anger now. “But when you actually get someone like that, you reject them.”
I know he’s talking about himself. “Barry, it’s more complicated-”
“It’s really not,” he interrupts. “But if that’s what you want, a guy who’s going to be aggressive, even violent with you, then fine. That’s what you’ll get.”
