I watched Cade Mercer fuck his fist with ruthless strokes and knew beyond any doubt he was thinking of me, my mouth or body, wishing it was me working him.
Watched control fail him piece by piece while his eyes stayed locked on mine. Watched the cool, untouchable captain of the Fury become something rawer as he stroked faster. Something needful. Something that looked too much like confession to be only physical.
When his release finally hit him, he bowed forward slightly, one hand still braced hard on the shelf, my name leaving him in a rough, broken sound I knew I would hear in my sleep for the rest of my life.
“Bliss, fuck—”
I watched as jets of his cum fell to the hardwood floor in hot spurts as he groaned my name over and over.
Not Pip—but Bliss.
The room went impossibly quiet afterward and neither of us moved.
My heart pounded so hard I could barely hear the music downstairs anymore. Cade’s breathing was harsh in the dim closet light, his head lowered, shoulders rising and falling while whatever had just happened settled around us like smoke.
I should have said something. Instead, I set his water bottle carefully on the edge of his dresser with trembling fingers.
His eyes lifted to mine.
Dark. Hungry. Cade.
And somehow that made it worse.
“I should go,” I whispered.
He didn’t tell me to stay or try to stop me or step forward. He only watched me with a restraint so intense it felt like another hand on my skin.
“Text me when you get home,” he said, voice hoarse.
My chest tightened.
Because after that, after what I had seen, after what he had let me see, he still gave me space. Still gave me the door. Still made sure I left safe instead of shaken apart in a hallway full of boys and secrets.
I nodded once, barely breathing. “Okay.”
Then I walked out of his room on unsteady legs, down the stairs, through the noise of Hockey House, and back into thenight with my entire body on fire and Cade Mercer’s voice still wrapped around my name.
By the time I reached my Jeep, I knew one thing with absolute certainty.
The line between us hadn’t just moved this time.
It had shattered.
11
Bliss
By the time I left Hockey House a little after nine, my entire nervous system felt scrambled in the worst possible way because nothing about tonight should’ve felt this easy between us after what had just happened in that gym.
Don’t even get me started on the closet.
Not after conversations like that. Not after standing close enough to Cade that I could feel the heat coming off his skin while he touched my wrist like he was trying not to break something already damaged. Not after his hands settled on my hips and his voice brushed against the side of my neck while he talked me through reps like training was still the point and not the excuse both of us were using to stand too close.
And definitely not after I felt how bad he wanted me.
Holy fuck.
My fingers tightened around the steering wheel as the memory hit again, hot and sharp and impossible to shove back down. Cade behind me. His chest almost against my back. His hand at my waist, his breath unsteady near my ear, his body betraying him even while every other part of him stayed controlled. The way he’d asked if I needed him to step back. The way I had said no before I could pretend I was smarter than that.
