Chapter 4

The co-captain announcement spread through the team like wildfire. By the next practice, guys were slapping me on the back, calling me “Co-Cap” in the halls. It should’ve felt like victory but Instead, it felt like a lit fuse.

Jax didn’t say a word during warm-ups. He just skated harder, faster, his checks on me turning vicious. One particularly hard hit sent me crashing into the boards. Pain exploded in my shoulder as I hit the ice.

“Watch it, Rivera!” Coach yelled.

Jax offered a hand, yanking me up with a bruising grip. “Oops,” he muttered under his breath. “Co-captains need to be tougher than that.”

His eyes promised punishment later.

After practice, I stayed in the locker room, changing slowly. Tyler came and sat onto the bench beside me, towel around his neck.

“You killed it out there today, man. That assist in the last drill? Chef’s kiss.” He grinned, shoulder bumping mine playfully. “We should grab food after the Ridgeview rematch to celebrate properly. Just you and me.”

I froze as my gaze fell on Tyler’s lips as he bite them. I scanned him secretly, he was good-looking, tall, always smiling, and cracking jokes. He was so harmless and the way he looked at me felt like he was interested in me.

Before I could answer, Jax appeared behind us, voice like ice. “Team dinner is mandatory. No side plans.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Chill, Captain. Just offering moral support to the new guy.”

Jax’s stare could’ve frozen the rink. “He doesn’t need it.”

The tension was thick enough to choke the locker room. Tyler shrugged and left, but not before shooting me a confused, slightly hopeful look.

I knew I was in big trouble and I’d pay for that later.

That night, Jax’s text was short and commanding.

Jax: My place. Now.

I went there quickly. The second the door closed after me, he had me pinned against it, collar already in his hand.

“You let him flirt with you?” Jax buckled the leather around my throat, tugging the leash hard enough to make me stumble forward. “In front of the whole fucking team?”

“He was just being friendly…”

“Friendly?” Jax laughed, hard and dragged me to the bedroom and shoved me onto the bed. “Strip. Hands and knees.”

I obeyed, heart pounding. He pushed me open roughly with lubed fingers, then pushed in the thick plug he’d used before but it was bigger this time. The stretch burned my asshole.

“You’re mine,” he growled, spanking my ass hard.“Not Tyler’s. Not anyone’s. Say it.”

“I’m yours, Sir.”

He fucked me with the plug still in, alternating brutal thrusts and twisting the toy until I was sobbing into the sheets. Every time I got close, he stopped and rather went edging me for what felt like hours while he whispered threats.

“Maybe I should invite Tyler to watch. Show him exactly what kind of co-captain you are. You're collared and begging for my cock.”

Jealousy had turned him feral. He finally let me come only after I was shaking and in a broken mess, then he filled me again, marking me inside and out.

Afterward, as I lay there catching my breath, his phone lit up on the nightstand. A message preview flashed.

Unknown: Hey Jax, heard your new co-cap is that transfer kid Ethan. Tell him I said hi, we go way back.

Jax snatched the phone before I could read more, but his face darkened further.

“Who’s that?” I asked quietly.

“None of your business.” But his grip on the leash tightened. “Ridgeview’s star forward Marcus. He’s been texting me shit about you since the last game. Says he remembers you from your old school and he wants  a rematch off the ice too.”

He's been threatening me. 

Marcus was a cocky asshole I’d clashed with before. He is huge, aggressive, and openly into guys. He is the kind who didn’t take no for an answer.

Jax’s voice dropped dangerously. “If he touches you, I’ll end him and then  I’ll punish you for letting him get close.”

The next two days were hell. Marcus showed up early at the arena for the rematch, “scouting” our practice. He leaned on the boards, eyes locked on me the whole time.

“Looking good, Kane!” he shouted during a water break. “Captain looks even better on you than it did on Rivera. Come find me after the game if you want a real winner.”

Jax nearly lost it on the ice. His body brushed over Marcus during warm-ups so hard the refs warned him.

In the locker room before the game, Jax cornered me alone. “You stay away from him or I swear I’ll drag you into the showers and fuck you raw where the whole team can hear.”

The threat sent a twisted thrill through me. But the jealousy was eating him alive and it was only making him more possessive, cruel and more addictive.

We won the game. I scored the tying goal. Marcus scored the winner for them. As we shook hands after, he held my grip too long, leaning in.

“Call me,” he whispered. “I can treat you better than that control freak.”

Jax saw it. His eyes burned with pure rage.

That night, after the team celebration, Jax didn’t text. He showed up at my dorm unannounced, storming in and slamming the door.

“On your knees now.” he commanded.

The punishment was the hardest , he used his belt, rope on me. He asked me questions about Marcus, after hours of denial, he used me until I was hoarse from begging then he made me repeat that I belonged to him, and that Marcus meant nothing.

Finally, he came inside me hot, then afterwards he held me sweat-slick and breathing hard, something cracked in his voice.

“I hate how much I need this,” he admitted, almost too quiet to hear. “You were supposed to be just a toy but now look at us.”

For a second, the old Jax just flashed through. The friend I was missing but then quickly the mask slammed back down.

“Tomorrow’s team bonding. Stay away from Tyler and Marcus better not show his face again.”

My phone buzzed on the nightstand. A new message.

Marcus: Got pics from the game. You and Rivera look real close, it's quite interesting don't you think we should talk?.

Under the message something was attached, a blurry photo of Jax pinning me against the boards during practice. We looked too intimate to be normal.