MY STRANGER

JEREMY’S P.O.V

I went home with Axel. I owed him, so I didn't have a choice. We were the only two missing from the victory party. He was the strict captain who hated partying, and I was the benchwarmer who didn't deserve to celebrate anyway. It was a perfect, unsuspected coincidence.

I lay still, listening to Axel’s rough, uneven breathing. A deep, lingering ache pulsed between my legs, and the thick, salty taste of him still coated my tongue. He’d had his way with me again. I could still feel the ghost of his grip on the back of my head as he’d finished, flooding my mouth with his cum while he fucked me through it. My jaw ached. My lips felt swollen and tender. Every time I swallowed, the taste rose again.

I had barely had time to prepare, and I was still sore from how hard he’d taken me.

But it was over now. He slept beside me, one heavy arm thrown across my waist, face buried in the pillow. His dark hair was a wild mess, mouth slightly open, the post-game exhaustion finally dragging him under.

My phone buzzed somewhere on the floor, the screen lighting up against the carpet. I reached for it carefully, wincing as the movement pulled at sore muscles. The lock screen was a wall of notifications.

DANI (Eight missed calls)

DANI: Answer me right fucking now.

DANI: Jeremy, where are you?

DANI: Mum’s boyfriend is still here with the kid; they’re waiting for you.

I’d only meant to stay an hour. Maybe less, long enough to satisfy Axel, but plans always changed with him.

It was a little after eleven. There was still time for me to make it home.

I slipped out from under his arm. He made a low sound but didn’t wake. I gathered my clothes in the dark—jersey, joggers, the hoodie—and dressed as quietly as I could.

I left his place without looking back.

The rest of the house was silent. Axel’s place was one of the nicer off-campus rentals the team shared. It was empty tonight, just like every other night I came by. I found my shoes by the door, shoved my feet into them, and stepped outside into the cool night air.

I opened the cab app, thumb hovering over the request button. Till I spotted Axel’s bike leaning against the side of the house. He rode at times when he didn't feel like driving.

I shouldn’t have, but I took it anyway.

I dragged it to the pavement, propping it up so I could climb on. I pushed myself off and began pedalling off campus.

Dani and Mum lived just twenty minutes away. I could make it in fifteen if I pushed. Determined, I pedalled harder. If I beat the guests out the door, Mum might not bite my head off. She knew about my late game tonight, so hopefully, she would understand.

The ride started fine. The night air helped clear some of the fog in my head. This was far better than a ride in a stuffy cab.

I was almost home when something darted across the road ahead of me. A dark shape that looked like a stray cat. I jerked the handlebars hard to the left to avoid it.

The bike twisted under me. I flew over the front, hitting the pavement. My head hit hard against the ground. Pain exploded behind my eyes. The world tilted, then went dim.

I groaned in agony, struggling to push myself up onto my elbows, but was in for a shock. The bike was a wreck, the frame was bent, handlebars askew, one of the wheels were ruined.

I was so fucking screwed.

To my left, footsteps approached me fast.

“Fucking hell, are you alright?”

I couldn't answer, breathing hard through the intense pain, unable to focus on the voice of the Good Samaritan who tried to help.

“Christ, you're bleeding.”

It was then I felt the warm liquid dribbling off my elbow.

Before I knew it, I was being carried off the pavement in the strong arms of a stranger. My head met a solid chest as I tried to lean against it.

“Let's get you cleaned up.”

I tried to force my eyes open, take in the face of the person, but my head was throbbing so hard I could barely think. Every movement sent fresh waves of pain through my skull, and I was forced to shut them again.

“Easy.”

His voice was low, but swallowed by the rush of blood in my ears.

My stranger adjusted his hold, one arm firmly beneath my knees and the other supporting my back. My head lolled against his chest, and I could feel the steady rise and fall of his breathing beneath my cheek.

“I've got you.”

I wanted to tell him to put me down, let him know I was fine and I could walk. Instead, my fingers curled weakly into the front of his shirt.

“I can walk,” I mumbled.

“Sure you can,” he teased lightly.

I tried to protest, but the words tangled somewhere between my thoughts and my mouth.

Then I smelled him.

He had a clean scent to him and something very masculine, smoky wood and amber. I wasn’t sure, but whatever it was, it stuck, settling strangely in my head, giving me something to focus on while everything else blurred.

“I’m taking you to the hospital,” my stranger announced, and the next thing I knew, a car door was opening.

Cold air brushed my face before I was lowered carefully into a seat. I heard him curse under his breath when I winced.

“Sorry.”

The door shut and the engine started. I tried to open my eyes, and when I did, I saw him. He sat beside me, his face hidden beneath the hood of a sweatshirt pulled far too low. I could barely make out the shape of his jaw before another wave of dizziness washed over me.

“Stay awake for me,” he muttered, hand reaching for mine, giving it a small squeeze. “We're almost there.”

The rest of the journey came in pieces. Streetlights flashed across the windows and the scraping of tyres against asphalt.

Then my head dipped. Before I could slump against the door, his hand caught my shoulder.

“Hey.”

The next thing I knew, he was pulling me gently into his lap. I barely had the strength to resist. My body folded against his chest, my cheek settling against the warmth of him. And that smell. I clung to it without knowing why.

His arms came around me, one firm around my back while the other rested between my shoulder blades. I instinctively curled closer, my arms slipping around his waist.

“That's it,” he murmured.

His palm began moving slowly over my back, up and down in a soothing rhythm.

“Mum’s going to kill me,” I whispered, picturing her and Dani at home worried sick.

“I doubt it.”

At the hospital, bright lights burned through my closed eyelids. The voices came, someone asking for my name and someone else asking what happened.

“Bike accident,” my stranger answered.

I tried to correct him, but I didn't remember what I was going to say.

Everything went blank after that.

***

When I woke again, darkness surrounded me. For a moment, I didn't know where I was. The ceiling above me wasn't my bedroom back at campus. The mattress beneath me wasn't unfamiliar, either.

I turned my head slowly, eyes meeting a framed photograph on the bedside table. Another was hanging crookedly on the wall. My old hockey trophies lined the shelf opposite the bed.

My childhood bedroom. I was back home.

“Oh my God, Jeremy!” Mum and Dani screamed.

“What the...?”

I pushed myself upright and regretted it immediately. Pain throbbed through my skull and every muscle in my body hurt. I pressed a hand to my forehead and looked around, trying to piece together the last few hours.

“Be careful,” Mum cautioned, placing a hand on my lap.

How the hell had I gotten home?

I remembered the car ride to the hospital. I remembered the warm, comforting arms wrapped around me and the hands that caressed my back. I remembered the rich scent of my stranger.

I also remembered waking in the middle of the night to find him sitting beside my bed. He had waited there with me the whole night.

“He told us what happened—said you fell off your bike,” Dani explained while Mum checked my arms for cuts.

“It was incredibly nice of him to stay and bring you home.”

“Who?” I asked, my voice rising in panic.

“Are you hurting anywhere else?” Mum asked worriedly.

“I'm fine, Mum,” I said impatiently. “Who brought me home?”

“You seriously don't remember?” Dani asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shook my head, desperately waiting for an answer.

“Niko… Mum's boyfriend's son.”