I stood up on legs that barely felt like mine, knees soft, blood humming. Every inch of my body pulsed with memory, with desire, with that reckless craving that had never really gone quiet since the retreat. Slowly, deliberately, I peeled off my scrubs. Not all at once. I let them slide down my hips with a kind of teasing ease, like my skin was aching to be bared. Underneath, I wore the set I had no business wearing to work. Blood red. Lacy. Practically a sin. Noah let out a low whistle. His voice had gone thick. “Fuck. You could make a hospital gown look hot.” Wesley tilted his head, eyes dragging down my body like he was carving me into memory. “Now we’re overdressed.” “Then fix it,” I said, lips curling. I didn’t even have to say it twice. The three of them stood as one, forming a slow, deliberate circle around me. Dennis’s fingers tugged his shirt off in one fluid motion. Noah shrugged his hoodie halfway over his head and left it hanging behind his neck, like a man too wild t
The gym smelled like polished wood, sweat, and industrial-strength disinfectant.Coach Dennis had barely pulled me out of the locker room before the three of them were guiding me into the empty hospital gym. The overhead lights buzzed faintly. In the far corner, a lone athlete jogged on a treadmill, earbuds in, minding his own business.“We need this room. Out!” Dennis said flatly.The athlete barely looked up before grabbing his towel. The second he caught the full force of Dennis’s don’t-test-me stare, he was off the treadmill and out the door like it was on fire. Dennis turned the lock behind him with a clean click.I raised an eyebrow. “Guys, thanks for getting me out of there, but you’re acting like brutes.”Noah grinned. “You like it.”I rolled my eyes, pretending not to hear that. “No comment.”Then I lifted my hand to my mouth, zipped my lips shut with two fingers, and pretended to toss away the key.Wesley let out a soft laugh behind me.But when I looked up, the humor died i
I groaned inwardly.I instantly knew whose handiwork it was.Clearly my stepdad hired my ex just to get under my skin. But I wasn’t going to give either of them the satisfaction of watching me break. Not today.The second I called him my ex from hell, something shifted around me.Dennis moved first. His stance widened, jaw tight, fist flexing like he was ready to swing if this man so much as breathed wrong. Wesley’s shoulder pressed against mine, steady and hot, while Noah stepped forward with that sharp glint in his eye that usually meant someone was about to get hurt. Maybe not physically. But hurt all the same.My ex smiled like he was enjoying the attention. Like he had walked into this room just to light a match and watch it burn.“You missed me that much, huh?” he said.Noah didn’t even hesitate. “Watch yourself.”Wesley added, cool and blunt, “Grace doesn’t like you. Which means I don’t like you.”Director Georgina made a little sound in her throat, like she wasn’t sure whether
The lounge was quiet, finally. I leaned back against the counter, half-dressed in scrubs, just trying to breathe. My muscles ached in places I forgot existed, and my brain still buzzed with Carter’s case. I had handled it. I had saved him. I had barely processed any of it.Then the door flung open, loud and sudden.Noah walked in like he’d been looking for a fight. His eyes scanned me instantly.“Are you okay?” His voice was tight.I straightened. “What are you doing here?”Wesley followed right behind him. “We’ve been calling you all day. Texting too.”Coach Dennis was the last to enter. He closed the door behind them and folded his arms. “Have they been working you nonstop for the past twenty-four hours?”I blinked at them, completely thrown off. Then my lips curved, warmth unfurling in my chest.“Guys,” I said, soft and surprised. “You’re sweet. Really. Thank you. But bring-your-hockey-player-to-work day is next week.”Noah grinned, stepping forward with something wrapped in soft p
The bus rocked gently beneath us, the low hum of the engine the only sound for a long moment. I sat near the window, forehead resting against the cool glass as my eyes followed the snowy ridgelines stretching beyond the road. We were winding back down the mountain, back to reality, back to whatever fallout waited on the other side of this ride. “I’m glad we got the deposit back,” Dennis said from somewhere behind me, voice quiet, like he was trying to focus on something other than the obvious. Noah leaned forward in his seat, rubbing the back of his neck. “We may have more important shit to worry about right now, Coach.” Wesley turned halfway in his seat and let out a half-laugh. “You mean like a night of wild sex with a box of broken condoms?” The words hit like cold water, even if they were meant to cut the tension. My stomach knotted instantly. I shifted in my seat and pulled the collar of my coat tighter around my neck. “I can’t believe Molly would put us in this positio
I sat at the cabin’s tiny table, fingers resting against the edge of my plate. The bagel in front of me had gone cold. I couldn’t remember if I’d taken a bite. My stomach twisted with the kind of nerves that couldn’t be fed anyway.Wesley leaned against the counter, staring into his coffee like it might give him answers. Dennis paced once, then again, each turn tighter than the last. Noah stood near the door, arms crossed, his gaze flicking between the three of us like he was waiting for something to snap.No one said much.The wrappers were still in a pile on the nightstand. I hadn’t thrown them away.“I’m calling the supervisor,” Dennis said finally, voice low. “She’s going to want to see this.”“I’ll check the cabin logs,” Noah said. “There might be something on the feed.”I didn’t answer. I just watched. They all looked like they were ready to hit something.*****The sun had barely climbed above the treetops when we gathered near the admin cabin. The air smelled like damp wood an