All Chapters of Falling for the Hot Alpha Hockey Star: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

~Jace~Ryder’s cigarette snapped between his fingers.I saw it happen in slow motion, ash flying.“Don’t,” Ryder warned.Diesel shrugged. “Just asking the question we’re all thinking.”Hammer nodded slowly. “He ain’t wrong.”I couldn’t breathe right. My chest felt tight, fists clenched so hard my nails dug in.Grudge spoke again. “I say we vote. Put it to the table. Do we handle the cop permanently, or do we keep playing house and hope she gets bored?”“No,” Ryder barked. “She’s off-limits. She’s my girl's family.”“Family?” Tank snorted. “She’d put a bullet in any of us and sleep fine.”“She’s Skylar’s blood!” Ryder roared, standing now too. “That makes her ours, like it or not!”“Ours to protect?” Diesel asked, voice mocking. “Or ours to shut up?”I moved before I thought, grabbed Diesel by the cut, slammed him back against the wall hard enough his head bounced.“Say it again,” I hissed in his face. “Say we touch her.”He grinned, blood on his teeth already. “You are gonna pick her

~Lily~I woke up with this huge stupid grin on my face, the kind that hurts your cheeks if you hold it too long, and I couldn’t stop because last night Jace looked at me like I’d handed him the whole damn world when it was just a lopsided cake and some cheap balloons.He was still passed out on the couch, one arm flung over his face, mouth open a little, snoring soft. I stared at him for a minute, feeling that warm fuzzy rush hit me again, then remembered everything I actually knew and almost laughed out loud at how good I was getting at this fake-happy bullshit.I slipped out from under his arm, padded to the kitchen in his tee, started coffee because today was his actual birthday and I’d invited a few people from work over for cake and beers nothing big, just enough normal cops to make it look legit.My phone buzzed on the counter. Text from Marcus: On our way. Bringing pizza and that dip you like. Sarah’s driving so we won’t die.I snorted. Perfect.I texted back: Door’s open. Don’

~Ryder ~I sat at the head of the table in the chapel, cigarette burning between my fingers, staring at the door like it owed me money. ‘Church’ was supposed to start ten minutes ago, but half the crew was still dragging their asses in, hungover from last night’s lockdown bullshit. Jace was already here, though, sitting two seats down, knuckles busted open, eyes fixed on the table like he could burn a hole through it.I’d known something was off the second I saw that little girlfriend of his floating around the cookout. Too smiley. Too quick with the shotgun beer. Too good at remembering names she shouldn’t give a shit about. And then last night, during lockdown, I caught it, a glint of something in her purse when she thought nobody was looking. Tiny red light. Recorder. Maybe a camera pen. Bitch was wired.I didn’t say shit then. Too many people, too open, prospectives getting patched, old ladies doing lines off the bar. One wrong word and the whole place would’ve exploded. So I wait

Ryder’s POVI watched her Uber pull out of the lot like she owned the whole damn world, that fake-ass smile plastered on while Jace hugged her like she was made of glass. Cute. Real fucking cute. I let the bike rumble under me, throttle wide, wind whipping the smirk right off my face because yeah, I knew. I’d known since the second that little recorder vanished from my nightstand drawer and showed up in her purse like some amateur hour magic trick.She thought she was slick. Planting dime-sized eyes all over my house while pretending to play house with my brother. Joke’s on her I let her. Then when we planned everything so she could rat us she bolted. We laughed so hard Tank almost dropped his beer. “Brother,” he said, wiping his eyes, “your boy’s girl is either the dumbest fed alive or the ballsy-est bitch we ever met.”We decided to play along. Let Jace think everything’s cool. Let him kiss her goodbye, send her home with hearts in his eyes. Meanwhile, Tank, me, and Ghost yeah, bro

~Skylar~I stepped out onto the porch, my heels clicking like shots on the wood, dress swishing around my legs, my heart doing that annoying flutter thing it always did when Ryder showed up. I was braced for the rumble the deep growl of his bike that always announced him like a warning label. Instead, headlights swept across the front yard, bright and smooth, and a big black SUV rolled up slowly, all chrome and tinted windows, looking way too fancy for a guy who usually smelled like gasoline and bad decisions and was always with a bike. I froze. Blinked. “What the hell?”Door opened on the driver’s side. Ryder stepped out leather jacket, black shirt, that same smirk but no helmet hair, no grease stains. He looked... put together. Annoyingly hot.Then the passenger door opened.Zane climbed out. Tall, quiet Zane with the scar on his eyebrow and the permanent “don’t ask” vibe. He nodded at me once, hands in pockets, like this was normal.I crossed my arms. “Okay, first of all, where’s