Blocker (Seattle Sharks 5)

“Shut the fuck up. She’s not with Mason. That picture is because his Dad was on the gala committee and the Sharks are donors. He didn’t take her. They’re not together.”

“It’s true,” Ivy said as she made it to the door, heaving for breath with Hannah on her hip. “Seriously, it’s like you’re a gazelle or something,” she panted at Connor.

“At least choose an animal that eats meat, okay?” he retorted.

“Okay, what are you three doing here?” I asked, stretching my legs out in front of my couch. “Because if you’re up for drinking, I’m cool with that, but I really don’t want to talk about Pepper. Especially not around sensitive ears.”

Connor took Hannah from Ivy, and her little eyes drooped.

“Why don’t you put her to sleep in the guest room? There’s Netflix,” I offered.

“Yeah, good plan. I’ll be right back.” He disappeared down the hallway.

Ivy sat down carefully on my other couch, perching on the edge like she might flee at any moment.

“Spit it out,” I ordered, in no mood for her shit.

I hated having her here. She was just enough like Pepper to make me miss her, and nothing like her in every way that mattered.

“I have to show you something, and I need you to not freak out.”

“With an intro like that, how could I not be curious?” I sat up slowly and killed the Marvel movie I’d put on to fill the silence that was all the more obvious since Pepper left.

Ivy reached into her leather jacket and removed a manilla envelope.

“Yeah, so I’ve seen this movie,” I drawled. “My safeword is Ontario, and my hard limits are you and you. Don’t take it personally. You just remind me of someone I used to love.” I gave her an ice-cold smile and took another swig of the whiskey.

“Give me that!” She grabbed the bottle. “Jesus. And she said you were one of the good ones. How disappointing. Did you really mean love in the past tense? Because if so, then my being here is pointless.”

I debated my options for a second before the alcohol spoke for me.

“I still love her. I’m a fucking idiot, but yeah, she owns me. Believe me, if I could press a button and make that shit stop, I would.”

She took a deep breath, nodded to herself, and then opened the envelope. Glossy photos flew across my coffee table.

Pepper straddling my hips in the theater.

Her head thrown back.

My fingers deep in her pussy.

Me looking at her with utter adoration and love after she came on my hand.

I cleared my throat. “Thanks for the porn?”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “Not even curious how I got them?”

“My guess would be a very well-paid theater attendant.” Fuck, I hated that someone had been there, watching, taking pictures of one of the best moments of my life. That face she made when she came? That was mine. It wasn’t for anyone else to see.

And right this moment, she was probably showing it to Mason.

“How much do they want?” I asked, refusing to touch the pictures.

“What?”

“To keep the photos out of the press? How much do they want? I don’t care what she did to me. I don’t want these photos of her out there. She’d be horrified.”

After a moment of silence, I looked up to see Ivy staring at me.

“What?”

“You wouldn’t use them for revenge?”

“Fuck, Ivy. Who do you think I am? I would die for her, and it doesn’t matter that she doesn’t love me, or want me. I’ll always do what’s best for her.” The words rang truer than even I’d realized until that moment.

Ivy blinked rapidly and flicked away a tear she seemed inconvenienced by. “Yeah, she was right. You are one of the good ones. And she was horrified when she saw them.”

“She’s seen these?”

Connor appeared in the doorway, and I gathered the pictures, stacking them and turning them over on their front so he didn’t see.

“She has. I already paid the pap. You don’t have to worry. They came across my desk at work, and I got to them before my boss could see them. But I...God, Gentry, I didn’t know that what you had was real, and I was spinning from Crosby, and I just wanted to protect her.”

Every single one of my muscles locked. “What the fuck did you do, Ivy?”

“Hey, now…” Connor took the seat next to her.

She swallowed. “I showed them to my dad. Not the...sexy ones. Just the ones that showed the way you were looking at each other. I mean the rest is...you know...obvious.”

“You what?” I shouted, coming to my feet.

Connor did the same. “Hear her out. Keep your cool.”

“Hear her...since when are you on her side, jackass?” My fists clenched.

“I’m not.” He shrugged. “I’m on yours. And I’d be fucking pissed, too. Hell,” he shot her a sideways glance and she seemed to shrink. “I am pissed. And disgusted.”

“Hey, I kept them from being published!” she argued.

“You let your dad force your sister into choosing between Gentry’s career and the man, himself,” he snapped.

I saw red.

“You. Fucking. What?” My voice was low, even, and filled with so much loathing that it took Ivy a good minute to finally raise her eyes to mine.

“I thought you’d leave her like Crosby left me. Mason had already hurt her so much, and if you broke her heart, she’d never survive it. She was already in so deep and so in love with the idea of you.” There was so much pain in her eyes, that my rage softened enough to listen to her. “I love my sister, Eric. I don’t love anyone in this world like I do Pepper. And I thought if I hurt her a little now, she’d be spared what I knew was coming later.”

“Because Crosby fucked you over.”

She bit her lip and nodded.

“I am not Crosby. I’m not Mason. I’m not fucking Connor!” I gestured toward my best friend.

“Hey, what the hell did I do?”

“I’m me. Just me. A guy who grew up in the middle of nowhere, Montana. Who concentrated on keeping my skills tight and my nose clean, and who fell in love with a little blonde who happened to be the coach’s daughter. So if you two Harris girls could stop blaming me for the sins of every other hockey player who came before me, that would be fucking fantastic.”

“I know that now,” she admitted. “She begged our dad not to make her choose. She loves you so much, Eric. I swear.”

“Yeah, and she’s not with Mason, right? Okay.” I gave her a sarcastic nod. “Pepper made her choice. I told her I would always choose her over hockey. Always. So excuse my surprise when ironically, she chose hockey over me.”

“She knew you needed the contract to buy your family’s land,” Ivy said. “She knew that choosing you would cost you what she could never give you back. She didn’t choose hockey, she made you choose hockey because she figured you would anyway. It’s all she’s ever known.”

“Because she didn’t trust me.”

“Because she doesn't trust herself,” she countered. “Trust me, I’ve heard her cry every single night, and there’s zero chance she’s with Mason. She hates him. She loves you, and she’s willing to destroy herself because she thinks that’s what’s best for you, the same as you just said you would do for her. She simply beat you to the punch.”

I let that sink in.

The pictures.

The contract.

Her constant declaration that she wasn’t worth it.

Shit. She hadn’t changed her mind after that hotel room. I’d never managed to change her mind in the first place. She still thought she wasn’t worth me losing my contract.

But my contract was signed.

Secure.

And even if Coach benched me or traded me, the signing bonus had already secured my family’s land. Who the fuck cared if I ended up in the minors as long as they were okay?

As long as I had Pepper.

> “Where is she now?” I asked.

Connor grinned. “You’ll lose your starting position.”

“Where is she?” I repeated to Ivy.

“We have an idea that might keep you on the team, but it’s drastic,” she added, totally ignoring my question.

“Oh, you two are working together now?”

“Don’t get used to it,” Connor quipped.

“Yeah, okay, what’s the idea?” Traction? A year in Siberian prison? I was all ears.

“So, there’s only one other couple that gets away breaking the fraternization rule,” Ivy started slowly, trailing off at the end.

“Right. Bentley and Chloe, but they had history before she was hired by the Sharks.”

“But that’s not all that makes them different,” Connor led on.

Understanding hit me straight in the chest, and my heart started pounding in response. Holy shit.

“It’s one hell of a loophole,” I said.

“Yeah, kind of an all or nothing type thing,” Ivy agreed.

And it’s a hell of a risk to take after she flat out said she didn’t want you.