Defensive Zone (The Dartmouth Cobras #2) (52 page)

Dominik latched onto her arm and dragged her
towards the door. "Yes. We're leaving."

Outside, Silver stumbled away from Dominik as
the world did a lopsided spin and she almost pitched herself face
first into the sidewalk. Dominik hauled her up and practically
carried her to his car. After sitting her in the passenger seat, he
dug his fingers into her shoulder.

"You tell Dean—and Landon—today." His jaw
went hard. "Or I will."

"I'll tell them." She gasped and pressed her
hands into her stomach.
Shitshitshit.
I am so fucking
screwed
.

As Dominik drove, she stared out the window,
her eyes burning with unshed tears. Landon and Dean could punish
her all they wanted. It would change nothing.

She'd royally fucked the team. And she had no
idea how to fix this.

Landon pushed open the door to Silver's
office, a broad smile on his lips, and her gift draped over his
arm. One look at her blotchy face and his excitement drowned under
concern. With long strides he cut across the room and pulled her up
against him.

"What happened?"

"Just hug me for minute." She buried her face
under his arm. "You're going to be too mad to hug me after I tell
you."

He stiffened, but stroked her back until she
stopped shaking. "I'll never be too mad to hug you. Tell me what it
is—it can't be any worse than signing Demyan."

"Oh, it's worse."

Fuck, why do I have a feeling you're not
exaggerating?
He put his hands on her shoulders and eased her
back so he could look into her teary, bloodshot eyes. "How about
you tell me and let me decide?"

His whole body trembled with rage as she
finished telling him what she'd done. Not at her—hell, he grabbed
her and held her tight, sick with the idea that he could have lost
her. His rage was at that man, Ford, who'd been stupid enough to
threaten her. If that bastard was here right now, Landon would rip
his head off and beat his body to a bloody pulp.

Burying his hands into Silver's hair, he
tugged her head back and kissed her forehead. "I'm proud of you for
bringing Dominik. This could have turned out so much worse if you'd
gone alone. Who knows what that son-of-a-bitch would have—" Fear
clogged up his throat and cut off his words. He inhaled and kissed
her cheeks, her eyes, then groaned into her mouth. "Don't
ever
do anything like that again. I know your heart was in
the right place, but you risking yourself like that is
inexcusable."

"I know."

"And you know I will have to punish you."

"Yes." She sniffed and stared at his chest.
Her fingers curled into his t-shirt. "Dean will too. But I'm okay
with that. It's better being punished then having you both decide
I'm more trouble than I'm worth."

"Get that thought out of your head right now.
You're worth all kinds of trouble." He cuffed her chin lightly with
his fist. "I got you something. Actually, it was a gift for you,
Dean, and myself. Unfortunately, it's going to become part of your
punishment."

She raked her bottom lip with her teeth and
glanced at what he'd left on the desk. "Can I see it?"

"In a moment." He undid the buttons of her
suit jacket, pulled it off, then went to work on the buttons of her
blouse. "Humor me. I need to touch you. See for myself that you're
really okay."

"I'm sorry, Landon." She trembled,
whispering. "I didn't even think . . . after what
she
did to
you—"

He paused on the last button. "So you
know."

"I need to hear it from you."

Fair enough.
Hearing about any of her
past pains from anyone else wouldn't be enough for him either. He
stripped off her blouse, then unzipped her skirt. "We got together
in high school. I wasn't big on dating, nothing long term anyway,
but she didn't take me away from training, didn't bitch about my
crazy schedule. It was perfect. As a stupid teen, I saw her as the
type of girl who could become the perfect hockey wife. She never
came between me and the game. But as we got older, she expected all
my free time to be hers. She tried to come between me and my
family, which should have been a big red fucking flag. I felt too
guilty about leaving her on her own all the time to see it."

He removed her bra and sucked in a breath as
Silver stood before him, practically naked, and whispered for him
to continue, the understanding in her eyes more than he'd ever
hoped to have from anyone who wasn't family.

But he had it from her—
and
Dean.
You're one lucky bastard, Bower.

He ran his hands up and down Silver's arms
and forced himself to keep talking. "After I got into the
lifestyle, well, she made herself seem even more perfect. She
wanted it all. We had fun . . . but she hated that I had new
friends. Gay friends. She knew I was straight, that they weren't a
threat to our relationship. That wasn't the problem. She couldn't
accept that they were gay." He shook his head. "I realized I didn't
know her at all. Her prejudices became a serious issue. She said
nasty things about them and
that
was when I ended it. It
probably sounds stupid—"

"It doesn't sound stupid to me. Like you
said, you didn't know her." Silver laced her fingers with his. "It
obviously wasn't the only issue, but as far as I'm concerned, it
was a pretty big one."

"Yes, well I had to get over it. She showed
up at my door one day and told me she was pregnant. She'd been on
the pill, but I guess she forgot to take it. We'd only ever been
with each other, so we didn't use any other protection. Which is no
excuse. I mean, I didn't want kids, so I should have done my share
to make sure it didn't happen." He lifted one hand to rake his
short nails over his scalp. "But it did, and I wasn't about to
abandon my kid. My family's always been close. My parents had their
issues, but they made it work. I figured I could do the same. And .
. . things weren't too bad while she was pregnant. Of course, I
spent all my time with her, but I wanted to be involved with
everything. I wanted my son to know my voice, even before he was
born."

"You wanted to be a good father."

"I wanted to be at least half the father mine
was. I couldn't be more without giving up the game, but I couldn't
do that." A thick ball of acid curled up in the back of his throat.
He rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and blinked against the
burning in his eyes. "He died as she was giving birth to him. I
made it there just in time for the nurse to tell me—for her to let
me hold him. We mourned him together and I tried to be there for
her after. But without the baby, we had nothing. Almost a year
later, I told her we would always have him, but we would never have
us."

"I guess she didn't take that well?" Silver
touched his cheek, her eyes full of pain. Pain for him. Which he
didn't deserve. She frowned. "You felt guilty about leaving
her."

"Of course I did."

"You have a right to be happy. You weren't
happy with her."

"She wasn't happy either! She wanted another
baby! I couldn't . . . ." He swallowed. "She told me nothing would
fill the hole he'd left unless I gave her another baby. I wouldn't
even consider it. She told me she was going to lose it if I didn't
come back to her. But she had been telling me that every day.
Usually after asking me if I was hanging out with my gay friends
again. I'd just gotten drafted and I was trying to move on with my
life. I'd had enough. Before we hung up, she told me she'd be
waiting for me at my place. And she was. She was in the bath and .
. . ."

You should have done something. You took the
easy way out.

Silver's hand covered her lips. "Landon—"

"She's slit her wrist with one of my razors.
There was so much blood." He curved his hand around his throat. "I
didn't know. She'd never talked about suicide. I would have done
something—"

"I know you would have."

"No, you don't know. She obviously had
issues. She needed help. And I wasn't there for her."

"You were there for her as much as you could
be. She made that decision and that's on her. No one else." She
jerked on his shirt collar, magnificent in all her naked glory.
"What would you say to me if I told you I blame myself for my
mother's death? For the fact that she got in that car and killed my
brother?"

"You were a little girl. How the hell could
you possibly think that was your fault?"

"I won second place. I wasn't good enough for
her. That's why she was in the car. To get me a second chance."

There was no way could Silver possibly blame
herself for that. "Her own stupidity."

"Exactly."

"It's not the same."

"It's exactly the same. They both made
choices and there's nothing either of us could have done to stop
them." She dropped her gaze as though thinking it over. And
accepting her own words as she looked up, her eyes hard. "Blaming
ourselves is pretty arrogant, don't you think? As if we had the
power to change them. To control them. We didn't."

What an odd way to look at it. But she was
right. He bowed his head. "No. We didn't."

"Now." Silver scowled. "Would it be horrible
of me to tell you I want to go back to how mad at me you are?
Either that or we can sit down and have a few drinks and get all
depressed."

"None of that." He shoveled mental dirt over
the part of him that clung to the past and focused on the woman in
front of him. The one who held his heart in her delicate little
fists. "I still want you to see your present. I want to see it on
you before we go speak to Dean."

"Damn." Silver's lips twisted as she looked
at the clothes bag on her desk. "You're going to make me wear
whatever it is to go see him, aren't you?"

He chuckled and patted her cheek. "Part of
your punishment. You've been a very bad girl."

And I'll do anything to make sure you never
forget that this will not happen again. I won't lose you.

He had to say it out loud. "I won't lose you.
I won't let you do anything that could take you away from me. I
love you too fucking much."

"And I love you too. But don't expect me to
thank you for this."

Grinning, he bent down to pull off her
panties. "I think that would be going a bit too far. Just accept
it. That's more than enough for me."

* * * *

Three players off waivers and four rookies
with new long term contracts. Not a bad day so far. Dean absently
rubbed his knee and smiled as the door opened. Bolleau had gone
home early, and other than his assistant there was only one—all
right, perhaps two people who would come to his office without an
appointment.

Both came in and his jaw nearly hit the
floor.

Silver dropped to her knees, crawling towards
him with a flirty smile on her lips. Her long, silky pigtails
slipped back and forth over her shoulders with each sensuous
motion. Her white shirt, completely unbuttoned, held together by
only the part tied over her belly, gave him a lovely view of her
breasts in a red plaid push up bra. The short red tie around her
neck didn't hide a thing. She knelt in front of him, assuming the
position as gracefully as any well trained slave. Knees apart,
hands rested on her thighs, palms up. Her short, red plaid skirt
rose all the way and his lips curved as he took in her bare little
pussy. No panties. Very nice.

Leaning forward, he set his elbow on his knee
and his chin in his hand. "What's this?"

Silver batted her eye lashes. "I
wanted to show you how submissive I can be."

"By disobeying me?" Dean
chuckled. "Oh yes. Now I'm convinced."

Landon stepped up to her side and wrapped one
pigtail around his hand. "Disobeying him? Am I missing
something?"

She tipped her head back. "We're not allowed
to play at work."

"Ah. Well, extenuating circumstances."
Landon's lips thinned. "Would you care to tell him why we're really
here, or should I?"

Her throat worked as she gulped. Long black
lashes fluttering, she pouted. "I'm here to get a spanking."

"A spanking?" Dean glanced at Landon, who
shook his head. Apparently Silver would be answering his questions.
"Have you been naughty, pet?"

A flush spread over her cheeks. "Not exactly.
I kinda did something stupid."

Okay, enough with the fucking games.
He pushed off his chair and scowled. "Someone better start
talking."

She did. In a rush. "I brought Dominik, so I
was safe. I was worried about Jami—but don't worry, she broke up
with him. But I thought he was using her. He's the son of one of
our investors, the ones that rigged games. I got him to tell me
everything. It's recorded. I think that will help."

"Wait a damn second! What? Jami is in
trouble?"

"I thought she was. She dumped the
asshole."

"What asshole?"

"The one she was dating."

Dean slammed his fist on the corner of his
desk. "I didn't even know she had a boyfriend! And you decided to
deal with this without telling me? I told you not to meet with the
investors."

"Actually, you told me not to meet with Mr.
Lee." She looked up and winced. "Sir."

"Calling me 'Sir' doesn't make this all
right, Silver. She is my daughter. You come to
me
if she's
in trouble. And you . . . ." He threw his hands up in the air. "You
have no idea how dangerous these people are!"

"She does now," Landon said.

A dead calm washed through him. He waved
Landon away and stared at Silver. "Stand up."

She stood.

"Look. At. Me."

Her wide, glistening eyes met his.

"What did they do to you? Tell me
everything."

"Nothing." She reached out, and, when he
didn't stop her, pressed her body into his. "Ford grabbed my shirt
and . . . ." She took a deep breath. "Dominik stepped in and told
Ford Asher was on the phone—"