Right now, that strength was a good thing because Jock and the kids were going to need my support. Bria had done the one thing Jock couldn’t ignore, deny, or forgive. She’d fucked one of his teammates—a new low even for her.

Chapter 3—Tail Tucking

~~Axel~~

I showed up the next morning at the practice facility, tail tucked between my legs, ready to grovel for forgiveness. I’d spent a sleepless night going over and over in my brain how I could’ve been so stupid. I should’ve realized there’d been something off about her. I’d ignored the red flags because I was lonely, nervous, and horny. Not necessarily in that order.

Now I’d pay for thinking with my dick instead of my brain. I had no doubt the entire team would know what happened before I even set one skate blade on the ice for practice today.

I’d formulated a plan during those sleepless hours. I’d apologize once again, go about my business, lie low, keep my nose clean, and hope this would all blow over. I was probably delusional. How did something like this blow over? Jock had been confronted by his wife’s infidelity, and even worse, with a team member in front of two other Sockeyes. This wasn’t going away anytime soon.

As I got out of my car, a Harley motorcycle rumbled past and slid to a screeching halt in front of the employee door to the building. The person on the bike swung one long, very shapely, leather-encased leg over the bike. She was definitely a female wearing formfitting black leather chaps and a tight leather jacket. She pulled off her helmet and shook out a mane of glossy, equally black hair.

I was instantly in lust because I was a horndog like that.

I strode toward her, my shame temporarily forgotten in the presence of this biker goddess. She was tall. I was taller. She was in excellent physical condition, but so was I.

“Hey,” I called to her as she slung a large bag over her shoulder and took a step toward the door. She had a key card in her hand and spun around with a questioning smile on her face. Her body might be badass, but her face was the face of an angel. Let me make one correction: had been the face of an angel. One look at me and her scowl transformed her angel’s face into that of a woman I’d be stupid to mess with.

I hesitated. She was familiar, and I racked my brain for where I’d seen her before while warning myself to proceed with caution. My last pickup hadn’t ended well, and here I was contemplating such a thing again. Would I ever learn?

“You.” She pointed an accusatory finger at me and literally growled like a lioness with a larger-than-normal attitude.

I blinked a few times as the memories I’d temporarily put on hold flooded back. Yeah, I’d seen her. Last night at my teammate’s house shortly after he’d tattooed my face with his fist. She was the woman on the porch, either Jock’s nanny or some relative. They didn’t look anything alike, so I’d vote for nanny.