I stopped when we reached the door by the bench and glanced around, but there was no one to be seen anywhere. Quietly opening it, I pulled Harper through with me and our feet slid across the ice as we began to shuffle across it. She attempted to stifle a giggle as we almost lost our balance and went down.
We made our way across the ice and I opened the next door, pulling Harper inside with me. I turned around to face her and she stared up at me with a curious look.
“Why’d you bring me to the penalty box?”
A smile touched my lips. “Do you remember the first game you photographed? It was the first time we saw each other since that night at the club.”
“Of course, I remember it. You ended up getting into a fight and got a penalty for it.”
I nodded and smiled as I backed up until the backs of my knees were hitting the bench. Releasing Harper, I reached for the waistband of my pants and shifted them down along with my boxers as I took a seat and pulled my cock out.
“I figured it was only fitting if we ended up in the penalty box together,” I murmured as I reached for her.
Harper pushed her own pants down to her ankles and left my jersey on as she closed the distance between us. She lifted her legs and straddled me on the bench. My cock was positioned against her and she slowly slid down the length of it until I filled her to the brim.
A moan escaped her and my hands gripped her hips as she began to move up and down. Her bright blue eyes glimmered as she stared down at me with a mischief dancing across her face.
“I will gladly meet you in the penalty box any day.”
Want more of Nico and Harper?
Click HERE to read the extended epilogue
The Lie of Us is the second book in the Orchid City Series. It is an angsty second chance romance that follows Malakai Barclay, a professional golfer, and Winter Reign, the one who got away.
Continue reading for a look inside The Lie of Us.
Prologue
Winter
“I can’t do this.”
His words were like a blow to my chest as I stared back at him in disbelief. My heart had cracked wide open and I was bleeding out onto the floor as the blood pooled around my feet.
“What do you mean?” I questioned him, my voice small and hesitant. My heart was barely a flutter in my chest anymore.
His jaw clenched and he ran his fingers through his dirty blond hair. I watched him curl his hands into fists, holding on to his hair as he gave the locks a tug. “I mean, I can’t fucking do this anymore, Winter. All I’m doing is destroying you.”
“You don’t get to be the one who makes that decision,” I told him as I closed the distance between us. I stepped closer to him as my throat constricted. “Look at me, Kai,” I urged with desperation.
He lifted his head with hesitation. His eyes were dark as they stared directly through me and into my soul. “I told you that you should have stayed away from me, Winter. I fucking warned you.”
“I didn’t want to stay away from you.”
“Well, now you don’t get the choice anymore,” he said with such conviction, it sent a shiver down my spine. His voice was hard and cold. Distant and detached. “I’m leaving tonight.”
His words were like a knife twisting deep inside my chest. “Where are you going?”
“As far away from you as possible.”
My sternum was being crushed under the weight of his words.
“We had a good time, Winter,” he said with such cruelty as the ice hardened in his eyes. The venom dripped from his tongue as his gaze sliced through me. “But that’s all it was and all it would ever be.”
Tears burned my eyes as I fought to conceal them from him. “Don’t do that.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Do what?”
“Act like this means nothing to you.” I paused as my voice wavered. “Like I mean nothing.”
Kai’s jaw tightened and his fingers were warm as he slid them under my jaw. His hand was a stark contrast to the coldness he exuded as he cupped the side of my face. “You are everything, which is why I have to leave. Consider it a blessing in disguise. I’m the only one who can save you from me.”
“Please stop saying that,” I begged him with desperation drowning my words. “You’re not damaged like you think you are.”
Kai’s eyes were wild as he stared back at me and he dropped his hand from my face. I instantly felt the absence of his warmth. The laughter that spilled from his perfect lips was harsh and hollow. It was rough and raw as it slid across my eardrums like sandpaper.
“I’m fucking broken beyond repair, darling. Please, just stop trying to fix me.”
I knew Kai was broken when I met him my freshman year of high school. He was a product of his environment. The lack of nurture had preceded nature and he was left to his own devices. He came from a wealthy family, but money could never buy the love he never received. He was merely a pawn in his father’s eyes and he was determined to burn the entire chessboard of his life to a pile of ash.
Whenever he got himself into trouble, his parents were always there to cover things up. They made his problems go away quietly, without leaving a mark on their family name and legacy. It seemed as though Malakai Barclay never suffered from the consequences of his actions to the outside world, but no one knew the truth.
No one else saw the bruises and scars that I did. The way they peppered his olive skin, hidden beneath his clothing. His father was a ruthless man and he wasn’t one to be challenged. That only added fuel to Kai’s fire and deepened his desire to reign terror down upon his family name.
Everyone thought he was just a troubled kid, but no one bothered to look at where the root of his problems were buried.
They were buried deep beneath the estate he lived in, entangling and entwining themselves in every empty crevice of his soul. Malakai Barclay was plagued by the demons his father had bred inside his mind.
In Kai’s eyes, he would never be enough.
“Please don’t leave me,” I pleaded as the tears spilled from my eyes. I fought an earnest battle against them, but I couldn’t hold them in any longer. The coldness that radiated from Kai had seeped into my bones and I shivered as I viciously swiped at my cheeks. “What about Vermont? We were supposed to go together.”
Kai’s eyes darkened under the moon that hung above us in the night sky. “I was never going to go with you, Winter.”
His words struck me, swiftly draining the air from my lungs in a rush. My lips parted and it felt like my world was turning upside down. “What?”
He shook his head as another frigid laugh escaped him. “What the fuck is there for me in Vermont?”
“Me,” I breathed without hesitation as he twisted the knife in my chest while pushing it in deeper. “We were supposed to go together. You and me.”
“There is no you and me, Winter. Stop being delusional,” he scoffed as the mask of ice slid across his features. “Did you really think college was even an option for me? I only made it through high school because of my father having the board in his back pocket.”
He was breaking my heart, tearing it to shreds and letting the pieces fall to the ground by our feet. Kai’s moments of vulnerability always made him cruel, but he was always different with me. He let me into places no one else would ever come close to touching. He was icing me out and I didn’t know how to get through to him.