The Captain Doesn't know I'm A Girl

Chapter18

I pulled away almost immediately, but his grip tightened around my wrist, locking me in place.

"Does your rule include you touching me?" I scoffed, my chest tightening with a mix of anger and sudden panic. You are unbelievably bossy. You don't get to control me just because you're the captain.

If he kept pushing like this, my secret was going to get exposed.

"You are also unbelievably rude and stubborn," he muttered, his voice dropping into a low, challenging roll.

I twisted my arm, straining against his fingers to break free. He just laughed, a short, mocking sound that rattled my nerves. Tilting his head, he stared down at me, clearly amused by my struggle.

"Do you think I'm like Liam or Nathaniel, who you easily flipped over like a rag?" He licked his lips, a slow, deliberate smile spreading across his face.

My heart did a strange flip, but I forced the feeling down, desperately trying to yank myself out of his reach. Instead, he pulled me flush against him and spanked my ass hard. The sharp sting on my backside left me completely frozen.

I blinked, stunned, while he looked at me like he’d done nothing out of the ordinary. Then he paused. He looked down at his own palm, then narrowed his eyes at me, his gaze turning sharp and analyzing.

"You pervert," I choked out, my face burning.

"Pervert? How?" Confusion clouded his features, though his grip didn't slacken. "Why was it so soft?" he demanded, looking at me intently for an answer.

What did he expect? Of course it was soft, because I am a girl for Christ sake.

Panic flared hot in my throat. I yanked hard at his hands. "You really need to keep your hands to yourself!" I snapped.

"Did I drive all the way from my house for practice just to hear you two flirt?" Liam's deadpan voice cut through the air. He ripped off his blindfold, his eyes tight with irritation. "You may as well marry each other so the rest of us can actually practice," he hissed.

"I’ve been breathing heavily like a goat waiting for you guys to finish up," Nathaniel chipped in, groaning as he slid down to sit on the ice, pulling his own blindfold off. "Can't you just wait until you get home?"

Mortification hit me full force.

"Did someone say flirt? Okay, now I am done breathing," Theodore teased, his voice thick with faux-dramatic shock. He didn't hesitate to yank off his blindfold, letting it drop as a smug, knowing grin spread across his face.

Locking eyes with Nico, he gave a slow, deliberate wink. "Don't tell me you purposely told us to cover our eyes so you could kiss."

"Just shut up, all of you. Nothing happened," Nico growled as he immediately let go of my arm and skated toward the front of the rink without another word. I stood there, rooted to the spot, as the rest of the team removed their blindfolds.

"Let's just practice the normal way until Jace is ready to coach us," Nico announced to the group, completely ignoring me.

I started to glide forward to join the line, but Nico shook his head, stopping me cold. "You won't be joining us today. For your punishment, you'll be doing forty push-ups with Theodore on your back." He delivered the sentence casually, as if it were a totally normal request.

"What? No way," I argued, folding my arms tightly across my chest. "Theodore's shorts stink. I can't do that."

"Excuse me?" Theodore's head snapped toward me, his jaw dropping in offense. "First it was my breath, and now my shorts?"

Nico didn't look amused at all. He stared at me as if I had just insulted his entire existence. "Then you'd be better off cleaning the toilets and scrubbing every locker."

I stared at him in utter disbelief, wondering if he had totally lost his mind. "But that will take hours!"

"Then you better hurry up, pretty boy." His lips curved into a slow smirk.

The words made me choke on my own breath. The pitch of his voice when he said it felt way too slow, almost seductive.

"Better than carrying Theodore," I mumbled, instantly bending down to unlace my skates. I looked over at Damian, throwing him a quick, desperate wink. "My sister wants to go on a date with you. Please don't turn her down."

With that, I turned on my heel and marched off toward the locker room to face the ridiculous chore the arrogant snake had assigned me.

Before the door swung shut, I caught a final glimpse of Nico's face. The amusement was entirely gone, replaced by a cold, unreadable expression.

*******

I had spent hours scrubbing the toilet and the floor. Now, I was finally working on the lockers, wiping them down one by one just before the nineteen boys flooded inside.

The heavy, stifling smell of sweat filled the room the second they walked in. As they started stripping out of their gear, anxiety gripped my chest, making it hard to breathe. They had absolutely no idea there was a girl standing right in their midst.

I quickly dropped my head, pretending to be completely absorbed in my cleaning.

A tall shadow fell over me. A familiar scent of smoky pineapple and birch hit me, and I instantly knew who it was. Looking up, my eyes locked onto his. Nico’s intense brown gaze pinned me to the spot, trapping me.

"That's enough, Jace. I believe you learned your lesson not to be a brat," he murmured. That snobbish smirk returned to his lips, making my knuckles itch with the urge to punch it right off his face.

"If I am a brat, don't forget you are the captain," I shot back, defiance flaring through my panic. "My actions just reflect who you are."

Surprisingly, he let the attitude slide, as if accepting my stubbornness for once. He reached out and snatched the small towel from my hands, tossing it to the floor. "Go and take a shower."

"I have to go. I'll just shower at home," I stammered. A wave of dread hit me. Every single time he showed a hint of concern, it was usually a trap that ended with me almost exposing my secret.

"Don't be ridiculous, Jace. You really want to carry that toilet stench home?" He lifted an eyebrow in genuine amusement.

Since when did he actually care?

"I wouldn't want you rubbing it off on Jade," he added.

"No thank you," I snapped, brushing past his shoulder to escape.

He didn't bother following. Instead, he gripped the hem of his top and pulled the jersey off. For some stupid reason, my feet glued themselves to the floor. I stood there, waiting anxiously.

My stomach twisted into a tight knot; I desperately wanted to see whatever had poked against me that night.

Finally, he turned his back to me to slide his shorts down, revealing nothing but his bare shoulders and his butt. I swallowed hard, staring fixedly as if he were the only thing left in the room.

"You know he’s right there. You could just walk over instead of standing in the corner peeping," Theodore chuckled, tilting his head with a playful eyebrow waggle.

Heat rushed to my face. I looked away in pure shame, completely caught red-handed.

Hearing the commotion, Nico turned his head slightly. "So who's the pervert now?" he taunted, throwing my own words back at me from our earlier argument at the training rink.

"I was looking at something else entirely!" I defended myself, my voice rising in a sharp panic.

"Yeah, right. If you were that desperate to see my meat, you could have just asked. I'll gladly show you," he teased, his voice dropping into a low, mocking rumble.

I forced a rough scoff, mortified that he had seen right through me.

"So you actually like him," Theodore concluded. He grabbed a towel and casually dried his lower body without a shred of modesty. If he ever found out I was a girl, he would probably lead the police straight to me, considering how many times I had accidentally stared at his junk.

I forced my expression to go blank, trying my absolute best to act like one of the guys.

"Actually, I think Nico likes Jade," Nathaniel said, turning to the rest of the room. "The way he follows her around like a lovesick puppy completely pisses me off."

"Finally, someone gets it," Nico muttered. He let out a heavy sigh, looking as though a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He grabbed his own towel, keeping his front carefully hidden, and wrapped it around his waist before spinning back around.

He always managed to hide himself so perfectly, selfish jerk.

"I am straight as f**k, and you should know that by now. Stop feeding your delusions," Nico barked, trying to shut Theodore down.

Theodore rolled his eyes dramatically. "But she obviously likes Damian. She even asked him out on a date."

Nico’s eyes flashed with sudden irritation as he glared across the locker room.

"Wow, I’d love to see who she actually picks in the end," Liam chimed in, sounding thoroughly amused by the drama. "And that person definitely won't be Nico."

"Shut up, it’s not even a competition." That confident, arrogant smirk crept back onto Nico’s face. "Damian doesn't even like her, so she’s all mine."

"Actually, I do like her," Damian’s cold, detached voice cut through the noise, instantly freezing the room.