Listen to My Heart

A few days later, it was Mike's arms I was waking up in. I was snuggled into his body tightly, his arms wrapped around me like if he let go I would fall down from the bunk of his bed. I squirmed slightly in his embrace, wondering what time it was. It was currently Sunday, the week before finals and I was doing my best to try and study each day, but last night had been a complete bust when I got a text from Mike that there was a party at the hockey house. We drank, danced, and laughed the whole night while Tony kept a keen eye on the two of us, making sure to poke into our conversation or dancing every once and awhile. I didn't even both to yell at him anymore because it was just wasted breath.

I stretched my arms above both Mike's and my head, before pressing my palms flat against his chest and pushing him away. I looked down at my body, a brief moment of relief passing through me when I realized I was still fully clothed, even if it was in Mike's clothes. My eyes fluttered to the sleeping hockey player who still had his arms loosely around me. I smiled at him, brushing a few stray pieces of blonde hair off of his forehead, kissing his cheeks and then his forehead as he began to stir.

"Hey," he mumbled sleepily, rubbing his eyes and then stretching his long body out.

"Hi." I murmured to him, rolling onto my back and looking up at the ceiling that was only a could feet above my head.

"Did you sleep good?" He asked me, his voice coated with sleep as he turned onto his side, holding me into his body. I titled my head against his shoulder, sighing quietly.

"Do you know what time it is?" I asked him, closing my eyes for another moment of relaxation before I knew I would have to leave. I didn't really want too, but I knew Tony had seen me leave with Mike and I wanted to avoid a fight if at all possible.

"It's almost 10." Mike murmured to me after looking over the wooden railing at his alarm clock. I sighed as he looked at me with those crystal, forgiving blue eyes. I wasn't sure why he put up with me and the drama Tony was forcing on the two of us, but I was kind of thankful that he did. Maybe that meant he was the real deal.

"I have to go." I told him, pulling away and beginning to push the covers off my body.

"Yeah, I actually have to head home anyway. My mom wants to get my Christmas list or something." He chuckled as we both climbed down from his bed. The beds were situated so that the sleeping part was on top and the bottom was a desk, a two in one sort of deal. Patrick White was sleeping in his bunk with his latest fling, a bra hanging off the lampshade in the corner of the room, next to the couch. Their activities had thankfully been over by the time Mike and I showed up last night.

"Interesting choice." I murmured, taking the zebra stripped bra and throwing it in Patrick's chair. Mike chuckled as he grabbed his keys off his desk as I grabbed my clothes.

"Do you want a bag?" He asked as I nodded, grabbing the plastic Target bag. "I don't know what to do about your shoes." He chuckled, pointing to the black boots I had in my hands, not exactly fitting for sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I bit my lip as he held up a finger. "You can use these. They are going to be too big but at least you won't have to walk barefoot." He handed me a pair of Adidas, black and white sandals, watching as I slipped them on my feet, a good third of the shoe not even covered by my foot.

"This should be interesting." I laughed as Mike opened the door, allowing me to go out first.

I was well aware of what it looked like I was doing as we walked down the stairs, silent as some people passed by, a few of them Mike's teammates. Cade Fairchild nearly spit out his water when he slid past Mike and I in the hall, his eyes twinkling as if he knew exactly what was going on. It probably didn't help that my hair was all over the place and desperately needed to be put up. I paused and did just that as Mike watched me with a small smile.

"Do you want me to bring you home? It would seriously be no big deal." He insisted as he headed to his Audi, standing next to the door. "It would probably make me feel better if I took you home."

"No, it's not that bad out and I could use the fresh air." I smiled, wrapped my arms around his trim waist and giving him a squeeze. We stood there for a moment, holding one another before I released him, smiling and flipping the hood of his sweatshirt over my head. "Maybe this will conceal my identity." I teased before waving goodbye.

I walked along the snowy and icy streets of the sidewalk, flopping around with Mike's flip flops and baggy sweatpants. It didn't matter how many times I rolled them, they were too big in the legs for me to walk normally. Tony's sweatpants only needed to be rolled before they could slid onto my legs and make me feel warm and comfy. I groaned at that thought, wondering why I always had to compare the two with the most simplest things.

I stopped in Dinkytown to wait for the light to cross the street, desperately needing some coffee, even if it did have to be from Caribou. My co-workers would probably shoot me on the spot if they saw me walk in, but I didn't have the time nor the energy to walk half way across the large campus just to get a mocha. I grabbed my coffee and start to suck it down immediately, needing the sweet buzz of the caffeine. I paused again at another stoplight, looking down at the baggy clothes and trying to avoid the obvious glances I was getting.

"What. The. Fuck." Tony's voice flew to my ears in a hiss. He has just walked across the street and stood in front of me, looking me up and down with a peeved expression. "You have got to be shitting me."

"Excuse me?" I asked him, taking a sip of my mocha and looking at him over the white lid.

"You know what I'm talking about!" He shrieked. "You slept with Hoef! What the hell!" He groaned the last part out in frustration, looking like he was going to be sick. I started at him with a blank expression for a moment, giving looks to the people who were gawking as they walked by. It wasn't every day where you got to watch a Gopher hockey player yell at a girl.

"I didn't sleep with Mike." I told him, licking my lips and remaining passive.

"Oh, God, this is terrible. Now I'm going to be thinking about the two of you banging. My brain, my eyes, it burns." He squeezed his eyes shut before they flashed open again, a deep anger burning in them. "How could you do that to me!? You're my best friend! You're not supposed to go around fucking my teammates! I don't care if you're dating Mike, you are not allowed to sleep with him!"

"This is why I hate having conversations with you when you have your head up your ass, which is 99% of the time." I sighed, walking across the street as Tony followed behind, hot on my heels.

"Don't try to bullshit me. I know you slept with him."

"Tony, you don't know anything." I snarled at him, shoving at his chest and wanting to knock him back into the oncoming traffic. "I did not sleep with any of your teammates."

"What do you mean any!? You're fooling around with more of them!?" He exclaimed, grabbing my forearm forcefully and pulling me to a stop. I cringed under the hard grip of his hand, wiggling in his grasp.

"You're hurting me, let go!" I hissed at him, finally able to break free. I winced as I touched the sore spot on my arm, sighing and looking him in the eye. "This all comes back to the whole, you don't listen to me when I'm talking, thing. I told you I did not sleep with Mike. You can either believe me or take a hike." I gave him a fake smile and turned on my heel, continuing my floppy walking towards my house. I could already feel the blood rushing beneath the forming bruise on my arm. I was slightly taken aback that he had actually dug his fingers that hard into me.

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Tony with an annoyed expression on his face, lips pursed and nose scrunched in irritation. He was upset that I was walking away and because he still thought I was lying to him. I shrugged my shoulders and kept walking, figuring that he would have to make a decision before I was out of his line of vision.

"Okay." Tony called, running to catch up with me. "I don't really know what to think, but I swear, if you had sex with him..."

"Bye!" I snapped at him, turning and actually debating throwing my hot coffee all over him. But I wasn't going to harm him in such a terrible way. I would have much rather have kicked him in the balls, but I couldn't even bring myself to do that to him.

"What?" He asked as if he really didn't get it.

"I told you to fuck off if you didn't believe me, yet you're still standing here." I hissed at him. "Seriously, just go away. I want nothing to do with you right now. You don't trust me, you jut gave me a fucking bruise, and you are being a fucking asshole. Call me when my best friend inhabits your body again."

"Brianna, I didn't mean to hurt you. It was an accident." Tony called to me, but stayed in his place. He could sense that I really needed my space from him. And it was true; for the first time since I fell in love with Tony, I didn't feel the pang of sadness when he disappeared from sight.
***

"What is this?" Mike asked the next day at the hockey house, his fingers brushing gently over the bruise that was in the form of Tony's fingers. I grimaced as the feather light touch, even that irritating the black and purple skin. I had no idea that Tony's fingers could leave such a brutal mark. It looked like someone had been trying to break my wrist with their bare hands, the bruise awful looking to the point where I couldn't even look at it without feeling a deep anger bubble up in my chest.

"Nothing." I insisted, shaking my head and tugging my arm away form his grasp. Joey was in the kitchen with us as well, grabbing my arm next, examining the color of my wrist.

"Did someone grab you?" Joey asked me, his head tilted curiously as his blue eyes looked at me. I didn't say anything as he studied me before looking down at the bruise. "Did Tony do this?" His voice was quiet as his eyes and fingers traced the bruise, looking at the finger prints and knowing as well as I did that they would match Tony's thick fingers perfectly.

"He didn't do it on purpose." I sighed, wondering why I was defending him when I knew he didn't deserve it.

"Who didn't do what on purpose?" Kara asked, walking into the kitchen and throwing her backpack onto the chair. She glanced at Joey and then down at my wrist, gasping and clasping her hands over her mouth. "Ohmygod! Who did this to you!? Was it Lucia? Tell me it was Lucia and I will cut his balls off." She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Yes it was Tony, and no, you're not going to do anything to him. I am." Mike growled from across the table. All eyes in the room shifted to the normally calm forward, his blue eyes dark and raging like the sea during a storm. I pursed my lips and cast Joey a worrying glance, grabbing my wrist and covering it back up.

"Seriously, I am going to take care of it." I insisted, running my hand through my hair and looking down at my finance book. Tony was supposed to help me study since he was majoring in the subject, but after yesterday I wasn't sure if I wanted his help.

"No, if he wants to go around leaving marks on innocent women, he needs to pay a fucking price. He should never grab you or hurt you in anyway, and I'm going to make sure he knows that." Mike insisted, his nostrils flaring as he pulled in short, jagged breaths.

"Mike, just take a deep breath." I murmured. "He is your teammate and you can't go around punching him."

"Says who? His daddy?" He spat out. I pursed my lips and looked to Joey who sighed, and looked right back at me with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I said so. It's not okay and I don't want this to go from a personal problem to a team problem."

"Once I beat the shit out of him, it won't be a problem anymore." Mike shrugged his shoulders, tilting his head to both sides and then cracking his knuckles. He looked ridiculous, but I wouldn't lie that it was sexy to watch him be so adamant about defending me. Plus, he could do more damage than I could.

The door opened and closed downstairs and I felt my breathing hitch and my heart begin to pound uncomfortably in my chest. It was like being on the battlefield and waiting for the first shot to be fired. Tony's voice was heard as he ended a call on his cellphone, appearing in the doorway of the kitchen. All eyes were locked on him as he looked up. His eyes were on me first, trailing down to my wrist which was on display after Kara had pulled back my sleeve to see it. His eyes widened and he looked taken aback, eyes narrowing in on Mike and the blonde stood up. Joey crossed the room and stood in between Tony and Mike.

"Tony, we need to talk." Joey started, but he would never get to talk to Tony.

Mike flew across the room shoving Joey out of the way roughly as Kara barked out to Mike, who was too busy throwing Tony to the floor to hear her. I clasped my hands over my mouth and watched as Mike grabbed Tony's sweatshirt with his fists, shaking him once while getting right in his face.

"What the fuck is your problem, Looch? Where do you get by grabbing Brianna so hard that it bruises that bad?" Mike spat down at Tony, anger boiling in his body as Tony's temper began to flare, the shock of being thrown to the floor completely gone. His large hands grabbed grabbed Mike's wrists and then slid to Mike's chest, knocking him backwards.

"I wasn't trying to hurt her. It was an accident." Tony snapped, rolling his shoulders back, in pain from how hard he hit the floor. His eyes flicked to me for a moment, but he wasn't going to get any sympathy from me. His eyebrows knitted together in pain before he looked back at Mike who was lumbering to his feet. Tony stood as well, rolling his shoulders back and facing Mike, ready for whatever came next.

"You guys, this doesn't need to be solved like this." Joey voiced but didn't bother to get in between them.

"You're right." Mike insisted, nodding and looking down at the ground. My eyebrows drew down before shot up in realization as he launched himself across the kitchen again, grabbing Tony but this time by the throat. He landed two punches against Tony's cheek before Joey pulled him off of Tony, slamming him back down into his chair.

"Knock it off!" Joey bellowed, keeping a hard grip on Mike's shoulder. The best friend part of me was completely overwhelmed by the part of me that was so angry, that I didn't even bother getting up to see if he was alright. As a matter of fact, nobody got up to check on Tony. Kara stayed seated, Joey kept a firm hold on Mike, while I stayed sitting, looking over at Tony as he slowly began to turn side to side on the ground, holding his cheek. I tried to muster up some sympathy, to feel bad that he had just been delivered two hard hits to the face, but I couldn't. I was too mad, too hurt, and too irritated to feel bad for him. Maybe next week.

"I think it's time for you to go." Joey murmured to me, jerking his head in the direction of Mike as well. I nodded and stood up, grabbing Mike's hand and lacing our fingers together, leading him past Tony to make sure he didn't go after him again. I didn't feel bad, but Tony had already been pushed around enough. Mike and I walked out of the house together, having no idea that Tony was watching, more hurt puncturing his heart than he had ever experienced before.
***

"Oh.. my.." I breathed out as Mike unclasped my bra, his lips brushed against the creamy skin of my chest.

It didn't take long for the reality of what Mike had done for me to sink in, how sexy it had been watching him show me how a real man stood up for his girl. He was the only one besides Tony who had punched someone from me and for some reason the fact that it was Tony, the one person who had the power to destroy me, gave it a whole new level of sentiment.

My head titled back, hitting the door that I was pressed up against as Mike smirked against my skin. He pulled my chin down so I had to look him in the eye. His smirk melted into a smile as his eyes scanned my face. "You know I would protect you from everything I can." He whispered against my lips, his breath fanning out across my face as my eyes fluttered closed.

"Yeah." I whispered, allowing myself to get lost in the feel of his hands caressing my butt. He pushed us off from the door, walking us to the couch and setting me down on it. My bra had fallen to the floor when he walked and I was not exposed to him from the waist up. His eyes scanned over me greedily, eyes taking in my belly button ring before his calloused fingers ran over it slowly and then trailed up my stomach to my breasts, leaving a trail of goosebumps as they went. I sucked in a surprised breath as his pointer fingers circled my already puckered nipples, teasingly stroking until his thumbs brushed against the sensitive buds. I groaned and tilted my head back, feeling the want and need pool between my legs.

One of Mike's hands slid back down my body, unbuttoning my jeans and tugging the zipper down as well. His hand danced around the waistband of my jeans, making me groan in frustration as he left my jeans as they were, doing nothing to cool the pounding in that area. He dipped his head from my lips down to press against my neck. I shuddered as he nipped at the smooth skin before kissing his way along my collarbone and to the middle of my chest, his head surrounded by my mounds of flesh. 

He glanced up at me for a moment, looking into my lust coated eyes before beginning to kiss his way along my right breast before sucking my nipple into his mouth. A loud, strangled groan was pushed from my throat, my hands racing through his hair and resting at the back of his neck, pulling at his hair roughly. His tongue flicked at the bud as his other hand rolled the other into an equally tight pucker. I sucked in a sharp breath, opening my mouth to breath out his name, but something else tumbled out instead.

"Oh Tony," I whispered breathlessly.

Mike paused instantly, jerking away from my breast, the wetness from his mouth and the air from his jerking away making it tighten even more. My mouth was dropped open in surprise and all the air was taken away from my lungs as Mike looked down at me.

"What did you just call me?" He asked, his eyebrows knitting together as he sat back on his heels, looking up at me. I didn't know what to say so I looked away, reaching for a blanket and covering my body. When I looked back at Mike, I knew my look had confirmed what he already knew, and he didn't look to happy. "I think you should go." He whispered to me, looking at his desk. I was still for a moment, the world whirling around me as I tried to grab ahold and process everything that just happened.

I gathered my things as quickly as I could, pulling my sweatshirt back on and grabbing my bra from the floor before flying out the door, leaving a hurt Mike in his dorm, thinking that Joey had been right all along; I would only ever love Tony.