Follow the Echoes // Ryan Lindgren, New York Rangers

Chapter Eleven

Ryan is distracted. He cannot bring himself to focus on the run. Usually, his mind is very in tune with his body, which helps with his discipline and strengthens his ability to endure long distance running. Today is different.

Today, he is a few steps behind Sydney, which is rare as he always leads their runs. He is so lost in his thoughts that it has slowed his pace. It is a miracle that Sydney did not make any comments about his strange behavior today. If this had occurred months ago, she would make a comment about his lack of stamina and she would be relentless. However, since that night at their home game, the dynamic between them has changed drastically.

He had confronted her about her feelings for Adam, which was totally unexpected. The appearance of Casey brought out Sydney's past insecurities and Ryan knew that very well, maybe too well. He did not know what came over him when he identified Sydney's feelings plainly on her face. It was unusual for him to have no impulse control, but last night was one of those nights. He wanted to know where Sydney stood in terms of her ex-boyfriend.

Ryan could not help himself. He had to know. As tempting as he can dress this up as concern for his defensive partner, he knows this is not true. Adam is more than capable of taking care of himself, even when it comes to this witch of a woman. When he walked into that break room to greet Casey, he could not help but notice how incredibly sexy the younger Kreider sibling looked wearing their team's jersey. He knew she was wearing her brother's jersey, but he could not help but wonder what it would do to him if she wore his jersey number, as taboo as it was for the thought to have crossed his mind.

She was hurt and against every warning he had given himself, he had to try to console her and take advantage of her moment of weakness to find out if she was still in love with Adam. Ryan must come to terms with the fact that he was relieved when she told him he was wrong to assume that she still wanted her ex-boyfriend. He has to admit that he wants her and has been victim to her allure. He had set his mind to preventing Sydney Kreider from pulling Adam back into her spell, but instead, he has been the one who has been bewitched by her.

The best he can do is fight the unwanted feelings and urge to act on them. The first step needs to be cutting her out of his life anyway he can, starting from their morning runs. However, running with Sydney in Central Park has been such a vital part of his morning routine that he does not know if he can bring himself to stop. Besides, forcing himself to cut himself off from frequent contact with Sydney is easier said than done.

"Oh fuck!" Ryan hears Sydney curse and slows her speed before he feels the rain on him.

The pair slowly turns their run into jogs and then eventually, the jogging turns into a walk. The rain has not stopped, unrelenting. Ryan can see that Sydney is drenched from head to toe and cannot help but notice the way the wet fabric of her attire hugs her figure when drenched. He could have sworn she was doing the same thing to him after she stopped to glance at him.

Sydney did not say much to him when she jogged up to him at their meeting spot this morning. This is their first meeting since the night outside the break room at Madison Square Garden. Ryan expected her to be angry or continue screaming at him for confronting her about her feelings and taking advantage of her moment of weakness. However, she greeted him politely and started the run. She had not said a word to him since. Silence from Sydney Kreider is rare, which is why Ryan knows that he royally pissed her off or hurt her feelings.

She continues to look at him. When he does not say anything to her, she speaks up.

"Looks like this rain is not letting up. Should we stop for today?"

Ryan shakes his thoughts off to think about their current predicament. They are drenched from head to toe in the middle of a winter day. His condo is about a five-minute walk away from where they are. Sydney is at least a twenty-minute walk away. Don't, he warns himself.

"Yes, I'm certainly done," his chest tightens at the realization that he is not going to be able to stop himself, "I'm about two blocks from here, do you want to dry off before I drive you back to your place?"

Sydney looks down at her soaked outfit and back up at him as if she is trying to prevent herself from taking his invite. He knows his offer is extremely tempting since the other option involves her calling an Uber to go back to Chris's penthouse while her clothes are literally sticking to her. Besides, she has to pay for a ride and Ryan reckons that she does not want to spend the money.

"Sure," she finally says.

Dear God, what am I doing? Ryan beckons for her to follow him out of the park trail and out into the street. He does not say anything to her during the walk back to his place since the way things left off between the two was strange. Ryan cannot think of anything snarky to say at the moment, which the pouring rain hitting him does not help with either. Surprisingly, Sydney maintains her silence, and Ryan tells himself that he is relieved for not having to deal with her constant blabbering.

The two walks into Ryan's building after the doorman rushes to push the front door open. Ryan greets him casually before pushing the button for the elevator. Sydney stands beside him, still quiet.

"Have a good day, Mr. Lindgren!" The doorman calls out as the elevator door opens.

Sydney snorts as she walks into the elevator after Ryan. Ryan presses the button to his floor and turns to her with an eyebrow raised.

"What was that, SK?"

She stares back at him in amusement.

"Mister," she replies mockingly.

He tries to hide a smile from his face since it is not good for his usual business of finding a way to roast or insult her.

"That's what your mom calls me when we're..." Ryan starts his usual but stops abruptly.

Sydney giggles.

"You do realize that my mom is also Chris's..."

"Yes," Ryan cuts in, grimacing, "that's why I stopped."

"That was really bad, Lindgren."

He knows.

"Whatever," he says dismissively, "if you were not related to Kreids, it would've been good."

She shakes her head.

"You're a grown ass man making 'your mom' jokes. Do better, Lindgren."

The elevator stops on his floor, and he walks out without another word to her. She is right. He has been off his game this morning. He could not get his head in the game during the run, and he most certainly cannot find the perfect comeback for Sydney's quips right now.

Ryan takes out his keys and unlocks the door to his condo. Once the lock turns, he opens the door and steps aside to let Sydney into the space. He walks in after her, closing the door behind him.

"Wow, this is not what I expected," she murmurs.

His condo is relatively modest compared to most people living the high life in Upper East Side Manhattan. However, this is still an expensive property with top of the line amenities. Sydney glances at his granite kitchen counter, visibly impressed by its prestige condition. Ryan does not cook very much, so of course the kitchen looks clean and is almost as good as brand new.

"Bathroom is this way," he interrupts her walkthrough of his place, gesturing toward the direction of his master bedroom.

He follows Sydney into his bedroom. She examines his unmade bed and scowls at it.

"As I said, do better, Lindgren."

He rolls his eyes.

"Bathroom is this way," he practically pushes her to the direction of his master bathroom, which is connected to his bedroom through the door.

The raven-haired woman walks into the bathroom. Ryan hears her sigh in awe.

"Amazing! A five piece master bath," she exclaims, "did not know you can get this in the Upper East Side with non-Norris trophy money."

He scowls at her jab.

"That joke is getting old, Syd. You can use the shower. Hot water comes on pretty fast. I'm going to get you some towels," he turns to leave the bathroom to get spare towels from his bedroom closet.

Ryan notices that water is dripping from his clothes and falling onto the carpet floor. He sighs in annoyance as he pulls his track jacket and shirt over his head, tossing the wet clothes into his laundry basket. He opens the closet to find a pile of towels. In the background he can hear Sydney turn the shower on from the bathroom. Hold on, lady, I need to get your towels.

He pulls two purple towels from the closet and walks back to the bathroom to leave them with Sydney.

"I got you two towels just in case you need..." he stops in his track when he notices that Sydney has already taken her jacket off and is wearing nothing but her sports bra and leggings.

His eyes try to remain on her face and not wander like they do every single time. She has caught him checking her out more times than he would like and now is not the time for him to get caught again. She is literally about to hop into his glass walk-in shower. However, when he refocuses his gaze on her face, he can see that her eyes are focused on his upper torso. Ryan forgets that he had taken his jacket and top off so his chest is completely bare for her eyes to feast upon.

Her eyes slowly wander back up to him and he is taken aback by the look in her eyes. Her eyes regard him with what he identifies as desire, and he swears he has never seen her look at him that way. Even though things have changed between them, and he finds himself less and less willing to fight off his attraction towards her, he did not expect this.

Before he can turn around and leave the dark-haired beauty alone to take her shower, she closes the brief distance between them and presses her lips against his roughly. While taken by surprise, Ryan reciprocates naturally. His arms immediately snake around her waist as his mouth moves quickly against hers in response. Sydney lets out a low moan as he presses her back against the cold tile of his bathroom wall.

At this moment, he cannot bring himself to think about how wrong this all is. His focus is only on how much he wants to take this further with her. He gently tugs at the waist band of her leggings and Sydney breaks away from him to pull her leggings down her leggings. Without hesitating, she kicks them off of her and proceeds to pull her sports bra over her head. Ryan's eyes immediately avert to her bare chest and perky nipples, and the sight of Sydney Kreider stripped down naked in front of him causes his nether region to harden.

Sydney smiles at him seductively, as if she knows exactly what she is doing to him and jumps into the shower. She beckons for him to follow her and he does not have to think twice before obliging. Ryan quickly kicks off his track pants and boxers, jumping into the shower after her. She immediately wraps both arms around him and reconnects their lips. Ryan presses his body closer to her, feeling her bare chest against his. Ignoring the running water on them both, he gently pushes her against the wall below the shower head. He can feel Sydney wrap a leg around his waist as another moan leaves her lips.

Ryan decides to deepen the kiss and slip his tongue inside her mouth. She reciprocates immediately with her tongue as their mouths continue to move roughly against each other. Sydney places a hand on his bicep, giving his muscle a tight squeeze. He is using the strength of one arm to hold her against the tiled wall and using the other to slowly trail up her leg that is not wrapped around him. She gasps against his lips as his fingers gently trace up her inner thigh.

Slowly, his fingers travel up to the opening of her vagina, which forces a whimper from Sydney. Their lips break apart to allow them a moment to catch their breath. As they both stare at each other, panting, Ryan slips two fingers into her and gently pumps them in and out of her. Sydney closes her eyes and bites her lower lips to suppress her moans. He presses his forehead against hers, picking up his pace based on her reaction. Her body buckles against his and gyrates to the rhythm his fingers are moving at. Ryan can feel how wet she is on his fingers and her gasps start turning into moans. His cock hardens at the sound of her pleasure, and he wants more than anything to be inside of her at this moment.

"You're so wet," he whispers against her ears.

Sydney's moans reverberate louder inside the shower as his fingers move in and out of her even faster than before. He presses his lips against hers again. While she reciprocates for a moment, she pulls away from him and stares up at him pleadingly.

"I want this, now," she whispers, "do you have condoms?"

Ryan nods, reaching over her to turn off the shower head. His fingers stop abruptly and leaves her body at last. She whimpers, as if begging him to not stop.

"They're in the drawers of my bedside table," he removes himself from her completely and steps out of the shower to retrieve their towels.

Sydney grabs her towel from Ryan and wraps it around herself to dry off. She continues to look at him with the same hunger in her eyes. He knows that she wants to take this further, and while he is able to remind himself that what he is about to do is a violation of the bro code, he does not want to stop himself. He can feel guilty about it later, but right now, he wants to finish this with the witch of a woman in front of him.

He dries himself off quickly and turns back to her to pick her up. Sydney squeals at the unexpected gesture and giggles as he carries her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. He gently places her on his bed, reaching over to his bedside table to get a pack of condoms. He rips open the packaging with his teeth and pulls out the rubber. As he places the object on his penis, he looks down at the woman below him. God damn, she is hot.

Ryan may have secretly envisioned Sydney Kreider lying on his bed naked a couple of times in the last few years, but he never thought that they would actually end up in this situation. She is completely submitting herself to him, lying in his bed and begging him to take her with just a look.

"Do you want to do this?" Ryan asks right as his cock grazes the opening of her pussy.

Sydney nods profusely, nearly positioning herself to force him inside her. He chuckles at her and obliges. She is tight around him, which he did not expect. Judging by what she told him, she has had sex more than a couple of times since the last time she left New York. However, she feels just perfect to him.

He starts off slow, since he is not sure how rough he should be going with her. Her body writhes under him at the contact and it seems like she is fine with his pace so far. He dips his head down to press his lips against hers. Her lips take his quickly and the urgency in her response gives him the impression that she wants him to pick up the pace.

Ryan thrusts in and out of her at a faster pace, to Sydney's delight. Her moans are suppressed by his mouth over hers until he pulls away from her to allow him more movement. At this point, he is moving so roughly against her that his bed is squeaking and the headboard is thumping against the wall. One of Sydney's hands moves up to grip the side of the headboard as Ryan's movement against her intensifies. He feels her tighten around him and her body shaking uncontrollably, which prompts him to slow down progressively.

She pants for breath for a few seconds before buckling her hips against his to urge him to pick up his pace again. He smirks at her in amusement but obliges anyway. His hands slowly trail up her body until they are brushing against her breasts. His fingers gently knead her nipples, which sparks a reaction out of her. He feels himself on the edge and curses himself for not being able to go longer than he wants to. He removes his hands from her chest and allows one hand to move up to her throat. He wraps his hand around her neck and squeezes gently.

Fuck, he almost stops in realization, does she like choking?

Sydney's gaze on him darkens with desire, and he takes this as a sign that she wants him to keep going. He runs with it and continues thrusting against her until he is unable to stop himself from releasing. Once he stops, he slowly pulls himself out of the woman beneath him. She releases a sign as he falls to the spot in the bed beside her.

"I'm sorry," he surprises himself by apologizing.

Sydney turns to him, stunned.

"Trust me, there is nothing you need to be apologizing for."

He grins at her cockily.

"So I was great, wasn't I?"

Sydney groans in irritation.

"Did you really have to remind me that you are you?"

He laughs lightly before turning away from her to face the ceiling. The realization hits him that he just had sex with Sydney, his best friend's ex-girlfriend and his teammate's younger sister. He knows he is in so much trouble for what he just did, but he does not feel an ounce of regret. If anything, he finds himself wishing this was not a one time thing.

"I really should not have done that," Sydney says aloud, voicing his exact thoughts.

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

"I definitely should not be having sex with an ex-boyfriend's friend," she continues, "and making Chris's life more difficult."

Ryan sighs.

"So do you think we should keep this between us or 'fess up to them?"

"Of course we keep this between us," Sydney says matter-of-factly.

She is the devil.

"Alright, SK, just don't want you to get your feelings hurt," Ryan warns.

She scoffs.

"My feelings are not going to get hurt, you're literally you. I'll be fine."

He rises from the bed and walks over to his closet to get something to wear.

"Whatever you say," he pulls out a pair of boxer briefs and slips them on, "do you need to borrow a sweater or something to get you home in?"

There is a pause at Sydney's end.

"Don't worry, I won't charge you for this."

"Ok then, I would really appreciate it," Sydney replies, "can you also grab my phone from the bathroom counter?"

Ryan pulls out a Rangers Crewneck sweater from the bottom drawer inside his closet and tosses the article towards Sydney. She catches the sweater with ease and slips it on as Ryan walks back to the bathroom to get her phone.

When he picks up her phone, he accidentally reads the top notification that just popped up on the screen. The notification is from the Tinder app, notifying Sydney that she has matched with someone. He looks over at Sydney, amused and maybe a little jealous. He knows she is trying to look for hookups, based on what happened the night at the bar, but he did not think she was actively looking for sex on a dating app.

"Tinder? Really, Syd?"

He walks back to the bedroom to give her the phone. She grabs it out of his hand and glares at him.

"Don't you start with me," she says, "a girl gets horny and wants some dick sometimes."

Ryan smirks at her.

"That's a weird way to say 'thank you' but you're welcome, Happy to help!"

Sydney groans loudly at his response and the next thing he knows, the sweater that he gave her is tossed back at him towards his head.

"You are SO infuriating, Ryan Lindgren!"

He has never felt so satisfied getting under her skin, and it is going to be a while until someone can pull him out of this high.