Follow the Echoes // Ryan Lindgren, New York Rangers

Chapter Fourteen

Ryan opens his eyes to see that it is bright and early out. He curses to himself when he realizes that he forgot to pull the curtains down. His face scrunches up at the direct sunlight and he turns to his side to avoid it. His heart skips a beat as his eyes land on the dark-haired beauty beside him. Sydney is still asleep, clearly unbothered by the sunlight.

After they had sex last night, it was a bit awkward between them. Sydney was not sure if she should head home or stay. He did not want to drive her back to Chris's. He was tempted to call an Uber for her but some part of him compelled him to ask her if she wanted to stay the night. She was shocked when he asked, and he did not blame her. He was surprised by his desire to have her around. He is not sure where all of this came from. Sydney Kreider is bad news, and he knew it from the get-go. However, he now finds himself wanting this to go on for as long as possible.

Ryan, even after receiving a message from Angelika, wants nothing than to spend more time with Sydney. It is infuriating that it has to be her. He could not bring himself to fall back to the old habit of Angelika, even if he believes she is the better option for him now. It's the sex, he tells himself, it has to be.

The sound of Sydney shifting brings Ryan's attention back to the present moment. Sydney's eyes open slowly, indicating that the blaring sunlight has finally forced her to wake up. Her dark eyes widen momentarily as they take in her surroundings. When her eyes land on him, she musters a small smile.

"Hey."

"You sleep ok?" Ryan asks, trying to ignore the fact that she still looks so damn good first thing in the morning.

She rubs her eyes and stifles a yawn.

"Yeah, but why is it so damn bright in here?" She turns to the direction of his windows.

The benefit of living in a condo with comically large windows that overlook the Upper East Side Manhattan is being able to enjoy the city view. However, at this moment, Sydney can see how annoying it can be if the curtains are not drawn and she wants to sleep in on a Saturday morning.

"You forgot to pull down the curtains," she comments.

"Sorry, was kind of distracted last night," Ryan replies.

Sydney smirks proudly as if gloating about his response. She-devil, Ryan thinks to himself.

"I could go for round two if you can," she winks at him.

This woman is a witch, Ryan curses himself for falling under her spell. He cannot decline this offer. She is looking way too appealing to him now with her messy hair and the way her body looks in his T-shirt.

"Sure," he obliges.

"Really love the enthusiasm this morning," she quips sarcastically.

His eyes trail down to her body and to her bare legs. He shifts in his spot on the bed and closes in on the space between them. Sydney immediately wraps a leg around him. He feels his body ache with desire as he grabs her lower waist.

"I am being held by you against my will," Ryan says with a straight face, "must I feign enthusiasm too?"

Sydney rolls her eyes at him.

"You're so annoying."

She makes the first move without waiting for a response from him. Despite his hold on her, Sydney positions herself on top of him. Her lips are on his instantly and he reciprocates without hesitation. His arms travel up her thighs and stop at her ass. He gives them a few squeezes as she gasps against his mouth. Sydney uses a free hand to palm his cock through his boxers, forcing a groan out of him. He breaks away from the kiss so that he can focus on pulling the undergarment off him.

Sydney glances at his exposed cock hungrily.

"Oh my, no matter how much you hate me, I can still get you going," she crouches down and slowly puts her mouth over his shaft.

He did not have a chance to offer a retort like he wanted to. Instead, he closes his eyes as she wraps a hand around the bottom of his shaft. Sydney begins bobbing her head and moving her hand to the same rhythm. He did not expect Sydney to be so damn good at this before last night. Sure, it is his understanding that she had done this a lot after she broke up with Adam, but what she is doing right now is mind blowing to him and that is hard to achieve.

Ryan has to fight himself not to explode in her mouth right now. He has to endure longer so he can please her the way she is pleasing how right now. After a few more minutes, Ryan's hand gently grips on the side of her head. He nudges her head slightly, prompting her to let go and remove her mouth from his cock. She looks at him, hunger still in her eyes. He can sense a bit of annoyance that he interrupted her.

"My turn," he gasps, "down on your back."

Sydney's look of slight annoyance turns into a mischievous smirk quickly.

"No."

He balks.

"Excuse me?"

Sydney pulls Ryan's shirt off her body and tosses the article to the side, leaving her completely naked. He takes the time to examine her bare body and his cock stiffens again.

"I said no," Sydney repeats.

Ryan scowls.

"I'm stronger than you."

Sydney reaches for one of his hands and guides it between her legs.

"Feel how wet I am," she purrs, "I want you inside me now and I will not wait a second longer."

Ryan moves his fingers inside of her, feeling the wetness instantly. She's not kidding. He slowly pumps his fingers in and out of her as he uses his free hand to reach into his drawer for a condom. Sydney moans lowly as she grinds against his fingers. Ryan rips the wrapper open with his mouth and quickly fits the rubber over his cock. When he is ready, he slowly slides his fingers out of her. Sydney stops moving, biting her lips at his seductively.

"You're riding today?" Ryan asks huskily.

Sydney nods.

"Ok, come here," Ryan places his hands on either side of her hips and positions her so that he can enter her.

She lets out a sigh as soon as his hard cock enters her.

"Sit up," she breathes out, "it'll feel better."

Ryan does not need to be told twice. He sits up and immediately feels her at a different angle. Sydney starts riding him at a slower rhythm. He can feel and hear her wetness as she moves herself over his shaft. Her eyes close and her mouth widens slightly to let out a few moans. She is so fucking hot.

It is so hard for him to not turn her over and take control since all he wants to do is ravage her. He respects that she wants to be in charge this morning after letting him throw her around and dominate her the first few times.

"Fuck, Syd" Ryan whispers under his breath.

Sydney picks up her speed as the sound of her moans intensifies. Ryan tightens his grip on either side of her hips as they move her up and down his cock to her rhythm. She feels so tight and warm inside of him, and he is again finding himself fighting to endure longer. After a few moments of Sydney ramming herself against him, he can feel her shaking and slow her pace a bit.

"Fuck," she breathes out.

"Can you keep going?" Ryan asks, also breathless.

She nods and increases her pace again.

This doesn't have to be a competition, Syd, but Ryan is not complaining as he feels his cock tighten even more than before.

Ryan has no idea how he has been able to hold off for so long, but Sydney continues to ride him with his hands guiding her hips. After what feels like another ten minutes, he can tell she is starting to get tired. He knows she is not going to stop until he comes, and since she is making this a competition, he fights to make this last longer.

They continue to go at it, until Ryan finally cannot hold back anymore. He lets out a groan as he releases his grip on her hips and falls back on the bed. Sydney stops and collapses on his chest. The two stay like this for a few moments, chest heaving. Ryan wraps both arms around her before he can stop himself. She reciprocates by wrapping her arms around the side of his neck. Are we fucking cuddling right now? But Ryan does nothing to move.

"All that running has helped build your endurance, eh?" Ryan says teasingly.

Sydney chuckles.

"Yeah, consider this a preview of me kicking your team's ass at the relay."

"You can beat that Darian guy but you're not beating my time," Ryan scoffs.

She shakes her head.

"I'll beat you both. Chris is fast and he's anchoring the team. You guys have no shot," she chirps.

Ryan groans.

"Can we not talk about your brother while we're lying naked in my bed, please?"

Sydney grimaces at the thought.

"Fair point."

The buzzing of Ryan's phone interrupts their conversation. He reached over to his bedside table to check his phone. He had three missed calls from K'Andre and one from Alexis. However, the most startling notification is a text message that K'Andre just sent him.

Dude, are you alive? Your doorman just let us in, we're on our way up to wake your lazy ass.

"Fuck," he mutters.

"What?"

Ryan shows Sydney the text message and she quickly removes herself from him followed by a string of profanities.

"I forgot I made plans with them this morning," he says apologetically.

Sydney glares at him as she picks her dress shirt from the floor and throws it on.

"How?" She hisses at him.

He raises both hands up defensively.

"Again, I was kind of distracted."

"Please tell me 'we' does not include Adam," Sydney throws her jeans on and runs to the bathroom to clean herself up.

Ryan begins getting out of his bed and cleaning himself up. He subsequently rushes over to his dresser to find something decent to wear. Once he slips on a sweater and pair of pants, he walks into the bathroom to find Sydney patting down her hair with sink water.

"Just Key and Laf," he responds, "you stay in here and I'll answer the door. Once we leave, you can see yourself out. You lock the door from the inside and close it behind you."

He turns on the other sink and washes his hands.

"So I'll slip out of your place like a cheap whore..." Sydney trails off before she realizes she just fed him another opportunity to insult her, "don't you dare!"

Fortunately for her, his friends knock on the door before he can say what he really wants to say. He shoots her a look before walking out of the bathroom to answer the door. Ryan makes sure to close the bedroom door behind him to increase the likelihood that his friends will not sense that someone else is in this condo.

He opens the door to see K'Andre and Alexis.

"See? I'm ready!"

K'Andre rolls his eyes.

"What about picking up when we call?"

"Phone was on silent."

"Alright dude, are we ready to go?"

"Yes!"

Ryan reaches over to the coat rack by the door to grab a jacket before stepping out of the condo.

-*-

After the devastating loss against the visiting Vegas team, the mood in the Rangers locker room is somber. Media will be in the locker room soon and Ryan is in no mood to entertain the press. Fortunately, he has no media obligation for the rest of the evening. As far as he knows, only Mika and Goody have to talk to the press tonight.

"Hey Lindy, are we good?"

Ryan turns to Adam, who is sitting beside him and unlacing his skates.

"Yeah, just a bad night for us, that is all."

He knows why his defensive partner asked the question. Things have been weird for him lately. Ever since he started hooking up with Sydney, it has been difficult for him to look his friend in the eye, let alone have any meaningful interactions with him. Ryan finds this feeling has also translated on the ice. Their on-ice chemistry was practically nonexistent tonight and many of their passes to each other did not connect. If anything, there was a blaring gaping hole in their defensive game tonight and the Vegas team fully capitalized on that.

It is hard for the team to win a game when their top defensive pair are not having a good night.

"Alright, just wanted to make sure. I'm kinda in a funky place lately so I don't want that to mess with your game."

"Nah, you're good. We'll do better next game," Ryan responds dismissively.

The defense partners do not say anything to each other as they undress their equipment. Ryan certainly needs to get his shit together. He should not let whatever he has with Sydney ruin his friendship with Adam and his game. Adam is his best friend. His guilt for messing around with his ex-girlfriend is eating him alive, but at the same time, he should not be hanging Adam out to dry because of his guilt over his own misdeed.

Adam mentioned being in a funk, which makes him feel better that he is not the sole reason for what happened on the ice tonight. However, they really need to get over whatever is holding them back from excelling on the ice. The team is trying to win the Cup this year. The top defensive pair need to be solid for that to happen.

"Hey Kreids, your sister's event is coming up," Trouba nearly shouts across the locker room to imitate conversation with Chris, "how are we all feeling?"

Ryan tries not to pay mind to the conversation about the upcoming relay event because any mention of that event will just remind him of Sydney and what they did together.

"I'm feeling good! Jade and Jen have been training together. Sydney's been training with Lindy. We got the Avengers here basically," Chris responds.

"Meeks, how do you feel about competing against your fiancée?" Jimmy turns to the Swede teasingly.

Mika shrugs.

"Just have to let Kreids and his team win, I guess."

Chris scoffs as he shakes his head at his line mate.

"You couldn't beat us if you tried!"

Chris and Mika continue chirping each other as Ryan drowns their conversation out. On his side of the locker room, the discussion about the relay and Sydney has not died down.

"Has anyone seen Kreids's sister?"

Ryan can see Adam perk up from the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, I've seen her here a couple times," Filip replies.

"Don't tell Kreids this, but she's smokin' hot," Braden practically whispers as he turns to make sure the veteran player does not hear any discussions about his younger sister.

Unfortunately, Ryan and Adam are close enough to Braden's cubby to hear the conversation.

"Dude, we can't say shit like that around here, she used to date Foxy," Goodrow nudges the younger defenseman to shut up.

However, it is too late anyway. Adam heard everything.

"All good, Schneids," Adam says casually, "just don't let Kreids here ya."

"And she's also way out of your league, bud," Ryan chimes in.

Adam turns on him with a quizzical look.

"Not the she-devil," Adam is amused.

"Just trying to bust his chops here. Syd is still the she-devil and she would eat Schneids alive."

Adam shakes his head as he pulls a hoodie over his head.

"She'd eat any of us alive," he chuckles.

She sure did, Ryan laughs along.

"Speaking of, I invited Syd out to dinner at the View later on this week," Adam shifts uncomfortably as he practically blurts this out.

Ryan tried to hide the shock and resorts to raising an eyebrow at him instead.

"What part of Sydney Kreider being the she-devil did you not understand?"

"Stop it, Lindy," Adam gives him a stern look, "she's nowhere near as bad as you think."

"You're trying to get back together with her or something?" Ryan asks calmly.

Ryan tries to hide the panic setting in. Is there anyway Sydney would try to get back together with Adam? He knows this will not end well for his friend if the two decided to give their relationship another shot. Besides, this will make things extremely awkward between the three, especially given what he has been doing with Sydney.

"Not really, no, maybe?"

"Dude!"

Adam looks unsure, which is not good news.

"Look, we just haven't talked since we broke up and she left, and I really think we should talk."

"She'll hurt you again," Ryan warns.

"This invitation is completely innocent. Just want some closure on the shit that went down, ok?"

For some reason, Ryan does not believe Adam. He understands how easily it is to be ensnared by Sydney. He is a victim to her ways himself. There is no way he just wants to invite Sydney out to a place like the View just to hash out their breakup.

Ryan is also unsure if he is jealous or threatened by whatever Adam is trying to do with Sydney later on this week.

"Did she agree yet?"

"Yup. She agreed to meet me," Adam replies.

Ryan nods firmly, getting up from his cubby.

"Ok, Foxy! Good luck with that one. I'm beat so I'm gonna head home."

He did not even wait for Adam's response before walking out of the locker room.