🔥 The Captain’s Reward 🔥

An Exclusive Bonus Scene from Stick Handling

Thank You for Reading! 💙

You made it to the bonus content—which means you’ve experienced Elias and Jax’s journey from reluctant roommates to forever. Thank you for giving their story a chance. This exclusive scene is our gift to dedicated readers like you.

It’s set the night after the Cup parade, six weeks after the main story ends. The Stanley Cup sits on the kitchen counter, they’re legally married, and Elias is finally ready to show Jax exactly how thoroughly the captain can reward good behavior…

The Captain’s Reward

The night after the Cup parade…

The Stanley Cup sat on Elias’s kitchen counter.

It still didn’t feel real. Twenty years of chasing, of sacrificing, of convincing himself that this trophy was the only thing that mattered—and now it was sitting between the coffee maker and the fruit bowl like it belonged there.

Like everything else in his life, it had found its place.

“You’re staring at it again.”

Jax’s voice came from behind him, warm and teasing. Arms wrapped around Elias’s waist, and a chin hooked over his shoulder.

“I’m allowed to stare,” Elias said. “I waited twenty years.”

“You waited twenty years for the Cup.” Jax pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. “How long did you wait for me?”

“My whole life, apparently.”

The words came out before Elias could stop them. A year ago, he would have choked on that kind of vulnerability. Now, with Jax’s ring on his finger and Jax’s things scattered throughout the house and Jax’s name legally hyphenated with his own, it felt as natural as breathing.

“Sap,” Jax murmured against his skin. But his arms tightened.

“Your sap.”

“Damn right.” Jax’s hands slid lower, fingers toying with the waistband of Elias’s sweatpants. “The parade was exhausting. The party was chaos. We’ve been ‘on’ for two days straight.” His voice dropped, turning molten. “Don’t you think the captain deserves a reward?”

Elias’s breath caught.

They’d been together for months now. Had explored each other in every way imaginable—desperate and frantic, slow and tender, playful and intense. But something about the way Jax said captain still did things to him.

“What kind of reward did you have in mind?”

Jax’s laugh was low and dangerous. “I thought I’d let you decide. It’s your night, after all.”

Elias turned in Jax’s arms, cupping his face with both hands. His husband—husband, that word still sent electricity through him—looked up at him with those eyes that had ruined him from the very first day.

“Bedroom,” Elias said. “Now.”

Jax’s smile was pure sin. “Yes, Captain.”

They barely made it through the door before Elias had Jax pinned against the wall.

The kiss was claiming—deep and thorough, the kind of kiss that said mine without words. Jax melted into it immediately, his hands fisting in Elias’s shirt, his body arching into the contact.

“God, I love when you get like this,” Jax breathed when they broke apart. “All commanding and intense.”

“You like being commanded?”

“You know I do.”

Elias did know. Had learned every button to push, every word that made Jax come undone. But tonight felt different. Tonight, with the Cup downstairs and the whole world finally knowing who they were to each other, Elias wanted to take his time.

He wanted to worship.

“Strip,” he said, stepping back. “Slowly.”

Jax’s pupils dilated. His hands went to the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head with deliberate care. The muscles of his chest and abs flexed as he moved—the body of an elite athlete, honed and powerful and absolutely beautiful.

Elias watched every movement. Let himself look, really look, without the urgency that usually consumed them.

“The pants,” he said when Jax paused. “Keep going.”

The sweatpants came off. Then the boxer briefs. And then Jax was standing before him completely bare, already half-hard, his skin flushed with anticipation.

“Beautiful,” Elias murmured. “Every inch of you.”

“Your turn.” Jax’s voice was rougher now. “Fair’s fair.”

“Is it?” Elias moved closer, trailing his fingers down Jax’s chest without removing any of his own clothes. “I thought I was in charge tonight.”

Jax shivered at the touch. “You’re always in charge. Even when you pretend you’re not.”

“Smart boy.”

The words landed exactly as intended. Jax’s cock twitched visibly, and a soft sound escaped his throat.

“On the bed,” Elias said. “Hands above your head.”

Jax complied immediately, spreading himself across the sheets like an offering. His arms stretched up to grip the headboard, muscles defined, chest rising and falling with quickened breaths.

Elias took his time undressing. Watched Jax watch him—the hungry way those eyes tracked every inch of skin as it was revealed. By the time he was naked, they were both fully hard, the air between them electric with want.

“Do you know what I thought about,” Elias said, climbing onto the bed, “the first night you stayed here? When I heard you in the guest room?”

Jax’s breath hitched. “What?”

“This.” Elias settled between Jax’s legs, running his hands up those powerful thighs. “Having you exactly like this. Spread out for me. Wanting me.”

“I always wanted you.” Jax’s grip tightened on the headboard. “Even when I was supposed to hate you.”

“Especially when you were supposed to hate me.”

Jax laughed, the sound breaking into a moan as Elias’s hand wrapped around him. The first stroke was slow, almost lazy—learning him all over again, feeling the weight and heat of him.

“Elias—”

“Patience.” Another slow stroke. “We have all night.”

“I don’t want patience. I want—” Jax’s hips bucked involuntarily. “I want you to wreck me.”

The words shot straight through Elias’s restraint. He leaned down, capturing Jax’s mouth in a kiss that was more teeth than tenderness, his hand still working in that maddening rhythm.

“You want to be wrecked?” he murmured against Jax’s lips. “Then you’ll have to earn it.”

“How?”

“By being good for me.” Elias pulled back just enough to meet Jax’s eyes. “By taking whatever I give you. By not coming until I say you can.”

Jax’s whole body shuddered. “Yes. Yes, I can do that. I’ll be good.”

“I know you will.” Elias kissed him again—softer this time, a reward for the compliance. “You’re always so good for me, baby. My perfect boy.”

The praise hit Jax like a physical thing. His eyes fluttered closed, his lips parted, his whole body relaxing into the mattress even as his arousal climbed higher.

This was what Elias loved most about him. The way Jax could be so confident, so cocky, so utterly himself—and then melt completely the moment Elias told him he was doing well. It was a gift. A trust that Elias would never stop being grateful for.

He spent the next hour proving he deserved that trust.

By the time Elias finally, finally pushed inside him, Jax was shaking.

He’d been taken apart piece by piece—kissed everywhere, touched everywhere, brought to the edge and pulled back until he was begging with every breath. His hands were still on the headboard because Elias had told him to keep them there, and Jax hadn’t let go once.

Good. So good.

“Look at you,” Elias breathed, fully seated, giving them both a moment to adjust. “Taking me so well. You were made for this.”

“Made for you,” Jax managed. His voice was wrecked, barely above a whisper. “Only you.”

Elias started to move.

Slow at first—long, deep strokes that made them both groan. He watched Jax’s face, cataloging every reaction, every flutter of those perfect eyelashes. When he shifted his angle and Jax cried out, he stayed there, hitting that spot over and over until Jax was writhing beneath him.

“Please,” Jax gasped. “Please, I need—I can’t—”

“Can’t what?”

“Can’t hold on much longer. Please let me—”

“Not yet.” Elias leaned down, changing the angle again, making Jax sob. “You can take a little more. I know you can.”

“Elias—”

“You’ve been so good tonight. So perfect.” Elias was losing his own composure now, his thrusts becoming harder, faster. “The way you look right now—spread out for me, desperate for me, still holding that headboard like I told you—”

“I’m trying. I’m trying to be good—”

“You are good. You’re everything.” Elias’s voice cracked. “God, Jax, you’re everything.”

He wrapped his hand around Jax’s neglected cock, stroking in time with his thrusts. Jax arched off the bed, a sound torn from his throat that was almost a scream.

“Come for me,” Elias commanded. “Now. Let go.”

Jax shattered.

The orgasm crashed through him in waves, his whole body convulsing, his hands finally releasing the headboard to grab at Elias’s shoulders instead. He cried out Elias’s name—once, twice, over and over—as Elias worked him through it.

The sight of him was enough to pull Elias over the edge too. He buried himself deep and let go, pleasure whiting out his vision, Jax’s name on his lips.

For a long moment, neither of them moved.

Then Jax laughed—breathless, overwhelmed, utterly satisfied. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah.” Elias collapsed beside him, pulling Jax into his arms. “Holy shit.”

“That was…” Jax trailed off, seemingly unable to find the words. “That was.”

“It was.”

They lay tangled together, catching their breath, heartbeats slowly returning to normal. The bedroom windows were open, letting in the cool night air, and somewhere in the distance Elias could hear the city still celebrating.

They’d won the Cup. They’d gotten married. They’d come out to the whole world and survived.

And somehow, lying here in the quiet aftermath, this moment felt bigger than all of it.

“I love you,” Jax murmured against his chest. “Have I mentioned that lately?”

“Once or twice.” Elias pressed a kiss to his hair. “Feel free to keep mentioning it.”

“I love you. I love you. I love you.” Each repetition was punctuated by a kiss to whatever skin Jax could reach. “I love you forever, Elias Thorne-Rydell.”

The name still made Elias’s heart skip. Would probably always make his heart skip.

“I love you too,” he said. “Forever, Jax Thorne-Rydell.”

They fell asleep like that, wrapped around each other, the Stanley Cup forgotten on the kitchen counter below.

Some trophies, Elias had learned, were more important than others.

And the one in his arms was worth more than all the rest combined.

~ The End ~