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“You’re very welcome.” My amused tone only sent her color higher.
“So, Cayden, this is my daughter, Lillian. Lily, Cayden is our new forward, or at least, I hope he is. He’s going to change everything this year for the Hellions.” Coach slapped my shoulder, giving me a grin.
The man was a broken record, seriously, but I couldn’t afford to piss him off. He was giving me a chance to leave Midnight Falls and my past behind. I needed him.
I looked back at Lily.The coach’s daughter?That shouldn’t make her more intriguing, but it did. She wasn’t just some nobody I could crush under my heel to make sure she was a good girl and didn’t get in my way. She had her own power. The ear of the coach, the most important man in my life right now.
I stuck out my hand, pretending that we’d never met.
“Nice to meet you, Lily. Call me Cade.” My hand wavered in the air between us.
Lily stared down at it, clearly unwilling to touch me. Her father cleared his throat, and she stuck her hand out quickly, taking mine. Her skin was soft, and her hand was absurdly small and fragile feeling. I shook her hand, my thumb rubbing a circle around the back, and squeezed. Not enough for Coach to see, but enough to remind little Bug about our talk on Friday. Her eyes jumped to me as she tried to pull her hand from mine. Unluckily for her, her dad had turned away, speaking to another teacher who was passing by. I took the opportunity to yank Lily closer to me for a second.
“What are you—” she started.
“Play nice, or I won’t either,” I reminded her just as Coach turned back to us. I dropped Lily’s hand and pasted on a bland smile. It was regrettable that we’d gotten off on the wrong foot, but what mattered now was that Lily didn’t make a fuss about me to the coach.
“Okay, Lil, you get to class, Cade and I are heading over to the rink.”
Lily took a few steps back, her eyes flashing between me and her father, before spinning on her heel and hurrying off. I watched her go. Her bare shoulder looked polished under the hall’s fluorescent lights.
Pull your damn sweater up and stop letting people stare at your untouched skin.
I turned away from the coach’s daughter and found the man himself watching me.
“Lily’s a good girl. She’s special. If all of this is going to work, you need to understand how it is with her and the team.” Coach Williams’ voice was low.
So, he’d made sure that his daughter was off-limits around here? That made sense. I had no experience with parents who gave a damn about you. It was an odd feeling. I could downgrade my expectations of Lily’s experience with guys from minimal to none.
Why am I thinking about her experience with guys at all?
“Got it, Coach. I’m here to play and get into HHU. That’s it.” Hade Harbor University had the best direct route into the NHL of any place around, and I needed to go there. I also needed a full ride.
“Hell yeah.” Coach grinned and gripped my shoulder, his strong hand digging in surprisingly hard. “Let’s go and see how you like the ice in Hade Harbor.”
* * *
As always, being on the ice felt like coming home. Well, it felt like what I imagined home was supposed to feel like. In real life, there was little to expect other than pain and hunger. But on the ice? I was immortal. I skated around the rink, warming up. Coach Williams sat on the bench and watched me, his elbows braced on his knees, his face intent. It might freak other guys out to have that sort of pressure. Coach Williams needed a star forward to make it to Nationals this year. He needed me, and I needed him back. Eric Williams was a local hockey legend. He’d turned the Hellions high school team around completely when he’d come in, after his own failed shot at the NHL.
This was my senior year. I was out of chances to get the hell out of the backwater town I lived in. It was this or nothing. I didn’t care about the pressure. I was a drowning man grasping for something to hold on to before going under. For Coach Williams, it was about work. He wanted to coach at HHU, the prestigious local university. I had no idea why, exactly, he was so driven to do so, except for clout. Maybe the position came with a huge pay rise, that I could understand. Bug’s father was more ambitious than he seemed. That suited me just fine. I was more ambitious than I had any right to be, too.
“Let’s see some shots,” Coach called once I was warmed up.
Adrenaline pumped through me as I faced the goal and shot. Puck after puck sank into the net.
I was sweating by the time I turned back to Coach Williams and found a beaming smile on his face. My muscles ached, and tension ran down my spine. I was fired up, ready to go. I’d bulldoze through any defensive line in this state; I could outskate the fastest defenseman. I could fly if I had to.
Williams’ eyes met mine, and we shared a look for a moment. A man who wanted to win at any cost, and me, someone whoneededto win at any cost.
He stood and checked his watch.
“We have a meeting with the school committee. Let’s make this happen.”
Lily
The school day flew by.I had a test in my last period, an important one, so I spent the day secretly studying my textbook whenever I could. I hadn’t seen Cayden West around again, thank God. He had a screw loose, and I didn’t want anything to do with him.
The test went well, and soon, I was home and grabbing food from the fridge. I checked my email again. Since I’d applied for early admission to the school of my dreams on the West Coast, I’d developed a compulsion for checking my inbox. Now, I was waiting.
