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I glared at him.
“Why?” I didn’t like the way he came to her defense. I didn’t like it one bit.
Asher shrugged, narrowing his eyes at me. “She’s the coach’s daughter and Eve’s best friend. I don’t want her fucked with.”
A humorless smile touched my lips. “I don’t ask for permission to fuck with anyone.”
Asher raised an eyebrow at me and then shook his head. “Whatever, man, just stay away from Eve. She’s off-limits – seriously.”
“I don’t care about your sister, don’t worry.”
I twisted back around, finding Lily smoothing out her watercolor painting on her desk. It was delicate, just like her, a study in different greens, just like the lush foliage of her eyes. The kiss I’d just stolen pushed itself into my head.Fuck. That had been hot. For a guy who’d never felt anything remotely normal for my age, Lillian Williams sure felt like the cure. Holding her had been the most normal I’d felt in a long time. The only other place I felt like that was on the ice. She was too fucking sweet, with her huge green eyes, her slender stalk of a neck bobbing when she struggled to breathe. The way her long fingers pushed at my chest and then pulled, all at the same time. Right now, I could see the freckles on her elbow, hiding behind the veil of her long red hair cascading down her back.
“Be careful, man. That way lies danger,” Asher muttered from beside me, following my gaze.
If I was smarter, I’d listen to him…but I’d never been that smart, and I wasn’t about to start now.
* * *
Practice after school cleared my head. We skated around, warming up, and I let my mind drift from the tangled, dark thoughts of Lily to the game. In the game, everything made sense.
“As you all know, the first game is in a couple of days, and it’s against the Pine State Pucks. It’s not the easiest game we’ll play this season, but it’s not the hardest. I want to see you start strong. Let’s intimidate right from the start.” Coach Williams was holding court while we set up drills.
I couldn’t wait for game night. I needed the adrenaline, the speed, the smash and crash of it. I was addicted to the thrill of winning and the excuse to wreak havoc. Hockey was the only place where my violent tendencies weren’t questioned but encouraged.
Well, hockey, and working for Uncle Jack. He hadn’t texted me again since that one warning. Maybe he’d died of internal bleeding and fucked off forever. No, I wasn’t that lucky. He lurked around somewhere, festering with resentment, planning how he would get me back, I was sure of it. One day, down the line, if I got into HHU on a scholarship, and later, if I got my shot at playing professionally, I’d have to do something about dear old Jack. I was looking forward to it.
Coach ran through the plays for the game. I was center and I’d have Asher as my right wing. Marcus was goalie, and a damn good one. Beckett was a defenseman and had the build for it. The rest of the team got into their lineup. This was the team that was going to take me to nationals and beyond.
“Okay, get some stickhandling and passing drills – go!” Coach Williams shouted before turning away and looking toward the door at the top of the rink and the figure just entering.
Lily.
She bounced down the steps, smiling at her dad.
A hard check sent me spinning around and glaring at Marcus as he skated past.
“Coach said stickhandling, West. He didn’t mean that kind of stick, if you know what I mean.” Marcus’ smirk was irritating as hell.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning get your head in training and forget about pretty little redheads who could get you kicked off the team. I’m saying that from a place of love.” He shot me a shit-eating grin and skated away.
I halfheartedly focused on the drills, maneuvering the puck with ease. I could do this shit in my sleep, but I got the coach’s tactic. Get the team to gel. Ease the new guy in. But I didn’t need more time to get to know these guys, I just wanted to play.
Lily took a seat and pulled a notebook out of her bag.
She was staying.
Coach turned back to us and blew his whistle. “Okay, let’s get going. Two on one practice, Cayden and Asher take Beckett.”
I skated into position beside Asher, my gaze drifting to Lily continuously. My breath fogged in the cool air. Wasn’t she cold sitting there?
“Concentrate, man,” Asher muttered beside me as Beckett lined himself up opposite us.
When the whistle blew, we rushed him. Beckett skated expertly backward, watching us closely to see which way we were going to play it. Asher passed the puck to me as we spread out, splitting Beckett’s attention. I passed back, and Asher moved us forward, getting closer and closer to our objective. Beckett, knowing his friend, clearly expected him to take the shot. It made sense, with his angle and his dominant hand position on the stick. At the last moment, Asher passed to me, with Beckett already too committed to defend. I sank the shot easily and skated away in a wide circle, glancing up at Lily as I went. She watched us, her notebook forgotten on her lap.
“What the hell was that, West?” Beckett’s shout echoed around the rink. “Don’t fucking tell me you’re not a lefty.”
