Page 74 of Cheap Shot

He turned his burning gaze on me. “Forget it.”

Before I could stop him from leaving, the buzzer went off, signaling the end of the pregame warm-up. I followed him as we joined the rest of the guys waiting to get off the ice to head back into the locker room. That hadn’t gone as planned, but hopefully, it was enough to help us both focus on the game.

I should have known better than to think we were done. Ethan wasn’t one to give up or give in, but I thought he could at least push things to the side long enough to focus on the game for the sake of our teammates.

He spent the first period ignoring my calls and signals for him to pass to me, costing us at least one goal. Benjamin was yelling at him, and the coaches picked up on things and began threatening him to get his act together or he’d be the reason for double practices tomorrow.

The rest of the guys groaned and urged him to focus, but he spent every free second glaring at me like I was at the top of his hit list.

By the end of the second period, Coach Hiller changed our lines so we weren’t on the ice together anymore.

“You two will deal with this later,” Coach Weston said in a low tone behind me. I nodded and scooted away to make space for the guys coming in.

We were down by one when the third period started, and I could feel the blame from the guys being directed at me and Ethan. This should have been a relatively easy win, but the two of us were screwing it up.

“Forget about him for twenty minutes, Clarkson. That’s all we’re asking.” Benjamin shook Ethan’s shoulder with a bit more force than necessary.

“She deserves better,” I heard him growl back.

“Maybe, but right now that doesn’t matter. You’re being selfish, and we can’t afford to lose this game. Scouts are watching our every move. We don’t have the luxury of having off days or bringing our personal lives onto the ice. Just block him out and play like I know you can.”

Ethan grunted and shoved away from Benjamin, moving as far down the bench as he could.

“You need to fix this later,” the captain commanded while wiping his face with a towel.

“I know.” It was my plan as soon as the final buzzer sounded.

Haley deserved the freaking world and more. I knew I wasn’t good enough for her. No man was, but I was going to try every single day to be worthy of her.

Ethan swung his leg over the boards and slapped his stick against the side, waiting to push off. He shot a glare over his shoulder. “Don’t screw this up. If you hurt her, you’re done.”

I understood. He would destroy me, and I would deserve it.

“Got it.”

His eyes held mine for a moment before he jumped and rushed to the far side of our zone.

He and Matt worked together, slipping past the defense. Ethan sent the puck right to the tape of Matt’s stick, who spun and backhanded it straight at the goal. It was a perfect angle, and the buzzer went off, signaling the tie.

Benjamin slapped my back. “It’s up to us now.”

There was a threat under the words, and I nodded. After he won the face-off, he called out a play we’d been practicing for the past few weeks, and I fell back, allowing him to pass to Becker, then dodged to the far side of the ice and got in position. Becker passed to me, and I rotated to hit it across the width of the rink to where Benjamin was waiting without even checking that he was ready.

I knew he would be where he needed to be, and when I finally looked up, it was just in time to see the puck sail past the goalie’s glove and into the net.

I cheered and joined the guys surrounding Benjamin.

There were only three minutes left on the timer, just enough to stress about our opponents scoring but not too long to play a solid defense to keep them at bay. I watched my teammates run down the time until the final buzzer sounded and everyone jumped off the bench to celebrate.

I was the last to join, not feeling all that great about how I played. I knew the coaches were disappointed, and I’d face the consequences later. Right now, I wanted to make things right with Ethan. If he’d let me.

I waited for him to head to the locker room and jumped in behind him.

“Can we talk?”

He waited until we were in the privacy of our team area before turning and facing me. “What is there left to talk about? You lied to me. You betrayed me.” His jaw clenched. “It was you at the party, wasn’t it? You’re the one that kissed her.”

There was no point in lying. Not anymore. “Yeah, it was me.”