Page 191 of On the Breakaway

I already know where this is going.

“Wyatt.” The warning falls sharp off my tongue.

His eyes snap to mine.

My jaw tightens. “No.”

“They deserve to know why you just risked our entire fucking season.”

The room shifts, and Nathan and Liam look back and forth between us, trying to figure out what the hell they’re missing.

“Stay out of it.”

“I would’ve loved to.” His voice rises. “Except, I literally told you before the third period to leave your personal shit off the ice.”

Nathan frowns. “What personal shit?”

“He’s been sleeping with Avery.”

The air leaves my lungs, while the space between us all falls completely silent.

Then Liam sits upright and nearly falls off the bench.

“You’ve been what?”

I stand so quickly my stall rattles. “Shut the fuck up, Wyatt.”

Nathan’s eyes widen, and so do Wyatt’s, because I almost never raise my voice, especially not at him. But I can’t bear to get the third fucking degree right now. Not when everything is up in the air, and I’m still bleeding.

“You and Avery?” Liam’s jaw is practically on the floor. “Avery and you?”

I’ve never lost my cool in front of my team. It’s why I’m a great captain. Except tonight, instead of just losing it on the ice, I’m going to lose it right here in the locker room, too.

But I’m too tired to care. Too angry at myself to stop.

Wyatt’s expression hardens. “If you didn’t want to hear about it, then you shouldn’t have fucking beat his face in.”

“Stay out of it.”

“You made it everyone’s problem when you put our season on the line.”

The words land exactly where they should: right in the gut.

Because he’s right, and everyone in here knows it.

I’m supposed to be the one they can count on to lead us to victory, but I failed them.

And I failed Avery.

All I did tonight was fucking fail.

I look away, shoulders slumping because I don’t want to fight with him. I don’t have it in me. “Well, none of it matters anymore anyway.”

“What does that mean?” Nathan asks.

I shrug, but it feels more like collapsing.

“Pretty sure I ruined things with Avery when I punched him.”