Page 47 of Play Dirty

Something stopped him, however, and he turned around.

“We need this,” I reiterated. “Not just for standings. For everything else.”

He growled again, but this time there was an undertone of solidarity. The intensity of those ice blue eyes told me we were both on the same page.

“Keep us from making big mistakes, and we got this,” I said. “I know we do.”

The enforcer snorted, and cleared his throat.

“Pretty confident for someone who’s been here five minutes,” he said.

I hugged my tablet against my chest and shrugged.

“It’s been a long five minutes.”

He absorbed my words. A beat of silence passed between us, and then he was gone.

It was the same thing down the line. Asher. Caleb. Zack. I called Dorian over, and chewed him out for being late on two out of three line changes. Finally, I couldn’t avoid it anymore. I checked the metal door, which was still closed, and signaled to Sebastian.

The goalie came slowly, letting the ice carry him. His mask was still down when he reached me

“What’s the word, boss?”

All of a sudden I’d forgotten everything I was about to say. I was too fixated on his eyelashes, which were longer and thicker than I remembered them.

“Just… thinking.”

“Dangerous,” he nodded.

“Sometimes.”

A pause. He stiffened a little.

“About last night—” he started.

“We don’t need to make it a thing,” I said.

Too fast. His eyelashes came together in a few rapid blinks.

“Right,” he nodded.

The silence between us deepened. It sure as shit didn’t help that I still had nothing to say.

“I’ll uh…”

“Yeah,” I nodded over his shoulder. “Go take some shots.”

Damn.

He skated away leaving me feeling foolish and empty. Like I’d just invalidated the only real connection I had, in the entire house.

“You happy?”

I whirled, to find Mercer standing beside me. He’d snuck in through the front door; or walked in, or whatever had happened. Either way, my heart started beating a thousand miles an hour.

“With?”

“Progress,” he grunted, his shrewd eyes scanning the ice. “Or lack thereof.”