AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sure enough, Noah was headed straight for the plexiglass separating us from the rink. He winked as he whizzed past, and Harper pressed the back of her hand to her forehead, pretending to pass out.
“Now, you’re officially Noah’s, and Fallon basically has your brother locked down. I need to set my sights on someone else.”
“What about Mason?” I asked with a smirk.
“Mason? As in Mason Steele? As in the most arrogant, rude, egotistical asshole in the history of assholes? I’d rather stuff a cactus up my va—”
“Okay.” I slapped my hand over her mouth, shooting our neighbors an apologetic smile. Dayna and Ella burst out laughing, and I rolled my eyes.
“Please, don’t encourage her.”
“She’s not wrong about Mason though. He’s like Grumpy Dwarf on crack. He might have that brooding bad boy image working for him and a monster dick if the rumors are to be believed.”
“Hold up, monster dick?” Harper leaned around me to get to Dayna.
“Mm-hmm, so I’ve heard.” She nodded.
“Interesting.”
“What happened to ‘you’d rather stick a cactus up your—”
Harper had the gall to press her hand against my mouth. “Maybe I spoke too soon.”
“I’m not sure you and Mason are compatible,” Ella added. “He usually picks the quiet, docile ones.”
“You mean weak.” Harper frowned.
“I wouldn’t say weak, but he definitely has a type. Oh look, they’re almost ready.”
A ripple of anticipation went around Ellet Arena as Aiden and the Falcons captain faced off against each other.
Noah hung off to the right, waiting, his eyes fixed on the ice. My gaze fixed on him.
It was hard to believe that we’d almost let this pass us by. That we were both too scared of what the future might look like instead of focusing on all the wonderful things it could be.
My gaze roamed to Ben on the left wing. I couldn’t help it. He’d been such a big part of my life. My savior and villain all rolled into one. But now I looked at him, and I felt nothing but pity. Because he had to live with the kind of person he was, and that was punishment enough.
It had to—
“Oh no,” someone said, and I realized that all hell had broken loose on the ice, and the puck hadn’t even dropped yet.
“Shit, it’s Noah,” Harper said as I struggled to focus on the blur of cyan and indigo jerseys squaring up to the Falcons’ players. Ben was right there in the thick of it, talking shit to Noah, who started pulling his gloves off. But then another one of our players skated right into the chaos, shielding Noah as he threw a punch straight into Ben’s stomach. Helmets came off then and sticks were thrown down as the two of them started duking it out.
“Go, Austin,” Harper whooped, and my mouth fell open.
“That’s—” I realized now it was our goalie.
It was my brother.
The referees managed to restore order, and Austin was marched off the ice.
Noah caught my eye and mouthed ‘Sorry,’ at me, and my heart soared.
‘I love you,’ I mouthed back, blinking away the tears clinging to my lashes.
Because despite Coach Tucker yelling furiously at his team, demanding order, I couldn’t deny the burst of pride I felt that Noah and my brother had stood up for me against what I could only assume was some trash talk from Ben and his teammates.
“Will they be in trouble?” I asked Harper.
