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She smiled at me, but it melted off her face when I banged on the glass and pointed at the board. “Open the door.”
Piper’s eyes rounded, and she took a tentative step toward the metal handle on her side of the glass. “Why?”
“Just open the fucking door, Piper.” I bit out each word, struggling to keep my shit together as rage, loss, and fear mixed in my blood and flooded my veins. I was a bastard. I wasn’t fucking ready for her to move on.
She pressed down, and the door swung outward, allowing me to step through.
“What’s going on?” Piper stepped in front of me, but I bypassed her in two steps and glared down at the guy she was with.
“You don’t fucking deserve her.” The guy’s eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped open, but before he could say anything, I slammed my hands into his chest. He stumbled backward, and I followed. I threw my gloves down and gripped his shirt, yanking him closer. I lost connection with all rational thought, words tumbling out of my mouth with a speed I couldn’t stop. “You don’t even know her. ButIdo. I know what cereal she likes, that her favorite movie isPride and Prejudice, her favorite song is the ten-minute version of ‘All Too Well.’ I have spent my entire life loving her, and it’ll be a cold fucking day before some asshole brings her tomygame.”
Piper’s sob broke me out of my daze, and I spun to look at her, but she was already running toward the exit. What the fuck had I done?
Her date shook his head at me. “You’re an asshole, you know that? You had the perfect girl, and you left her, and now you pull this shit?” He pushed past me and followed her out.
I turned to leave, but Misty stood in front of the door to the ice. “You need to do better. She needs you to do better.”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know how.”
She placed her hands on her hips, blocking me. “She loves you.”
I closed my eyes, and my breath burned in my lungs as I let her words slip over me. There was nothing like hope to drive a knife through your chest.
Misty placed a hand on my shoulder, drawing my eyes open, and said, “It’s not too late. Go get her.”
The adrenaline of the last few minutes evaporated, and my shoulders dropped. I guided her to the side, and pain laced my words. “Yes. It is.”
Coach benched me for the last period after my display of possessive boyfriend. It was for the best—I’d been likely to take someone’s head off if I’d gotten back on the ice.
We won four to two, and the locker room was lit up with excitement. I packed my shit and moved toward the exit, but River stepped in front of me.
“Either claim her, or let her the fuck go.”
“What are you, her keeper?” I hissed.
River lowered his voice so only I could hear. “One of us needs to protect her.”
He might as well have hit me with how bad that stung. I couldn’t fucking do this. I moved past him and into the night air. I needed to get the fuck out of here.
* * *
I pushed through our front door and dropped my bag on the entry floor, too tired to drag it into my room.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Piper hissed from the kitchen, and my gaze snapped to hers.
She stood there, gold hair wrapped around her shoulders, wearing one of my shirts that engulfed her past her thighs. Her eyes were rimmed red, making her already bright blue eyes shine.
I stepped toward her and spoke in a calming tone. “Hey, what’s wrong.”
“What’s wrong with me?” She took two steps forward, and I could see the muscles in her neck strain. “You had no right to speak to Eric like that.”
“Like fuck I don’t,” I growled, the anger from earlier reigniting under my skin.
She hit her fists against my chest as tears pooled over her lashes and down her cheek. I spread my arms out, giving her a bigger target. She needed this.
“You abandoned me.” Her fists rained down, but I couldn’t feel it through the pain in her eyes. Her chin trembled as she yelled at me. “You can’t say things you don’t mean just because you think I’ve found someone else!”
I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into my chest, and pinned her arms between us. “I fucking meant it, Piper.”
