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I unlocked the door and held it open. “I’ll think about it.”
12
JUSTIN
Iducked under a hockey stick, my skates spraying ice across an opponent’s legs. Zachary shouted at me, and I waved him off with a snarl. Fuck me. I was a disaster today. From the minute I skated onto the ice, I couldn’t keep my mind off Lucy. She’d become the focus of every thought, every move. I glanced her way, even though I knew I should leave the shit alone. She was more potent than any drug.
She sat beside her father, who was mad enough at my spectacular failures today to be chomping his chewing gum like his life depended on it. He slammed his hands onto his hips, then pointed at me with a warning glare.
Zachary slammed into my side, pushing me out of the way and spinning me around at the same time. “Focus, asshole.” His voice roared in my ears.
I shoved him back. “Get off me.” He’d saved me from taking a stick to the head. Again. That was the second one I’d missed today. I needed to focus before I ended up with a concussion or getting pulled from the game. The crowd around us roared when a scuffle broke out between Lennox and the opposing team’s right defender. Fists banged on the glass. They were hungry formore. We’re assholes on ice. Demons on skates. That was what I was supposed to be today, but all my focus on Lucy had made me lose my edge.
Zachary skated back to his spot in front of the goal, and I dove back into the game. The puck skimmed over the ice amid a clattering of sticks. God I loved this game. It got my blood pumping and made me want to bash heads almost as much as I wanted to fuck Lucy again.
A leg appeared alongside mine, then a full body. A man in yellow, his mouth twisted in a sneer, shoved me before I had time to get out of his way. This was a deliberate attack on my person. No doubt he hoped to take advantage of my distraction. My momentum carried me to the left, where I used my stick to trip another player, then hooked the other guy with an elbow and pulled him down with us.
My fist met the other guy’s shoulder, glancing off the padding and going underneath to land a solid blow in his armpit. Everything turned into a blur after that. Fists, knees, elbows. We pummeled each other with everything available to us. I took the end of a stick to the mouth through the gaps in my helmet that snapped my head back.
Then they’re thrown off me. Zachary heaved bodies left and right, throwing them like they were confetti. “Get up.” He held out a gloved hand and grabbed mine, jerking me to my feet.
“Duck.” I balled my hand into a fist and swung it at the guy sneaking up behind Zachary. Instead of ducking, he spun around and clocked the guy himself.
The ref’s whistle tore through the air as he skated into the fray with both hands waving. “Twenty-two blue, thirty-one blue, off the ice.”
“Aw, ref,” I complained. “Come on.”
“Now.” He points to the penalty box. “Ten minutes.”
“Ten?!” Zachary flung my hand off his shoulder. “What kind of batshit call is that? They came for Justin. You saw them.”
The whistle blared again. “Off. The. Ice. Or I’ll give you ten more.”
Zachary cursed and skated away. I followed at a slower pace and threw my stick onto the floor once I stepped into the box. Plexiglass surrounded us on all sides, protecting us from the crowd and from everyone else on the ice. Everyone except each other.
Zachary turned on me as soon as the gate behind me closed. He fisted my shirt in both hands and slammed me onto the bench. It creaked beneath the force, and the crowd’s cheers reverberated off the walls. They loved a fight, on or off the ice didn’t matter. They were a bloodthirsty lot, never satisfied with a game unless someone spilled blood.
I grabbed Zachary’s wrists and twisted, but he was a tough motherfucker. “Get off me.” Using all my strength, I pushed to my feet and shoved my hands into his elbows to break his stance. “What’s your problem?”
“You’re going to make us lose this game if you don’t pull your head out of your ass.” He pushed me again.
This time, I brought him down with me, kicking his skates out from under him so that he collapsed onto the bench.
“What are you talking about?” I removed my helmet and tossed it into a corner. “I’m not the only person on the team.”
“No, but we’re all having to watch your ass while you moon over Lucy.” His voice was pitched too low to carry, plus the noise from the crowd kept us contained in our bubble.
Three of our teammates still on the bench glanced our way and raised their shoulders in awhat the fuck?motion that I threw back at them, along with flipping them off.
“I’m not mooning over Lucy.” The sound of her name almost dragged my attention back to where she sat. A few feet and asheet of plastic separated us. And a whole slew of reasons why I shouldn’t look at her, much less have increasingly vivid dreams of us in bed together.
“Right.” His shoulder bumped mine hard enough to knock me forward. He removed his helmet and settled it on his knee. “You’re not imagining the two of you together right now?”
“What’s it to you if I am?” I tunneled a hand through my hair and watched the game progress in front of me. Lennox tore across the ice, his stick knocking the puck so fast it became a black blur. He swung hard and the puck skipped into the goal. He fist-pumped the air and our team surrounded him with a few quick pats on the back before they took up their positions again.
I should be out there. Zachary should be defending our goal. Steve was pretty good, but Zachary was better. He was right. We were going to lose this game if I didn’t figure out how to focus. “She’s stuck in my head, man. I’ve never felt like this about anyone.” I lowered my head and shook it slowly back and forth. “Why does it have to be her?”
“I don’t know.” Zachary’s eyes cut toward Lucy and he ducked his head.
