“What are you even asking?”
“I want to know. I don’t care if it is. I’m confident.” He shrugged. “So is his dick bigger than mine? Is that it?”
It took every ounce of strength not to roll her eyes. If she wasn’t so scared, she’d laugh in his face.
“You need to get off 4chan or Reddit or wherever you are hanging out messing up your mind with ideas on women and realize that whatever this is... it’s not working. It’s not going to win me over.”
“You turned slut after the breakup. But I’ve thought about it and I can forgive you.”
“I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to tell me the truth.”
“What?”
“You slashed my tire, didn’t you?”
He averted his gaze, his swagger deflating some. “Our relationship wasn’t even cold in the grave, and you spread your legs for someone else. That shit is cold.”
“You don’t get to decide what is or isn’t okay.”
“Look.” He shook his head. “This is coming out all wrong. I know this dude, see. A lawyer who’s got a hell of a lot to say about your hockey player. He works out in my gym. You’ve seen him in the news, the lawyer who nearly got his arm ripped off. We got to talking tonight and I’m telling you, he’s got a lot to say, a lot to say. Interesting things about your goalie.”
Margot jerked her wrist, trying to wrench free. “If you don’t let go of my arm on the count of three then I am going to scream.”
“Can’t you see I’m looking out for you? Guy Footscray says Patch is a creep, that up close he has the eyes of a psychopath.”
“One...”
“That he was going to put powder in a girl’s drink at The Jury Room.”
“Two...”
“I’m just saying you got to come with me and we’ll call Guy. He can tell you. He tried to stop him and the fucker attacked. That’s some crazy shit.”
“Three.”
“Margot.” He stepped forward. “Be reasonable.”
But she was not staying silent so he could be comfortable.
She screamed. She screamed bloody murder, and clocked him across the face with her handbag. He hadn’t expected that and a leather tassel poked his eye. He dropped her arm, swearing.
“Goddamn it. What’d you do that for, you stupid slut.”
She turned and ran, didn’t look back. She ran straight into the bar, and didn’t stop until she was next to Breezy, shaking like a leaf.
Chapter Fourteen
The Hellions went into the third period against Kansas City with a score of one to one. That’s when Petrov scored his second goal of the night for the Hellions with three seconds remaining, his incredible backhander giving the Hellions their first win of the season. The game wasn’t a blowout, but a hard-fought scrabble, not without casualties. Munro had exited in the second period with an apparent shoulder injury and was joined by Nicholson a few minutes later.
Still, as Patch skated to the bench at the end of the game, he couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. He hadn’t bit the few times the offense had got in his crease. He’d been on the ice the whole time, and his playing had been aboveboard. It had been a tough night for the Hellions defense, but he’d stopped twenty-six out of twenty-seven shots.
Everyone talked at once, slapping each other on the back. They’d been solid, played a great team game.
“That was a notch above,” Tor said from near the center of the circle. “We’ve got some work ahead of us but tonight you men clicked in a way I haven’t seen in months. This was a whole different level, and we’re going to keep building on that hard work.”
He glanced at Patch and gave him a nod. Hell, he even cracked a smile which was rarer than a unicorn walking down Main Street.
Patch imagined Margot watching the screen, studying his breath, the way he tuned out the shit talk and cheap shots, how he refused to take out his frustration on the net when he let the one goal slip in. Instead of slamming his stick to the crossbar, he’d shaken it off. Breathed. And breathed some more.
