She looks back at us once, and I swear I see her smile before she takes off in that direction.
We let her stay ahead of us, moving her deeper into the athletic center, like Riven planned. She tries to duck into the equipment room, but Jagger’s there first, blocking her path with his body. She spins and heads for the locker rooms, but I appear at that entrance too.
“Arena,”Riven’s distorted voice echoes from behind her, and she has no choice but to push through the double doors into the main hockey arena.
It’s darker here than in the gym, lit only by a few emergency lights that cast shadows across the ice. She stops in the middle of the walkway, breathing hard, looking around at the empty seats and the rink below.
“What are you going to do now, Kane?”Jagger asks.
She turns to face us, and even in the dim light, I can see she’s not scared.
“Took you long enough,”she taunts. “Catch me if you can, boys.”
Oh, it’s on. Leila Kane is fucking hot. Just knowing we fucked the Kane twins’ little sister the next time we get on the ice with them is going to be enough for me.
She takes off down the stairs toward the ice, sneakers squeaking against the concrete steps. We follow behind her, the three of us spreading out to cut off her escape routes.
“You know,” she calls over her shoulder as she reaches the bottom level, “you guys are pretty slow!”
Jagger laughs.“We’re not trying to catch you yet, baby girl. We’re playing with our food.”
She darts toward the tunnel that leads to the locker rooms, but Riven appears to block her path. She spins around and almost collides with me as I close in from the other side.
“Shit,” she breathes, but she’s grinning.
“Language, Kane,”I say.“What would your brothers think?”
“My brothers aren’t here,” she shoots back, ducking under my arm and making a break for the opposite tunnel. “And they don’t control me.”
“No,”Jagger says, matching her pace as she runs along the boards,“but we might.”
She throws a look back at him. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
She tries to vault over the boards and onto the ice, but I’m there first. I catch her around the waist and set her back on solid ground. The contact sends electricity through me, and from the way she gasps, I think she feels it too.
“Nice try,”I murmur close to her ear.
She elbows me in the ribs, not intending to hurt, but enough to make me loosen my grip. “I’m just getting started.”
She breaks free and runs toward the Zamboni entrance, but Riven’s already there, arms crossed, waiting.
“You’re running out of options,”he says.
“Am I?” She climbs up onto the dasher boards, balancing like she’s done this before, and maybe she has—I can imagine she has spent a lot of time in arenas. “Maybe I like being cornered.”
“Careful what you wish for,”Jagger warns, moving closer to her.
“Why? You afraid I might get what I want?” She jumps down from the boards, landing right in front of him. For a moment, they’re close enough he could stop the chase.
Then she’s moving again, this time toward the penalty boxes.
We follow, working together like we do on the ice, anticipating her moves and cutting off her angles.
She barely makes it to the penalty box doorway before Jagger catches up, but he presses his hands against the glass on either side of her, trapping her between his arms and the door.
“End of the line, Kane,”he says, his mask inches from her face.
She tilts her head up to meet his gaze, completely unafraid. “Is it though?” Then she does something that stops all three of us cold. She reaches up and traces her finger along the edge of Jagger’s mask. “You know what I think?” she drawls. “I think you boys are all talk.”
