“I’ll make you eat those words,” I tell him, leaning in. “From my cunt.”
He scoffs as I move toward the door and pause with my hand on the knob.
“See you on Saturday.”
“Enjoy your date,” he hollers.
“I already did,” I tell him with a wink, walking away, giddy as fuck.
My legs are shaking, and my body is buzzing. I adjust my hair and clothes while enjoying the taste of his mint toothpaste on my swollen lips. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, but it feels a hell of a lot like winning and losing control.
11
PATTERSON
The rink is empty when I arrive, which is exactly what I expected. Last night, we had a game, which means Saturday is an off day. I volunteered earlier with the kids, then headed straight to the facility to meet Kendall.
This week has been a trap that she strategically designed. The only difference between Monday and now is that Kendall has confirmed she wants me. She showed all her cards when she came on my lap. Just thinking about her breathless moans and how her body trembled against me makes me hard as fuck.
I need to scrub her from my mind before she drives me crazy. I have to stay as far away as I can from Kendall Hart before we do something that can never be undone.
Now I’m wondering how I’ll explain this to my brother or if I should. I still haven’t told him about the past. And now that he’s mentioning her again, I don’t think it’s a conversation I can have. If he believes there’s still something between them, I should walk away. I should take the lick from Coach and skip this session. But I selfishly don’t.
I walk out in full gear with my helmet tucked under one arm and my gloves in the other. My skate guards click against therubber mat. Kendall’s standing at ice level in a light-blue sweater that matches one of the Angels colors. Her wearing our blue causes something possessive to stir inside me. Tight jeans cup her ass, and leather boots climb to her knees. I hate how much I want to peel every layer off her and mark her skin with my mouth. I need to claim her with my tongue.
Kendall’s camera is set up on a tripod, and the cold has turned her cheeks pink.
“You’re early,” she says, amused.
“Thought I’d switch things up. Keep you on your toes.”
“Shocking.” She gestures toward the ice. “Shall we get this over with?”
“Pretty sure that’smyline.”
I grab my gloves, remove my guards, then push off onto the ice. My body takes over, muscle memory carrying me through long strides until my thighs burn. I’m tired from playing last night, but this is where everything makes sense. The world around me falls away, and I don’t think about Kendall or Jameson or the guilt that’s threatening to eat me alive.
I stop hard at center ice and send a spray of crystals into the air. Her camera clicks.
“Now you’re showing off,” she says.
I circle back, skating backward with my eyes locked on hers. “Always for you.”
She rolls her eyes but keeps the camera going.
The next twenty minutes are a performance. I run through drills and tricks while she tracks me through her viewfinder. Every time I glance in her direction, the distance between us does nothing to ease the tension.
“Give me more than hockey player party tricks,” she says. “Something that shows who you are under all the bullshit.”
I skate toward her and stop at the boards. “You want real?”
I pull off my helmet and lift the hem of my jersey to wipe my forehead.
She stares at the tattoo on my chest. The wordRUINEDsits under my left pec in black script, slightly faded from years of being hidden. No one has ever asked me about this tattoo. Not my teammates, not even Jameson. They’ve seen it and looked away because the word makes people uncomfortable, but Kendall stares at it like she’s trying to decode it.
My chest tightens because she’s closer to the truth than anyone has ever been. One word is all it takes. One word exposes my wounds, and it’s proof I’m a shitty brother, and I want things I can never have.
“That’s new,” she says, like she has every inch of me memorized. Maybe she does.
