Practice, the exhaustion from the lines, Coach screaming… none of that matters right now. Because she’s here.
And for the first time in years, the rink doesn’t feel like the only place I belong.
Chapter 17
Mikey
The locker room is full of tension. The guys are ripping off their pads and cursing under their breath because they are still pissed about the drills Kai and I dragged them into.
Whatever.
They’ll get over it. I have done the same shit multiple times for them.
What I won’t get over is the fact that I am still shaking, not from the lines, but from Julia waking up in our bed.
God, that girl. One taste of her, and I’m a goner.
I’m halfway through shoving my pads into my bag when the room shifts.
The energy feels like the oxygen is getting sucked straight out of the air.
I feel Kai go still beside me, and my twin-senses kick in immediately. Before he turns around or stiffens, I know we are no longer alone. Ismell cologne. Not the shit our teammates wear, but the expensive, sharp shit that belongs in a boardroom.
I hear footsteps next; they are slow and confident, like someone who walks into dangerous places, knowing no one will stop him.
I turn, and my stomach drops straight to the floor.
A man in a freshly pressed charcoal suit is standing in the middle of our locker room, hands behind his back, like he is strolling through a store inspecting merchandise.
He shouldn’t be here. No one looks like that in a hockey rink at eight in the morning.
No one belongs at this rink except us.
But this man? He belongs to another world entirely… a world I escaped at sixteen and promised myself I’d never return to.
He smiles when he sees me. It’s an empty smile, but that is almost more frightening.
“Michael Monroe,” He says smoothly, like he is greeting an old friend at a barbecue instead of standing in a room full of half-dressed, sweating athletes who could break his jaw in a single hit. “It’s been a while.”
I can feel my throat closing. It’s a fucking chokehold. I feel like a vice tightening because I know him. I know exactly who he is. And every atom in my body is screaming to run, but my legs won't move.
Fuck. He shouldn't be here. Not this man, not from that world…
The whole team goes silent, West stops halfway while removing the tape from his wrist, and fucking Luca drops a skate. He knows what world this man comes from. He is from this world as much as we are.
Coach steps out of his office and freezes.
The man pays none of them attention, his eyes locked on me.
“We had hoped,” he continues, hand still calmly folded behind him, “you would reach out before now.”
My pulse spikes up, and Kai steps closer to me. He is trying to protect me, but I subtly angle my body to block him from the man’s line of sight.
Kai can’t be involved. He can’t. He got out clean.
I didn't.
The man tilts his head slightly, eyes flicking over my shoulder towards Kai. And just like that, his message is crystal clear.
