Hawk looks at Evan, and she swallows. Implying Jackson might go harder on our girl. I figured that out. Especially if he loses his shot here because of me. Maybe his attention before was all about Evan, but now knowing she’s mine could be tipping him over the edge.
How much more can Evan take? She’s strong, and she’s put up with a lot from us. But what’s her breaking point? What happens when she reaches it?
“The phone numbers on the texts are a dead end.” Cam leans back on the couch. “We can’t trace the social media user id, but I’ve got a guy trying to dig into the metadata on the photos.”
“Mia thought the angle of the picture today was off,” Evan says. “Like the person would have to be super tall or holding the camera up, which would have been super obvious, or?—”
“Or there’s a camera in the hallway someone accessed,” I finish. Fuck. “There aren’t many cameras around the school. Mostly just security ones. The pictures on the account seem to be too good of quality to come from the security footage.”
“Unless they run them through AI to make them appear like photos and not security.” Hawk shakes his head. “It’s possible. They could also be using AI for the content.”
“We’ve got that footage of the hallway from the rose incident.” I glance at Evan. “Who do we give it to to see if that works?”
Cam’s already typing on his phone. “On it.”
“Two more days,” I say, drinking in Evan.
Evan’s smile is a little too bright. We still have things to talk about. “Can we talk about something normal? How’s the visit going?”
“Honestly,” I clear my throat and look around the dorm room, “the guys on the team are great. The facilities are top of the line. Apparently, a donor really went nuts when the team became D1. The house is a house and could be an issue. I’m in Wilder’s room right now. He’s got a single. I’d be surprised if Ivan is here next year, but the rest of the team have been awesome. It’s an excellent opportunity.”
“But...” Cam knows me too well.
“But if it doesn’t work for all of us, it doesn’t work for any of us. There isn’t another college close by. I have no doubt we can all get in, but it’s just if the programs they have are good enough.”
Cam chuckles. “I’m all in, but you know that.”
“We’ll dig a little deeper into the programs and make a decision,” Hawk says. “In a few months, we can take a weekend and ride up to visit.”
“I’m ready to be home,” I admit.
Evan gives me a soft smile. “We’re ready for you to come home.”
The ice issmooth and fresh for practice. It’s almost a shame to cut it up with our skates. But that’s what it’s there for. I glide out on the slick ice to begin my warm ups. This week hasn’t been easy. Coach Mitchell has been putting us through our paces—drills, scrimmages, the works—to find out if we’re good enough to play on his team.
Axel bumps his glove against mine as we pass. There’s a lot Crowne Mawr has going for it. The team is good and a challenge, which I love. Coach has worked with each of us one-on-one to perfect skills. To see if we can learn still or if we’ll always keep going back to bad habits.
This is what I wanted for this year. I love playing with my friends and our teammates at Deimos, but I’ve been missing this challenge. Our coach does his best to push me, but my skill set is already surpassing what he’s able to train.
Yale is an unofficial visit, but I hope I get some ice time with their team to better make a decision.
When we head to the bench, Wilder gives me a nod. I talked with Evan and the guys for way too long last night, but Wilder still hadn’t come back by the time I left. His door auto-locked behind me.
“Scrimmage today.” The assistant coach, Matt Goods, separates us into two teams. Only the freshman players and the two goalies are here today. They’re splitting the five of us into two teams. The other guys trying out are nice enough. We’ve had dinners together and chatted about shit. Jackson isn’t on my team today.
If he gets an offer too, I don’t know what we’ll do. Maybe that will make the decision for us, and we’ll all go off to Yale.It’s possible Jackson returning to Evan’s life is a huge ass coincidence, but too many little things line up a little too well.
Jackson definitely brings what he needs to the ice, but his obsession with my girl might be the tipping point. I’d do anything to keep her safe. Ivan and Zane are on Jackson’s team while Axel, Wilder, and Spencer are on mine.
Since they want to see us play, they start all five of us on the ice. The puck drops, and we’re off. I’ve worked with this team all week and gotten a feel for their plays and their weaknesses.
It’s a fast game. At one point I’m skating trying to get open from someone on the other team when Axel yells. I turn and see he’s shot me the puck as he’s pushed into the boards by Ivan. I move to get the flying puck and someone rams into me, body checking me into the boards.
Fuck. Someone else grabs the puck, and Jackson skates away from me. Asshole.
I’m called out, and so is Jackson.
“That would have been a penalty in a game,” Coach says to Jackson.
