She snorts, scrambling up and pushing me out of the net and away from her, allowing me to get up. I scan my body as I get up, careful to make sure that I haven’t hurt anything from both collisions. Lawson is on the ice and snapping at Taylor, who looks like she’s shrinking into herself, which is something I’ve never seen her do before. My ears are ringing as I skate over to them, catching the last of Lawson reaming her out.
She blinks at him, and I can see that the words have gone in one ear and out the other. She’s too distracted to do anything else, and I’m seriously wondering what’s going on with her ability to compartmentalize.
“Sorry, Coach, that was my mistake. I told her I was going one way and then went the wrong way,” I say.
He crosses his arms with a grunt, moustache twitching and blue eyes bright against his frostbitten skin. I nudge Taylor to see if she’d even respond, but she seems to be shutting down. “Right, Taylor?”
She nods.
Fuck.
“You know, how about Taylor and I stay late tonight to practice skating with each other, to make it up to you?”
He grunts, skating back to the bench, and I turn to her, saying, “Tay, do you need a breather?”
She’s gone when I fully turn around, which is impressive. I watch her skate to the tunnel and walkout, yanking her helmet off as she storms through. The back of her neck has hair sticking to it with sweat, but through the strands, I can see the redness that’s settled into her skin. Winnie skates up beside me, tapping my stick with hers. “You should go to her.”
“She’s going to be pissed at me. She hasn’t spoken to me all day.”
Winnie’s blue eyes narrow as she looks at the tunnel and me. “I think she will now. You should go.”
I shake my head. “Coach is going to kill me.”
She shrugs. “He’s going to kill you tonight during that extra skating practice with her, so you should go now. What’s the worst he can do?”
“Kill me during skating practice,” I restate. She huffs.
“You are killing me. Go make sure your partner is fine,” she whines.
“Fine,” I snap, skating towards the tunnel. Brynn is on the side watching me skate off, eyes narrowed as I head into the locker room.
Taylor’s already stripped off her skates, shin pads, hockey shorts, and her jersey, leaving her in her chest pads and gym shorts. Her hair looks messy, as though she’s been running her hands through it as she’s getting out of here.
She doesn’t look up at me when the door closes behind me.
“Taylor,” I say softly. I can see the way her bodyfreezes for a moment before she continues to stuff things into her bag. She pulls off her chest pads and tries to shove them in as well before I reach her and place my hands on her shoulders, trying to be careful of her feet in my skates.
“I can’t,” she whispers. “I can’t do this.”
“You can’t do what?” I ask. I tip her chin up so that I can look into her eyes. Her green eyes are bright against the pink of her cheeks. “Taylor, I need you to tell me what you’re thinking because I’d love to say that we’re on the same page, but we’re definitely not.”
She looks into my eyes, and I can see the way she scans my face, hers still cradled between my hands. I rub my thumbs against her cheekbones, watching her relax slightly. “I need to try something.”
“Wh–”
I’m cut off when I feel her lips on mine.
My eyes widen, catching the way her eyes squeeze shut before closing. My hands move from her face, one trailing down her body and the other through her hair, pulling her closer to me. The heat of her body against mine creeps through my gear, warming me as she moans into the kiss, giving me the opportunity to thrust into her mouth. I pull at her hair lightly, enjoying the way she pulls back slightly to gasp before diving in deeper.
Sparks fly across my eyelids as her hands wrap around me and pull me in tighter. There isn’t a chance in hell that something could break us apart right now. Her hand teases the edge of my practice jersey, slowlycreeping underneath and causing goosebumps to break out against my skin.
I moan into her mouth as her fingernails dig into my skin, melting into her further. But then it’s all gone. She’s ripped herself away, fingertips touching her now swollen bottom lip as she stares me down in her sports bra and runs out of the room with a shirt in hand, leaving me standing there wondering what just happened.
Holy shit.
I return to the ice shell-shocked.
Winnie looks pleased with herself, and Brynn, who tries to catch my eye as I skate past, has to be wondering what I did to Taylor. Coach Lawson looks up at me from his clipboard. “Taylor had an emergency,” I say woodenly. He sighs, which makes me wince before I skate off to be near the net.
