“Fuck.”
“Yeah. You’re going to get your ass chewed out after the game.”
Don’t I know it. I deserve it.
“I really hate him,” I tell Bode as Graham hands me my stick and gloves.
“We’ll try to win to shut him up, but you need to cool off, Dax,” Bode says.
One of the assistant coaches escorts me back to the locker room. I’m still fuming as I chuck my helmet into my locker. A TV plays the game in the corner, but I can’t concentrate.
I’m mad at Duncan for his shit. I’m mad that I lost my cool. I’m mad that I’m not out there helping my team.
I’m mostly mad at Duncan because he started all of this, but I can’t believe I let him get to me.
“Maybe I am just as bad as he is,” I say to no one in particular.
“You’re not.”
Spinning on my skate, Chloe is standing in the locker room.
“How’d you get down here?”
In my jersey and a pair of jeans, she looks worried as she twists the end of one of her braided pigtails.
“Harper helped me.”
I scrub a hand down my face. “I really fucked up, Sunshine.”
“I know. But you’re not like him.”
I drop down onto my chair. “Are you sure? How do you know?”
Chloe closes the distance and drops down onto my lap. “Because I know you. I have some idea of what Duncan said.”
“He said?—”
She claps her hand over my mouth. “I don’t need to hear it. I’m sorry he got to you.”
I bury my head in her neck, breathing her in. “I’m sorry. I was trying to be the bigger person but he just kept pushing.”
“He has a tendency to do that.”
“I’ll be lucky if I’m not suspended.”
Chloe cups my cheek, rubbing her thumb along my jaw. “I thought that was hard to do?”
“I guess when I screw up, I go big. It wasn’t during play and I instigated it. Just reiterates what Duncan said—that I’m the bad guy.”
“Does it help that I know you’re not the bad guy?” She smiles at me.
“Yes.” I blow out a breath, some of the anger starting to cool. “I wish I wasn’t related to him.”
“I don’t.”
“You don’t?”
She shakes her head. “Do you think we’d be here otherwise?”
