Should I have played more? Probably not, but I kept playing to show this team I wasn’t going down without a fight.
Cody
“Bramble! Have you lost your goddamn mind? It’s a tryout scrimmage!”
Coach’s hot breath only magnified the inferno inside me. I wanted so desperately to show Rafael that I wasn’t a pushover that I freaking lost it.
I’d let Rafael dominate me in ways that made me question the very essence of who I was. He’d dominated my thoughts for days. The prospect of letting him dominate me on the ice, too, was just unbearable. I wanted to show him that this was my turf. That, no matter what happened between us, this was my fucking house.Iwanted to be the dominant one.
Instead, as it became more apparent to me just how skilled a player Rafael was, rage consumed me. He was too fast and too smart; he could strategize on the fly, and his puck handling was tremendous. Jealousy consumed me.
The fire inside that forces you to push yourself harder than you thought possible transformed into an uncontrollable eruption of lava that blazed in my body. I couldn’t get a grip on it. My limbs weren’t mine anymore.
“—Time’s not up! Let’s go!”
Motherfucker.Rafael was back on his feet, skating like I’d done a minor shoulder check and not an all-out tackle from behind. How could he skate after being boarded like that? I thought I had seriously hurt him. I even got worried before I remembered how much I fucking hated him.
Coach called out, “Williams! You’re in.” Then he turned to me. “Take a seat, Bramble. We’ll talk about this later.”
Shame consumed me as I skated back to the bench. I didn’t overpower Rafael. It was a cheap shot from behind. It wasn’t strong; I looked pathetic.
He’s right.
Rafael played like an ace. His build wasn’t as thick as a typical player’s, and he moved like the wind. There was a fluidity to it that I’d never seen from a hockey player. He maneuvered gracefully around opponents but could hold his own in a scrap.
The buzzer sounded—fifteen minutes came and went. Coach walked over to the other two players and shook their hands. They skated off the ice as he approached Rafael, jabbering.
I’d seen this before. Coach never said something like, “Congratulations! You did it!” If he chose you, he would walk right up and start discussing logistics: position, practice times, travel schedule, and so on.
Rafael nodded through it all. Coach signaled him to follow with a toss of his head and led him to the bench.
“This is Rafael Sinclair; our new starting left winger.”
There was an audible intake of air from the other players. It was rare for a new recruit to start like this, but it wasn’t surprising. We had all just witnessed what Rafael was capable of.
I looked at him and saw his eyes locked on me. Rafael’s lips curled into a smirk, and that uncontrollable fire that blazed inside me reignited. I just hoped it wouldn’t consume me. I couldn’t let him get to me like that again. I had to regain control.
Don’t let him dominate you.
Chapter 18
Rafael
I couldn’t say I was surprised to be offered a spot on the team. Was I cocky? Yes. But I had the skills to back it up. When you worked as hard as I did to get this good, you deserved to be an arrogant prick and, dammit, I was going to revel in it.Looking for modesty? Keep looking.
Coach Hughes and I trailed the team as he led me into the locker room. He showed me my locker, and I removed some of my gear.
I could tell a few of the dudes were pressed. It was rare for a coach to just flat-out tell the whole team that the new recruit was top three without a single game under his belt. He might not have known it, but Cody’s little stunt probably helped me. Sure, I was faster and handled the puck better than those other two guys, but I looked like a warrior when I got up after Cody hit me. I was almost positive that’s what sealed the deal.
The rest of the team had left, but Cody was still sitting in Coach Hughes’s office. I could hear the tongue-lashing Coach gave him, and I loved every minute of it.
The door finally opened, and Cody emerged. He caught sight of me as he walked into the locker room, and the look on his face could make even the most stone-cold killer shudder.
It was so hot.
Coach followed close behind, his gaze snapping between us once he saw the tension.
“Boys, is this going to be a problem? I won’t tolerate this kind of behavior on my team. If you can’t put aside your crap and play with people you don’t like then—”
