Hallie huffed at me. “A decade here married to a Chimera and you still don’t get it, do you.”
I looked up at her, my hands on my contracts. “Get what?”
“What this club is about. What makes it different.”
I stared at her blankly. “The greenery is bad for you.”
“Seriously, Sia. Being a Chimera is the sum of many parts. That’s why the club works. They aren’t assholes all the time. They aren’t on the ice all the time. And they sure as hell aren’t arrogant fucks who think you possess inhuman strength when you and Ward are fighting.”
I bit my lip. “I love the commitment you have to this place.”Especially when mine is waning. Oh, God. I’m going to leave.
I would. I knew it. I’d hand in those papers, call Mickey, and walk right out those doors for the last time.
I was done.
I will not cry. I will not cry.
Enough tears had been shed in this office and most of them had been mine.
“I’ll talk to him. Tell Solace thank you,” I muttered, keeping my head down.
“What for?” Hallie sounded surprised.
I shrugged. “He’ll know.”
***
The puck slid flawlessly side to side in front of Ward as he skated along the blue line.That stupid blue line.How long had it been since I watched him play? Or train. Or even just skate? Usually I came out to the ice to see everyone else train, but never ward. And yet, he still had a grace and style that belied everyone else on the team, even though he had maybe ten, fifteen years on every single one of them.
Hell, he had ten years on me.
I sucked in a deep breath and delivered the message I came here to do. “Please stop picking on your staff.”
Okay, good. Job done. Great chat. Now I could go.
I put my head down, turned around and headed back toward the door.
The constantswish swish tap tapthat hadn’t stopped since I walked into the Chimera’s arena…
Stopped
Crap.
I inhaled a breath of ozone and coldness that wasn’t like anywhere else except for an empty ice rink.
Empty, except for one man.
“I’d ask what your problem is, but I already know that.”
Shit, he was a whole lot closer than I expected. Faster, too.
“Damnit, Ward,” I muttered, pivoting around. I tossed my hair over my shoulder and ruined the whole show with a wince I couldn’t suppress.
His grumpy facade twitched.
Fuck. You.
At least we’d discovered ground zero. He wasn't the asshole he pretended to be and my bring-it-on facade was full of shit.
