The song “We Will Rock You” by Queen didn’t clear my mind like it usually did before a game. This was our typical warm-up song, but my focus was thrown when I saw Sutton, Taytum, and Claire sitting in the stands with an empty seat to their left.
I did a double take.
Then a triple take.
Then I found myself loitering below them with a startling rapid heartbeat.
“Where is Riley?”
Silence buried their laughter, and I waited for them to answer me. They shared a look, and I instantly beat myself up for avoiding Riley again.
I pussed out, and I knew it.
I was too wrapped up in my thoughts, trying to right a wrong that I couldn’t even convince myself was wrong. The number of times I got up in the middle of the night, walked over to her apartment door, and then back to mine was pathetic.
“What’s going on?” Ford asked, skating up beside me.
I turned toward him. “Where is Riley?”
“Not sure,” he answered. He leaned in close, and I backed away, but not before I caught his snarky remark. “But just to let you know, she didn’t ask where you were last night.”
My brows fell.
He waited to add, “But she wanted to.”
A few other players skated up beside us, Theo being one of them. He only had eyes for Claire, though, oblivious to anything else going on.
I turned at the sound of Sully’s smug tone. “She’s sitting with a few of her old friends.”
My skates dragged over the ice, and I found her immediately.
Ford threw his hands up. “How dare she?!”
What the—
My blinks were slow, and I wanted to reach my hand out and strangle Sully. She had Graham Sullivan written all over her, literally, and it confirmed my suspicion that he had a part in this.
I could see her sneaky little grin all the way across the rink as she smiled down at Gray Loretto. I made sure to find him the moment Rosewood slid onto the ice.
“You’re unbelievable,” I seethed, skating past Sully and heading for Coach. Ford had his hands on his hips and was pointing over to Riley. Berkley and Efrain were backing Ford’s attempt at making Coach feel bad for his own daughter rooting for our opponent.
Coach’s face was growing redder the more he stared at Riley talking to the guy who broke the camel’s back. I did another take and thought I was going to shake right out of my skates.
I knew of Gray Loretto well before I met Riley. He was the top player at Rosewood, and if the articles online had any accuracy, he was an even worse boyfriend to Riley than I was to Savannah. The only difference between us was that he didn’t feel bad about what he did to her.
The internet was a dangerous place to be. Actions didn’t disappear when they were caught on camera, and the look on Riley’s face when he pulled one of her friends in close and swallowed her face to break up with his longtime figure skating girlfriend was a permanent fixture in my head.
“Will you idiots focus?! She’s just sitting with her old friends. My daughter isn’t your concern,” Coach’s voice echoed, and I watched as his blood pressure rose each second that the guys were giving him shit about Riley wearing the wrong colors. “Sully!” he roared. “Get over here!”
Sully skated over, and I rolled my eyes at his fake heavy breathing. He wanted to act like he was busy warming up when I knew he was skating as slow as a toddler so he could have a listen. “Yeah, Coach?
“Why the hell is my daughter wearing your old jersey?”
He put on his good-boy act, pretending he was innocent. Ford and I shared a look, and I clenched my jaw. “I don’t know. She asked me if she could wear it, and I said sure. I didn’t ask questions.”
Fucking liar.
Coach’s patience was running thin, and so was mine. Did she wear it to make Gray mad? Or was she punishing me? Either way, I was growing tired of the push-and-pull game I was playing with her. I brimmed with possessiveness. The name Sullivan on her back fucked with my head, and I wanted to rip Gray Loretto to pieces for even looking at her.
Let alone talking to her.
He was mine tonight.
And Sully had better be thanking his goddamn stars that he was wearing a BU jersey instead of a Rosewood jersey. He may have been untouchable, but this would be the last time that he ever persuaded my girl to do something.
My girl?
“Coach.” I skated forward and pulled his glare away from Riley and Gray. “Let me go get my practice jersey. She can wear it instead.”
The entire team paused and waited for Coach’s reaction. I cleared my throat and pleaded with him silently. “The team is distracted, and they’re obviously not focused. It’s messing with their heads.” I was lying through my teeth. They were fine. It was messing with my head.
His bushy eyebrows folded. “She told you what he did, didn’t she? That he broke up with her in front of everyone when she was at her lowest?”
“Riley!” Ford yelled, skating to center ice with his hands thrown up into the air. She didn’t hear him. She was staring down at Gray, and he was peering up at her. When I turned back and looked at Coach, he was giving Gray the same look I was certain he’d give me if he knew what I’d done behind his back.
“Go,” he bit out, sparing me one last look. Before I rushed to the locker room, he grabbed me by the arm and gripped my jersey in his tight fingers. “You all better make him pay on the ice tonight.”
I smirked. “We already planned on it.”
“Take it off.”
My blood ran cold when I heard the way he spoke to her.
I dropped my eyes to her ass when she stuck her hip out. “No. I don’t think I will.”
“I agree,” I hummed, startling her.
Riley jumped and spun around with her blue eyes round like saucers. I thrust my white practice jersey into her chest while wrapping my hand around her lower back to keep her steady. I breathed down into her space and watched her lips part. “Take it off.”
“Wh—”
My lips skimmed her ear when I pulled her in close. I stared down at Gray angrily looking up at us from the ice. “Are you forgetting the stipulations to our bet, baby?”
She gulped and hated that I couldn’t watch her neck move up and down with her nerves. “You’re back on the ice, which means I won. You’re not supposed to mess with the team’s head anymore, remember?”
“I’m not messing with anyone’s head but Gray’s,” she said quietly, glancing at everyone staring at us.
I gave her some space but shoved my jersey into her chest again. “You’re messing with mine.”
Her mouth opened, but I peered around her and stared at her ex. “I’ll see you on the ice.” I winked and then grabbed her hand and forcefully pulled her behind me. Once we were in the hallway between the two locker rooms, I gently shoved her against the wall, hoping that none of her Rosewood friends would follow after her.
“I’m messing with your head?” she asked, clearly pissed that I’d been avoiding her again. She blew a strand of her dark hair away from her face. “You’re messing with mine! Where were you last night? Too busy with regret?”
“Take it off,” I demanded. I stepped back and waited for her to strip right there.
Her bottom lip popped out with a pout. I saw her refusal without hearing a word she said. I silenced her by gripping the hem of the Rosewood jersey tightly. I shoved it up so forcefully that more strands of her dark hair fell from her ponytail. She stood in nothing but a scandalous black bra that made my mouth water.
Fuck.
“The only name I want to see on your back is mine.”
“But—”
“You’re mine, and I’m done pretending that you’re not.”
After dropping Sully’s jersey to the ground and kicking it several feet away, I pulled my jersey over her head and shoved it down past her face. My hand slid around her delicate waist, and I pulled her flush to my body. Even with all my gear on and layers of clothing separating us, I felt the heat simmering. “And if you wanted to pay Gray back, all you had to do was ask me.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means I’ll be in the sin bin tonight, baby.” I landed a quick kiss on her lips, just to make her want more. “And so will you for wearing that jersey.”
