As I stepped onto the ice for warm-ups, I circled around half of the rink we were at. I followed behind Wes, my legs powering as I pushed off with my opposite leg with each stride. The muscles in my thighs contracted, but I didn’t feel the burn I would feel later on during the game. Skating around the right side of the net, I spotted Harper where she was setting up.
She was testing out her camera with the lens just barely through the small cutout in the glass. She lifted her head and a soft smile touched her lips as she noticed me. I smiled back at her and winked as I skated past. I watched pink hues touch her cheeks as she ducked her head back to her equipment.
I snuck into her hotel room in the middle of the night. We didn’t get in until late last night and I couldn’t get away from Wes until he passed out. We had to be up early for workouts so I just woke up an hour earlier than everyone else so I could stop in and see her.
When I left her room in the morning to get ready to meet the rest of the guys, she slipped me the extra key to her room with the same pink hues on her cheeks. I smiled to myself as I skated around and slid a puck along the ice with the blade of my stick.
Wes came up to me, bumping his shoulder into mine. “You’re awfully smiley today,” he said in a thoughtful tone. “I wonder why that is.”
I gave him a sideways glance. “No idea what you’re talking about,” I mumbled.”
“Mhm,” Wes mused as a smirk pulled on his lips. He quickly stole the puck from me. “I’m sure it doesn’t have anything to do with a certain someone who came along for the trip.”
I stole the puck back and skated away from him without another word. As I sent the puck toward Wolfe, he blocked my shot with his blocker and I circled around. My eyes traveled across the ice and as soon as I saw him, I saw fucking red.
Number 14. Davenport.
I wanted to fucking kill him. Call me irrational or whatever the hell you wanted to. He hurt someone who I cared about. That was grounds for making him pay for it. Harper begged me not to say anything and I never would; I’d never do something that would draw any attention to what was going on between us.
She asked me not to do anything too obvious, and I wouldn’t. The last thing I wanted to be was a threat to her. But Davenport… he was a fucking threat. He had already proved himself to be a piece of shit and I couldn’t shake the feeling that was crawling underneath my skin. I narrowed my eyes as I assessed him from the blue line.
One way or another, he was going to pay for what he did to her.
The ten-minute warm-up flew past and before I knew it, we were back in the locker room while the Zamboni cut the ice. Everyone was double-checking their gear, making sure everything was in place and ready to go. My mind was in a daze, but not the good kind. It was actually a conflicting feeling.
I was thrilled that Harper was on the road with us. I loved her being along for the trip and the experience. That, and it was another great thing to add to her résumé. But then there was the part of me that couldn’t stop thinking about Davenport and how badly I wanted to end his career tonight.
“Cirone, let’s go!” Mac yelled at me from where he was standing in line. I was supposed to be in front of him, yet I was still lingering by my locker, trying to get my shit together.
I walked over to where he was and we all got our gloves on. Everyone began to file out and I grabbed my stick from Miles and headed out onto the ice. Coach moved me to the first line, so I took off my helmet and stood where I was supposed to while the national anthem was sung.
Shifting my weight back and forth on my skates, I kept my head down until it was time for us to get into position for the start of the game. As I skated to the center of the rink and placed my stick against the ice, I saw Harper’s ex. He was on the same line as me. We didn’t play the same position but he was right fucking there.
My jaw clenched and I fought the urge to charge at him at that moment. As the puck dropped, I shifted my focus away from him and played my ass off instead. I channeled all of my aggression into playing the best game of hockey I could play.
As we got into the third period, tensions were high between everyone. We were tied 2-2 and it was a pretty even matchup between our team and theirs. Everyone was dead-ass tired, but we still had to keep pushing on. It wasn’t a loss that we were going to hand over to them, and it wasn’t one they were willing to give up either.
There were only three minutes left in the last period of the game. We were quickly approaching overtime territory, but in such a fast game like hockey, things could easily change within a matter of seconds. And that was exactly what happened.
Their center had a breakaway. He managed to get the puck away from our team and he turned and started power skating toward our net. I was tangled up with their left winger and it took me a fraction of a second to get away from him. By the time I did and skated after the rest of the guys moving down the ice, I was too fucking late.
He managed to snipe a shot right past Wolfe. The buzzer sounded loudly through the entire arena and the defeat hung heavily through the air. Slowing down on my skates, I watched as he celebrated, but he wasn’t the only one. Davenport skated directly over to the boards, right where Harper was positioned with her camera.
It was as if time slowed down as he jumped into the air, his hip slamming against the glass in celebration for a goal he didn’t even score. It was completely out of pocket and my breath caught in my throat as I watched Harper stumble backward. Instantly, I skated as hard and as fast as I could in their direction. As I approached them, I noticed Harper’s camera wasn’t in her hands and as Davenport moved out of the way, I saw the blood dripping from her nose as she covered her face with her palms.
Davenport looked over at her with a look of satisfaction on his face. My blood fucking boiled and I couldn’t stop the rage as it began to race through my veins. All I wanted to see was his blood on the ice and my hands and nothing was going to stop me now. The promise I made Harper was out the window. This wasn’t the first time he hurt her and it may have looked like an accident to everyone else, but I fucking knew.
He did that on purpose and the look on his face only solidified that. And that was all I needed to charge straight in his direction. My feet didn’t stop moving until I was coming up on him. Just as he turned around to face me, I lifted my stick with both hands and cross-checked him in the chest, sending him back into the boards.
“What the fuck was that for, bro?” he shouted at me as he threw his stick and gloves onto the ice. “You’ve been running at me all fucking night.”
I followed his lead, throwing my own gloves and stick onto the ice, but I was already one step ahead of him. He didn’t even have a chance to come at me as I grabbed a fistful of the collar of his jersey and the top of his chest protector. I yanked him toward me and drove my fist directly into the side of his face. The rage behind the blow had enough force to instantly knock him out.
His entire body went limp and I let go of him as his body crumpled onto the ice. My eyes were no longer on him. I didn’t give two shits about him and if we weren’t in a professional setting right now, I would have followed him down onto the ice with my fists meeting his face until he was unidentifiable. I skated over to the glass where Harper was.
She was sitting on the concrete steps and there were a few people around checking on her. I watched as she held a bloodied napkin under her nose. She lifted her eyes, looking up at me with tears in them. I wanted to break through the glass to get to her, but I couldn’t. It was fucking killing me not being able to be with her and I couldn’t stand here any longer or I’d be drawing attention to the two of us.
Spinning around on my skates, I saw Connor Davenport shakily rising to his feet and a few of his guys were helping to steady him as they skated him over to their bench. We had both gotten penalties and there was no sense in staying out for the remainder of the game since we’d be in the box anyway.
I headed back to the locker room with only one thing on my mind: I needed to get the fuck out of here and get to her. I quickly undressed, showered, and put my dress clothes back on before the guys came back in from the game.
Disappointment hung heavily in the air as they all filed in and I couldn’t stop my foot from bouncing off the floor as I impatiently waited. Looking down at my phone, I found Harper’s name and opened up our message thread.
NICO
Tell me you’re okay, love.
My jaw clenched and I stared at my screen. I waited for her response, but nothing came through. It was quite literally killing me. I hung my head as I locked my screen and picked at the scab that was forming on my knuckles from where I had cut them on Connor’s helmet.
“I saw what happened,” Wes said quietly as he sat down next to me, smelling like sweat and hockey gear. “He’s lucky you knocked him out with one hit.”
I looked over at my best friend. “He’s her ex.”
Wes’s eyes widened. “Oh, fuck. So, what he did wasn’t an accident.”
I shook my head in confirmation. “I need to see her.”
“I know, man,” he said with a frown. “We’ll be out of here soon enough. No one said anything about going out, so I’ll cover for you when we get back to the hotel if needed.”
“Thanks, bro. I appreciate you.”
Wes shrugged. “It’s what I’m here for.”
My phone vibrated in my hand and I quickly turned my attention away from Wes as I unlocked the screen. Harper responded and my heart skipped a beat in my chest.
HARPER
I’m okay.
I sighed a breath of relief, yet I wasn’t fully convinced. I needed to see for myself that she was actually okay. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe her, the whole situation was jarring and I had a feeling Harper was going to be shook-up from it. Anyone in their right mind would have been, especially with getting a camera slammed into their face.
There was only one thing that mattered to me at that moment.
I needed to see her.
