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Sawyer clears his throat from beside me. “He’s not going to drop it, you know.”

When I pick up my mobile, there are still no messages from Kendra, and I tuck it into the pocket of my shorts.

I’m about to head for the roasting of my life when Sawyer prods a finger into my shoulder blade, and I turn back to him.

“I still think you’re fucking crazy, by the way. But you made the right call in not hitting him back.”

Jon hasn’t saidone word since Tyler started giving him a detailed rundown on what happened. Conveniently, he’s relayed the entire story, bar the uppercut he landed on my already-bruising jaw.

“So, yeah”—Tyler crosses his arms and sits back in his chair opposite Jon like some kind of petulant teenager—“Morgan thinks it’s okay to move in on another guy’s girl. Fuck bro code and especially fuck teammate respect.”

I want to bend over in fits of laughter at the way this guy clearly lives in the 1950s. But instead, I work to keep my face serious and cross a leg over at the knee, waiting for Jon to say something—fuckinganything.

Clasping his hands together in front of him and leaning forward on the desk, he drops his head between his shoulders and blows out a long breath. “Can someone explain how Morgan’s face looks different from how it did when practice ended?”

I look at Tyler, who raises a brow at me. He has zero intention of throwing himself under the bus.

“Bennett lost his cool for a second, but was in the middle of apologizing when you walked back in,” I lie, and Tyler’s brow furrows at me in question.

“That true?” Jon focuses on Tyler.

A few beats pass as I watch my teammate gradually wade through his options before he nods his head slowly.

Leaning back in his chair, Jon drums his fingers on his desk, eyeing us both cautiously. “I think it’s fair to say, there is zero love lost between the two of you. Thetension has been simmering since college. Back then, I’d have handed you both a warning and dropped you for the next game, but now you are pros, and with that comes a level of responsibility.”

He points at Tyler. “The second you laid a finger on your teammate, you opened yourself up to the risk of being put on waivers. Alex Schneider was the last guy that happened to, and let me tell you, our GM won’t hesitate to do it again. I have to report this to him, and the best you can hope for is a heavy fine. The worst-case scenario is, we make you available to trade.”

Tyler swallows and runs a stressed hand through his hair.

“I will, however, make it clear that you immediately recognized the error in your ways.”

Jon’s attention lands on me. “Morgan, I don’t know what the fuck to say to you, to be honest. It’s clear you didn’t retaliate, and for that, you just saved yourself the same fate as Bennett here.” He raises his brows at me. “That said, I don’t think I need to remind you of the stupidity of your actions. You’re a fuckingprofessional,and while you’re not breaking any kind of terms in dating a teammate’s former girlfriend, you are putting the locker room at risk. And that’s all I care about. You fuck around with my team’s dynamics, and you find out just how far I’m willing to go.”

“I’m not planning on letting this interfere with my game,” I reply.

“Oh, it’d better not.” Jon looks between us both. “Because if I pick up on even the slightest undercurrent of tension”—he pinches his thumb and forefinger together, leaving only a tiny space between them—“then you are both being recommended for the farm team. That is, if you’re still here and playing at all, Bennett.”

His anger nearly reaches boiling point when he stands abruptly from his chair, and it rolls back into the wall. “Now get out of my office.”

Tyler’s already out of the door. I’m hot on his heels when Jon calls my name, and I let the door close in front of me.

“Yeah?” I ask as I turn to face the guy who straddles the line of stepdad and coach with expert precision. To an unknowing spectator of that conversation, you’d never know he was family.

Jon looks down at the floor, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his sweats. “I really hope you know what you’re doing with this girl, Jack. I also really hope she’s worth it. You realize this doesn’t look great right now. To everyone, this doesn’t look great.”

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out to see a message from Mum.

Mum

Jon just told me. Jack, what is going on?! You never get into fights ON THE ICE, let alone off it.

Jon juts his chin at the phone in my hand. “That Felicity?”

“Yep.”

“She called me right after I walked in on you and Tyler getting into it.”

I repocket my phone and shrug a shoulder. “It’s fine. I’ll call her later and explain.”