Page 21

Ellie pushes her chair back and rushes toward the exit as if the room is on fire.

I can’t say I blame her.

Roger Park is a world class dick and will never step foot in this arena again if I have anything to say about it.

Niko looks just as concerned as I do as he tracks Ellie’s abrupt exit from the room.

“You think she’ll be okay?”

I clasp him on the shoulder.

“She’s the toughest person I know. I’m gonna go check on her.”

I’m already halfway out the door when I hear Niko yell something at me.

I have no clue what he said but it doesn’t matter.

All that matters is getting to Ellie.

I have no fucking idea where this concern and care for Ellie is coming from but there’s no use fighting anymore.

There is a deep and primal need inside me that has to know that Ellie is okay.

Hunter is standing guard outside the door when I get there.

“Move.” I’m not sure where the growl comes from, but it’s definitely a growl.

Hunter may be my best friend, but that doesn’t mean I won’t physically move him out of my way so I can check on Ellie .

He puts his hand firmly on my chest.

Bad move.

I look down at his hand and back up to meet his eyes.

“You have two seconds to get your hand off me before I do it myself.” Judging by the stares of the training staff around us, I think I say it a little louder than intended.

Hunter puts his hands up as if he’s surrendering but doesn’t move out of my way.

“She told me she needs five minutes. Let’s just give her that, yeah?”

Yeah, no.

I push Hunter out of my way and as soon as my hand hits the door handle, he grabs my shoulder.

“ Lincoln! ”

Hunter very rarely raises his voice.

Even as a coach he has a calm demeanor.

So his shouting stops me in my tracks just as I’m about to pull the door open.

I turn my head and look over my shoulder.

“Yeah? Make it quick.”

He slowly removes his hand from my shoulder and sticks both hands in his black dress slacks.

“Just take a breath before you go in there. The last thing she needs is a pissed off head coach to deal with too.”

He’s right.

I take a deep breath in through my nose, out through my mouth.

It’s the simplest technique to calm yourself down, but damn if it doesn’t work 99 percent of the time.

I take one more deep breath and nod at Hunter before throwing the door open.

Ellie stops abruptly in the middle of the room.

If I have to guess, she’s about to put a hole in the floor from all the pacing she’s doing in here.

I noticed during preseason games if it was a close game, Ellie would either pace in the hallway or pace in here trying to calm her nerves in between periods.

The look of surprise on her face lasts maybe half a second before anger replaces it on that pretty face of hers.

The scowl she gives me could put the fear of God in just about every grown man on the planet, but for some reason it just makes my pants feel a little bit tighter in the groin region.

Because damn if it isn’t the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.

Ellie fired up does something to me.

Even if we didn’t hate each other, there’s no way HR would be happy about something happening between us.

Hell, I’m sure it's not even allowed.

I make a mental note to check the HR policy on workplace relationships. You know, just in case.

“What the hell do you want, Lincoln?” Ellie spits out as she begins pacing again.

Slowly, I take a couple steps closer to where she’s pacing back and forth like a caged animal. It’s as if I’m approaching a very scared animal in the wild. I don’t want to spook or set Ellie off anymore, but I can tell she’s two seconds away from losing her shit.

I take a page from Hunter’s book and raise my hands in a surrendering motion. “I just wanted to check on you. That press conference was a shit show. You good, Blondie?”

That’s apparently the worst possible thing I can say because the next thing I know, Ellie is standing toe to toe with me, ready to rip my throat out.

She stabs her pointer finger into my chest and the beast has officially been unleashed.

“ Am I good? ” Poke. “ Blondie? ” Poke. “No, Lincoln .” Poke. Poke. “I am not good! For the record, if I can’t call you Link, you sure as shit can’t call me Blondie. I’m not some sixteen-year-old girl you can tease and push around anymore. It’s Ellie. Or rather, it’s Coach . That is what you said, isn't it?” Poke.

I’m positive I’m going to have a bruise in the center of my chest from all the aggressive poking. I’m also thinking that’s a rhetorical question so I keep my stupid mouth shut for once.

“And since when do you give a shit about me, Lincoln?” Ellie throws her hands in the air and resumes her pacing.

“I find you having a panic attack on the ice and you literally tell me to fuck off. But now that some dickhead takes shots at me during a press conference, you’re all of a sudden so concerned about my well-being?” Ellie pauses her movements. “Oh! And how about the hero complex back there? I didn’t need rescuing. I was handling it. Pick a side. Do you hate me or not? It can’t be both.”

Stupidly, I assume her rant is over, and start to respond. “Ellie, I?—”

She points her finger at me. “No! You don’t get to talk yet.” She continues her pacing, and she’s about to give me whiplash with how fast she is moving back and forth across the room.

I allow her the time to rant about Roger Park and the press conference. She has some rather explicit opinions about the man that I don’t disagree with. She also makes sure to point out my multiple personalities and how I should never interrupt her again. But with each cuss word and insult, she seems to be getting more and more worked up.

This is exactly the opposite of what I was trying to do when I walked in here.

Ellie’s voice keeps getting louder and louder. “What the fuck do I have to do to prove to people that I deserve to be here? Damn it! ” she yells, and before I can even react she’s knocking everything off the table at the far side of the room.

In three quick strides, I’m across the room. She’s so distraught, her hands are in her hair and if I didn’t know any better, she’s two seconds away from pulling it out.

“Ellie.” I say her name two more times but she’s lost in her anger.

I need to calm her down. Before I can talk myself out of it, I’m in front of her and my hands are on her cheeks. “Ellie. Look at me.”

She closes her eyes tightly, but after a second she opens them, and my heart shatters .

Her eyes are full of unshed tears and her shaky hands come to cover mine on her face.

It’s at this moment I decide that Ellie is no longer my enemy. Because I’d move heaven and earth to never see her like this again.

“Breathe for me, Coach,” I say as I demonstrate some deep breaths.

She begins deep breathing with me and I can see her body relax in front of me.

“Good. That’s good, Ellie. Can you do a couple more for me?”

She slowly nods, and it’s on her third deep breath that the dam breaks. Those unshed tears are flowing down her face, and I do the only thing I can think of.

I wipe away her tears with my thumb, pull her hard into my chest, and hold on for dear life.

I don’t know how long we stand like that, holding onto each other like our lives depend on it. It could be minutes, hours, or days for all I know. The only thing I know for certain is I won’t be the first to let go.

Ellie finally breaks her hold on me and takes a step back. I feel the loss in my bones and fight the urge to pull her back into me.

She swipes at her face and looks up at me sheepishly. “Sorry.” It’s barely above a whisper and it’s clear she’s embarrassed by what just happened.

“You don’t have to apologize. Are you feeling any better?”

Ellie crouches to start cleaning up the mess she made of the table and avoids eye contact as we talk. “Yeah, a little bit. Thanks for calming me down. I’ve had some anger issues in the past that I thought I had a handle on. Clearly, I was wrong.” Her voice is shaky and her hands tremble as she continues to stack papers.

I keep a safe distance to let her sort through her thoughts, and move toward the water dispenser we have next to our lockers. Once I’ve filled a cup of water for her, I turn to see she’s just about finished straightening up the room.

“You’re allowed to have a moment. You’re human. Here, take this.” I offer her the cup of water and she reluctantly takes it from my hand. “Anyone would’ve lost their cool in that situation. And I didn’t help matters by butting in. Give yourself a break.”

Ellie seems to relax the tiniest bit and pulls the cup to her lips. I can’t keep my eyes off her as she takes a long drink. I watch her throat move as she finishes the water and stuff my hands in my pockets before doing something stupid like pulling her to me and kissing her senseless.

I take a seat in one of the empty chairs and Ellie follows suit by taking the seat next to me. I can’t help but notice a look of embarrassment on her face as she stares at the floor.

That won’t do.

Before I can think better of it, I’m reaching over to her. I gently grip her chin and lift her head until her gaze meets mine. “Hey.”

Her icy blue eyes stare back at me and steal the air from my lungs.

Ellie Montgomery is gorgeous.

Neither of us say a word as we hold each other's gazes. My eyes move down to her lips for the briefest moment, and that’s when I notice the corner of her lips tip up the slightest bit. She darts her tongue out to lick her bottom lip, and I quickly move my eyes back up to hers.

Does she want to kiss me as bad as I want to kiss her?

I can feel both of us begin itching closer to each other .

Closer.

And closer.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

There’s a pounding on the door. Ellie and I jump apart so fast you’d think we were electrocuted. Ellie hops out of her chair and moves across the room.

“Yo, Lincoln. Ellie. You about ready to get out of here? Maintenance is waiting to get into the room to clean it for the night.”

Hunter.

He either just interrupted something completely amazing, or saved us from making a huge mistake.

I look over at Ellie and she’s at her locker, fixing her face in the mirror. Not sure exactly what needs fixing because it looks pretty perfect to me.

“You good to go, Ellie? I can tell them you need another minute.”

She turns to look at me. There’s still a bit of sadness in her eyes. I’d give anything to be able to help her smile after this night. “I’m good, Lincoln. Let’s get out of here.”

I nod and motion for her to go first. She starts to make her way to the door but pauses next to me. She places her hand on my arm and looks up at me. “Thanks for…whatever that was, Lincoln. I lost my head there for a minute and you brought me back down. Just…thanks.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and try to form words. “Uh…yeah…yep. No problem.”

Ellie gives my arm a quick squeeze and exits the room.

My feet seem to be cemented in place because I don’t move. I can’t. I look around the room, playing back the events of the last…hour? How long were we in here?

I’m lost in my thoughts, trying to make sense of everything when Hunter peeks his head in. “Lincoln, you good? What the hell happened? ”

I shake my head and finally get my feet to work. I pull my leather work bag that holds my computer over my shoulder and make my way to the door.

“I have no idea, Hunter. I have no fucking idea.”