Page 28 of Breakaway (Nashville Knights Hockey #3)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

DAX

“ D ax. I need a minute,” Coach Andrews calls, disappearing into his office.

“What’d you do?” Noah asks, tugging his jersey on over his pads.

“Depends on who you ask.”

I hang my jersey back up in my stall, not wanting to keep Coach waiting.

“You wanted to see me?” I ask, knocking on the door.

“Come in. Close the door.”

“Did I do something?” I drop down into the chair across from him.

Getting called to the coach’s office is the equivalent of going to the principal’s office. I don’t like the feeling one bit.

“Listen, I know there’s a lot of heat with your brother right now, so I’m shifting the lines around tonight. You’re going back to your old line for tonight.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Detroit is going to be gunning for you to protect Duncan because of his interview. It’s going to be a chippy game tonight.”

“But it was all a lie!” I blurt out. “Why am I being punished when I did nothing wrong?”

“I have to do what is best for the team.”

“Only for tonight?” I ask.

Marcus and Bode have been elevating my game ever since I was bumped up to first line. It’s what I’ve been working toward and it feels great to see my hard work pay off.

This really fucking sucks.

“Just for tonight. I need cooler heads to prevail tonight, okay? Make sure the rest of the guys know it. I’m going to have a chat with Noah, too, if it makes you feel better.”

Doubt he’s getting dropped down a line, but he’s also not on the first line.

“Okay.”

“Play your game, Dax, and you’ll do just fine tonight.”

“Thanks, Coach.”

Conversation over, I leave his office, but don’t go right back to the locker room. I need a few deep breaths to get my head on straight.

I’ve done nothing wrong and Duncan keeps dragging me down with him. Now I’m losing my starting position? Damn, do I ever want to clock him.

But I can’t. I don’t want to prove Coach right by making this situation worse.

I need cooler heads to prevail.

If that’s what Coach Andrews wants, that’s what he’ll get.

Damn it. The lamp lights up with another Detroit goal. We’re down 4-1 now in the middle of the second period.

I hate that I’m not out there with Marcus and Bode, but it’s like whatever good mojo we had going is gone.

“Change it up.”

Hopping off the bench, I skate out to center ice for the puck drop. There’s still plenty of time to turn things around, but I’m pissed.

Pissed that I’m not on my usual line. Pissed that we’re not playing our best. And even more pissed that I’m staring down my brother across the ice now.

Exactly what Coach Andrews was trying to prevent.

“Looks like they finally let you on the ice. I didn’t think they let shitty players out here,” Duncan goads.

I ignore him, flying after the puck to grab it and hopefully close the gap.

I shoot the puck to our winger who gets tied up with one of their defensemen, but going on the attack, I scoop it up and head toward the goal.

Gauging where he’s going to be in the briefest of seconds, I send the puck toward his glove side and it narrowly scrapes in.

“Hell yeah!” I throw my fist in the air.

Scoring doesn’t shut him up. It’s like wherever I am, he’s right there—in my face shouting whatever comes to mind.

“Don’t get used to that,” Duncan chirps. “I’m not going to let you score again.”

Ignore him.

Heading back to the face-off, Noah comes out onto the ice to replace one of our defensemen. Having played enough with him, it’s nice to know he’s out here. Especially with Duncan still chirping in my ear.

We win the face-off, but before I can get any movement toward their zone, Duncan is slamming me against the boards .

“How does it feel to know that everyone thinks you’re the cheater?”

“Fuck off!” I elbow him in the pads and kick the puck out to Noah.

“I’m the golden boy now. Can’t do anything wrong.” He winks at me before taking off after Noah.

My jaw cracks as I grind my teeth together.

When did he become such an asshole? I don’t know when it happened, but him acting like this is all I can remember.

Shaking my dickhead of a brother out of my head, I get back in the game. Noah blocks a shot Duncan takes and sends the puck my way.

Hell yeah.

Scooping it up, I take off. Our winger is skating side-by-side with me before Duncan comes up behind me for an illegal check.

“What the fuck?!” I yell from the ice.

The crowd is in an uproar as the refs miss it entirely.

“Poor baby, Dax. Not getting his way.”

Anger is erupting inside me in full force as I pop off the ice and chase Duncan down. The last thing I want to do is let him score. Not while I’m on the ice.

I’m skating hard but Noah is with Duncan. He blocks the shot off his stick and sends it into the net.

With play whistled dead, the two of them get into it.

“He’s not worth it,” I tell Noah, pushing the two of them apart.

“He thinks he can get away with that shit?” Noah spits out.

“I already did, Fields. Get over it.”

Noah bumps me out of the way, but I grab his elbow. “You know what Coach said. ”

“Aww. That’s right. Skate back to your bench and get your leftovers,” he says.

“Excuse me?” I drop Noah’s arm and get in Duncan’s face.

“You think you’re better than me?” There’s a sneer on his face. “You’re not. You’re not the better hockey player. You’re not the better boyfriend or better person. You’ll always be second place. Chloe’s only using you to keep the bed warm until she decides she wants me back.”

That’s it. I can’t take it anymore. I throw my stick on the ice and connect my gloved fist with Duncan’s jaw.

Every thought flees my head as I pound my fists into my brother. An anger I’ve never felt is raging through me.

“You fucking dick. When did you become such an asshole?”

Duncan recovers and gets a few hits in, knocking me on my ass.

“Me?” Duncan spits blood from his mouth. “You’re the one that came after me.”

“Because you attacked Chloe!” I lunge at him again, but Noah holds me back.

“He’s not worth it,” Noah tries to tell me.

I break out of his arms and get one more punch in before it’s the ref standing between the two of us.

Fuck.

Fuck.

I’m out of the game. Instigating a fight away from the play? That’s a game misconduct penalty. I’ll be lucky if I’m not suspended. It makes the hate burbling up inside of me grow, threatening to explode over the ice.

“You should listen to him.” Duncan nods at Noah, goading me on. “Although I’m pretty sure his sister might be worse than Chloe.”

And now it’s Graham holding Noah back .

“You couldn’t have kept it together?” Bode is escorting me off the ice.

“You should have heard what he was saying?—”

“He was doing it to get under your skin and now you’re ejected.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. You’re going to get your ass chewed out after the game.”

Don’t I know it. I deserve it.

“I really hate him,” I tell Bode as Graham hands me my stick and gloves.

“We’ll try to win to shut him up, but you need to cool off, Dax,” Bode says.

One of the assistant coaches escorts me back to the locker room. I’m still fuming as I chuck my helmet into my locker. A TV plays the game in the corner, but I can’t concentrate.

I’m mad at Duncan for his shit. I’m mad that I lost my cool. I’m mad that I’m not out there helping my team.

I’m mostly mad at Duncan because he started all of this, but I can’t believe I let him get to me.

“Maybe I am just as bad as he is,” I say to no one in particular.

“You’re not.”

Spinning on my skate, Chloe is standing in the locker room.

“How’d you get down here?”

In my jersey and a pair of jeans, she looks worried as she twists the end of one of her braided pigtails.

“Harper helped me.”

I scrub a hand down my face. “I really fucked up, Sunshine.”

“I know. But you’re not like him. ”

I drop down onto my chair. “Are you sure? How do you know?”

Chloe closes the distance and drops down onto my lap. “Because I know you. I have some idea of what Duncan said.”

“He said?—”

She claps her hand over my mouth. “I don’t need to hear it. I’m sorry he got to you.”

I bury my head in her neck, breathing her in. “I’m sorry. I was trying to be the bigger person but he just kept pushing.”

“He has a tendency to do that.”

“I’ll be lucky if I’m not suspended.”

Chloe cups my cheek, rubbing her thumb along my jaw. “I thought that was hard to do?”

“I guess when I screw up, I go big. It wasn’t during play and I instigated it. Just reiterates what Duncan said—that I’m the bad guy.”

“Does it help that I know you’re not the bad guy?” She smiles at me.

“Yes.” I blow out a breath, some of the anger starting to cool. “I wish I wasn’t related to him.”

“I don’t.”

“You don’t?”

She shakes her head. “Do you think we’d be here otherwise?”

“Maybe.”

“We can’t change that he’s your brother, but maybe tomorrow we take a day. Just the two of us. Put Duncan out of our heads. No hockey. No lists. You and me.”

“That sounds pretty good.”

Cheers echo from the arena. Looking up at the TV, I see that Marcus scored, bringing us within one. At least they’re still playing well without me .

“I’m going to go get cleaned up. I’ll meet you in the family suite down here?”

“Or…” Chloe stands up.

“Or what?”

She looks up at the TV. “There’s about ten minutes left, right?”

I look up, nodding to confirm she’s right. “What are you getting at?”

“Think there’s time for a quick blow job in the shower?”

I don’t think I’ve ever heard her utter those words, but I’m not going to say no right now. Stripping out of my pads as quickly as I can, I follow Chloe into the showers.

Yeah, this is not what I should be doing right now, but I really don’t care. This is exactly what I need to put my shitty performance out of my head.

Flipping on the water, I let it run over my body as my dick hardens at the sight of Chloe, still fully dressed, dropping almost to her knees and wrapping her hand around me.

“I think this will help.” She gives me a long slow stroke.

“What has gotten into you?” I groan, throwing my head back, doing my best to block the water from hitting her.

“What can I say? Boring Chloe left the building.”

She wraps her lips around the head and sucks. Holy fuck, that feels so damn good. Seeing Chloe like this is a sight to behold.

Between her tongue and hand, she knows exactly how to get me off. Sliding off, she drags her finger along the throbbing vein.

“We really don’t have time to play,” I say.

“We have some time.” She places hot, open-mouthed kisses along the hard flesh before swirling her tongue around my leaking head.

Her mouth is stretched wide around me as she bobs up and down. God, I wish I had time to strip her down and fuck her senseless in here, but I know there isn’t time for that.

I’ll take what I can get right now.

“You need to wrap it up, Sunshine.”

Taking a deep breath, she sucks me as far as she can. I bump the back of her throat as she squeezes my balls.

“Yessss,” I hiss. “I’m going to come.”

She holds me to the back of her throat and I hold on to the shower stall as I come. Fuck, it feels so damn good to empty my release into her mouth.

Steam and heat swirl around us as she pops off me, wiping the spit and cum that gathered at the corners of her mouth. Water droplets cling to her hair and her mouth looks thoroughly fucked.

“Feel better?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“Good.” Chloe pecks me on the corner of my mouth. “Now, I’ll meet you in the family room after the game. Go watch the rest of the game in the locker room and I’ll be waiting for you.”

Watching her stalk off, there’s a confident sway to her ass.

I can’t believe that woman is mine. I have no idea what is going to happen after this game, but at least one thing in my life is uncomplicated.

And that’s Chloe.