Page 4 of Breaking the Ice (Denver Stampede #6)

Miranda put her hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “It’ll be fine. Eventually he’ll find some other woman to annoy.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, we’ll see about that. Although I’m not wishing that on anyone, really. Okay, I’m outta here. I’m exhausted and this clusterfuck didn’t help.”

“Or you just want to go home and dream about that epic kiss.”

“You are so annoying.”

“Don’t hear you denying it.”

I refused to acknowledge her last comment and I refused to let my brain think about that damn kiss. “Is my dinner on the house, too?”

FML.

“Looks like that adorable man tipped enough to cover both of your tabs, but you better tip your excellent waitress.” She grinned.

“If I must,” I teased, dropping some money on the bar top.

“Thank you. Now, go home and get some rest. Have a wonderful weekend knowing that your douchebag ex can’t call you because you blocked his dipshit ass. And when you’re ready, text that gorgeous man who kissed your socks off.”

“My socks are still firmly on my feet, I’ll have you know, and I am not texting anyone,” I muttered, grabbing my bag and phone.

“We’ll see.”

“Thanks for another great meal, Randy. Sorry for that scene.”

“Anytime, Dani. And don’t even worry about that. Let us know if you need anything else, okay? And stay safe,” Randy said.

“I will. Thanks, guys.”

Walking out of the bar, I glanced around the parking lot.

It was important to always be aware of my surroundings and now Roger was making me question if he was waiting for me to leave, like that would somehow make me more amenable to talking everything out with him.

I’d never been afraid of him before, and I hated the uncertainty I was currently feeling.

Ugh, why did I even go out with him in the first place. I should’ve known better than to hook up with a hockey player.

TUCKS

“Drop to your butterfly and close your eyes,” Brady Stock, my goalie coach, said the next morning.

Booksy grinned. “Sounds kinky, Stocks.”

I rolled my eyes at Cameron Keats, the Stampede’s backup goalie. The guy typically had a book or e-reader in his hand, which is how he’d earned his nickname. “Want to talk about what you’re reading these days?”

“Nah, I’m good. So we doing blind practice now?”

“I’ve noticed fewer paperbacks. You hiding your books now?”

He scoffed. “Of course not.”

We’d already done a full team morning skate, but Stocks had wanted Booksy and me to stick around for some extra practice. We’d been at it for about twenty minutes and both of us were getting loopy.

“Stop chattering and focus,” Stocks said. “We’ve done this drill before and you know it.”

“Yeah, yeah, we know.” I dropped down into my butterfly, while Keats worked on shifting from side to side in the net Stocks had set up in the corner.

“You ready, Tucks?” Stocks asked. “Traffic in front of the net makes you blind at times, and I’m going to hit the puck at your chest. Cover it and knock it away so Ivey can’t get the rebound,” Stocks said, nodding over to his assistant Greg Iverson.

“Ready?” he asked just as the first puck hit my chest. I kept my eyes closed and covered the puck. It was one of my favorite drills because there were always guys in front of me and I needed to tune out everything to stop play or keep the puck from hitting the back of my net.

We spent the rest of practice going through drill after drill. I loved every moment of it. Okay, maybe not every moment—Stocks could be brutal—but it was worth it. I was always up for anything to keep improving my game.

“Switch,” Stocks yelled, and I moved to the extra net on the side while Booksy slid in front of the main net.

When Stocks focused on Booksy, I took a moment to watch his every move.

The guy was decent. He’d been backup for a few different teams over his career, including when the San Francisco Strikers had won the Cup two years ago.

He was a little slow getting his blocker up to block shots, but he’d had shoulder surgery at the end of last season.

I’d spent time shifting my legs out from side to side, covering the net, visualizing stopping any pucks that attempted to slide through gaps that my body and the net made.

Now I dropped fully down to the ice, stretching out my hips again.

I easily did a full split, rocking my hips forward and putting my elbows on the ice, my chin on my hands.

“We boring you over there?” Stocks asked, quirking his brow.

I grinned. “Gotta be limber, Coach.”

“Get up. Ivey, fire some pucks at him or something.”

I popped up smoothly and slapped my stick against my pads. “Give it to me.”

Ivey smirked and shook his head, while Stocks went right back to working with Booksy.

An hour later, sweaty as hell, Stocks released us to shower and head out. I rinsed off and changed into workout shorts and a t-shirt. Taking out the small rubber ball I always carried in my bag, I practiced my hand-eye coordination by bouncing it rapidly against the wall.

Someone grabbed the ball mid-bounce and I spun, spotting Booksy.

I fake-scowled. “Don’t mess my flow, dude.” Booksy just grinned and tossed the ball back at me, which I easily caught.

“How’s the shoulder doing?” I asked as I went back to bouncing the ball in front of me.

“Good. Stiff. I’ll ice it and do some therapy tonight. Just glad I’ve been cleared to play, even if I’m still tighter than I want to be.”

“Think you’ll be good against Vegas in five days?” I asked. Our third preseason game was tomorrow, and was also against Vegas, but it was at home. In five days we’d be in Vegas, and I’d already been told I’d be starting in net for games three and four.

“Yup, I’ll be ready. So, same time, same place tomorrow?” We had an optional skate tomorrow morning, but Booksy was taking all the on-ice time he could get and I would never say no to skating with my goalie partner.

“I’ll be here,” I said. “Night, man.”

He saluted me and walked out, and I went back to tossing my ball against the wall.

***

“Oh look, it’s the girlfriend stealer. Tucks is tucking into some leftovers.”

I rolled my eyes. I’d been waiting for Jenzy’s bullshit and had a feeling he’d start running his mouth as soon as he hit the ice.

Jackass.

I hadn’t talked to Dani since our kiss four days ago, but I’d sure as hell thought about it more than I should’ve. Hopefully, Jenzy had left her alone, but I wasn’t going to ask.

“No stealing involved, asshole. Get the fuck over yourself, she obviously found better,” I fired back, dropping down to the ice to stretch my hips. I had a full routine to get through during warm-ups, and Jenzy’s bitching was already throwing it off.

“Better? You’re fucking delusional. I could beat your ass in a fight any day.”

I would not engage. “Sure, man, whatever you need to tell yourself. You done yet? I have a warm-up to complete so we can hand you your ass.”

I heard him drop down next to me on his side of the center ice line. Then he shoved my shoulder with his and knocked me off-balance. Catching myself before I fell over, I turned and glared at him.

He matched my glare. “She’s mine and you need to stay away from her,” he ordered.

“She’s your ex , and you need to accept that she’s moved on.”

He puffed out his chest. “I won’t because she hasn’t.”

Had she reached out to him? No way.

“You’re full of shit. I know she blocked you and isn’t talking to you.” I hadn’t actually spoken to her since that night, but hopefully she’d kept him blocked.

“She’ll come around.” His tone rankled. His inability to understand the word no pissed me off, but I wouldn’t rise to his bait.

“She’s my girlfriend. She loves me.” Now he was starting to sound petulant.

“She broke up with you, dude.”

“It was a misunderstanding, and you fucking weaseled in and stole her from me.”

I’d had enough. I knew we’d agreed I should low-key keep it up during the game, but hopefully she wouldn’t kill me for fully sinking into the lie.

“Look, man, I have no issue with you, but she ended it and she was crystal clear. We’re together now, it’s new, it’s great, and it’s none of your fucking business. She asked you to leave her alone, and I’m saying the same. Move on, man. Just move the fuck on.”

His nostrils flared, and he leaned in close. “If you’re really dating her, why isn’t she here? Shouldn’t she be in the stands rooting for her boyfriend? She always did for me.”

Fucking hell, the man was transparent as hell and a childish bully. Part of me wanted to see if he’d take a swing at me. Maybe they’d eject him from the game before it even started.

“She already had plans tonight, but don’t worry, I’m seeing her after the game.”

She was going to be so pissed at me.

“You need to respect her wishes. She deserves to not have to deal with your shit anymore.”

“You have no clue what you’re talking about, and she’ll come back to me. I don’t believe you guys are really dating anyway.” He was back to sneering. This guy was a complete tool. I hoped we crushed his team all season.

“Well, that kiss the other night was definitely real. Fuck, she’s incredible. But I guess you know that and also what you’re missing now.” There were those flaring nostrils again, but I couldn’t stop. “Waking up next to her? Fuck, man, it’s the best.”

And that’s when he took a swing at me.

I managed to duck to the side—thank you, goalie reflexes—and his bare fist just grazed the top of my shoulder pads. Had that fucker been aiming for my throat?

“What the fuck is going on here?” Micah demanded, skating up next to me. His gaze darted from me to Jenzy and back.

“Just a disagreement,” I muttered, glaring at Jenzy.

He scoffed. “This piece of shit stole my girlfriend.”

“I did not. Dani’s moved on and we’re dating. Now, can we be done with this stupidity? I have a game to prepare for.” I sounded calm and hoped that Micah wouldn’t out me as not having a girlfriend.

“Watch yourself, Tucks. Anything can happen on the ice.”

Micah skated in between us and loomed over Jenzy. “Are you threatening my goalie?”

“Of course not. We all know goalies are untouchable on the ice, but anything can happen.”

One of the refs skated up to us. “What is going on over here?”

“Nothing, just chirping before a game. You know how it is, Gus,” Jenzy said.

Gus looked over at me and Micah, tilting his head in question.

I smiled. “Yup. Innocent chirps.” I popped up on my feet. “Now, I’d like to get back to my warm-up.”

Gus nodded and skated off.

“Tell Dani I want to talk to her.” Jenzy gave me a pointed glare and then skated over to his net.

“What the fuck, Tucks?” Micah asked.

“What’s going on over here?” Dom asked, stopping next to Micah. “Did I see Jenzy try to hit you? You? One of the nicest guys in the league?”

I removed my helmet and shucked off my glove so I could run my hand through my hair. Ugh. I’d managed to make matters worse by running my mouth, but dammit, Jensen had pissed me off. Shit, I was going to have to tell Dani.

“And what’s this about you stealing his girlfriend? I didn’t even know you were dating someone,” Micah said.

“Uh, so I met Dani, his ex -girlfriend—I want to make that ex part clear—last Friday, and she asked me to kiss her. So I did.” I shifted on my feet. How much was I going to tell them?

“She what?” Dom asked, his eyes bright.

“You what?” Micah asked, his brows pinched.

“Uh, yeah. It seems they broke up and Jenzy isn’t taking it well. We struck up a conversation at a bar that night, and when Jenzy walked in, Dani asked me to kiss her and pretend we were a thing to get him to back off.”

“Whoa.” Dom chuckled. “Well, I guess that was nice of you to help her out.”

“So now what? Are you fake dating? Real dating?” Micah asked.

I shrugged. “I haven’t spoken to her since that night, but I’m going to have to fill her in. Shit. Why can’t that assclown take a hint?”

Micah smirked. “Because he’s an assclown. It’s a shame that goalies can’t be touched. He deserves a punch to the face.”

“Don’t get a penalty,” I said.

He shrugged. “Anything can happen on the ice.”

But the only thing that happened was us losing the game four to three. I swore I could see Jenzy smirking at the other end of the ice when the final buzzer rang out.