Page 97 of Daring the Hockey Player

"I don't care what you believe," I say with a shrug and open my textbook. I'm actually relieved when the professor begins his lecture. As much as I hate statistics, I despise Atlas Storm even more.

He's unconvinced, and I give him the cold shoulder for the rest of the class. The minute that statistics is over I grab my bag and hightail it out the door, my books still in my hands. Usually, I'd put my stuff away before leaving, but I need to get out of there before I say something regrettable.

"Hey! Wait up," Atlas calls after me.

I hurry my pace, but Atlas is taller and has long strides when he walks, easily catching up with me.

I curse under my breath, but the sound is barely audible over the commotion of students pouring out of the lecture halls.

"I'll be at the game tonight with some friends. Since your boyfriend is playing tonight, you should introduce us." Is this his version of a peace offering? A truce?

I spin around to face him. "And why would I do that?" I ask. Atlas and I aren't friends. I don't know why I even let a word of what he says bother me. But I can't just let it go.

"Because I think you're full of shit."

TWENTY-FOUR

JASPER

I've barely seen Amber.Not because I haven't wanted to but because our schedules haven't meshed together. I want to take her out and impress her with a fancy dinner date, but I've spent all week traveling, and now that I'm home, I'm up early to hit the gym, and she's still in bed asleep.

I've discreetly been trying to find a nice place to take her without asking anyone I know for a recommendation because that would also come with way too many questions.

I shove my phone into my locker. I can't keep checking my messages for texts from Amber. The last one she sent was an hour ago.

Good luck! Don't break a leg. Break someone else's.

I try not to laugh, but I'm sure I'm wearing the stupidest grin. I have to shut it off. I don't need the guys harassing me or Kyler giving me shit when he finds out what's going on between me and Amber.

With my back to Kyler, he clears his throat. "You've been awfully quiet. Is your head in the game for tonight?" he asks. We're in the locker room, gearing up for a game tonight with my most despised team, the Island Bruisers.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

They're a team known for playing dirty. They even went as far as one of their players threatening one of ours, among others in the league. He was arrested, kicked out of hockey, and consequently put behind bars.

The league tried to cover up the scandal, and I only know all the details because my niece was the target of one of the threats.

My disgust goes back even further with Atlas Storm. We played together on the ice when we were in our early teens, in a hockey league.

The wanker stole my girlfriend, Bridget Malister, and used his brother's name to get into her pants. The fact that Knox Storm was a first-round entry draft pick lit up her eyes. Plus, Atlas promised her tickets to the Island Bruisers games and that she could sit in the Ice Box.

I couldn't compete with that, and I didn't even try.

I ghosted her as much as a kid could, given we went to the same school. We even had a couple of classes together. I wish I could say that I don't know whatever happened to her.

Oh, I know. I even see her from time to time.

She's a puck bunny.

Rumor has it she slept with Knox Storm the moment the opportunity presented itself. Not a big surprise. I don't even give her the time of day or so much as a nod when we cross paths. She's dead to me. As cold as the ice I skate on.

"I'm looking forward to a good game tonight. I heard Em and Amber are going to be in the stands cheering for us," Kyler says.

He laces up his skates, and we head out of the locker room and into the hallway, waiting for the announcement with our introduction.

I inhale a sharp breath. I like the thought of Amber in the stands, cheering for me. I hope that she's come to her senses and is wearing an Ice Dragons jersey with my number on it.

"I'll bet it's the nosebleed section," I say. We're not at our home stadium, where we've got a section of decent seats that we share among our team.