Page 94 of Hockey Halloween

Lilith

As soon as I’m out into the frigid air, I run. I’m not an athletic kind of girl, and I’m definitely not a runner. But the panic, the tightness in my chest, the cold quills of sweat breaking out around my temples, making the hair at the nape of my neck damp, tell me to run.

I don’t get far before my body asks me what the fuck I think I’m doing and demands I stop and take a breath.

I double in half, bracing my hands on my thighs and suck in some sharp breaths to still my racing heart.

Spoiler alert, it doesn’t fucking work.

The article has been behind my eyelids, burned into my memory since the moment it came up on Athena’s phone. Not even the blur of tears, or the bile rising into my throat can distract from the slut-shaming article there on the internet for everyone to see.

Humiliation grates my skin like sandpaper, abrasive, relentless, and reminding me that athletes are not the fucking vibe.

The whole world doesn’t need to know that I kissed Mason McGuffin last night. Just like the whole world didn’t need to know that Johnny White cheated on me damn near every weekend that we were in a relationship .

Twelve months of my life wasted on that man… the sympathetic stares, the gossipy whispers, it all rushes up to the surface at the sight of Mason’s dick spearing me against the side of that damn corrugated metal building outside.

Any wall I’d even thought about lowering when I stepped off the plane in Iowa a few days ago shoots back up. Steel reinforced and a million feet high.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I know without looking that it’s my parents, wondering what the hell I’m doing leaving one scandal behind to start over and getting stuck waist-deep in another one in my first week.

I groan, my stomach lurching, threatening to empty.

This is why I swore off athletes. I shouldn’t care that he has the bluest blue eyes, and adorably shaggy brown hair.

I shouldn’t care that he’s big, powerful, protective, but has that glimmer of vulnerability and fear of rejection laced deep into his eyes when he stares at me.

I shouldn’t care that I like sniping at him, because when he forgets he’s supposed to be scowling and smirks, he’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Dating Mason McGuffin comes with consequences I’m not sure I’m even open to or can be open to. Look at me! Some small-town publication writes a trash piece about how I’m a slut for hockey players, and I fall apart.

I don’t have a thick skin. I don’t have Teflon feelings. I don’t have the stiff upper lip you need to live in the public eye.

I have a thin skin, soft, smushy feelings, and lips that tingle from the memory of how Mason claimed my mouth as his. My cheeks heat. And I damn near jump out of my skin at the crunch of gravel behind me.

I spin, ready to scare the shit out of whoever it is, but Athena grins at me, holding her hands up. She’s dressed like Captain Hook again. I identify as straight, but fuck me, right now I’m bi-curious. The woman is a vision.

“It’s just me.” She presses a hand to her side. “Did you have to run?” She shakes her head. “I don’t run. Are you okay?” Her assessing gaze sweeps over my face like a lie detector test in motion .

It’s pointless trying to pretend I’m okay. She’s shrewd enough to see the truth, so I shake my head. “Not at all.”

She purses her lips together, nodding slowly. Her cell phone chimes, and her face morphs into a sinister smirk. “Problem solved.”

“Whose problem?”

She jerks her chin at me. “Yours. That piece of shit publication has taken down every story in their archive that has your name in it.”

The edges of the brick pressing down on my chest start crumbling. She can’t be serious. I blink, not sure of where she’s going with this.

“It turns out that Johnny White’s sister is every bit the cunty piece of shit that her brother is. She runs that online paper.”

Makes sense. Johnny messaged the picture of Mason and I together to her, and she sank her fangs into the salacious gossip.

“I can’t do this, Athena.”

“Hen.” She corrects me. “Hockey family call me Hen.”

I cant my head to the side. “I’ve been here three days.”

She nods.

“I’m not Mason’s girlfriend.”

“Yet.” She holds up a finger. “I have a good feeling about the two of you.” She taps the side of her nose. “And I fully expect an invite to the wedding since I’m partially responsible for getting you two together.”

I bray out a half-laugh, half shocked ‘ what the fuck?’ noise.

The parking lot is well lit with streetlights, the Halloween maze is still up, it’ll come down in a few days when the crew we originally hired come to pick up their shit.

From the grunting and panting coming from somewhere within, someone’s getting some additional enjoyment out of the apparatus.

“I’m not hockey family.”

Athena rolls her eyes like I’m an idiot.

“Even if you and Mac never end up together.” She pauses, pursing her lips together again.

“Which you will. You’re our charity coordinator.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but in this club, we all fam, amiga.

” She winks at me. “And here in Cedar Rapids, we protect our own. ”

My jaw hangs open. “What did you do?” It’s a whispered question. I’m not sure I intended to actually ask it out loud, but here we are.

The smirk I get in return is vicious, telling, and makes me so fucking glad I’m on the same side as Athena in this situation.

“Sometimes it’s what I don’t do that makes things a little easier for the people I love.

I didn’t stop Ares from sending some sensitive information about Johnny’s family to the police.

Turns out, his family covered up more than a few indiscretions , and the cops have been seeking information about the events.

I didn’t stop my brother from sending it to them.

” She shrugs. “And our family lawyer sent them a cease and desist. Told them to pull down all that shit about you or I’d destroy all of them, systematically, for tearing you down. ”

I blink at her. “You threatened to ruin them for… being mean to me?”

Her lips form a thin line, and her eyes turn hard. “Damn right I did. We don’t let the bullies win here, Lilith.”

Her words carry additional weight because I’m assessing whether or not to run far and fast away from Mason. But is it Mason chasing me away, or the way the bullies acted to drive me from him?

She taps me on my heavily made-up nose. “If you’re attracted to him, give the boy a chance, Lilith.

Let him prove he’s worthy without the baggage and background noise.

He’s a good man, understands that no means no.

If he’s not for you, then you’ll both know.

” She hesitates, like she has more to say.

“What?”

She shakes her head. “It’s not your trauma to contend with.” She sighs. “Until you, I haven’t seen him so much as look at a woman since his accident. There’s a spark of light back in his eyes that I didn’t realize was missing until I saw him light up around you.”

I can’t help laughing. “How could you tell with all the scowling?”

Something like sadness flickers across her face. “These boys are all like my brothers. When one of them hurts…” She touches her chest. “I feel it right here.”

A lump springs to my throat but she shakes her head. “It’s not on you to fix him.” She gives me a soft, watery smile. “But I guess I’m just relieved to know that the old Mac is still in there somewhere, and he’ll come back when he’s ready.”

Until his rock-hard cock pressed into my crotch, it had been maybe a year since another human being laid hands on my body. But more than that, it was nice not having someone look at me with pity in his eyes, pity put there by the actions of my ex.

I could be whoever I want to be here, especially since Athena handled the online scandal. Maybe there’s a little part of me who wants to be Mason McGuffin’s girlfriend.