Page 108 of Hold Me Tight

The restraint I forced myself to keep during the game is long gone.

“Do you want to tell me what the hell that was out there?” I snap, striding on my skates toward him, not bothering to mask my fury.

Zane barely blinks as he tosses his gloves into his locker. “Not sure what you’re talking about, Thompson.”

Bullshit.

We both know he spent the entire game fucking with me.

“Do you really think you’re proving something by cheap-shotting me in front of your daughter?”

That jab lands exactly how I mean it to, and his smirk falters.

“That’s right,” he says, jaw tightening as he thumps his chest. “My daughter.”

The entire locker room stills as the chatter around us fades. The guys are all watching now, sensing something volatile building, but none of them step in to stop it from spilling over.

My hands curl into fists at my sides. “I never said Nora wasn’t yours. Maybe if you acted like she mattered, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Zane’s eyes flash. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Do you think you’re better than me?”

I don’t blink. “That’s not even a question. I know I’m better.”

He swallows up the space between us. Adrenaline surges through me, pounding in my ears like a war drum.

“Come on, man,” he says, his voice low and cutting. “Do you really believe she wants you? She came to you because she had nowhere else to go. You were just the first warm body she found.”

My vision tunnels, the edges going dark, my jaw ticking as I fight the urge to rearrange his smug face.

“She was desperate,” he continues, each word slow and deliberate, twisting in me like a blade. “And you were convenient. Nothing more.”

He’s hitting exactly where it’ll hurt me most, in that dark corner of my mind I try to ignore. The part that wonders if he’s right. I need Callie to choose me because she wants me and what we’re building is real. Not as a last resort because I happened to be standing there.

Zane’s lip curls. “You’re not her savior. You’re just a pit stop. A quick fix until she wakes up and realizes you’ll never be enough for her. Or my daughter.”

I don’t feel my arm move, but the crack of my fist connecting with his jaw echoes through the room like a gunshot.

Zane stumbles back, slamming into the lockers.

And still, I’m not sure it was enough.

Movement erupts around us. Zane’s back on his feet in seconds, fury written in every line of his face. Before he can lunge, Steele’s in his way, shoving him hard against the lockers.

“Shut your fucking mouth. That’s the mother of your child you’re talking about. Show some goddamn respect.”

Jax and Knox lock their arms around my body from behind, dragging me back before I can make another mistake. Oliver’s right there with them, muttering curses, ready to step in if it blows up again.

Laiken’s got Zane pinned, one arm looped around his shoulders, holding him in place with a calm that somehow feels more dangerous than rage. “Don’t even think about it, dumbass,” he grumbles.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Coach booms from across the locker room.

No one responds.

A heavy silence descends over the room. It’s the kind that hums with barely restrained violence.

When seconds tick by, Coach swears under his breath before storming out without waiting for an explanation.

Laiken doesn’t release Zane right away. “You done?” he asks, his tone low but deadly.