Page 25 of Ice Cold, Red Hot (Coldwater Firehawks Hockey #1)

SHEPHERD

“Let’s go.” Griff was bouncing in the doorway to the apartment like a puppy. I think he was even more excited than I was.

“I’m coming, calm down,” I said.

I drove us to the rink, Griff practically ricocheting off the interior.

“Save the intensity for practice,” I suggested.

“Yeah,” he said, blowing out a breath. “Yeah, good idea.”

We got suited up, and met Coach out in the bench area.

“Grab some pine for a minute,” he called out, and the team filed in.

Griff and I were the only ones who knew what was coming, and he gave me a grin as we sat down.

“I’m happy to tell you that Shepherd Renshaw is reinstated to the team, and as your captain,” he said.

He opened his mouth to say more, but he was drowned out by the eruption of cheers and shouts from the bench as the team leapt up and piled together in a kind of massive hug slash cheer.

“Sit down!” Coach yelled over the noise.

“Bunch of lunatics,” he muttered as the guys retook their seats.

I swallowed hard, trying to absorb the unexpected excitement. I’d thought they might be happy, but I hadn’t anticipated level of support the guys had just shown.

“As you know, that puts him back in the action just in time for the first game of the championships at the end of the week.”

Another cheer went up.

“The disciplinary board rescinded their initial decision in light of some new information, so Shepherd is completely cleared of any wrongdoing. That said, punching people will cause problems and if anyone else wants to test his fist on someone’s face, go ahead and quit the team first. Save us all a headache or two.

” He gave me a meaningful look as he said this, and I nodded back.

As we took the ice for practice, and my teammates skated by, slapping me on the back, I felt like I was floating. I would not waste this chance.

Griff and I were unloading the truck after practice when I spotted Nat heading back to the building from campus.

“Hey,” I called.

She changed direction, heading for the truck. “Hey Ren. Griff.” Her head snapped back and forth between us. “Happy faces today, huh?”

“Ren’s back on the team,” Griff said.

“Oh yeah, I heard.”

I frowned at her, coming around the front of the truck to see her face more clearly in the dusky light. “The team just found out tonight. How did you hear?”

For a second, Nat looked guilty, but then she just smiled.

My mind rocketed forward, turning over all the things Coach had said both at the team meeting and earlier, in the phone call when he’d first told me.

“Wait, you knew because Celeste knew somehow,” I said, piecing it together. “How did Celeste know?” I wasn’t really asking, just thinking aloud.

“You hanging out with Evan this weekend?” Griff asked, interrupting my train of thought. He was directing the question at Nat, and there was a suspiciously goofy look on his face.

“Oh,” Nat said, looking up at him and then glancing away. “Nah, that’s over.”

I thought Griff might leap for joy—his crush on Nat had been obvious to everyone but him and her forever. “Oh, cool. Okay. Well, I mean… You should come watch the game then. Championships.”

“I’ll be there,” Nat said, turning toward the front of the building.

“Nat, wait.” I moved to face her. “It was her, wasn’t it?”

“What?”

“The new information supplied by the grad student in question. She made Ethan say something.”

“You should ask her,” Nat said.

“She’s not speaking to me.”

“She thinks that’s what you want. She’s respecting your wishes—trying not to ‘distract’ you.” The way she said the word “distract” made it clear she didn’t agree with the idea. “Even if it’s killing her,” she added, and my heart leapt .

Nat walked a few steps away, but then turned back around. “Anyway, yeah, you’re right. Celeste’s the reason you’re skating this week.”

“Dude,” Griff whispered as we locked the truck and lugged our gear toward the door.

Upstairs, I went to my room and dropped my stuff and then just sat for a few minutes at my desk. Thinking about everything that had happened between us, and the shitty way I’d reacted to it all from the moment she’d arrived on campus.

No matter what I did, she was still there for me.

I pushed her away, turned my back.

And she still did this for me.

As I thought about Celeste, my phone chimed and I picked it up.

It was an autogenerated message from the investment firm—there’d been a deposit to my trust fund account that needed approval. I pulled out my laptop and logged in to find 10k sitting there, waiting for me to click “Approve.”

Ethan returned the money?

It had to be her. It was all her.

I didn’t deserve her, but I was going to fight for her anyway.