Page 9

9

O ver the next week, I reined in the urge to murder Kane at practice. I was a professional. I could maintain. If Coach had any idea how much restraint it took not to knock the shit right out of Kane, he’d never question how much I valued being a team player.

Inside, I seethed.

Kane had skipped conditioning— mandatory conditioning—to ambush his ex-girlfriend. Even if I didn’t know the girl, I’d still be pissed at his sheer audacity in ignoring her boundaries. Unfortunately for him, I did know the girl. I liked the girl. And I wanted to bury his ass in the ice.

Practice was already heated from Kane and his lackeys talking shit all week. I didn’t know how he’d managed to convince a subset of underclassmen to kiss his ass, but I could do without the constant commentary while they followed me around. I couldn’t do a lap without practically tripping over one of them.

By Friday, I knew why. He approached Coach in the locker room before practice and announced, loudly, that he wanted to be considered for captain.

I laughed, but Coach gave me a pointed look and nodded before going into his office. Shock froze my system. What the actual fuck? I sat there holding one sock trying not to let the betrayal show on my face.

Cole nudged me and spoke under his breath. “He’ll never get it.”

The reassurance knocked me out of my head, but I wasn’t in the mood to be placated. I shrugged, still salty from our last conversation where he’d said I might not be captain material. Cole’s jaw ticked, but he left me alone to finish putting on my gear.

Kane’s minions surrounded him, jockeying for the chance to congratulate him first. The spot wasn’t his yet—the team still needed to vote, and ultimately Coach made the final decision—but Kane met my eyes and gave me a pity shrug.

The lines had been drawn.

Rage unlike anything I’d felt raced through me like a wildfire. Briefly, I imagined flattening him with Mase’s truck after practice. Why wait, though? I would destroy that asshole… and I’d start with his lies about Kenzie.

Casually, as if I didn’t care, I offered him a smile. “How was the lunch with Kenzie’s mom? I know Kenzie didn’t want to see you, but her mom seemed pretty excited. How close are you to her family… Toby?”

His eyes narrowed, but I didn’t give him a chance to answer as I put on my other sock.

“None of my business, but if she knew about your open relationship as you say, maybe it wasn’t the other girls that drove her away. Maybe it was another woman .”

Cole, ever the boy scout, rolled his eyes, but Sellers had my back and snickered like a hyena. Some of the other guys joined in, and I didn’t feel a moment of guilt as his smile transformed into a tight line.

“Kenzie asked me to meet her for lunch. You were the one who wasn’t invited.”

I finished lacing up my skates and stood, rolling my shoulders back. “Maybe not, but I was the one she left with.”

He sputtered out a response, but I was already in the tunnel leading to the rink. To my surprise, Cole, Sellers, and Mase flanked me as I walked out. I couldn’t have asked for a better mic drop moment, and I’d have to remember to thank them. Later. When we were alone.

Several other guys joined us, including Ian Vanhauten, my new right winger. The guy didn’t say much, but he was fast, accurate, and his stick work nearly brought me to tears. I’d never admit as much, but he might rival Gavin in skill. Unfortunately, he rivaled Mase in social skills.

As usual, he ignored the rest of us as we tromped up the tunnel, and Cole only sent me a look that said we’d talk about it later. No one else mentioned the exchange between me and Kane. Honestly, I was relieved.

I didn’t like the idea of using Kenzie to swing at Kane, but wasn’t striking at her ex part of our agreement? Now that I’d opened my mouth, I needed to make sure the team—especially Coach—knew Kenzie wasn’t another puck bunny. Nerves hit me as I realized I had no idea how to announce a relationship without sounding like a dick.

We all staked out sections of the rink to warm up. Coach would be out in a minute to get practice started, but all of us knew he expected a full stretch routine, static and dynamic, before he’d let us skate. Warm muscles meant less injuries.

With Gavin gone, the seniors usually alternated running warmup, but Kane never bothered. If it was his turn, he’d do a couple of laps and call it good—another reason to believe he’d be a horrible captain. He didn’t give a shit about his team.

Today’s leader was Vanhauten, and though he never said as much, we all knew how much he hated every command he gave. At least his routine was sound, if abrupt.

Sellers waited a whopping four minutes after Vanhauten barked at us before scooting across the ice to stretch next to me. “What the hell, man? You steal Kane’s girl out from under him and you don’t tell me?”

“It’s not like that.”

When I didn’t elaborate, he made dramatic hand circles. “What was it like then?”

“I’ll tell you after practice.”

“Why not now?”

“Because then you’ll spend the whole time blabbering instead of working on your skills.”

Vanhauten skated up next to us, glaring at Sellers. “Are you two going to talk or warm up?”

Sellers grinned at him. “Can’t we do both?”

Vanhauten scowled back. “You could if you were working any muscles except your mouth. At least Tanner is taking this seriously.”

It was possibly the nicest thing he’d ever said to me. Granted, the bar was pretty low, but I’d take what I could get. When I took a real look at Sellers, I realized Vanhauten was right. My good buddy was half-assing the warmup, and he should know better.

I shook my head as Vanhauten went back to his spot. “You’re going to get hurt.”

“Nah, I stretched before we changed. This is just a top up.”

“Why?”

“I stretch all the time. Gotta keep limber for the ladies.”

Before I could tell him he was an idiot, Coach came out of the tunnel. I didn’t want to be caught messing around, so I jerked my chin at the ice where Sellers had been previously. He immediately moved back. Sellers might be an idiot, but he was a good friend.

Kane joined us right as Coach blew his whistle to start practice. I pushed myself to forget all his bullshit and focus on the hockey. Vanhauten, Cole, and I lined up to take shots at Mase, and I slipped into the place that only existed on the ice. The focus quieted all the voices shouting at me from the outside until the only thing I could hear was my breathing, the snick of my blades, and the crack of the puck flying off my stick.

Nothing Kane or anyone else did could affect me there.

Coach watched us both with sharp eyes, which made me think he might have heard our conversation in the locker room. I was notorious for letting my mouth get me in trouble, but in this case, I didn’t regret a second. The locker room was a neutral zone. We talked shit all the time. Besides, Coach had to know what kind of guy Kane was after what he’d pulled with Avery last year.

The peace lasted until the end of practice, when Kane ended up on the bench next to me. Coach was busy running final drills with the other lines, after kicking our asses as an example. He released the first couple of lines back to the locker room, but I wanted to stay and watch what he did with the freshmen and sophomores.

When everyone else trudged down the tunnel, Kane sat as if he planned to observe too. Asshole. He didn’t care about our younger teammates, but I couldn’t figure out his move. I leaned my shoulder against the glass, absently watching the action in the rink, but my attention was on Kane. Waiting.

One of the new recruits, a sophomore from Massachusetts, sat next to him on the bench.

The poor kid tried to act cool, but he kept sneaking glances at our resident asshole until Kane sighed and snapped, “What?”

“I heard your girlfr—ex-girlfriend tossed your clothes out a window then set them on fire. Why would you have lunch with her?”

He laughed, and the derogatory sound raised all my hackles. “When a girl comes crawling back, you have to give her a shot. The thing about Kenzie is she loves attention. Anything to make a scene. Like her stunt with Tanner. She’s just trying to make me jealous.”

My hands clenched into fists, but I kept them tucked away. I’d never be able to convince Coach I could lead if I started punching my teammates. No matter how much they deserved it.

The sophomore glanced in my direction, most likely aware I could hear every word. I didn’t react. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something else, but Coach shouted at him to get his ass back over with the others.

After scrambling through the half door, he paused and glanced back. “Sounds like you’re better off without her.”

I’d heard enough. My mind wasn’t on the game anymore, so there was no point in standing around next to Kane waiting for the next reason to strangle him with his own jockstrap. I tried—I really tried—to walk past Kane without saying anything, but his fucking smirk after the sophomore left tipped me over the edge.

With a deep breath to keep my hands at my sides, I slowed as I passed him. “You’ve never made Kenzie happy, and I’m going to enjoy giving her everything you couldn’t. I’m also going to enjoy making sure everyone knows what you did to her.”

Kane snorted, but I could see the wheels turning in his head. He’d convinced most of campus they’d had an open relationship, and Kenzie had thrown a fit when she didn’t get her way. Since she didn’t really have a presence on campus, she couldn’t counter his rumors.

In a he said-she said battle, she wasn’t saying anything. I had no problem speaking up.

There was a small chance letting my temper out would backfire when Kenzie heard, and I knew Kenzie would find out because no way was Toby keeping his mouth shut when he could harass her using me.

The locker room was empty when I got there, but I only did the bare minimum of changing my clothes and taking care of my gear before heading out. I could shower at home. Some inner sense of urgency told me I should text Kenzie before she found out from anyone else.

Part of me expected Sellers to be waiting at my car since he wasn’t in the locker room, but I was alone in the late afternoon sunshine. I didn’t want to bring my anger home when things were already strained with the guys. Plus, Eva was coming over this weekend so Henry could see her baby, which meant Stephen and Marco would be at the house too.

Sometimes I missed the days when Gavin kept things on the down low and we didn’t have constant visitors. Then again, without Gavin and Cole falling for their respective ladies, I wouldn’t have gotten to see Cole shove Kane against the glass by his throat. Good times.

I slipped into my car, already cooled thanks to remote start, and sat staring down at my phone in my lap. Kenzie had been busy with school since our impromptu lunch date, but we’d texted back and forth. Another message shouldn’t feel weird. Stupidly, it did.

This wasn’t a complaint about her art history class or how Mase kept moving my peanut butter. Telling her Kane was still talking shit while he tried to stake a claim seemed like a face-to-face conversation. Of course, that meant I needed her face in front of me, in person.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I opened our text conversation.

Me: Wyd tonight?

Wifey: Your booty calls are sad and pedantic.

Me: I’m not the one using the word pedantic in a text.

Wifey: I’m smart. Get over it.

I smiled at her response. The longer we talked, the sassier she got. I was starting to discover the sharp, confident woman under her soft outer layer, and she was addictive.

Me: Oh yeah, snap that whip. You know I like it when you get bossy.

She sent me a series of laughing emojis followed by a squirrel I didn’t understand.

Wifey: To answer your question, I need to go grocery shopping and catch up on laundry. Amanda keeps taking up all the washers whenever I find time to get in there. How does she know?!

Me: Must be her evil superpower.

Wifey: Luckily, she’s gone tonight, so she can’t block me again. Why did you want to know?

Me: Thought you might want to come over and meet the ducks in my life.

Wifey: YES. I can do laundry later.

Me: Calm down. You need to establish dominance over the laundry room if you have any hope of knocking Amanda off your ass.

Wifey: You’re right. It’s a matter of principle and lack of clean undies. What about tomorrow?

For a second, I couldn’t figure out what she was asking. The image of Kenzie naked from the waist down filled every part of my brain. Spread out over my bed. Hair wild. Nails digging into my shoulders. The ping of another incoming message finally broke through my haze of lust.

Wifey: If I remember correctly, you have conditioning tomorrow morning. I could head over to your place around noon.

I blinked at her easy memory of my schedule. True, we’d had conditioning last weekend, but Coach gave us tomorrow off, which meant I’d conscripted Sellers to come work out with me anyway. I scrubbed a hand down my face, wrenching my mind away from all the things I could do to Kenzie if we were alone in my room.

Me: Yeah. Noon is good.

She added a heart to the message, and I told the little zip in my chest to calm the fuck down. Kenzie always ended a conversation with a heart. Not all her good girl habits were from her family.

I hadn’t checked, but I suspected she dotted the I in her name with a heart too. Under all the big talk about having fun, I think she just wanted to make the people around her happy. Previously, I might have scoffed at the idea of living for others’ happiness, but her inner core seemed to be made of kindness forged into solid steel.

No wonder Kane wasn’t ready to let her go. Deep down, neither was I.