Page 27 of Offside Attraction

I chuckle.

“Yeah, look at you getting all hot and bothered, Mr. Hotshot. I think you even popped a vein,” I smirk at him. “Why don’t you go stand in a corner and come up with something better than the bullshit you just spat?”

“Hayes?” a voice cuts in. Older. Sharp. “Something going on here?”

Hayes and I don’t look away from each other. Not yet. We’re still locked in our little stand-off, neither of us acknowledging the interruption.

“Griffin!”

The barked command snaps through the rink.

Slowly, I turn toward the source of the voice. The man standing a few feet away is older, broad-shouldered, and dressed in team gear. The way he carries himself says everything.

Coach.

Hayes clears his throat and finally steps back, turning to face him.

“Nothing, Coach.”

“Nothing?” Coach says dryly. “Because it looked like you two were seconds away from tearing each other apart.”

“No, sir,” Hayes replies smoothly. “I was just getting to know Miller here.”

He flicks a brief, sharp glare at me before returning his attention to the coach.

I smirk.

Around the rink, everyone’s watching us now. A few faces look disappointed—like they were hoping one of us would end up bleeding.

Soon, boys. Soon.

My attention snaps back to the coach when I feel his gaze settle on me.

“And you must be Dakota Miller.”

“Yes, sir.”

He studies me for a moment. Then his brows lift slightly. “Are you Derek Miller’s son?”

The question catches me off guard.

“Yes, sir.”

A smile spreads across his face, softer now. “Small world. You might not remember me, but your dad and I were good friends. I’m sorry about his passing.”

Yeah. I remember him now.

Mason Rivera. He used to come over to our house to watch hockey games with my dad.

Good man.

“Your father was a hell of a player back in high school,” Coach Rivera continues. “And I watched you play with Griffin in middle school. You were good.” He tilts his head. “Why’d you quit?”

Because the captain made my life hell.

Instead, I give him the answer I’ve been giving everyone for years.

“I just wasn’t feeling hockey then, sir.”