Page 7

ERIK

I didn’t remember a thing.

Okay, that’s not completely true. I remember the sight of Trevor Trombley’s ugly mug.

I remembered the nasty hit I took, and I couldn’t forget seeing the ice hurdle upward toward my forehead.

And I remembered the lights going out. I expected that image to stay burned into my memory for the rest of my life.

Trombley was a monster, plain and simple.

I’d never felt that way about any player back home.

Some had been tough, sure, but not outright scary.

My gut told me that Trevor Trombley would haunt my nightmares for years to come.

The thought of facing him again in the regular season made me feel sick deep in the pit of my stomach.

After everything went dark, I experienced the sensation of being wheeled away on a stretcher.

I remembered a light shining in my eyes, and a man asking me questions.

I swore I’d slipped in and out of consciousness.

I woke up in the hospital, not knowing that the game had ended or whether we’d won or lost.

I spent that night at Erie County Medical Center where nurses told me that we’d won the game three-to-two.

When morning came, the doctor told me I’d suffered a concussion, and I would need to take it easy, which meant no hockey for a few weeks.

My eyes fell shut at that announcement. I wanted to argue with him but knew better.

When I was checking out, he told me I would need a ride home. I decided to order an Uber and chill at home for the rest of the day. Sitting on the side of my bed, I read texts from teammates and then hit the Uber app.

Before I could order a ride, a tall, muscular shadow filled the door frame. “You owe me twenty bucks, bro.”

Kayden stepped into the room, still wearing his sunglasses. He sat in the chair across from the bed like no invitation was necessary.

“What are you doing here?” “You’re in the hospital. You were injured. You’re my teammate. Why else would I be here?”

“Yeah, but?—”

“But what?”

But we hate each other, I wanted to say. You’re the last person I would’ve expected to show up here. We didn’t just get off on the wrong foot. Some people mix like oil and water .

I wouldn’t spoil the moment, though. Not when he’d attempted kindness.

“I thought you’d have better places to be,” I said. “You know, with classes and practice and everything.”

He waved a hand to dismiss the whole thing.

“I heard you’ve got a concussion,” he said. “Tough break. That sucks.”

“Yeah, well, I heard you got thrown out of the game.”

He nodded, not quite like he took pride in it, but I knew damn well he felt no shame.

“You didn’t just get thrown out,” I said. “You went at Trevor Trombley like a maniac. The monster didn’t know what hit him.”

“They couldn’t pry me off of him.”

He smiled hugely. Now he did appear to take pride in losing his shit. It didn’t seem so bad now. Bullies deserved their comeuppance.

“No, you told me why you came here and why you give a damn that I’m injured. But you didn’t say why you went after Trombley.”

“Look, I’ve always been taught to be a team player.

I believe in it to the most extreme degree possible.

Hockey’s a rough game for tough people, but that guy put a ridiculous hit on you.

It wasn’t just hockey, bro. He was trying to hurt you.

No, I take that back. He was trying to take you out.

I can’t just stand there and let him get away with it. I won’t.”

Was I really supposed to believe that? Judging by his tone of voice, hell yes. But there had to be something more to it. I felt absolutely sure.

When he leaned back, I noticed his powerful, sculpted chest straining against his white t-shirt.

He removed his shades, flashing those stunning green eyes again.

I turned away, remembering thoughts I wanted to forget.

They seemed so strange. In fact, they seemed even odder than Kayden showing up at the hospital.

Ignoring them would work for only so long.

It had to mean something, right? I mean, I’d never looked at another guy that way before. Now that I had, I couldn’t stop myself.

“You could’ve gotten in a lot of shit for what you did,” I said.

Again, he shrugged, like grappling with trouble had long been a natural part of life.

“I guess nothing was going to stop you from doing it.”

“No way, bro. I played the game that way in high school, and that’s how I’m going to play in college. I told you I take no prisoners.”

“You’d make a better enforcer than team captain.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me as if to say, nice try .

“What about Coach Hardison? Isn’t he going to be pissed at you for getting thrown out?”

He nodded, but not in agreement. It was one of those nods that acknowledged a dicey situation and said he understood the consequences.

“Coach Hardison and I have already had words.”

“And?”

“And he reminded me that I’m on thin ice as it is.”

“No pun intended.”

“Yeah.” A tiny laugh spilled out of his mouth, and I realized it was the first light moment we’d shared together.

“He reminded me that I could’ve lost my scholarship over the Mister Goodbar incident and that getting thrown out of games for fighting before the season starts doesn’t help my cause.

Oh, and he said he can’t go to bat for me forever. ”

“Definitely not.”

“But that’s not what I really wanted to talk about.”

“It isn’t?”

“Hell no.”

“Okay, then what do you want to talk about?”

“The twenty bucks you owe me.”

“I don’t owe you squat, dude. The bet we made was that I could score more goals in that game than you. And I did.”

“So the hell what? I definitely would’ve scored more than you if I hadn’t been thrown out of the game.”

He pointed to himself like he had in the locker room when declaring his supremacy over the team captain’s locker. This argument was equally stupid, and I already felt trapped. Besides, if I said nothing, he would win, and I couldn’t allow that.

“Hey, I was knocked out of the game,” I said. “I’m sure I would’ve scored plenty more if it weren’t for that goon Trevor Trombley.”

Kayden smiled, shaking his head, like I could make all the excuses in the world. I didn’t care about that. Want to know what I did care about?

His dimples.

That’s right. Kayden didn’t smile nearly enough, but when he did, the most insane set of dimples I’d ever seen appeared.

Maybe it seemed insane because I’d never thought that way about a guy before.

Any other time, I would’ve turned away, desperate to deny everything. Now, I wanted to enjoy the moment.

Okay, the cat was out of the bag. I found looking a little too long at Kayden sort of fun but equally scary.

A guilty pleasure. Had he noticed me looking at him?

Did he know what I was doing, or had he dismissed it?

I drew a deep breath to soothe my nerves, wanting to steal another look but hesitated.

“Look,” I said, “neither of us could’ve won that bet because neither of us could’ve predicted how everything went down. It would make more sense just to call off the bet.”

“Wait, hold on a second. That’s bullshit.”

“What’s bullshit?”

“The crap you’re trying to pull. Jeez, De Ruiter, I thought you had more honor than that.”

It hurt to roll my eyes, but I needed some way to tell him he was acting like an idiot again.

Of course, comprehending that depended on him having a functioning brain.

He’d extended a nice gesture by coming to the hospital when no one else from the team—Coach Hardison included—had shown more concern than a few text messages.

“Look, I don’t see any other way to handle this,” I said. “Neither of us played the whole game. The bet didn’t account for that.”

“I think you’re full of it. You’re just too cheap to hand over the twenty.”

He was right. Not about the cheap part. I mean, he was right that I wouldn’t part with the twenty bucks easily. Doing that would validate him. That last thing I needed was for the cockiest guy on earth thinking he was right about anything.

“Look, I’m not a bad guy,” he said. “I won’t hassle you when you’re injured. Just so you know, I’m gonna come collecting the moment you’ve healed from that little bump on the head.”

“Great. Look, they’ve discharged me, so I’ve got to get out of here. They say I can’t drive home, so I was just about to order an Uber.”

He waved that off. “I’ll give you a lift.”

“Seriously?”

“Of course. No teammate of mine is going to take an Uber home from the hospital. You’re coming with me.”

I hesitated, worried he had some kind of sinister trick up his sleeve. I followed him out of the room, and we took the elevator to the main floor. So far, no evidence of funny business.

Kayden walked ahead of me, leaving me an opening to eye his backside.

I totally felt embarrassed admitting that one, even to myself.

Noticing his eyes and dimples was one thing.

They were right in front of me. But his caboose?

That seemed different. I found myself breathing heavier at the sight, though.

When we reached the parking lot, I followed him to his Toyota Camry. Nice wheels for a college student. I hopped in and snapped on my seatbelt. As we drove away, I asked, “Why did you come to the hospital?”

“You’re my teammate.”

“No, I mean the real reason.”

“That is the real reason, bro.”

That wasn’t true. Saying it a hundred times wouldn’t change that.

God, Kayden Preston could be such a pain in the ass.