Page 6

Matt had it fucking coming for him. He threw the first punch, and he thought I wouldn’t drop his ass right then and there? There’s only one of us who always wins a fistfight, and it’s never him. But the man can take a hit, I’ll give him that.

I clean my knuckles under the warm water. Remnants of his blood and my blood on both of my hands. Matt is exactly where Madison and I want him. He’s at the edge, freaking out, and soon, he’s going to beg for her back. She will reject him, and I fucking win.

Madison knows I didn’t want to kiss her, but she had to taunt me. When I grabbed her neck, she wasn’t afraid. I could tell by the change of her breath and the lust in her eyes that she loved it. That she had never been touched like that before. And when I kissed her… fuck . I wanted to lose all control. Her fruity mouth and her gasps – I can still hear them. My dick is hard now.

I take a shower and then get into bed. If I had her fucking number…

The next day, Ace tells me that Matt and Maddie disappeared after the fight.

When I round the corner to enter the auditorium, Ace stops blabbering at the sight. Matt is touching Madison’s cheek. He’s far too close for comfort.

He fucking wins this time? I don’t look at Madison. I can easily forget about this entire charade now that she’s on good terms with that fucking asshole. Ace and I keep our stride.

Madison squares up. “Greyson,” she gasps when she notices me, but I ignore her. “Grey.”

It sounds like she’s chasing after me, but I couldn’t care less.

Matt yells her name, and it’s a stupid string of our names echoing. Ace looks back at her. I want to hit him in the chest for acknowledging her. I know he wants to give me a hard time, but this is far beyond rousting.

She follows us into the auditorium, leaving Matt outside.

“I came to talk to you,” she admits. I’m still walking in front of her. “It so happened that Matt was out there just now.”

I don’t feel like fucking hearing that she’s getting back together with that bastard, so I leave her to enter another room. Ace follows me, sighing.

“Brotherly love triangles,” Ace says.

I ignore the comment, realizing that if I’m going to get through practice, I need to calm the fuck down. I can’t be hitting the other center on his ass on the ice. We made a pact that regardless of whatever is going on at home or outside of the team, we treat each other like fucking teammates. I can’t treat Matt like a rodent to squash in the rink.

Matt trails in after me, and I’m livid. I might break my own rules. By the way he’s looking at me, I think he might too.

Coach Burk calls me and Matt into his office. The rest of the team pretends to not know what’s going on as they ignore us, continuing to dress down for practice.

“Get in here. Shut the door,” Coach Burk snaps.

I don’t say a word as I sit in the chair, and I know Matt is about to say something stupid. It always goes like this. He can’t fucking help it.

Matt says, “If this is about last night, we worked it out.”

Coach Burk ignores Matt as I play with the lint on the chair’s armrest. Coach leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. “And what exactly happened last night?”

“Come on, coach,” Matt scoffs.

“Grey, you did this to Matt?” He leans forward now to get a better look at my face. I glare up at him and nod.

Coach says, “I can’t hear you.”

“Yes,” I say, glancing at Matt’s black eye, swollen cheek, and busted lip.

He points at the two of us and says, “It’s been years of you two fighting. I thought we’ve come to a common ground, and now this again? Tell me, what’s going on at home.”

Matt paces behind me as he says, “Nothing’s going on at home. Our parents haven’t talked in over a year.”

Coach Burk seems exhausted of this, and I don’t blame him. “Then what is it?” he asks.

Matt can’t keep his mouth shut. “He kissed my girlfriend.”

I stare at the armrest, hating this shit.

“Madison Wilder?” Coach Burk asks, surprised.

“Ex-girlfriend,” I correct him.

“That’s not what she said last night.” My jaw clenches as I gulp back my anger. He’s fucking joking, right?

Coach says, “Well, one of you is lying. So, which is it?”

I don’t say a fucking word because I’m sure a pornographic video would get Matt expelled and ruin his career. I hate him, but I would never go that far.

Matt admits, “She didn’t break up with me. She started talking to Grey out of nowhere. I didn’t know what was going on. And then I see them kissing, so I…”

Coach Burk snaps, “You two are acting like two little schoolboys fighting over a girl. This is not acceptable. It’s time for you both to grow up. You’re dismissed from practice.”

“Coach,” Matt pleads.

I shake my head.

Coach Burk says, “If you two come back without solving anything, you won’t be playing in the game this week.”

I glance up at Matt, livid.

“One day,” Coach says with his pointer finger out. “Figure it out. You’re excused.”

Matt walks out first. There’s nothing this guy loves more than hockey, and I’m the same. In the past, we have settled our differences to make hockey work. I already know that this is going to be an easy solution. We grab our things and head out.

“Just the person we need,” Matt scoffs as we enter the main room.

Madison Wilder is sitting on the chair with a book in her hand. She looks at us, confused.

Matt says, “Come on, brother, let’s fucking get this over with.” He sits next to Maddie. She tenses by how close he is. He throws an arm around her shoulder as I take the chair across from them.

Madison doesn’t seem bothered by the brother comment. I don’t think she knows about our past.

“Actually,” she whispers. “I’m here to talk to Grey.”

“What?” Matt snaps. His eyes dart to me.

“Yeah,” she breathes. “I haven’t talked to him since the fight, and I really need to talk to him.” Her blue eyes stare into mine. Her body language shifts into guilt, but it’s clear it’s not for me. I can’t stand the tension in the room right now.

“Well, go ahead and tell him,” Matt says, pointing at me. “Tell him about last night.”

She hesitates, and I get it. Matt is a force sometimes, compelling even. A true people person, he knows how to make them bend at his will. What is it called? Oh, charisma. Some would say manipulator.

“Alone,” she says, glancing at me. If she thinks I’m going to have her back right now, she’s dead wrong. Hockey will always come first. I don’t move a muscle, so she turns to Matt. “Please give us a second.”

He stands up, annoyed. He walks out of the building. When the door shuts behind him, it echoes in here.

“So,” she begins as the cold air filters through this room.

“You guys got back together,” I nod.

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Really? Because he seems to think so.”

“I let him apologize to me,” she confesses. “But that doesn’t mean –”

“I don’t think he knows that. So, it’s not me you need to talk to. It’s him.”

“But I –”

I cut her off. “I don’t care what you do, Madison.”

“I was hoping we could continue this so that he stays away.”

I laugh. “Oh, you still want to use me?”

She shrugs. “Just pretend a little while longer.”

“And what if I don’t want to?”

The thought of Matt returning to this room with Madison and I as a couple makes me warm on the inside. If he doesn’t win, I do, and how fucking ironic is that. I can’t let her think it’s this easy though, so I lean forward with my finger pressed against my lips.

“But I want to,” she argues.

“Then tell him the truth,” I say.

She gasps. “What?”

“Tell him what you’re telling me. That you want nothing to do with him.”

She’s frozen, like what I’m saying was never considered.

I tell her, “I don’t play games, Madison. Now go tell him how you feel.”

She’s deep in thought for a moment and then she stands. “You’re impossible.”

I laugh. “Yeah, it’s me with the issues.”

She storms away as I lean back in the chair. As soon as I hear the doors shut behind her, I glance through the glass doors. Perfect, they’re fucking talking just like they should be. The cold air that snuck in from the quick exit grazes my skin. I stand, walking back to the locker room to dress up.

Coach catches me right before I step on the ice with an unforgiving look.

“Cress, what did we talk about earlier?” he scorns.

The team catches a whiff of our voices but continues on.

I lift the helmet on my head. “With all due respect, Coach, we had an agreement coming into this. Matt and I are stepbrothers and sometimes we fight, but in the rink, all the problems we have are left outside. Hockey always comes first. And we solved the problem.”

Coach has a questionable expression. “If it’s solved, then where’s Matt?”

“I’ll let you in on something, Coach. The fight was never about me. I’m just an easy punching bag for the guy.”

“Really?” Coach asks. “Then why did I hear you were the only one getting punches in.”

I scoff. “He threw the first punch.”

Coach’s expression hardens. His voice raises as he says, “I don’t want to hear the nonsense excuses. If your problems end once you touch that ice, then so be it, Cress. But I won’t have you in here talking to me like I’m an idiot. If you’re getting in that rink, you’re doing hard drills until you get out whatever needs to come out. Got it?”

“Yes, Coach,” I say, biting my tongue.

“Oh and stay away from Coach Wilder’s daughter or we’re going to have a bigger problem.”

“Yes, Coach,” I say and then hop onto the ice. Not only is Madison’s older brother the China Wall in the NHL, her dad is the notorious hard ass Coach Wilder in the NHL. And now I’m being told to stay away from the one girl that is begging to be in my arms. How fucking ironic once again. This girl is nothing but trouble. She’s off-limits in a hundred different ways at this point which makes my dick even harder. Plus that kiss was hot and I need more.

Coach starts yelling what’s expected of me and asks the rest of the team if they want to join me. In unison, they shout, “No, Coach.”

I skate hard and fast across the rink as Coach shouts at me to push harder.