Chapter 16 Faust
SIXTEEN
FAUST
I rub my thumb over the glass and stare at Sylvan Crispin Connor.
Crispin.
For some reason, I never knew that. Then again, it’s not like I’m the most involved captain in the world.
Why the team and Coach thought I deserved the C this year baffles me.
I stay quiet, keep my head down, do my job, and yeah, sure, maybe I get the puck in the offensive zone better than most D and my stick handling is the thing that got me the contract I haven’t signed and sure, I’m calmer than anyone else on the ice but involved?
Not really. I’d rather spend my free time with the kids at the hockey clinic than the ones I skate beside.
More than that, I’d rather spend my free time alone.
The reality is, I like most of the team. A lot. Our goalie, Lynsky; Ryles the center; Zaulks—even if the left winger’s name is too close to mine. I’m closest to Ryles personally, and I do more work with Connor professionally, but clearly, I don’t give him the time I should’ve outside of the ice.
Now as I look at him beaming in a press photo from a few hours ago after the game—thankfully they didn’t ask him any fucking questions—I wonder just what secrets he’s hiding. Those light eyes, his blond hair damp with sweat under the helmet he’s still wearing, stick in his gloved hand.
What the fuck do you want with Neve?
And what is it she said? “You don’t know him at all.”
He lied to my face, didn’t he? About sleeping with her?
Unless she’s the liar.
The confusion around the two of them makes something swell up inside my chest that I’ve never felt over a woman before. It feels an awful lot like jealousy, and I don’t like it.
And what the fuck is it I’m feeling for him?
I’m not touching that question.
I swallow it all down, reminding myself my focus should be on hockey, what’s next for my future, what I could risk involving myself in this at all.
Mom is set with Dad’s money, for now, but there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll try to stop financially helping her after I go pro.
And I don’t want her to have to rely on him anymore when that happens.
This is all for her.
The only reason I haven’t signed the contract yet is the fact it’ll take me away from her, and her and Rachel are my family. The only two people I genuinely care about.
I need to stay out of Sylvan and Neve’s web.
But her in my passenger seat, so fierce, and at turns, attentive, listening, and definitely, undoubtedly, fucking hot, it makes my future blurry. My focus waver.
I have Sylvan’s number, despite our lack of conversation, and I wanted to text him while I was waiting outside her apartment and that fucking bookstore for her roommate, Cynthia, to show up.
But I resisted, if only because I want to see him when he answers my questions about fucking around with Neve.
And if he doesn’t satisfy me… Well, he heard what I asked him. Do you like being able to skate?