Chapter 24
twenty-four
. . .
Nick
Luke fucking Henry is in my rink.
He’s in the players’ lounge, drinking coffee with his brother.
He’s on the ice, shooting pucks into the net.
He’s in the halls, laughing and fucking around with his teammates.
He’s here, and I fucking hate it.
Doesn’t he know this is my territory? I want him gone—now.
The smug playboy’s already got my dream girl.
I never should’ve kissed Bex. Never should have held her all night long. That’s what a boyfriend does, and she already has one of those. It doesn’t matter that she asked me to stay. It doesn’t matter that she kissed me first.
There was a line, and I crossed it.
It’s bad enough I’m lusting over a woman who’s in a relationship. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I was the cause of their breaking up.
Maybe they’re in an open relationship? After all, they’re doing long distance. It can’t be easy. So maybe he didn’t care.
But if she didn’t tell him… if she hid what happened… I like to think I know her better than that. She wouldn’t cheat or lie. The kiss didn’t go anywhere.
Even if I wanted it to. Even if it’s all I can think about.
She’s been avoiding looking me in the eye for the last week, so I drank myself stupid at the team Thanksgiving dinner the other night, deep in my self-pity. MacGregor pulled me aside, checked on me, and I bit his head off. He didn’t deserve that. Nobody deserves that.
Now, as I grab an electrolyte drink from the fridge, Bex waltzes into the room, and my heart seizes.
She’s wearing her usual uniform of a pencil skirt, silky blouse, high heels, and that signature red lipstick.
None of the other staff get dressed up, not even the front office.
Our GM and president usually sport a team polo, and they’ve set the standard for everyone else.
As long as it’s Grizzlies colors or has the team’s logo, it’s fair game.
As for me, the team’s outfitted me with an entire wardrobe of apparel, so I don’t have to think about it.
Bex approaches Luke, who stands and gives her a hug before tugging her onto the chair beside his. Not the greeting I expected for his longtime girlfriend, but maybe they’re settled and complacent. Maybe they’re not big into public displays of affection.
If it were me, I’d want everyone to know she’s mine, and I’m hers, and we belong together. I don’t think I’d ever get complacent. I’d never get sick of her.
But she’s not mine. I have to remember that.
She’s his. Elsy is his, too. Even Whitney is his.
White-hot ire runs through me, flooding my system so fast I’m dizzy. I inhale sharply, banging my fist on the counter, and a few people in the lounge look over in my direction.
“You good, man?” Seb frowns from across the room.
“I’m fine.”
Except I’m anything but. I have to stand here and watch as Luke slings his arm on the back of Bex’s chair and she cuddles into him.
My heart cracks in two right then and there.
I thought I could move past this. I thought I could stop torturing myself by wanting someone who doesn’t want me.
It’s more than that; she already has another man.
She doesn’t need me. She doesn’t want me.
Luke Henry has stolen everything good in my life. So I’ll make it my mission to ruin his.
Storm clouds hang over my head as I tear out of the lounge and into the dressing room. We don’t have to be on the ice for another hour, but as I suit up and lace my skates, I find myself anticipating the rush of the ice, bracing for the cold, the punishment of the hits I’ll take.
The fight. When I finally break Luke Henry’s face, once and for all.
I glide out onto the ice, admiring the clean, crisp surface. Perfect for tearing up.
Stick in hand, I start my laps. Once, twice, three times around the rink, getting my legs going. The longer I go, the faster I skate, pushing myself to beat the last lap’s time. Driving myself to skate harder. Forcing my thoughts out of my head.
Because if I stand still, I’ll have to confront that they’re still together, and there’s no chance for me. I’m not the kind of asshole who will go after a woman in a committed relationship. After all, if she’ll leave him for me, who’s to say she won’t leave me for the next guy?
No, cheating is a hard limit for me. My dad had a whole second family, a woman and two kids, only a few blocks away from where my mom and I lived.
Their marriage was volatile, but the day Mom died, he ran to the other woman’s arms. I cut him out then and there, but he keeps crawling back, trying to get under my skin. Trying to get a piece of me.
I’m an only child. He may have sired other children, but they aren’t my siblings. Let one of them bail him out or give him another liver. My only family is Elsy.
And now Whitney. He and I are on decent terms, but we’ll never be best friends. We’ll never be close. When he comes to town in a few weeks, I’m sure I’ll have to see him for coffee or dinner. But we don’t text, we don’t talk between games, and we certainly aren’t buddies.
He’s my best friend’s husband. That’s it. That’s all we are.
We grew up in different junior leagues, but we were both named to Team USA for the World Juniors the winter we were nineteen. That’s when he met Elsy the first time. We were teammates. Cordial, professional.
And then he screwed my best friend, and screwed her over, and I broke his nose. He deserved it; I’ll stand by that.
That morning kicked off a decade-plus rivalry that was only put to bed when they got together. We’d antagonize each other on the ice, and he’d give as good as I did, but he’d never fight me. Never fight back. He accepted the pain I inflicted on him, the retribution I sought for Elsy’s sake.
However, Luke Henry fights back. He seems to revel in tossing barbs and throwing punches. I secretly relish it. I’m a goal scorer; guys don’t want to fight me.
But sometimes, a good, old-fashioned punch to the face can reset my equilibrium. It feels even better when I get a few hits in, too.
I skate around and around the rink, until I can hardly feel my legs and my heart pounds and I think I’ve finally, finally chased the demons away.
And then I see him.
Luke Henry sits on the team bench in his warm-up hoodie, eyes narrowed as he watches me. His light brown hair is tousled, like maybe someone’s been running their hands through it.
Bex?
“You skate like you have something to prove,” he says.
“Because I do.” I’m panting as I reach for my bottle, guzzling the electrolyte drink.
“We going to fight tonight?” He says this so casually, like it’s a given. “Or now that I’m not playing with Whit, you finally going to leave me alone?”
“My beef with you has nothing to do with Whitney.”
At least, not the sibling he’s thinking of.
“But you do have beef with me.” Henry draws the words out.
I say nothing.
“If anything, I’m the one who should have an issue with you,” he continues.
“What are you talking about?” A few punches in the middle of a hockey game are no reason to carry a grudge.
“You stole the best thing that happened to me.”
“I didn’t steal shit,” I spit.
“You stole my bestie.”
“I didn’t steal Elsy. She’s yours. She chose you.”
And fuck if I’m not bitter about that. She’s allowed to adopt strays as her pseudo-siblings. I just wish it wasn’t him.
Henry stares at me. “I’m not talking about Elsy. You stole Bex. She’s my girl.”
Don’t remind me.
“I know she’s your girl. You took her away from me.”
Immediately, I press my lips together. I shouldn’t have said that. If he doesn’t know she and I have a history… Although, I’m sure she told him about her previous partners. At least considering our animosity on the ice.
He blinks once, twice. “Bex is my best friend.”
“I’d hope so. It would suck not to be friends with your girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” He cocks his head.
And because I love to torture myself, I keep talking. “How long have you been dating? At least a year and a half, since Elsy’s engagement party.”
Henry stares at me for a long beat.
And then he doubles over. The fucker actually clutches his stomach as tears streak from his eyes, laughing, laughing, laughing.
That white-hot anger races through me again. I’ll stand for a lot of things, but I won’t stand for being the butt of a joke.
“Dude,” Henry wheezes, wiping his eyes. “Bex and I never dated. We’re friends. Good friends. But it’s not like that with us. We’re just friends.”
“But—” I shake my head. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“You really didn’t know?”
“I thought you were together.” All this time, I’ve thought…
He snorts, the sound loud in the empty barn. “Nah, man. We’ve never gone there. Will never go there.”
My stomach drops. I need to talk to Bex.