Chapter Two
Jagger
The ice feels perfect under my skates as I glide through the warmup, muscle memory taking over while I size up tonight’s competition. The Stormhaven crowd is loud as hell, comfortable in their own arena, but that only gets my blood pumping harder.
“You see Levi’s form today?” Knox calls out as he skates past, nodding toward where the player in question is practicing his shots. “Guy looks tight.”
“Good,” I grunt, firing a puck toward the net with enough force to rattle the crossbar. “Tight players make mistakes.”
All summer I’ve been waiting for another crack at the Kane brothers. Last season, they got close to beating us more times than I care to admit. But this year it feels different. I’m hungrier and want to win by more.
The horn sounds, signaling the end of warmups, and we skate back toward the tunnel. In the locker room, Coach runs through the game plan, his voice echoing off the concrete walls as he draws the plays on the whiteboard.
“Holt!” Coach’s voice cuts through my focus. “You with us?”
“Yeah, Coach. Pressure their forwards, make Levi work for everything.”
“That’s what I want to hear.”
Twenty minutes later, we’re back on the ice. The crowd is deafening, but I feed off the energy. When they announce the Kane brothers as “the brothers of brutality,” I can’t help my snort. Brutality? I’ll show them brutality.
That’s when I see the two brothers banging their sticks against the glass, making some poor girl in the stands turn around. The name KANE stretches across her back in bold letters.
Slowing my skate, I take a better look. Red hair, and curves that even an oversized jersey can’t hide, but there is something familiar about her—I’ve definitely seen her before.
“Check out Kane’s girlfriend,” I mutter to Knox as he skates beside me.
“Which Kane?” Knox asks, following my gaze.
“Does it matter? Either way, this just got interesting.”
Knox shakes his head. “You and your damn distractions.”
“Not a distraction—motivation,” I reply with a smirk as we move into our positions.
The puck drops, and the game is on.
First shift, I’m lined up against Levi Kane. He’s got skills, I’ll give him that. But he’s also got a mouth that never stops running. It’s the perfect combination for getting under someone’s skin, but unfortunately for him, I’m the one who does the niggling.
“Hope your girlfriend’s watching, Kane,” I chirp as we battle for the puck in the corner. “I would hate for her to miss how you’re getting schooled.”
“Fuck off, Holt,” he grunts, trying to muscle me off the puck.
I’m stronger, and I use my leverage to drive him toward the boards. The crowd noise builds as we turn and approach the glass where his redhead is sitting. At the last second I pass off the puck and reverse the hit, slamming Levi back first into the boards right in front of her.
The glass shudders from the impact, and I can see her eyes go wide from the other side. Levi is stunned for a split second, long enough for me to flash her my best cocky grin, blow a kiss, and give her a wink before skating away.
“You son of a bitch!” Levi shouts, scrambling to get back up.
I circle back around, grin still wide. “What’s wrong, Kane? Don’t want your girl seeing you get manhandled?”
“My girl?” Levi’s face twists into rage. “That’s my fucking sister, you asshole!”
Sister.
The word hits me like a slap shot to the chest. His sister. That’s why she looks familiar; I’ve seen her around campus. Jesus Christ, I flirted with Levi Kane’s sister.
“Your sister?” I repeat, my brain already shifting gears. But if she’s his sister, that means I have a way to get into his head. “Well, it looks like fresh meat just got added to the menu.”
The effect is immediate. Levi’s face goes from red to purple, and he drops his gloves without hesitation.
“You keep away from my fucking sister!” he roars, coming at me with his fists flying.
I drop my gloves too—because that’s hockey—but I’m grinning the whole time. Even as we’re throwing punches and the refs are skating over to break us up, I can’t stop thinking about those blue eyes behind the glass.
The fight earns us both five minutes in the penalty box, but it’s worth it to see the look on Levi’s face. Knox skates over as I’m getting settled in the sin bin.
“What the hell was that about?” he asks through the glass.
“Kane’s sister,” I say, nodding toward the stands where she’s still sitting, looking shocked but also intrigued. “She goes to Gravepoint.”
Knox whistles low. “You’re playing with fire, man.”
“Maybe. But have you seen her?”
Out on the ice, the play continues without me. Landon Kane feeds a perfect pass to their center, who buries it top shelf. The goal horn blares, and their fans erupt into loud cheers.
I watch as Levi’s sister jumps up to celebrate, her jersey riding up just enough to give me ideas I probably shouldn’t be having about my rival’s family member.
This season just got a lot more interesting.
When our penalties expire, I skate back onto the ice with renewed energy. Every time I’m near the Kane brothers, I glance suggestively toward their sister in the stands. It’s petty, but watching Levi get more and more wound up is entertainment gold.
“You stay away from her, Holt,” Levi warns during a face-off.
“Can’t promise anything, Kane,” I reply with a smirk. “We go to the same school, after all.”
The look of pure murderous rage on his face tells me I’ve found his weakness.
And I plan to exploit the hell out of it.
The locker room feels like a funeral home after we lose 4-2. Coach’s post-game speech bleeds into background noise—something about effort and regrouping—and all I can think about is how Levi Kane scored the game-winner in the third period then had the audacity to blow a kiss toward me.
“Fucking bullshit,” I mutter, ripping off my jersey and throwing it into my stall harder than necessary.
“What’s eating you?” Knox asks, sitting down heavily beside me. “We’ve lost to them before.”
Riven looks up from unlacing his goalie pads, calm as ever despite letting in four goals. “It’s not about losing,” he says quietly. “It’s about that redhead in the stands.”
Shooting him a look, I blurt, “What?”
“I see everything from the net, Holt, including your googly eyes at Kane’s sister every time you were on the ice.”
“I wasn’t making googly eyes.”
“Sure, you weren’t,” Riven says, running a hand through his dark-blonde hair. “If you’d paid attention, you would have noticed her watching their games last year.”
“She goes to Gravepoint,” Knox adds.
“I know,” Riven replies. “I’ve seen her around campus. Usually at the athletic center.”
Of course he has; Riven notices everything. He files it all away like he’s cataloging weaknesses in opposing players.
“You know what?” I stand up, a plan already forming. “They’re having their victory party tonight.”
“Yeah, so?” Knox asks.
“So we’re crashing it.”
Knox raises an eyebrow. “That’s a terrible idea.”
Riven simply looks at me with those calculating eyes. “I’m sure you have a crazy plan ready?”
“The best ones usually are.” I pull out my phone and start texting. “Remember freshman year when we tried to crash one of their parties, and they all wore those stupid glow masks. It’s our way in this time, and they won’t even know we were there.”
Two hours later, we’re crouched in the woods behind the Stormhaven hockey house, dressed in black and wearing aqua glow masks with built-in voice distorters.
The masks were definitely worth the fifty bucks; we look like something out of a Halloween movie, and the voice modulators make us sound like demons.
The party is in full swing by the time we arrive. Music is pumping, and people are spilling out onto the back deck.
“Remind me again why we’re doing this?” Knox’s voice comes out in that distorted robotic tone.
“Because fuck the Kane brothers, that’s why,” I reply.
“Security cameras on the north corner of the house. Escape routes through the trees to the east and south,” Riven tells us. He is always the perfect lookout.
“See? This is why I brought you.”
We’ve got everything set up. Smoke bombs are positioned around the perimeter, along with strobe lights that look exactly like police flashers, and the best part, stink bombs that smell like a combination of rotten eggs and gym socks.
The rest of the team is here, waiting for the chaos and ready to leave little plastic dicks in their wake.
Stormhaven will find reminders of this for weeks to come.
“You ready?” I ask Knox.
“This is crazy.”
Riven just nods once, moving into position.
I give the signal, and all hell breaks loose. The smoke bombs go off first, filling the backyard with thick, acrid fog that reeks. Then the strobes flash, blue-and-red lights flickering through the smoke. Someone inside screams about the cops arriving, and within seconds, chaos erupts.
People pour out of the house like ants, coughing and stumbling through the stench. I can hear Levi shouting something about finding whoever did this, but his voice is getting softer as people scatter in every direction.
That’s when I spot her.
Little Kane, still wearing that oversized jersey. She stumbles out the back door and immediately runs toward the tree line.
Without thinking, I take off after her.
“Jagger!” Riven yells. “Where are you going?”
But I’m already gone, leaving Knox and Riven to get the rest of the team out of here.
She’s fast, but she’s running blind through the smoke.
I follow her into the woods, my heart pounding.
She makes it about fifty yards before I catch her, appearing out of the trees in front of her just as she glances over her shoulder to see if anyone’s following.
She slams into my chest at full speed and goes down hard, landing on her ass with a grunt.
“Fuck me in the ass with a pineapple,” she snaps, scrambling backward on her hands until her back hits a tree. “You scared the shit out of me!”
I keep the mask on, knowing the aqua glow and distorted voice will make this encounter even better. “Sorry about that,” I say, my voice coming out in that robotic tone. “Though you might want a safe word in case a pineapple is too spiky.”
Her eyes go wide as she stares up at me. “Who the hell are you?”
“Someone who isn’t afraid of pineapples during sex. And you are Leila Kane.”
“How do you know my name?” Her voice wavers between anger and curiosity.
“Everyone knows the Kanes,” I say, offering her my hand. “And I asked around.”
She stares for a long moment before finally accepting my help, though she immediately puts distance between us once she rises to her feet. “You asked about me?”
“Can you blame me? It’s not every day that I meet someone brave enough to wear enemy colors in hostile territory.”
Even in the dim light filtering through the trees, I can see her studying my mask, trying to figure out who’s behind it. “That was you back there, wasn’t it? The smoke and lights?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because you’re clearly insane enough to crash a party simply to prove a point. And no sane person who knows I’m a Kane would chase me in the dark.”
The voice distorter turns my laugh into something that sounds vaguely demonic. “Guilty as charged. Though I have to say, your reaction time is impressive. Most people stood there coughing.”
“Most people don’t have brothers who have been pulling pranks on them their entire lives.” She crosses her arms, which only emphasizes how the jersey hangs on her frame. “What do you want?”
The way she asks while staring at a mask shows she’s got more backbone than most people.
“Honestly? I want to know why Levi Kane’s sister goes to Gravepoint.”
“Because I can make my own decisions.”
“Even when those decisions piss off your overprotective brothers?”
“Especially then.”
“Leila!”
“I should go,” she says, but doesn’t move.
“You should,” I agree.
She turns and starts back toward the house but pauses after a few steps. “Hey, glowstick guy?”
“Yeah?” I say as she turns around to face me.
“Next time you want to chase a girl, maybe bring some friends. Make it interesting.” She winks at me and then she’s gone, leaving me standing alone until Riven approaches.
“There you are,” Riven says. “We need to go. Now. Campus security is a few minutes out.”
“How do you know?”
“This isn’t my first rodeo.” He turns and we head toward the place we agreed to meet. “Did you get whatever it was out of your system?”
I nod, replaying the conversation in my head as I follow him.
“Good. And if we get caught because you were chasing the Kanes’ little sister, I’m letting Knox sit on you.”
Despite everything, I can’t help but grin behind my mask. “Worth it. Especially if you record it.”
Riven throws his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side.
Now I need to figure out how to entice Knox and Riven to join me when I chase her again. You don’t turn down an offer like that.