I gritted my teeth, trying hard to keep my fist from flying.
“You cut my lock off. Don’t deny it.”
He shrugged. “Of course I don’t deny it. Why would I?”
God, he was impossible.
“You waited until the second I was away with an injury to do that.”
“Not the split second. You were off at least a few days before I cut your lock off and put mine on.”
“And what gave you the right to do that?”
I heard the mounting animosity in my voice, but Kayden seemed unfazed, like nothing could rattle him. Deep down, he might’ve enjoyed seeing my nose out of joint.
“What gave you the right to put your lock on this locker in the first place? You knew better.”
“No, I didn’t. Let’s not even get into that dumbass debate. I didn’t cut anyone’s lock off. The locker was free. I just called first dibs on it.”
“First dibs or not, you had all the warnings in the world. I told you before your injury that you were supposed to have your lock off and your shit out. It didn’t happen. When you think about it, I was generous. A team leader can’t put up with disobedience like that. But I made an exception for you. I guess I’ve got a bit of a soft spot.”
Oh my God, could this guy get any more pompous?
I felt a headache coming on. I closed my eyes and touched my index and middle fingers to my temples. If nothing else, Kayden would think he’d frustrated me, which was one hundred percent true. You can’t show weakness in front of guys like Kayden, though. Think of a shark smelling blood in the water.
“Help me out here,” I said, “I just can’t understand how a guy can go from being an asshole, to the guy that drove me home from the hospital, and then back to a piece of shit again.”
“Maybe I always was a piece of shit.”
Kayden paused, seeming aware of how stupid he sounded. Any other time, I would’ve taken the opportunity to pounce on him, pelting him with all the insults he could handle.
“None of this makes sense,” I said. “Why did you come to the hospital and make me think things were going to be okay between us if you were going to do this?”
“It’s your own fault, De Ruiter. I’ve told you a hundred times already not to take that hospital visit personally. You did it anyway. Whose fault is that?”
Okay, I really wanted to punch him now. Forget about what it would do to the face I’d admired so much. He was driving me crazy. Whoever said “this town ain’t big enough for both of us”had been right. This was the hockey version of that. I realized that Kayden and I could never coexist on the same team.
“Look,” I said, “I’ve tried being the rational one from the start. Do I really need to take extreme measures?”
A huge shit-eating grin appeared on his face. Naturally.
“Like what?” he asked.
“Oh, I think you know.”
Kayden pointed to himself. His mouth dropped open like laughter was ready to pour out. Of course he found it funny. He was an idiot. Also, he could never take anything seriously.
“Look at you,” he said. “You’re all red in the face. You’re making fists. Pretty soon you’ll start shaking. Think you’re gonna do something to me? Oh, puh-lease. You can’t even finish the first period of an exhibition game without getting your ass kicked.”
“Trombley was playing dirty, and you know it.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that I had to come and rescue you.”
I would before it was all said and done. If that happened, I would lose, and not just because Kayden would win the argument. I would lose the war because I would’ve tried to make him see reason from the start and lose my head.
Despite the mounting tension, I noticed the hair hanging over his forehead. His emerald eyes still took my breath away.The whiteness of his teeth remained almost blinding. I noticed those dimples again and felt weak. I hadn’t taken those things in all at once before, and it overwhelmed me.
My breathing picked up, not from anger this time, but from that incredible sight. I’d tried holding back before, but part of me wanted to let go in the worst way.
