That’s why he was so familiar. He’s Grace’s ex-best friend. The one who spent all of last year pining for her. I heard my fair share of Clay complaining about him on the ice too.
Kellan frowns. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah, sorry. I just got tired all of a sudden,” I lie.
“It is pretty late. You should get inside,” he says as he drops my hand and stuffs his in his hoodie pocket.
“Okay. Bye, hotshot,” I say as I step around him.
“Until next time, beautiful.”
As I step into the building, my feelings run rampant, but I keep coming back to one thing. To me, he’s hotshot, not Kellan. I know I should delete his number and forget about everything that happened tonight, but I don’t want to. I really like him, and I don’t know what I’m going to do about it.
Is it really a betrayal when they never dated? It feels like one.
I have yet another decision to make, and I hope it doesn’t send my entire world into chaos.
* * *
The whistle blows, and I slow down and circle back to huddle around the bench. Coach is standing there with a scowl on his face. Brett is standing to his left with an equally pissed-off look on his face. I don’t know if he’s pissed about what he just watched or because he can’t get on the ice.
Two weeks ago, while in the gym, he somehow managed to tear his ACL and MCL. He ended up having to have surgery on his ACL to repair it and is out for the season. Somehow the guy managed to convince the school to redshirt him for a year so he will be able to play for a fifth year after Clay and Beckett leave. Lucky me, I get the torture of being his teammate for another year.
“I want to know what the hell happened to my team who walked out of this arena last year. You fools looked worse than a peewee team out there.”
Everyone shifts, hating the comparison.
My jaw clenches, and it’s almost like Coach knows I disagree with him because he looks right at me.
“Do you have something to say, Cooper?”
“No, sir,” I mutter.
“Damn right, you don’t. For fuck’s sake, I think I saw you trip over your own skates at one point.”
I feel the corner of my eye twitch when he moves his wrath onto someone else and calling them out for their shit performance. I know I’m a little slower on the ice than I usually am, but I sure as hell didn’t trip over my skates.
My stomach churns. I knew I shouldn’t have avoided the arena. My fear of running into Clay has pushed back all the progress I made this summer.
And it’s sure as hell not going to get me the captain spot either.
“As far as I’m concerned, I only have three players who did anything over summer break, and that’s James, Hayes, and Scott.” Coach looks over at Brett. “And clearly Woods here, but we won’t talk about it.”
Of course Clay and his friends got the coach’s praise. I don’t even know why I’m surprised. He’s the coach’s favorite after all.
“Now as you all know, every year, I encourage the leaders of the team to put together a team-building event for all of you. I’m a firm believer that the closer you are, the better you play. That’s why instead of waiting for right before the season kicks off, I’m encouraging you guys to do it now. In fact, I’m demanding it.” He looks over at Clay, who nods before looking back at the rest of us. “I don’t care what kind of kumbaya bullshit you do to get on the same page, but you need to do it, and fast. Otherwise, I’ll start cutting players from the team. Does everyone understand?”
“Yes, Coach,” we all mutter in unison, feeling the threat take hold of us.
“Bury whatever issues you have with other teammates now while you still can.”
My eyes fly up to Clay and find him already looking at me.
“Yeah, don’t think I don’t know about the bullshit between you two. Resolve it and start acting like a team.”
“You got it, Coach,” Clay says like the ass kisser he is.
Coach looks over at me and raises a brow.
