Page 23 of Interference

But I would be lying if I said the tension with him wasn’t the catalyst.

We needed to fix this. We had to find some way to stop butting heads over every goddamned thing. We needed to be teammates and boyfriends again, and right now, we were a million miles from either of those things, and it was killing me.

I didn’t know what to do.

While I figured that part out, the least I could do for my team, my boyfriend, our fans, and myself was to get my head out of my ass and remember how to play hockey. I wasn’t doing anyone any favors by being a disaster tonight; all I’d done for my team was give them more work to do. We could come back from a two-goal deficit, and we had before, but games were a lot more fun when we weren’t in the hole.

Unsurprisingly, Coach kept me and Nova on the bench for the rest of the period.

During intermission, while everyone else stripped off gear, cooled off, ate, and hydrated, Coach pulled me out into the hallway before I could even take off my helmet.

Crossing his arms over his pinstriped blue suit jacket, he looked me right in the eyes. “What’s going on out there? Because that?” He pointed sharply toward the ice. “That isn’t you, and it’s costing this team. What is going on?”

I swallowed. “Nothing, Coach. I’m—”

“Bullshit.” He glared at me. “If nothing is going on, then how do I know this isn’t going to continue? Hmm?”

Shaking my head, I quickly explained, “No, no, I mean… It’s an off night. A really off night. But I’ll pull it together.”

There was nothing but skepticism on his face, and Coach was not a man to let things go if he wasn’t convinced.

So, I did the same thing I had with Simon: told him a half-truth.

“I’m a little distracted,” I admitted. “I took in a friend of a friend last night who needed help, and the whole situation just threw off my concentration.”

One eyebrow rose. “Is this a volatile situation?”

“No.” I shook my head again. “It was just unexpected. Everything’s fine now, though.”

He studied me for a few uncomfortable seconds. “So everything’s fine with this… friend of a friend.”

I nodded.

His expression hardened. “Then how about everything being fine with your hockey?”

“It will be, Coach.” I stood a little straighter. “Next period will be better. I promise.” I hoped to God I wasn’t lying.

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” he muttered. “Go get some water.”

I took the dismissal and hurried into the locker room.

My stall was right next to Simon’s, but fortunately, he was over by Young’s stall, chatting with him and Beaus. Good. I could catch my breath and pull myself together.

Nova’s stall was on my other side, and he watched me with concern in his eyes as I stripped off my jersey. “Everything okay, man?”

I sat on the bench and took a swig of water. “Yeah. Just… an off night.”

He didn’t believe me any more than Coach had. His eyes flicked toward Simon, then back to me, and his eyebrows rose.

I dropped my gaze. Nova was the only one on the team who was aware of the situation with Simon. He was way too perceptive and knew me way too well to miss it, and I’d sworn him to secrecy hundreds of times over.

“I’ll be fine,” I told him.

He tapped his skate against mine. “Don’t bullshit me. You’ve been a mess since this morning.”

“I know.” I grabbed my stick and started retaping it just for something to do. I turned a pleading look on my D partner. “I need to be fine next period, so can we just drop it?”

He seemed to be debating whether to push the issue or let it go. Fortunately, he went with the latter, and he clapped my shoulder. “Next period will be better.”

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