Page 112 of Released from the Sin Bin

They covered the ice with a floor and set up round tables around a small stage holding a band. Everyone is dressed in suits and gowns throughout the space for the annual Hockey Alumni Banquet Dinner. They hold it every year for the board members, coaching staff, seniors on the team, and alumni.

It’s mid-season, but the alumni that are retired attend the banquet every year to celebrate the start of the tournament toward the Frozen Four. I’d be fine attending as a senior on the Women’s Hockey team, but I’m here as a coach. A coach that half the room was against hiring.

I brush my hands down my navy-blue jumpsuit. Jocelyn picked out an assortment of dresses for me to try, but I wanted to be comfortable. The pant legs flow out like a dress, and it’s just as fancy as anyone dressed inside.

“What are you standing out here for?” Carter comes down the hall behind me, looking like a mound of tacos I’d rather be devouring other than the tiny pieces of my thumbnail in his dark gray fitted suit.

Letting out a long sigh, I take in the way the jacket forms over his thick arms down to his tapered waist. Has he always looked this good?

“Are you ok?” He towers over me in the narrow hallway.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m nervous about going inside.” I point to the doors behind me.

“Why? You look amazing.” He slowly lets out the air puffing out his cheeks as his eyes roam down my body.

“Thank you.” I blush. “Half those men don’t want me here.”

“Those men are sexist assholes who need their wallets to buy women.” He sneers through the long narrow window of the door.

“Whoa, relax.” I hold him away from the doors. “Some of those men could be your future bosses.”

He rolls his eyes and tilts his lips up and down, refusing to say I’m right.

“You have nothing to be nervous about.” He holds down my tensed up shoulders. “We’ve won three games in a row, which is a lot better than we were doing last semester.”

“It’s only three games.”

“And it’s all because of you.” His thumbs move in a circular motion over my bare shoulders, calming my nerves. “Take the credit and be proud. You belong here.”

He’s saying all the right things. He always does, and butterflies are dancing in my gut for a completely different reason now. I can’t like him. Not this much.

Jocelyn still has a crush on him. I’d be a terrible friend if I didn’t speak to her first. And Carter doesn’t want anything serious. He doesn’t want a relationship, and I still don’t believe he has any sort of feelings for me that would make him change his mind.

“Let’s go inside.” Carter’s hands drop from my shoulders. He leans forward, and I suck in the air between us.

The twisted knot in my gut tightens, and I do the only thing I can think of.

I hit him.

Tightening my fist and swinging it up, I knock Carter right in the nose. Knuckles against the center of his face, right in line with that tiny scar.

“Fuck!” His hands lift to cup his face.

I gasp and cover my wide open mouth.

“What the fuck was that for?” He curses and holds his head back, pressing himself against the wall on the other side to get as far away from me as possible.

“I panicked,” I screech and reach out for him. “I’m sorry. Let me see it.”

“What were you panicking for?” He glares at me with his hands still covering his nose and mouth.

“You were going to kiss me.” I wave my arms back and forth in the small space between us. “We agreed to stop doing that.”

“I was reaching for the door.” He lowers one hand to point to the handle next to me. “I was going to hold the door for you.”

“Oh.” Shit, what did I do? “I’m so sorry.” I wring my hands together and rub my sore knuckles. “Does it hurt?”

“Uh, yeah.”

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