Page 37 of Love on the Ice

“No,” I answer.

“Then my words stand. I admire you.”

I don’t know exactly what to say, so instead of trying to think of words and knowing they’ll make me look stupid as hell, I stay quiet. I take a deep breath while my gaze searches his before I let it out slowly.

We eat breakfast, and I’m lost in my thoughts, but Reid seems beyond happy. He’s chatting and eating. There’s not a dull moment or even a lull in the conversation. I’m glad because I can’t really string together any thoughts right about now.

I’m too busy thinking about my friends and the fact that they don’t work. Then I think about being a maid at a hotel. Then my mind drifts off to how it does embarrass me, being a maid at a hotel. It shouldn’t, but it does. Hell, at this point, I think everything embarrasses me.

Chapter

Sixteen

REID

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Coach Burns shouts from across the rink. His face is bright red, and spittle flies from his mouth.

He’s talking to me.

I know he is because I keep fucking up.

“For all the good you’ve been playing, why the absolute fuck are you practicing like shit?” he demands.

“He should be on top of the world,” Forrest shouts. My eyes shift to him. He’s grinning in the middle of the ice, and I’m seconds from beating his ass because I have a feeling he’s going to say some fly shit, and I’m not wrong. “He got laid and good, too.”

Throwing down my stick, I take my glove off, and before he realizes what’s happened, he’s on his back, on the ice, and I punch him in the face.

Twice.

Before I can get any other punches in, I’m pulled off him. Coach Burns shouts like he’s completely lost his mind. I actually feel like we need to watch him because he appears as if he’s going to stroke out. He’s pretty worked up.

“Get the fuck to the showers and cool down,” he adds with his closing scream.

I start to skate off without a word, but then I decide to turn toward my team, my coach, and my fucking teammate, who thinks he is being funny. I’m somewhat calmed down, having released that pent-up aggression on Forrest, who rightfully deserved at least the one punch, if not both.

“Maybe people shouldn’t talk about my woman like that. Then they won’t get punched in the face. It’s like none of you fucks learned from the way I beat the fuck out of that Condor at the last game for talking the same shit.”

Without letting anyone respond, I walk away from the rink and head straight for the locker rooms. I’m pissed, not just at Forrest for making comments but also at my reaction to those comments. I shouldn’t give a reaction. It’s not like he said anything necessarily bad or even disrespectful.

But I know that Lorelai would be embarrassed, and that’s what upsets me more than the words themselves. I don’t want anything to ever make her feel uncomfortable. And I know that shit would make her feel just that.

After my shower, I wrap a towel around my waist and sink down on the bench in front of my locker. Holding my face in my hands, I breathe. I can’t attack my own teammates, but at the same time, they can’t say fly shit, either.

I hear them coming down the hall before they enter the room. Practice is over. My teammates are shouting, talking, and laughing as they enter the locker room. They all give me a wide berth, and I don’t blame them—I would, too.

Standing, I reach for my clothes and quickly dress. I’m tugging on my sneakers when Coach Burns shouts my name from his office.

Fuck.

Grabbing my ball cap, I slip it on over my messy, damp hair before I make my way into the coach’s office. It’s the walk of shame, mainly because I lost control, and I am ashamed of that, even if Forrest deserved the punch—both of them.

“Sit,” Coach barks as soon as I walk into his office.

Sinking down in the chair across from him, I keep my chin tucked down. He closes the door before he makes his way behind his desk. I look up and watch as he sits in the chair across from me.

“Talk to me,” he demands.

I tell him the truth. How the Bakersfield Condor saying some shit at the last game, and now Forrest adding fuel to the fire, made me lose it.

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