Page 126 of The Love You Win

My mind wanders to Maddox. What must he think of me? Is he mad I’m here, on his turf, after he dumped me? Does he believe I’ll throw myself at him and beg him to give me another chance? A part of me wants to. I still don’t understand how all of this went so wrong. And if Griffin told him the truth, why hasn’t Maddox reached out to me? Should I have reached out to him?

“Isla?” Jess’s tentative voice breaks through my spiraling thoughts and the clamor of the bathroom. “Babes, please come out.”

Taking one last, deep breath, I steel my spine, wipe the tears from my lashes, and open the stall door.

“Oh, honey.” Jess pulls me into a hug. “A few hours, then this will be all over. Nev and I won’t leave your side.”

“Thanks,” I mumble into her shoulder. “I don’t know what I’d do without you two.”

“Probably sit at home and gorge yourself on donuts until your skin is translucent and your couch is covered in a two-inch layer of crumbs.”

A laugh bubbles out of me. “Oh, god. That’s horrifying. Don’t ever let me get that bad.”

“We won’t.” Her gray eyes shine with promise. “Now. Are you ready to go out there and make Maddox regret the day he let you go?”

“Yes,” I lie. With my shoulders back and my chin up, I almost believe myself.

Fake it until you make it… home so you can cry in bed.

I know that’s not how the saying goes, but my way is more realistic.

fifty-five

MADDOX

She’s been crying.

“Dude. If you don’t get your head out of your ass, Coach is gonna bench you.” Logan shoulder-checks me.

“Does she look like she’s been crying?”

Logan glances over to where Isla sits with my mom, my sister, and her two best friends. She came back from wherever she went and her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. Maybe it was a mistake to do things this way. I should have showed up at her apartment the minute I learned the truth. But Griffin convinced me that the only way I could win her back is by publicly humiliating myself and making some grand gesture.

So here we are. My nerves are shot and I’m so keyed up, it’ll take all my restraint not to start a fight tonight.

“Maybe,” Logan answers me. “But you need to focus, Graves. Play well for her. Score as many goals as you can for her.”

She won’t even look in my direction. Ever since she sat back down, her eyes have been glued on the Gators. Occasionally someone says something, and she responds or smiles in return, but it never reaches her eyes.

I’ve hurt her. Badly.

Here I was, angry and raw, thinking she’d done me wrong, and all I had to do was talk to her like a rational adult.

I owe her so many apologies.

“You need to stretch,” Bash says. Griffin nods his agreement. They’ve been hovering all week. But they’ve also done everything I’ve asked of them and more to set things up for tonight. I couldn’t ask for better friends.

They drop to the ice with me as we stretch out our hip flexors and limber up. I watch Isla the whole time.

Is it possible she’s even more beautiful than I remember?

We run through our pre-game drills. Passing, shooting, puck handling. Somehow, I get to the end without Coach yelling at me to pay attention. The same can’t be said for his pep talk once we’re back in the locker room. I can’t even begin to tell you what he said.

My mind is elsewhere.

The home crowd roars as the announcer calls our name and the guys skate onto the ice as the customary pyrotechnics display gets the crowd hyped. And when he calls my name and number, I take to the ice with my own internal fireworks display going off in my stomach. I find Isla in the crowd and don’t take my gaze off her until we get to the bench. Her sapphire eyes flit between me and the ice. She tries to ignore me, but she can’t. Maybe there’s hope. Maybe I won’t be humiliating myself at the end of the night for nothing.

When our gazes meet across the ice, I try to convey my feelings with a look. This is for you, I try to show her. I’m winning you back. I fucked up, but I’m getting you back. The corner of my lips quirk when her sky-blue eyes go wide before she looks away.

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