Page 17 of Rule Breaker

I whirled around. “Take your own advice, Lund. You gonna score today or skate around looking at your reflection?”

More chuckles, snorts, and hollers.

Axel stood up, but I didn’t move an inch. If he wanted to come after me, he could go for it. I hated fighting, but I would defend myself. Then I realized he hadn’t been making fun of mebut Kayden. Why didn’t I ignore the stupid taunt? I was damn good at that. Still, Axel’s attitude pissed me off.

Let’s be honest, for me, it didn’t take much.

Dane, who was sitting across the aisle from Axel, got up, holding his hand in front of the forward.

“Hey! We’re on the same team, remember? Can we put aside our egos and think about what we need to do today to win?” Dane asked. “Now, Coach is gonna be here any minute. Chill.”

I turned around and headed to the seats at the back of the bus.

My roommate sat, or rather flopped, onto the seat beside me. Swear to fuck, the bus swayed when Kayden sat down. Instead of acknowledging him, I pulled on my headphones and drew back into my world.

But I was rudely interrupted by a nudge to my side. I yanked off my headphones.

“Don’t touch me,” I warned him.

Of course, the retriever ignored me.

“Thanks for sticking up for me back there.”

“I didn’t,” I scoffed. “I just wanted Axel to shut up.”

“Sure, you did. He made a joke about me and you were all protective,” Kayden smiled. “That means a lot, Mad. And I’m so fucking happy that we’re friends now.”

What kind of bizarro world had I stepped into at this school? With this roommate?

“Seriously, did you hit your head in the shower or something?” I asked.

Kayden leaned in close, and I thought for sure I’d get up and leave. But I didn’t. I just sat there, trapped in his hazel gaze. He was too close, and I could smell cinnamon on his breath. And another scent that was spicy. Soap? Deodorant? Whatever it was, it was damn good. Not that I should’ve noticed or anything,but hey, a nice-smelling person, and a hockey player to boot, is rare.

“You and me?” he pointed between us. “BFFs in no time.”

Rolling my eyes and biting my lip so hard I tasted blood, I shoved my headphones back on and prayed for teleportation to the rink.

I’m pretty sure Kayden kept talking, but I closed my eyes and ignored him.

When I felt the bus move five minutes later, the relief was palpable. But by the time we got to the venue, I was all but jumping out of my skin again. All I wanted was to get on the ice. The cold air in my lungs, the weight of the pads on my body, and the familiar swoosh of my blades on the ice. When I was in my net, I wasn’t angry, or sad, or filled with ‘what ifs.’ The chaos of a game gave me something I rarely had and treasured above anything else—peace.

Everyone filed out of the bus, and I waited for Kayden to leave. But he shook his head and motioned for me to go first. Jesus. The sooner I got away from this guy, the better.

I followed the rest of the team as we headed into the rink. The tension in the locker room was as heavy as it was on the bus. Kayden and Dane joked around, but the rest of the guys looked like they were about to throw up. There was no home ice advantage so nerves were high. And no wonder. Rochester had a solid reputation.

I was the first one suited up in green and gold, and headed for the ice. With the opposing team’s hometown crowd packed in every seat, the atmosphere was amped all the way up. The guys from Rochester were warming up, and only paused to give me the stink eye. Good luck with that. I didn’t need a talisman to ward off any bad juju. Iwasthe evil eye.

Ignoring the dickheads in blue and white, I went through my motions, my stretches. There was no rushing this part for agoalie. First arms, legs, hip flexors, repeat. Until I was satisfied that I was ready.

One by one, the rest of the Sutton Cougars filed out onto the ice, including Kayden. He skated past me and winked. Winked, that fucker. I bit my lip, hard, to keep from reacting. Thank fuck he couldn’t see my face. I almost cracked another smile. I gave him the finger, but it wasn’t effective with my blocker on. Still, I’m pretty sure my hand gesture told him everything he needed to know.

The air filled with the smell of junk food and sport sweat; the crowd getting noisier the closer we got to game time. It was all white noise to me at this point, until Coach Banning called us over to the bench for the usual pre-game scuttle. I ignored most of the hurrah speech and kept moving around on the ice to stay limber.

“… and remember, there’s no second place in hockey. Rocher, Rowland, Ethan, St. Pierre, Melnyk, Moss, you’re up.”

We lined up, waited for the national anthem to play, and afterward, passed the other team in greeting. There were lots of ‘fuck you’s’ and ‘kiss my ass’ whispered low enough for the refs not to hear. I didn’t make eye contact with any of the opposing team. I tuned it all out.

Pulse-pounding rock music blared from the speakers as I skated down the ice, heading for home. When I turned around, Kayden and Silas were in position. At that moment, I didn’t care if Kayden annoyed me. If he protected me here, now, I was good. Strangely enough, though, I had a weird sense that it should be the other way around. There was something naïve about Kayden. His friendliness was something that other people could, and probably would, exploit. Why that should bother me, I had no idea. My brain didn’t always work in a logical way, so I let those thoughts go. Not that I needed to be thinking about him at all.

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