Page 40 of Make Your Move

Nova smiles as she lifts her up, flashing both of their backs to me. Written across both of their backs is my last name and number. Just as she shows them to me, Nash comes to an abrupt stop beside me. He narrows his eyes at me before looking at my sister.

“What the hell kind of traitor shit is going on here?”

Nova rolls her lips between her teeth, biting back her grin, and she shrugs like she has no idea what he’s talking about.

“Why are they wearing your jersey?”

I shrug, attempting to appear as innocent as Nova looks. “I think they may have found a new favorite player.”

Nash glares at his sister. “First Taylor and now Matthews? When are you going to support your brother?”

“I’m supporting your team,” she says loudly through the glass and shrugs as she laughs. “Isn’t that enough?”

Nash lets out a sigh of defeat as he turns away. I wave to Posey, winking at Nova when her brother isn’t looking before skating away with him. We head toward the center of our zone, each of us grabbing a puck with the blade of our sticks and firing shots at Rowan with the rest of our teammates. We go through the rest of our warm-up, and you can feel the energy buzzing throughout the air.

Everyone is tuned in and ready to go.

The sound of the horn blares through the arena, echoing throughout the space as we finish up and start to make our way back to the tunnel. I stop at the bench, grabbing my water to get a drink before we have to get off the ice.

Nash skates over to me, stopping right beside me, half knocking his shoulder into mine. He looks over where Nova and Posey were, his eyes traveling up the stands as we both see them walking up the stairs. He turns his head to me, his eyes narrowing on mine for a moment before he moves away. My eyebrows pull together, and I watch him step off the ice, his movements choppy as he walks down the tunnel.

I toss my bottle to one of our trainers and quickly head in the direction Nash went. He’s only a few feet ahead of me, and I catch up to him just as we reach the door to the room where everyone is waiting. “Yo, wait up,” I say, grabbing his arm as I pull him back to look at me. “What was that?”

Nash’s silent for a second. “Just trying to figure some things out.”

My throat feels like it’s going to close in on itself. “Like what?”

“You and Nova,” he says quietly, stepping to the side so we aren’t standing near anyone else. His voice drops lower. “I’m not fucking stupid, Lincoln. I see the way you watch her.”

Fuck.

“Nash,” I start, but he abruptly cuts me off. He doesn’t look amused, and he certainly doesn’t look open to having any conversation as he clenches his jaw. “There’s nothing to figure out.”

“I’m not even going to ask if there’s anything going on between the two of you or not.” He pauses, his nostrils flaring as he exhales. “If you hurt her, I will make sure you never skate again.”

“There’s nothing going on,” I try again, and he shakes his head, lifting his hand to stop me again. He’s not done talking, and I have to let him get it all out. He doesn’t want me to confirm or deny, and I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.

“I don’t need a response. I don’t need anything. All I need is for you to understand.” He runs his tongue over his top teeth. “Do you understand, Lincoln?”

“Yes.”

He inhales sharply and nods as he works his jaw. “Good.” He nods toward the other room. “Come on, let’s go.”

Carson and Rowan both look at us as we step inside, but no one says anything. Nash falls into conversation with the two of them, appearing completely normal as I sit there feeling out of place. As I look around the room, my gaze meets Caleb’s. He doesn’t say anything, but the way he’s looking at me reminds me of the last thing he said to me.

“You don’t want to live with the regret of not saying something.”

I push the thought from my mind, shoving it down deep inside, tucking it away for another time. Now is not the time or the place to say anything to Nash. I don’t know what I would even say. I have a thing for your sister and slept with her, but I’m allergic to relationships so it won’t be going any further than that?

I don’t know if any of that is even true anymore.

If there’s one person who can make me reconsider everything I thought I didn’t want, it’s her.

It’s always been her.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

NOVA

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