My pulse hammers in my ears, trying to keep one step ahead of Felipe, while simultaneously watching the puck.
If there ever was a time I needed twin telepathy with my brother, it’s now. Because if Vale passes to me while Felipe nips at my heels, he’ll use the move to take me out. That’s how hungry for revenge this jerk is.
As my heart races, I cross in front of Felipe, and he body-checks me hard enough that I lose my balance for a second and crash against the boards, my shoulder throbbing in pain.
I recover quickly only to see that Felipe is locked on Vale now, barreling toward him like a freight train, while Vale’s back is turned.
Vale rotates just in time to see Felipe charging toward him recklessly. There’s a second of hesitation in his eyes, that critical moment of decision. With a deft flick of his stick, the puck hurtles toward me, but is slightly off-mark, landing just beyond me. Felipe pivots quickly, circling back like a lion headed for the kill. There’s no way I can make a shot from this angle while avoiding Felipe, but maybe I can end this now.
With my heart hammering, I race toward the puck while myopponent charges toward me. It’s inevitable now, but I refuse to cower in fear or back off from a fight.
This ends tonight.
Felipe has played his cards well, anticipating that I wouldn’t give up chasing the puck. He knows I’ve got a hunger to win. We both do. But only one of us can win this game.
Without even looking, I feel him closing in, like a missile locked onto its target.
I slap the puck away as Felipe’s body collides with mine, his chest slamming into my shoulder with a sickening crack.
I hear somebody scream “No!” as my world tilts and I fly backward, my helmet smacking the ice with an awful thud.
The lights of the stadium blur, and the roar of the audience turns into a muted, distant buzz. Pain erupts across my head and neck, radiating through my body like a bolt of lightning. The only thing I’m tethered to are the voices around me, but even those are fading, like I’m slipping under the ice.
“Brax, stay with me.” Vale’s face is blurry as he hunches over me, and I’m suddenly surrounded by dark shapes that I can’t make out.
Struggling against the darkness, one last voice slices through my mind.
“Brax!”
Her voice is the last thing I reach for before my world turns to black.
TWENTY-FIVE
Brax
Beep, beep, beep.The annoying high-pitched chirp next to my head makes me want to punch something.
“Where am I?” I mumble, but it comes out sounding like an unintelligible string of grunts. My tongue feels thick and heavy, like I’ve just taken an enormous bite of peanut butter.
I move my arm and pain shoots up my shoulder. I groan like an angry bear who’s been poked by a stick.
“Is he in pain?” someone asks.
“He’s going to feel like he got run over by a truck for a couple days.” I immediately recognize the voice as my brother’s. “But he’ll get better. And when he does, I’m going to kick his butt for trying to protect me.”
I groan again, trying to let Vale know I willgladlydo the same to him even though I’m injured.
“If you want to say something, Brax,” Vale argues. “At least have the decency to open your eyes and say it to my face.”
Even when I’m hurt, my brother doesn’t take it easy on me. I wrench my eyes open and see Vale’s stupid grin first.
“Thought that might work,” he says, looking pleased that he coerced me into waking up.
“Your face is not the first thing Iwant to see,” I mutter.
Vale chuckles. “I see the concussion didn’t take away your sense of humor.”
I slowly lift my head and attempt to sit up, but there are wires everywhere, and my body aches with every movement.