Page 38 of On Thin Ice

“Good. Now, everyone, clear the ice. Warm-ups are over, and we’re all going to play a good game. And nobody is going to go after Dom, got it?” Flower said sternly.

“Yeah, yeah,” my former teammates echoed. But each of them side-eyed me with various levels of frustration, anger, and shock as they skated by. Everyone on the team loved Ally, and I had to give it to them, the optics weren’t good.

Micah nudged my shoulder. “Maybe you should wear two cups tonight.”

“Fuck off,” I muttered.

“Want to tell me what the hell that was about?” Millsy asked when I reached the bench.

“Uh, Harty just found out that I got his sister pregnant,” I said. May as well just let it all out since it wasn’t going to be a secret for much longer, and Millsy was still close to a bunch of the Strikers. He’d only retired a year before taking the coaching position for the Stampede.

“Well, shit,” he said.

My thoughts exactly.

Chapter 8

ALLY

As I walked the concourse, my phone started pinging. We hadn’t made it in time for warm-ups, but at least I was in time for puck drop. I was still bummed that we missed all the stretching, but we’d gotten distracted talking about the nursery, and traffic had been a bitch.

“Oh shit,” Darcy said, grabbing my arm.

“What?” I asked.

“They know. They all knoooooowwwww,” she drew out.

“Know what?”

I was already nervous about tonight. Dom was actually here, and I was going to see him in person. We’d spent the last month, aside from that first week, getting to know each other through texts and phone calls. It’d been nice.

No. More than that, and I was loath to admit it.

Shit.

No, I absolutely refused to fall for my baby daddy. That would just create more headaches. But we were friends now, and that was good.

Weird, but good.

“That Dom is the father,” she said softly.

I halted in the middle of the concourse. Someone immediately bumped into me.

“Sorry, excuse us,” Darcy said to the crowds around us as she led me to the side and out of the flow of people.

“What?” I gasped. “How?”

Darcy grimaced. “During warm-ups. Guess it came out. Jake just texted me. They’re back in the locker room, and Ethan is fuming. Apparently, he had Dom pressed against the boards. Caused a bit of a whole scene.”

I dropped my head in my hands, leaning against the wall. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

Then I pulled out my phone.

Dom: I’m so sorry. Harty knows.

Dom: Fucking Baz taunted me.

Dom: I’m sorry. I know this isn’t how you wanted to tell him.

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