Page 41 of On Thin Ice

“Pretty sure you like his caveman ways,” Amanda teased from the other side of Penny.

Penny’s cheeks pinkened. “Oh, hush. We’re talking about Ally here.”

I wrinkled my nose. I did not need to know about my brother that way.

“Let’s just hope Dom’s still walking on his own by the end of the game,” Amanda quipped.

“Ethan’s not going to fight him,” Penny said sternly. “He knows that’s not the answer.”

“You sure about that? He definitely roughed him up a little during warm-ups,” Amanda pointed out.

“I’ll go yell at him during intermission if he takes it too far,” Penny said, giving me a soft smile.

“Maybe Dom shouldn’t have let it slip that he knocked me up,” I grumbled. I probably should’ve had more compassion for Dom, but I was annoyed that this was how my brother found out.

Amanda snorted. “I heard Baz started it.”

“Of course he did,” Gabi said from the seat behind me. “I will seriously Nair his beard this time.”

Penny laughed. “Oh my god, don’t. He would totally lose it.”

“It’ll be fine,” I muttered to myself as the first period started. At least Dom wasn’t on the ice with my brother’s line right now.

DOM

“Fuck, Harty,” I gritted out as Harty drilled me into the boards yet again. With only a few minutes until the end of the first period, I was hoping to avoid Harty’s wrath—at least for one full period.

I mean, I got it. But what the fuck, man. Harty was one of the nicest players in the league.

Until you knocked up his sister, apparently.

“Wipe that grin off your face, asshole,” Harty barked in my ear. Then he shoved his shoulder into me again.

I managed to wiggle away from him while keeping the puck on my stick. At least Harty was distracted. Bugsy, the Strikers coach, was definitely going to give Harty shit later for targeting me instead of focusing on the game.

That made me feel marginally better.

“Naughty, naughty Dom,” Baz taunted, getting in close.

“This is your damn fault,” I bit out, trying to deke around him, but he wasn’t giving me an inch.

Baz barked out a laugh. “Definitely didn’t get Little Harty into her current situation. That’s all you, man.”

I knocked the puck over to Haldy before Baz could get his stick on it, then skated around the back of the net, easily catching the puck when Haldy sent it back. I shifted away from Baz again when he crowded me, but Harty was soon pushing me into the boards again; this time, he growled at me and swiped the puck.

“Fucking hell,” I yelled, chasing after him. My shoulder fucking hurt, and I was gassed, but he was not going to get the better of me.Dammit.

Harty easily passed the puck to Jake, and they closed in on Tucks. Jake took his shot before Xan could stop him, and Tucks dropped, covering the puck.

Thank fuck it didn’t go in.

I faced off against Harty at the dot to Tucks’s left.

“You’re a fucking asshole,” he said right before he won the face-off.

Son of a bitch.

Luckily, Haldy managed to get the puck on a wonky pass. I streaked up the ice behind him, ready to end this damn shift with a goal.

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