Page 191 of Ice Mechanic

“I won’t.”

“What if you do?” I plead.

“What if I don’t?” He counters.

“Everyone is going to blame me if you abandon hockey now. They’ll say I ruined you right when you were at the top of your game.”

“Who cares what everyone thinks? This is between you and me. And I’m not abandoning hockey. I’ve already talked to Max. He’s thrilled to have me back with the Lucky Strikers.”

“They’re only in the minors. Who knows if they’lleverqualify for the league?”

“April…” He reaches for my other hand.

I shake my head and pull that hand to my chest. “No,no, Chance. You call Derek and tell him you’ll reschedule the press conference.”

“I fired Derek,” he says nonchalantly.

My jaw drops. “You didwhat?”

“He’s the reason I missed your text,” Chance admits.

“What do you mean?”

“He had my phone when you called and he intentionally deleted your messages. He didn’t think you were good for my image and had other plans for me that didn’t involve you.”

I frown severely. “That jerk.”

“I couldn’t continue to work with anyone who’d sabotage my relationship with you.”

“How’d you find out it was him? Derek doesn’t seem like a guy who’d admit to anything,” I mumble. The agent always struck me as sleazy.

“I figured it out on my own.”

My eyes narrow when I think of Derek’s manipulation. “Hand me your phone. In fact, forward Derek’s number. I need to give him a piece of my mind.”

“I think firing him was enough,” Chance adds, offering his phone to me despite his advice. “Don’t waste your time and energy on him.”

He’s right. I turn Chance’s phone around and around in my palm before offering it back.

For a while, there’s silence.

“Chance,” I break the quiet first, “are you serious about quitting the league?”

“I am, April.”

Struggling for a way to make him see my side of things, I stammer, “Imagine if you’d come to me, demanding that I give up on being a mechanic? Imagine you told me you were embarrassed by my dirty nails or my over-alls or my obsession with car repair videos?”

He seems horrified by the very thought. “I would never.”

“Yes, butimagineit. Imagine you came to me and said I should choose my mechanic career or you?”

“This is different,” Chance argues, a half-smile twitching on his lips. “I’m willing to give up hockey. I’ll gladly give it up. I choose you over my career a hundred times over.”

My heart pumps hard and fast. “Chance?—”

“April.” He frowns and I can tell that his next words will be very serious. “Years ago, when I was in high school, I got into a car accident. It was my junior year and I’d been drinking with some friends after a hockey game.”

My eyes widen. I’d looked Chance up online several times and had heard nothing of this incident.

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