Page 86 of My Best Bet

“Yeah, I did.” He chortled then reached around me to point a finger right in Lucy’s face. “Just like your daddy is a little bitch.”

Lucy swatted his finger away from her face. I angled my body to completely cover her from view.

“Hey! She just hit me!” he yelled obnoxiously at Lucy.

Lucy’s mouth dropped open. A scared expression lined her face when she looked up at me. I held her shoulders and pulled her against me.

“You better leave and go back to your own seat now,” I told the man in a firm voice.

“Or what?” He sneered.

Forcing myself to breathe, I held my chin higher and ignored him. He wasn’t worth it, I told myself. Instead, I turned my attention to Lucy. “It’s alright. How about we go get some Dippin’ Dots? Yeah?”

She nodded, her face still etched with anxiety. I think both of us just needed a break from this man. I hoped he’d move on from antagonizing us and be gone when we came back. But I had to ask him to move for us so we could get to the stairs on the other side of him. He was essentially blocking us in.

“Can we get by?” I asked, motioning to the aisle stairs.

His eyes went to the rafters and he tapped his jaw in exaggerated thought. “Mmmm… Nah.”

My heart rate spiked, hating this trapped feeling more than anything. “Look, we’re just trying to leave,” I said calmly.

He shrugged and reached for his beer. “I don’t want to move.”

I picked up Lucy. “Okay, well, can we just squeeze around you then?” I just wanted to get away from this man.

“You’ll stayrightthere.” His beefy hand shot out and shoved me back, hard, so I almost lost my balance. “Bitches,” he snarled with a laugh.

And then I saw red.

“Oh no you didn’t,” I growled.

25.Colt - My Girls

During the press break, I was getting butterfly bandages taped to my split eyebrow when the whole bench started banging their sticks on the boards, going crazy over something that was happening in the stands.

“Woah, woah, woah! Oh my God!” Watson, one of our D-men, yelled.

“Isn’t that Lu? Colt’s daughter?!” Henrik asked.

“Is that Colt’s new lady? She’s a real beauty, eh?” our new rookie, Rossi, asked. “And a fighter, damn!”

My whole body froze in fear. My eyes shot to the trainer in front of me. “What did he just say?”

“Your girls are kicking some ass, Conover!” Carroway, a winger, called out. He cupped his gloves around his mouth and cheered.

Your girls… Mygirls?

“What the hell is going on?” I pushed the trainer’s hand away and stood, craning my neck to see across the ice.

JP grabbed my jersey and pointed to the jumbotron. “Dude,” he breathed out.

Up on the screen, Mer was wrangling a man double her size, holding him in a chokehold. Lucy kicked his beer down with glee and then stomped on his sign, making the crowd go crazy.

My heart practically beat out of my chest in panic.That man was fucking huge. Where the fuck was security? Why the fuck–

I was halfway over the boards, about to jump out and skate over there, but Kappy grabbed my jersey and yanked me back in the box.

“Security!” I yelled and flung an arm their way, feeling absolutely helpless. “Help them!”

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