Page 98 of Ice Bet

I refused to look at Riley, because if he knew that his daughter was here getting rammed by me the night before…

“Sorry, sorry!” Ford mumbled.

Coach turned to me as the scent of pancakes filled the apartment. “And where were you?” He dropped his eyes to my knuckles. There wasn’t a nick on them. The only thing that was on them was his daughter’s dried cum.

I’m dead.

“Uh…” I kept my face as smooth as possible, even if I was picturing Riley spread open in my bed.

“He was with me.”

My heart stopped.

“What did you just say?” Coach’s face was green, and I couldn’t tell if I was relieved or ill.

“We were at the rink.” Riley placed the spatula down slowly, and she seemed completely at ease. Meanwhile, I was sweating through my shirt. “He’s been helping me get ready for tryouts.”

The shock was enough to pull her dad’s murderous thoughts away from me. The lines around his eyes softened, and the vein above his left eyebrow magically disappeared. “So Bob was right?”

Riley’s eyes found mine, and my entire spine stiffened.

Fuck us.

“Bob?” I asked, taking some of the weight off her shoulders.

Coach nodded. “He said he thought he saw you two sneaking out of the rink the other night, and I chalked it up to his old age and poor vision.”

“We’ve been going almost every night for weeks.” Riley’s voice was timid and sweet—something that worked over her dad like magic.

“Really?” He walked over and leaned against the bar beside me. I pictured him taking his hand and slamming my face onto the granite if he were to find out the truth, but thankfully, he seemed blinded by surprise that she was back on the ice.

“And how is it going?”

Riley’s smile was real. It was bright, beautiful, and a complete sucker punch right to my chest. “Good. Really,reallygood.”

“There it is,” he whispered, tapping his knuckles against the counter. “That’s what your mom and I have been missing.”

“What?” Her cheeks ripened with embarrassment. She turned around and flipped a pancake.

“Your smile,” I said in a low voice.Fuck, did I say that out loud?

All eyes were on me. I waited patiently for Coach Lennon’s hand to make contact with the back of my skull.This is gonna hurt.

Ford swooped in and saved the day. “It’s the only time you smile, Ry-Ry. But we all get it. We like the ice too.”

Ry-Ry?

I cleared my throat and walked around the edge of the counter to inhale oxygen that wasn’t stained with guilt. The plates clinked together as I gripped them with force and placed them beside the stove. I went to take a pancake, and Riley slapped the top of my hand with the hot spatula.

“Ow, fuck!” I said, snatching my hand away from the stack. A red welt was forming.

The guys snickered, and the tension lessened. Coach chuckled under his breath.

“I have nothing to worry about with you anymore, do I?” he asked, looking right at Riley. I walked around the bar and sat down, waiting for Riley’s permission to get a pancake, because apparently, I wasn’t allowed to.

“No.” She peeked over her shoulder, showing off those baby blues. “You don’t.”

Coach waited for a beat before pushing off the counter. He looked at us. “If I find out any of you are lying and you are responsible for knocking Gray Loretto’s lights out…” His threat faded as we waited for him to finish. But he never did. “Well, okay, then.”

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