Page 72 of Ice Bet

“Her dad lost his shit. Pulled strings and called the dean at Rosewood, which is—”

“How you ended up at Bexley U instead.” Coach added.

I nodded. “Savannah’s dad is the mayor of my hometown. He’s made my parents pariahs, and they were forced to help me pay for Bexley U because my scholarship magically disappeared.”

“Wow.” Both of Ford’s eyebrows rose. Either he forgot that Riley was locked in the locker behind me, or he was baffled at my story.

“That’s why they never come to the games. They can’t really afford to make the drive.”

“What a fucking asshole,” Emory mumbled. “And the girl?”

“Savannah?”

He nodded.

“She’s fine. She got treatment, and after she was released, she apologized to me and told me she reassured her parents that I had nothing to do with it.” I shrugged. “They still want someone to blame. I knew it was going to be a tough game. I knew her brother was coming for me.”

Coach stood, and angry lines carved into his reddening face. “That’s complete bullshit. There are plenty of fucked-up little shits doing far worse to young girls in high schoolandcollege for him to come at you and openly assault a player of my team for doing nothing wrong.”

I tensed because I knew exactly why he was so fired up.

I tried to lighten the mood. “It’s alright, Coach. I probably deserved a punch. He’d been saving that hit for, like, three years.”

Coach put his hands on his hips. He looked at me for so long I started to think he knew that Riley was behind me. I watched Ford and Emory out of the corner of my eye, as they threw up hand movements behind his back to move the meeting along. It was apparent to all of my teammates that we weren’t alone.

“You didn’t deserve to be punched.” He shook his head. “I know you are a good guy, Aasher.”

My fate is sealed.

If he ever found out that I made his daughter come all over my fingers in the rink, he would retract that statement in a heartbeat, and I would be dead. It would be even worse if he opened the locker behind me and his daughter stepped out with my blood on her mouth because we’d been kissing moments before—andkissingwas putting it mildly.

“Be ready for practice on Monday,” Coach threw over his shoulder. “If we’re lucky, we’ll make it to the cup and have another chance to pay back Green University for everything they did tonight.”

I stayed pressed against the locker even after we all heard the locker room door shut. Theo slowly turned to me, and he would probably kill me if he knew that Riley was a breath away from us, hidden away with swollen lips that I caused. If there was anyone on the team that had more riding on a good season and impressing scouts, it was him. He wouldn’t be happy if he knew I was playing with fire and potentially messing everything up.

“Finish fucking your puck bunny and go get some sleep.” His hand landed on my shoulder, and he gave it a squeeze. “You deserve it.”

I shrugged his hand away. “Uh, thanks. Did you wanna suck my dick too, or…?”

Theo rolled his eyes and stalked off, hauling his bag higher on his shoulder. Emory and Ford turned to me when silence filled the locker room. Ford’s shoe squeaked over the floor, and I tried to block him, but he was too fast. His hand sprung forward, and he undid the latch and out barreled Riley, red-faced and sweaty.

“Aw, fuck,” Emory mumbled, moving his way around the bench and disappearing. “I saw nothing.”

Ford caught Riley by the waist and hoisted her up before she fell to the floor. “And what exactly were you two doing before we came in here?”

He knew exactly what we were doing, but Riley attempted to lie anyway.

“I was just making sure he was okay.”

“With what? Your mouth?” he asked, taking her by the shoulders and directing her to the mirrors. My blood was on her lip, and she hurriedly wiped it off.

What was I thinking?

It was very clear that I couldn’t be trusted.

Not tonight, anyway.

“I need to go.” I grabbed my bag and rushed through the door.

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