Page 143 of Play the Game

What a fucking mess.

My finger freezes when hockey fills the screen. A tight knot forms in my throat when I see the blue and black jerseys on the ice.

Turn the channel, Scottie.

With Emory, I felt like I had it all.

I had the world in my hands.

We had a plan. I could see a future that wasn’t so…scary.

But now, everything is gone. I know I did the right thing by coming forward and telling the social media sharks that it was all my idea and that I blackmailed their star goalie. Emory Olson is a good man, and he doesn’t deserve to be viewed as anything but.

We started out playing such an innocent game, but I lost, and it’s a loss that’s hard to accept.

Fifty-Eight

EMORY

I walkinto the locker room with my heart on my sleeve.

I can’t make eye contact with much of anyone, and if I do, it comes off as a glare. It’s not purposeful, and they don’t take offense.

Most of my gear is on, and I seem ready for the game, but I’m not. My phone is in my hand, and I swipe away the texts from my parents and their constant concern and check to see if I have any random messages. I keep hoping Scottie will reach out to me somehow, since I deleted the social media account that she used to her advantage, but she hasn’t.

It hurt like hell when I finally figured out the password:Emorysbiscotti.

That wasn’t a fucking punch in the gut or anything.

After tossing my phone to the side, I get up from the bench and storm onto the ice without making much small talk with my team.

Warm-ups are mostly over, and this is the first game I’ve played since the news of Scottie and I broke, which means I’m being watched very closely.

Hockey fans love the game.

They love it even more when emotions are attached. We’re sold out tonight, and it would be dense of me to think it has nothing to do with the recent revelations about my personal life.

They’re hoping for a fight.

Everyone is predicting the hotshot goalie will lose his shit because of thetraumahe’s been through. They think she blackmailed me and forced my hand, because that’s what she admitted online.

Which, yeah. She attempted to do just that.

But what she didn’t finish telling them was that she backed out because her heart is much too big for this world.

She can’t avoid me forever, though.

We’re legally married, for fuck’s sake.

She better come out of hiding soon, because she doesn’t know the lengths I will go for her.

A small group of players start to circle the ice, and I can already tell they’re wanting to start their shit and get into my head.They better not say a fucking word.

I grip my stick and focus.

Rhodes, who already has a huge presence on the ice with his attitude, drives it a little deeper with his glare set on our opponent and his deep voice vibrating around the arena. “Back the fuck off,”he barks to them.

Kane skates past and mumbles something to Rhodes, and then they both take off, leaving the yellow jerseys with a silent threat.

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