Page 121 of Break The Ice

We both know he’s just saying it. My career was waning. We all knew this was my swan song.

This is not how I wanted to end my career. Not with an injury in warm up. I wanted to skate with Wren just one more time. I wanted to play with him with bonds.

I choke up, but Wesley looks away, kindly giving me a moment to have my emotions.

“Fuck!” I whisper. “Just fuck.”

Chapter thirty-three

Callan

I throw myself upout of the seat the second the image of Raider being thrown forward into the ice shows on the big screen. I watch as he slams into the ice hard and face first. His leg is at a weird angle, but I can’t see, I can’t tell. The team gets to him quickly, blocking the view.

“Raider,” I whisper his name, desperately afraid for him.

Wren is there, but he’s standing back. He’s not with Raider, and another surge of fear goes through me. Raider wasn’t right. The bonds between us have been kept closed for years, but I could feel it leaking through. His yearning and fear, the guilt and shame.

It was a toxic concoction.

He was distracted worrying about Wren and Ryann.

Fear ricochets between me, Kit, and Ryann. I can’t see him. The crowd is standing, blocking the view, and the team is blocking the cameras.

Fuck this, I have to go to him. I slide sideways, leaving my seat, only to remember why I can’t. The man behind me growls something, but I ignore him, my eyes on Ryann and Kit.

“I-”

“Go!” Ryann says.

“Go, Callan. We’ll stay here,” Kit says, but his face is pale. “Call if you find out anything, and we’ll let you know what we see.”

“I love you both,” I say quickly, and before I can see their reactions, I turn and go as fast as I can, racing up the stairs and through the thick crowds.

Security tries to stop me from getting in the team rooms, but I flash the pass that coach gave me and slip past while the big guy is still mulling it over.

Fuck. How could this happen? Raider is so good at what he does. He doesn’t fall. Not like that.

I shove my way through people standing around when someone turns, and I realise he’s got a camera. Another turns, and a phone is shoved at my face. I hear my name over and over.

“Callan James? Did you know about Raider sleeping with the actress?”

What. The. Fuck?

“Can you confirm that Raider fell due to a distraction from being caught sleeping with Isla Bellann?”

Who?

“What are you talking about?” I mutter and blink rapidly at the flashes of light in my face. More and more people shove, trying to get closer.

I step backward, one hesitant slide of my foot.

“Did you know?” Another reporter shouts.

“Know what? Raider didn’t do it,” I snap. “He wouldn’t.”

“Does Raider feel guilty? Does he regret his actions?”

“Does Charles Raines know what his son did?”

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