Page 58 of The Puck Player

What’s crazy is that I’m not the only one. The rest of my housemates are watching her too. Every time Nova skates past them he eyes all four of them, Archer keeps doing tricks in front of them, and every time Josh and Daemon aren’t on the ice, their eyes are on them. I’d be thankful if I weren’t so fucking angry, but still it feels good to know they have my girl’s back.

With all of our focus on them, the game is a fucking shit show. So much so that I can’t even enjoy the view of her in my jersey, and we barely scrape by with a win. Although a victory is still a victory, it doesn’t feel like it, especially when Coach curses my name across the ice.

“Reign, my office, now!” he booms over the cheering crowd, and I offer Aubree a grim smile, as I skate off the ice to meet my fate.

The guys are at my back, Nova front and center, but I wave them off, as I enter Coach’s office and await his wrath.

“What the fuck was that?” he yells as soon as I am across the threshold, his voice no doubt heard by everyone on the other side of it.

“We won,” I reply firmly, and he scoffs, actually scoffs, as he storms toward me in anger.

“Not the fucking game, you, Reign! I want to know why the fuck every time I looked at you, your eyes were on my fucking daughter.” The anger is rolling off him in waves, and before I can even open my mouth to respond he is pushing on. “I warned you, all of you, to stay the fuck away from her. She’s had a hard year, and the last thing she needs is some fucking playboy coming along and giving her hope.”

I cringe a little under his assessment, already knowing she’s had a hard year, and knowing that someone like me isn’t fucking worthy of her, but fuck I’m trying. “With all due respect, sir, I haven’t even looked at another girl since the moment I met her,” I tell him truthfully, and I haven’t, because from the second I laid eyes on her, I knew she was different.

“Do you expect me to be fucking impressed by that?” he laughs, shaking his head, as he begins to pace back and forth. “Like I haven’t fucking caught you fucking your way through the female population here, like it was some goddamn competition,” he sneers, and again I open my mouth to respond, but before I can, the door behind me swings open.

“Dad!” Aubree exhales, as if she ran here, and I turn to find not just her, but Evie, Maddie, and Hallie too, along with my friends all crowding the door behind them.

“We can explain,” Evie chokes out, clutching her side. “Fuck, I’m unfit,” she adds, holding up her hand to signal for us to give her a minute.

“Aubree, what are you doing here?” Coach asks, anger still prominent in his tone, but he softens it as he talks to her.

“Ben vandalized my car,” she breathes, and Coach pauses his pacing, turning to give her his full attention. “He’s mad that I broke up with him after I found out he cheated on me, and he’s acting out I guess,” she adds with a shrug, downplaying the entire thing, but it’s no use, the fury already inside of me, is now burning in her father.

“He vandalized your car,” he repeats slowly, nothing but wrath in his voice, and finally he understands me. “We need to call the police,” he starts, but Aubree cuts him off.

“Alexander has already been in touch with them, the police came by his house earlier today to take our statements, and he had his lawyer draw up a restraining order against him,” she explains, probably hoping it will placate him somehow, but I know him better than she does clearly.

His anger-filled eyes once again meet mine, and I clear my throat, as I add, “Her car has already been replaced, and I’ve made sure she hasn’t been anywhere alone since it happened.” I note his eyes taking in the girls behind her, and a quarter of his team still not hitting the showers behind that.

“You need to come and stay at the house,” he tries again, but she interrupts him, already shaking her head.

“No, I’m staying with Alexander,” she tells him firmly, and I see him taking in my name on the jersey she is wearing.

“Aubree.” Just her name, one word, a warning.

“No, Dad, I’m not a kid anymore, you can’t dictate what I do and besides, I feel safe with him, with all of them.” She gestures to all of my friends, and I try not to let the pride of her words burst out of my chest.

“Aubree was already accompanying me to my mother’s birthday celebration in New York on Sunday, but maybe we could leave tomorrow instead,” I suggest, looking between him and Aubree, and he frowns.

“Your mother?” he repeats in question, and Aubree takes a step closer to him.

“His mom is Sinclair Striker,” she tells him softly, and his eyes snap to mine in surprise. Most people know who my mother is, or at least know of her, but Coach doesn’t seem the type to keep up on his celebrities. Still, I can tell he knows who she is to his daughter. “And we can’t leave tomorrow, you have practice,” Aubree adds, flicking her attention to me.

“I don’t give a fuck about practice, Aubree,” I snap too quickly, “No offense, Coach,” I add, before focusing completely on his daughter and closing the distance between us. “I’m not fucking leaving your side, not until we find him, and I don’t care what it takes until we do. I’m not letting him near you,” I promise, not caring about our current audience, and when a tear escapes down her cheek, I don’t stop myself from reaching up and swiping it away.

“You can’t put your life on hold for me, Alexander,” she scolds, but I’m already smiling. She really doesn’t understand how deep I am in this.

“I thought we already established I’d do anything for you, Trouble,” I tell her truthfully, hoping she sees the sincerity in my stare.

“Skip practice,” Coach cuts in, and both our heads snap in his direction.

“What?” I ask, sure I misheard him, and he eyes everyone behind us.

“Fuck off and hit the showers,” he curses to my teammates, before looking to the girls. “And there are no girls allowed in here, go and wait outside,” he instructs them, and they all file outwith knowing smiles, telling Aubree they will meet her outside. He waits until they are gone with the door closed behind them, before focusing back on his daughter. “Is this what you want?” he asks her, searching her stare, and she doesn’t even hesitate before she nods, emotion hitting me square in the chest. “Then skip practice tomorrow,” he tells me.

Aubree throws her arms around him, and for the first time since I have known him, I see it, the dad in him. The way he softens completely as he brings his arms around her and hugs her back. “Thank you, Dad, I love you,” she whispers into his chest.

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