Page 20 of Shot Through the Heart

“Got your bracelets?” I ask, ignoring the disappointment that he was able to smile so freely for those girls and not me. Instead, I focus on forcing myself to continue grinning as if nothing’s wrong.

He holds up his arm, showing off the four colorful beaded bracelets he now wears.

“It’s a good thing their dad wasn’t here,” he grumbles and my brows furrow.

My jaw drops open at the intensity of his scowl. “What? Why?”

“You heard what that little girl said. What kind of dad lets his kid hear him talk like that? Boys can like bracelets if they want. Wearing a sparkly thing on my wrist doesn’t change who I am. If some beads make your kid happy, just fucking wear the beads.” He shakes his head, glancing over at Dean finishing up with the girls. “I never would have even noticed them if you weren’t here.”

“I know. That’s why I stopped.”

His gaze lands back on me and I resist the urge to fidget under the intensity of his questioning stare.

He opens his mouth to say something, but Dean throwing an arm around Grey’s shoulder cuts him off.

“All right, now we really need to go, or we’ll be late for warmups.”

Greyson nods, shrugging out of Dean’s arms and moving to hold open the door for me. Cool air blasts my face and I can’t stop the shiver that rolls through my body at the air conditioning as my eyes adjust to the indoor lighting.

“Are you, uh,” Greyson stutters, clearing his throat before waving a hand in the direction of Lilly and Ari. “Are you good to go with them?”

Right. It’s game time. This is the easy part of today’s event. At least for me.

I smile up at him and place a hand on his bicep without thinking. “Don’t fall down.”

My cheeks heat at the words I haven’t said in years and the touch I clearly didn’t think through. Greyson’s eyes pop open in shock, the only sign that my words affected him. Mortification threatens to swallow me whole as I fight the urge to rip my arm away, considering there are probably a few eyes watching us. So despite my embarrassment for slipping up, I give his arm a gentle squeeze and slowly let my arm drop before turning to follow the girls to the suite.

As Ari immediately starts up the conversation about how much more boring it is to be in the suite and not able to bang on the glass to yell at her brother, I suck in a deep breath and glance back over my shoulder. I don’t know what I was expecting to see, but finding Greyson still standing where I left him and watching me wasn’t it.

I snap my attention forward again, but the weight of his gaze burns my back until I step onto the elevator and the doors close.

Forcing myself to focus on Lilly and Ari, I try not to wonder how the hell I’m supposed to get through five more events. This was the easy one, only thirty minutes as we arrive and leave the game together. But the next event is a charity dinner, followed by an all-day fundraising event.

This might be one event down, but something tells me the next five are not going to be any easier.

ChapterEight

GREYSON

Ever since Stellacame to my first game of the season two weeks ago, something has shifted in me. Before her presence at the starting game, playing was barely more than a second thought. It was as simple as hit the ice, get the puck, score, and leave.

Now it’s as if I’m noticing everything for the first time since I first played.

Swallowing thickly, I tell myself I’ll deal with that revelation later.

All the noise of the arena fades as the puck drops to the ice. Landon is faster than the other guy, winning the face-off and immediately slapping the puck toward me. It hits my stick and I adjust like it’s second nature, moving into the other team’s defense zone and scanning for my next move. From the corner of my eye, I catch the black-and-blue jersey as the player speeds toward me. I don’t have time to do anything more than glance to my left.

Quickly, I snap the puck in the direction that I know Dominik and Landonshouldbe just as the Colorado Yeti player slams into me. My back hits the board and the weight of the opposing player crushes against me just as the buzzer sounds throughout the arena. I look up at the jumbo overhead screen, watching the replay of Dominik getting possession of the puck before teaming up with Landon to score the goal, officially tying the game in the third period.

The guy who slammed me into the boards cusses, sparing me a quick “you good?” look. I nod, finally noticing the player before me as the team’s rookie, Romeo Gomez. He’s made quite the impression in the hockey world since getting signed onto Colorado’s “new” and improved team.

The team on the ice against us is a night and day difference from what they used to be. Dominik transferred from the old team, formerly known as the Colorado Cougars, and they were a mess when he left them. From what Dom had said, there was no trust, shit communication, and poor upper management. Then the team tanked so badly last year that it wasn’t much of a shock to any of us when a sale was announced at the end of last season.

Whatever the new management and coaches are doing, it’s working. The new Colorado Yetis are so good, it surprised all of us during the first period. Now we’ll be heading into overtime if we can’t score in the next ten minutes.

Which is exactly what happens.

The electric energy of a win dangling right at our fingertips buzzes through me. As we wait for the ice crew members to finish up so we can line up for the overtime face-off, I notice how alive I’ve felt during this entire game.

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