Page 30 of Off The Ice
“Okay, okay!” he called, holding up a hand as I closed the distance. “Truce, Brynn. Don’t make me regret it.”
I smirked, skating backward to let him breathe. “That’s what I thought.”
“Finally,” Coach yelled from the side. “Some camaraderie! This is what I’ve been wanting!” He clapped his hands together.
“Camaraderie?” Brody skated up beside me, grinning. “If that’s what we’re calling bullying, Ryan, then I’m all for camaraderie.”
“I’m on board with that,” Ryan chirped.
As Coach blew the whistle to signal a break in practice, the rest of the team kept their banter going all the way to the locker room, apparently not taking notice of the fact that I wanted nothing to do with it.
“Hey, Brynn,” Brody called over his shoulder, his grin as smug as ever. “If you ever decide to write a book on how to take life way too seriously, I’ll buy the first copy.”
“Sure you will,” I shot back, pulling my phone out of my bag. “I’ll even sign it for you. ‘To Brody: thanks for being the world’s biggest pain in the ass.’”
Brody laughed, tossing his towel into the hamper. “Aww, Brynn. You do care.”
I ignored him, chugging down an ungodly amount of water before unlocking my phone and scanning for messages. Some twisted part of me was hoping there’d be a text waiting for me from Cassie before I mentally forced the idea out of my head. This girl wasn’t my friend. Why would she be contacting me?
What I did have was several missed calls from Maggie. Six in the last five minutes. I dialed her number, mentally preparingmyself for her to tell me something crazy, like that she had a second friend who desperately needed to use my car for a week.
“Where’s the key?” She asked before I even had the chance to utter a greeting.
“Hey, Mags. What’s up? I’m good, how are you?” I responded dryly in an effort to show her the rudeness of her greeting.
“Did you move the spare key?” she repeated expectantly.
“Yes,” I said tersely. “Why? Do you need it?”
“Where did you move it?”
“The kitchen drawer,” I responded dryly.
“Well, that’s a dumb place to keep a spare key,” she responded with agitation.
“Why do you need it?”
“I don’t. Cassie does.”
My body tightened. “I left the one I made for her. Is it not there?”
“No, she used that one but locked herself out after that. Now she can’t get back in, and your neighbors think she’s some puck bunny trying to break into your apartment.”
I stifled a laugh at the thought. Cassie was anything but.
“Well, tell her to come by the rink and pick up my key,” I said casually, ignoring the way my heart rate was spiking at the thought of her showing up here.
“Fine, I’ll text her. But she might just wait in the hallway for you to get home.”
“What?” I asked incredulously. “Don’t let her sit in the hallway. I’ll be here for a few more hours. She needs to just come and get the key from me.”
“Well, I’ll tell her she can, but she gets shy about stuff like that. I doubt she’ll be too eager to walk into an NHL practice. Especially since she already thinks you hate her.”
I stilled at those words. She didn’t actually think that, did she? I didn’t hate her at all.
“She does?”
“Well, I don’t know about hate, but she’s definitely picked up on the vibe that you’re more of a solo guy.”
