Page 27 of Pucking Forbidden

Guilt flickers in his eyes. “Of course I care.”

“Right. Just like you cared about Vanessa, huh?” I shake my head at him, disgusted. “Anything to save your own ass, I guess.”

“I… Christ,” he mutters. “I told Vanessa the truth. She left me over it.”

“She should have pressed charges,” Logan mutters.

“Yeah, well, she left your sister behind, too. Couldn’t stand to keep that friendship because of what you did.”

He grits his teeth, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I didn’t know she was going to do that.”

“You think that makes it better? Jesus Christ, Jamison. You told her I was in love with her best friend. Do you know what that did to her? What it cost her?”

Guilt flickers in his eyes.

“Jesus Christ.” I rock back on my heels, stunned. “You knew she had feelings for me, and you did it anyway.”

“I thought it was just a crush she’d get over. I didn’t realize–”

“What? That you were breaking her heart, too?”

“Yeah,” he admits. “I didn’t realize I was breaking her heart, too. I didn’t know she was that serious about you.” He stares at me, his eyes narrowed. “You were in love with her back then, weren’t you?”

“Not your business,” I snap.

He nods like he expected that answer. “Thought so. Guess it was right in front of my face all along, wasn’t it? I thought you were always following them around because you were in love with Vanessa.” He laughs abruptly, without humor. “I was a fucking idiot.”

“Yeah, you were,” I agree. “And you deserved what I did. You should have been banned from the game and throwing in a fucking cell to rot. If you’re in hell now, you deserve that shit, too.”

“I know,” he says, his voice a regretful scrap of sound.

“But Sutton never deserved to spend five fucking years believing your bullshit because your career was more important to you. I’ll never forgive you for that.” I shove past him, knocking him into the wall. “Stay out of my goddamn face from now on, Jamison. Keep your teammates out of my face. Don’t push me.”

“What does that mean?” he asks.

“I didn’t tell your sister the truth when she asked for it,” I say quietly. “But keep pushing me, and maybe next time she asks, I will tell her.” I shoot a cold look in his direction. “Think she’ll ever talk to you again once she knows what you did?”

He grabs for me, but Nash and Logan shove him up against the wall before he can get his hands on me. That doesn’t stop him from trying to lunge at me again. “Leave my sister out of this, Jordan.”

“She and I have nothing to do with you. We never did, so go fuck yourself and your demands.” I pause, casting a scathing look at him. “And get your shit together, you prick. Don’t keep making yourself her problem because you feel sorry for yourself now. You made your bed. Rot in it with a goddamn smile on your face. You owe her that much.”

“Leave her alone, Jordan!” he shouts as I turn, heading back toward the locker room. “I mean it.”

I hoist my finger up over my head, telling him without words exactly what he can do with his demands. Hell will freeze over before he keeps me away from her. She’s mine, just like she should have been five years ago.

Chapter Seven

Sutton

It’s nearly midnight when my phone rings, startling me awake. I reach for it blindly, a thrill shooting through me.

“Hey, handsome,” I murmur, my voice gritty from sleep. But I can’t fight the smile dancing on my lips as I snuggle back down against my pillow. “I didn’t think I’d hear from you tonight.”

I was worried I might not hear from him at all, truthfully. I watched every second of the game. My jerk of a brother’s teammates were all over him for half the game…and Jordan isn’t the kind of guy who lets things go on the ice. He fights. A lot, actually. But tonight, he held back. I think he spent less time in the penalty box this game than he ever has.

“Are you fucking him?”

My eyes pop open wide, my heart slamming against my ribcage. That isn’t Jordan’s voice.

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