Page 60 of Playing the Neutral Zone

“You are welcome, babe,” Aurora added, pressing a kiss to his lips.“Good luck tonight.”

“Thanks.”

She then turned and pressed a kiss to my cheek, wishing me good luck as well, and then made her way into her office while Dylan and I made our way to the locker room.

An hour later, we all sat listening as Coach Thompkins gave us our pre-game hype up before sending us to get ready.The moment he’d left the locker room I pulled my stuff from my locker and began getting ready.Knox sat across from me, buried in his phone.

I frowned as I watched him.

“What are you reading there?”I questioned.“You look deep in thought.”

Knox looked up at me, a funny look coming over his face.

“What is it?”I asked again, this time concerned that perhaps he had gotten bad news.

“Have you checked Sports Hub?”Knox questioned, looking over at me?

“Nah, I haven’t read that one in a while,” I said, reaching for my jersey.

“Why what are you reading?”Colton asked, pulling his stuff from his locker, leaving it in a pile on the floor.

Dylan, Lucas, and Clay looked over at me.I could tell from the looks on their faces that they’d read the article Knox was reading, but I found it odd they had said nothing to me about it.Especially if Knox was bringing it to my attention.

“I think you should look,” he said, leaning forward and passing me his phone which Dylan ripped from his hands.

“You know, I don’t think it’s worth reading right now.We have to get ready.”

While I was curious about what he’d read, when I glanced at the clock, I realized Dylan was right.There was no way we had time to mess around.

It wasthe start of the third period.We’d just returned to the ice, skating around to warm ourselves up.I was on my second lap of the rink when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Scarlett behind the bench with one of the players from the other team.

She stood there, her hair pulled up the same way she’d always worn it.She was wearing the sweater I’d gotten her when I’d been away, shortly before we’d broken up.I was so trained on her, watching as she placed her hand on the other player’s shoulder as she laughed at something he’d said, that I almost didn’t see a player from the other team come at me.I leaped out of the way to avoid a collision, and that was when they rang the buzzer to start the third period.

Once I was in position, I glanced over to where she’d been, wanting to catch another look, only to find she wasn’t there.

I looked behind the bench of the opposing team, checking each seat to find she wasn’t there either.I was so trained on finding her, I didn’t see the other player coming at me, and the next thing I knew, I was down on the ice, staring at the ceiling, the wind completely knocked out of me.

I lay there, not moving, and then Dylan looked down at me, then Brad from the medical team arrived.

“Are you okay?”Brad questioned.“You hurt?”he asked, placing his hand on the back of my neck, concerned that I’d injured myself when I hit the ice.

“Just had the wind knocked out of me.I’m good,” I added.

The crowd cheered as I got up off the ice and made my way over to the bench with Brad, sitting out the next play.My eyes scanned the arena from where I sat, still looking for any signs of Scarlett, but seeing none.

We all stoodin the locker room, everyone quiet after the game we’d just lost.I was exhausted and had a bit of a headache, so I got changed and was just about ready to leave to head home and crawl into bed when Knox stopped me.

“What the hell happened tonight?”he asked.“That hit.We were worried that maybe you’d not be playing the rest of the game when you didn’t get up right away.”

I’d done everything I could to get Scarlett out of my mind, but nothing had worked.For weeks I’d done nothing but think of her, often messaging her brother to ask how she was doing but then chickening out.Instead, I would just have a conversation with him over nothing.Tonight, had been odd though, panic and excitement filling me when I was certain I’d seen her in the crowd.

“Yeah, it was like he came out of nowhere,” I admitted.

“He was coming right for you.What do you mean, out of nowhere?”

“Exactly what I said.”

“Didn’t you see him coming at you?”Knox questioned.

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