Page 54 of Ice Cold, Red Hot
“Right.”
“You didn’t tell him that you stopped the perv-jerk from blackmailing him and told him to give the money back?” Nat looked shocked.
I shook my head. “He asked for space. He said I was a distraction.”
“That’s not what he said when he fucked you in the training room.”
I’d been trying hard not to think about that. “That was just a slip. For both of us. I mean… the chemistry’s always been there.”
“Right,” Nat said, drawing out the word like she wasn’t buying it. “So you’re protecting the boundaries he set, the ones that are making you both miserable.”
I shook my head, trying to clear it so I could think straight. I just kept replaying the little things—the way he gripped the back of my neck when he kissed me like I was the only thing he had to hold onto. The way the tension left his jaw when he smiled at me. The way his voice cracked when he’d asked me to stay that night in the training room.
I thought about the time when our hands had brushed accidentally in section when he was my student—and he’dlooked at me like I was the only person in the world. For a half-second.
I thought about the way he’d looked when Griff got hit—sweaty, furious. So protective.
It made me wonder about him hitting Ethan. What made him do it? Had Ethan said something about Griff? About one of Shepherd’s other friends?
It was far more likely that he’d hit Ethan because he’d said something about me…
Why hadn’t I thought of that before? Was he protecting me?
“So what are you going to do?” Nat asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I walked away because he asked me to.”
“What if he comes back?” Nat asked.
“I’ll still be here.”
CHAPTER 25
SHEPHERD
“Let’s go.” Griff was bouncing in the doorway to the apartment like a puppy. I think he was even more excited than I was.
“I’m coming, calm down,” I said.
I drove us to the rink, Griff practically ricocheting off the interior.
“Save the intensity for practice,” I suggested.
“Yeah,” he said, blowing out a breath. “Yeah, good idea.”
We got suited up, and met Coach out in the bench area.
“Grab some pine for a minute,” he called out, and the team filed in.
Griff and I were the only ones who knew what was coming, and he gave me a grin as we sat down.
“I’m happy to tell you that Shepherd Renshaw is reinstated to the team, and as your captain,” he said. He opened his mouth to say more, but he was drowned out by the eruption of cheers and shouts from the bench as the team leapt up and piled together in a kind of massive hug slashcheer. “Sit down!” Coach yelled over the noise. “Bunch of lunatics,” he muttered as the guys retook their seats.
I swallowed hard, trying to absorb the unexpected excitement. I’d thought they might be happy, but I hadn’t anticipated level of support the guys had just shown.
“As you know, that puts him back in the action just in time for the first game of the championships at the end of the week.”
Another cheer went up.
