Page 201 of Loving Ladybug: Part One
No. It couldn’t be. He’d been wearing black skates in the videos I’d watched.
Did he actually have the balls? I peeled myself off the ice, and standing there was number 16, helmet on.
He did. Anger swirled inside me. How dare he?
“How do you like my sloppy seconds, Wonder Boy?” he sneered, ramming me with his body, trying to knock me down again. “But then, she always did want your dick.”
“You abusive asshole.” I stood firm, then pushed him back. I was a little bigger. “Do you know what you put her through?”
“You know nothing, you hick,” he snapped, shoving me.
“Try me, Toilette.” I pushed him again. Hard.
One of his brothers pulled him away as Jonas did the same to me.
“You’ll pay for what you did to her, you monster,” I growled.
Jonas was pushing me toward the tunnel. “Off the ice, Clark.”
We stumbled into the locker room. Most of the players had stripped down a bit. Music was playing, getting everyone pumped for our home opener.
I wasn’t pumped. I wasfuming.How dare he?
“Here, you dropped this.” Carlos handed me the candy bar.
Coach Atkins stormed over to me. “What was that? Fighting during warm-ups? I know this is the Gears, but really? I don’t care what he said to you.”
Something in me snapped. “He’s wearing the skates. That dickhead had theaudacityto wear the skates he put her in the fucking hospital with, the ones she worked overtime to buy him. He also called hersloppy seconds. How dare he? That fucking asshole.”
“You said he’d pay.” Jonas looked confused. “That’s their new nepo baby, right? Toilette or something? Who’d he put in the hospital?”
“Gwen. He’s Gwen’s ex. The one that disappeared before the police could go after him for hurting her. The one that broke up with her when he didn’t get a PHL contract on his own, so he had to leave and go work for his dad. Well, that dad is fucking Coach Deloitte, and the reason no one’s ever heard of Bronson Deloitte is that for years he went by Austin Blake,” I spat, so angry I could barely talk. “She sacrificed so much for him. Fucking knotwaffle. What sort of psycho wears the skates he put her in the hospital with?”
“Knotwaffle?” Coach blinked.
“That’s a Gwen word,” Jonas replied. “Yeah, that’s a dick move.”
Dimitri’s head popped up from the book he’d been reading. “Are you saying her exisBronson Deloitte?”
“Yeah. She found out yesterday. As in, she has proof.” I felt like I needed to add that.
“You were right.” Carlos punched his locker, his scent going spicy with anger. “Shit.”
“That’s why Ty kept saying that Bronson Deloitte’s style looked familiar. They played together for years,” Dean added.
Nia scowled, shaking her head. “Asshole.”
“Yesterday? Well, that explains a lot,” Coach Kirov said softly. “I still don’t understand the birthday thing.”
“What do you mean, Ladybug’s exput her in the hospital?” Pauley looked startled. “I thought they just broke up.”
“She was bleeding in my arms. Carlos and Dimitri were at the hospital with us.” Suddenly, I was back to that awful night. I was in the shower and missed her call. When she hadn’t answered, I’d rushed to the rink, only to find her lying on the ice, bloody.
The day I died a little. Until her love revived me.
Nakey frowned. The forward had a sister her age. “Wait, that guy she was going to marry,hurther with the skates she bought for him? I remember her picking up all those extra shifts at Tito’s to get the skates.”
“Dude, what? Austin’s not a Deloitte. He’s not an asshole like that,” Mitchy replied with a roll of his eyes.
