Page 35 of Lucky Hit

"You'll understand soon enough. She'll suck the life out of you," David spits.

Adam makes his broody self known to us as he roughly yanks David away from me, effectively shutting him up.

"Fucking hell Oakley! What the fuck were you thinking? You'll be lucky not to be cut from the team!" Matt snaps.

"He deserved it," I reply shortly as a sudden and heavy exhaustion comes over me. I unclench my fists and the pain in my hands worsens. I look down to examine the damage. The all-too-familiar cuts now seep a metallic, red liquid. I groan and let out a hiss of pain.

"Do you not seriously think I've wanted to do that to him since the day I found out what he did? Ava is going to kill you," he sighs and runs a shaking hand through his hair.

She's going to be pissed.

???

An hour later and I'm finally blood-free.

A few cuts on my knuckles had to be stitched up, along with the split skin above my eyebrow. This meant we had to go to the team medic, who was luckily still there, and listen to her scold me like a damn child.

Matt didn't tell me where the guys took David, just that they were taking care of it. As far as I know, Coach isn't going to find out the fight took place at the rink. I don't know what he’s going to be told, and I could honestly care less.

As of right now, I'm sitting in Matt's truck listening to him reprimand me. He refused to let me drive myself home and promised to return my vehicle to me by tomorrow.

"Hey, man. Thank you. For everything today," I mumble when we pull up in front of my apartment.

He reaches over and slaps my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You're one of us now, and we take care of each other around here." I smile gratefully, grab my duffle from the backseat and head outside.

Once I reach the door to my apartment, I go to unlock it—only to realize that it's already unlocked. I furrow my brows and shake my head in bemusement.

I push the door open and am immediately attacked by a storm of brown hair. Ava jumps and wraps her legs around my waist. She twines her arms around my neck, and plants kisses on my cheeks.

"Oh my God! Are you okay? Morgan called and said Matt told her you were in a fight. He said you were with a medic. What happened?" It all comes out in a jumbled mess, but I catch enough of it to answer her questions. I pull away from her and her eyes widen in shock as she examines the nasty marks and bruises on my face.

"It's not as bad as it looks. You should see the other guy," I joke.

She threw her arms up in exasperation. "This is not funny. You could have gotten seriously hurt. Who did you fight?"

Shit. Morgan didn't tell her.

"Promise me you won't get mad and leave." I'm sure desperation is written all over my face but I don't care. I don't want her to storm out, not after the progress that we've made.

She nods her head, reluctantly. "I promise."

"I just wanted to talk to him," I begin, watching her cautiously. "David took it upon himself to start the fight."

She closes her eyes and sighs as if in pain. "Can't say I'm surprised."

"What were you even doing with him in the first place? He's a prick," I scoff and clench my jaw.

"Let me guess; he baited you? Talked badly about me?"

I nod and look away. "Apparently, you're going to suck the life out of me like you did to him."

"Classy. Fucking classy," she snarls and I look at her in surprise. "I don't suppose he happened to mention the three other girls he was sleeping with while I was sucking the life out of him, did he?"

"What?" My mouth falls open as she lets out a cold, mirthless laugh.

"Of course not." She turns away and leans over the kitchen island.

"What happened, Ava?" I press and lean over the opposite side of the island to look her in the eye. "Let me in."

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