Page 75 of Play Your Part

I smacked another puck into the net, turned toward our bench, and spotted her.

Fuck.

Kennedy and I hadn’t seen each other since I retreated to my house, leaving her with Justin fucking Ward. Probably to talk about how he wanted her back, if his taunts tonight were any indication.

I can take her from you at any time. You get that right? She’s only with you because I haven’t asked.

I tightened my grip on the stick. “What are you doing here?”

“Heard you were here,” she answered, seemingly unbothered by my tone.

Matt and Zach should have kept their mouths shut. They knew I wanted to be alone. Though I hadn’t told them about the issues between Kennedy and me since our relationship needed to project perfection.

“You know, some people would be happy about that win.”

“Oh, I am,” I said. “But it was one game. We still have sixty to go.”

“Not tonight. You won the game and the fight. Your arena sold out. What else could you want?”

I wanted you here watching me.

I wanted you in my bed the other night.

I want you in a way I can’t have you.

Ward’s taunts all game annoyed me from repetition alone, especially when combined with his constant shoves and pushes. He got away with more than a few penalties tonight. The refs seemed keen to let us play on, so I upped my physical play, which, for me, said something. Around the league, people knew me as much for my goal-scoring as for my hits. But I couldn’t fight back against Ward’s claims. He didn’t need to steal Kennedy from me. Because she didn’t belong to me.

I wanted to hit another hundred pucks at the net.

But Kennedy had come to see me, despite how I charged away from her after calling her a distraction. The least I could do was talk to her.

“So you’ll come here to check on me but not for a game?” I said before rearing back and hitting another puck.

“I’m not talking to you about that.”

“Were youboredby the game tonight?” I continued, repeating the lie she initially told about why she didn’t like the sport. I knew the truth about why she wouldn’t go to the games, and it was beyond fucked-up to press her on this, but I wanted to fight with her. I wanted to stop feeling anything for her. Since that was impossible, I chose anger.

“Alexei, stop.”

“Stop what?” I asked, skating two lengths toward her. “You wanted to talk to me. We’re talking.”

She shook her head, rising from her seat. “I came here to check on you. But I guess you’re fine…”

When Kennedy turned, I snagged a puck and hit it at the glass in her direction. A loud thwack sounded through the arena, making her jump.

“What the hell?”

“If you’re making the rounds,” I taunted, “I bet you could still catch Ward’s plane on the tarmac.”

“If you want to know what happened between Justin and me after you left, just ask.”

“I don’t give a shit.” I reared back again.Thwack. “Do whatever you want with Ward. Settle for someone who doesn’t deserve you. Let history repeat itself. It’s not my problem.”

“You sound like Gemma. She fill you in on all the big bad Justin Ward stories?”

“Don’t be mad at her for being protective. She thought we’d done the whole shared dating history talk since we’re ‘dating.’”

“Except we’re not really dating, Alexei,” Kennedy said. “This is all for show.”

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