Page 47 of Meet Me in the Penalty Box

We both fell silent for a moment, lost in our own thoughts, but he was consuming mine. He plagued my mind, but in the best way possible. I wanted to believe him, I wanted to trust him. I wanted to fall with him so he could catch me before I crashed into the ground. There was a hesitation on my end and I knew it was because of my ex, along with the fact that we were breaking the rules of the organization we both worked for.

“We were never supposed to get in this deep,” I murmured against his bare chest as I ran my hand across his chiseled torso.

Nico chuckled lightly as he traced invisible patterns along my back.

“Too late, love,” he said as he pressed his lips to my forehead once more. “We’re already in deep and there’s no way out now.”

He was right.

I could feel myself sinking deeper into the depths of Nico Cirone and I wasn’t sure that I ever wanted to come up for air again.

CHAPTERTWENTY

NICO

Our flight left early the next morning and I made sure I was back in my room before everyone else was up. Wes didn’t even stir when I snuck in and got into my bed. I laid there, still thinking about her as Wes’s alarm went off. Those damn bruises on her face—I fucking hated them. I wanted to wash them all away.

I wanted to take her pain and give it all to him, but I couldn’t. She was right. It was over and I had to let it go… for now, until I saw him on the ice again.

We all boarded onto the jet and flew back to the city with the weight of our loss hanging heavily over our heads. Our coach wasn’t particularly thrilled about it and he wanted us on the ice as soon as we touched down in Orchid Beach.

I didn’t even get to say anything to Harper because she disappeared as soon as we got off the jet. Wes and I both walked to our cars in silence before heading back to the training facility. It was a brutal practice, one that we had to do without pucks. Those were always the worst and as if we didn’t work our asses off last night… we were all fucking exhausted after practice.

As I sat in the locker room after getting a shower, I pulled out my phone and sent Harper a message. I was able to clear my mind while out on the ice because of the intensity of the drills we were forced to do, but as soon as I was back in the locker room, I couldn’t help myself as my thoughts drifting back to her.

Nico

Did you get home all right? I didn’t even see you leave.

She responded almost instantly, sending me a selfie of her lying on her couch. My eyebrows pinched together in disapproval as I saw the bruises that were deepening in color under her eyes. The tip of her nose was scraped from the camera and my jaw clenched.

Harper

I did. I was exhausted after traveling and haven’t left my couch since.

Nico

Good. You need to rest. Call me later?

Wes walked over to me and stopped in front of me. His hair was damp from his shower and he was wearing a sweat suit. “You want to hang out?”

My phone vibrated in my hand and I looked up at my friend. “Come over if you want. I planned on just lying around.”

“You’re not going to go see her?”

I shook my head, as I quickly read her message. “I’m pretty sure she just wants to lay low and I don’t want to overstep at all.”

Harper

I’m going to take a nap, but I’ll call you later this evening.

Wes nodded with a look of approval. “Probably a good idea. You don’t want to scare her away with your obsessiveness.”

I cut my eyes at him. “I am not obsessive.”

Wes snorted. “Dude… you know what—I’m not even going to argue with you. If you can’t see your obsession with her, then you have some serious issues.”

I laughed as I shook my head at him as everyone began to clear out of the locker room. “You know I would never admit something like that.”

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