Page 7 of Meet Me in the Penalty Box

His eyebrows scrunched together. “Who could possibly be more important than me?”

I snorted and shook my head at Wes just as my phone vibrated in my hand. “Your ego is borderline suffocating.”

Wes chuckled. “You’d be lost without me, Cirone.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re right. What ever would I do without Weston Cole?”

I’m looking back at my phone as he directed his attention to Lincoln and some of the other guys. They were lost in conversation and I was lost in my mind as I read the message Harper sent back.

Harper

Who is this?

I bit back a smile and I shook my head to myself. She knew damn well who it was and I wasn’t here to play games with her. I wanted answers and I wanted to know when I could see her again.

Nico

Don’t fuck with me, pretty girl. You know exactly who this is.

I waited for a few beats and stared down at my phone. Watched as it went from saying delivered to saying read. And those damn bubbles didn’t bother to appear. She left me on fucking read.

“Cirone, let’s go,” Mac called over to me from where the guys were standing with a soccer ball. We always had to do some type of off-ice warm-up before getting on the ice. Soccer was the most recent choice, along with some stretching. They were all already dressed in their warm-up gear and I still had my suit on from when I walked in.

“I’ll meet you guys out there in, like, two minutes,” I told Mac as everyone began to file out of the locker room. Mac nodded but didn’t speak another word as he followed out after them.

As I rose to my feet, I opened up our message thread again and typed another out to Harper.

Nico

What do I have to do to get you to meet me somewhere?

I set my phone down and quickly stripped down to my boxers before pulling on my matching t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. I sat back down on the bench to tie my sneakers as my phone vibrated again.

Harper

For starters, you can tell me why you didn’t inform me that you played professional hockey for the Orchid City Vipers.

At the time, it didn’t feel necessary. A lot of girls acted differently as soon as they found out you played a sport professionally. I didn’t know her well enough and I didn’t feel comfortable telling her. The same went for her though—she could have easily disclosed what her photography job entailed instead of being vague as fuck about it.

Nico

Meet me after the game and we can talk.

“Cirone, hurry the fuck up!” I heard Weston’s voice from the hall. A sigh escaped me and I shook my head. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking or doing. This was a waste of my time. She was just a random hookup and here I was overthinking it all.

The guys were already waiting for me and I left my phone on the bench in an effort to try and forget about the sexy photographer who was in the same goddamn building.

There was something about her that lingered with me after that night at the club. I gave her my number and didn’t hear from her. If I wouldn’t have ran into her tonight, there was a possibility that I would have been able to forget about her, but not now. Now she was fresh on my brain and right in my damn face.

After we finished our off-ice warm-ups and as I was tying my skates, my phone vibrated from where it was still sitting. My heart pounded erratically and the adrenaline was already fucking with my system. The energy in the room was electric and the boys were ready to go.

I rose to my feet and a message from Harper flashed across the screen. I needed to get ready to go out on the ice, but I found myself staring at the screen and my eyes absorbed her words.

Harper

I don’t know if that’s a good idea.

Just as I was about to type a response, Wes grabbed my phone from me and pressed the button on the side to lock the screen. My brow furrowed and I glared at him. My lips parted to ask him what the hell he was thinking, but he silenced me as he shouldered past me to put my phone in my bag.

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