Page 35 of Goalies Don't Date Ice Princesses

“I love you,” he mumbled as his eyelids fluttered shut again. I stared at his face—so cut up, yet so angelic at the same time—and smiled softly. In that moment, I knew that no matter what happened next, we would face it together. We had each other and in the end, that was all that mattered.

He’s in love.

* * *

A few minutes later, having notified everyone else of Archer briefly waking up, I took a deep breath and stepped out into the brightly lit corridor. The sterile scent of antiseptic filled my nostrils, mingling with the remnants of my tears. My emotions were still raw, the weight of everything I had just experienced pressing down on me like a heavy burden. But as I walked, my mind replayed the precious words that had passed between Archer and me, filling me with a renewed sense of hope.

Lost in my thoughts, I rounded a corner and nearly collided with a girl—and though she may have looked identical to my best friend, I knew her personality couldn’t be any different.

“Avianna,” I said. I glanced behind me at the door to Archer’s room. “Did your mom call you? Archer?—”

“I know,” she interrupted.

“Oh,” I said. “Okay. Great. Well if you want to go see him?—”

“I’m not talking about him waking up,” she said.

Her dark eyes bore into me, as if she was staring into my soul. I hadn’t had many conversations with Avianna outside of school, but I’d always found her to be the most intimidating of the triplets. Maybe even more intimidating than their older sister, Annabelle, too. So, I really struggled to hold my composure and keep my head held high as I calmly said, “Oh?”

She crossed her arms and ran her tongue across her teeth, looking incredibly unimpressed by my one word answer.

“Don’t act dumb,” she said. “You know what I’m talking about.”

I felt a shiver run down my spine at Avianna’s words. Avianna’s words hung in the air, heavy with implications that I couldn’t decipher. Was she saying what I thought she was? Did she know about me and Archer? But how could she? We had been so careful, so discreet.

Avianna’s gaze never wavered as she continued to stare at me, her lips curling into a knowing smile. It was as if she held all the answers to questions I hadn’t even asked yet. I tried to maintain my composure, forcing an air of indifference.

“What are you talking about?” I replied, my voice steady despite the turmoil swirling inside me.

Avianna’s eyes narrowed, her stare piercing through my facade. “You and Archer,” she said with a quiet certainty.

My heart pounded in my chest as I struggled to find the right words.

“I’m not sure I understand,” I said, attempting to maintain my composure, though my mind was racing. “What about us?”

She let out a low chuckle, as if amused by my feeble attempt at innocence. Her eyes narrowed, studying me from head to toe with an unsettling scrutiny. It felt as though she could see right through me, unraveling the web of secrets I had carefully woven. My palms grew clammy as the weight of her gaze bore down on me.

“I know that fight was your fault,” she said. My heart pounded harder. “The one that almost got him suspended from the team. He only got in that fight because the guy mentionedyou.”

“And?” I asked calmly, but the effect was probably dampened by the way I could feel my face heating up. It was obvious if her smirk was anything to go by.

“You’re sneaking around with him,” she said. “Acting as if dating him isn’t ruining everything for him.”

Ruining everything? I’d done nothing to him. I felt bad that he’d almost gotten suspended over a fight involving me, but I hadn’t done that to him. That wasn’t my fault. And even if it was, everything turned out fine and nothing like it had happened since.

“I’m not ruining anything,” I said, not bothering to deny the relationship part. We both knew the truth. There was no point in me pretending otherwise.

Avianna’s eyes narrowed further, her smirk transforming into a full-fledged sneer. “Oh, really?” she spat, her voice dripping with disdain. “You think you can just waltz into his life, disrupt everything, and walk away unscathed? That’s not how it works.”

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry. Avianna’s words cut through me like a knife, slicing open wounds I hadn’t even realized I had.

“What do you care anyway?” I asked. “When was the last time you gave a crap about his well-being?”

“He’s my brother,” she said.

“And since when do you care about sibling loyalty?” I snapped. All the resentment I’d been carrying toward her over the past four years suddenly came rushing into my body. I had no reason to hate her, not really, and I’d long since decided I would never say anything about it. But how dare she come here and speak to me like that when she had practically ignored her sister for months after their father’s death? When Adelynn needed her most, she was nowhere to be found.

“Hey, I?—”

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