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It was damn cold inside the ice rink with only jeans and Asher’s jersey on. Selena insisted that I take off my coat as soon as possible or it would reduce the impact of the girlfriend post earlier. We headed down the stairs at the rink, and someone frantically waving caught my attention. Eve was standing and waving from prime seats, just behind the coach’s bench.
“Let’s go,” Selena said quickly and tugged me down. “You’re not dancing tonight?” she asked Eve. Eve was on the ice dancing team.
She shook her head. “I’m letting some of the new girls take a spot, and anyway, this is a game I don’t want to watch facing the wrong way.”
“Meaning?” I wondered.
Eve gripped my arm and glanced at my Martino jersey, a huge grin on her face. “You look amazing,” she enthused, and hugged me hard. “And I just can’t thank you enough.”
“What for?” I wondered, waving hi to Lily and Isabelle sitting just along the bench.
“Seriously?” Eve questioned, pointing at the rink before sitting down.
I leaned over the barrier and watched the Hellions on the ice. Martino. The name on the jersey caught my eye.
Asher was skating, in full gear. He moved with lethal grace, like he’d been born to do it. His calling. The only thing he cared about.
“He’s playing,” I murmured.
Eve nodded. “Because of you and your dad. Winter, this is huge for him.”
I watched him glide around the rink, in control, powerful. So, my dad had come through. Somehow, I could feel Asher’s happiness through the way he skated. He glanced in our direction, and then he was coming our way. The players were still just warming up. Nerves hit me in the gut like a sudden storm. I was wearing his jersey again. Would he be mad?
He skated past, his eyes on me. His hand touched the glass just in front of my face, and a cheer went up around us. I flinched back like he’d slapped me. Collapsing down beside Selena, I fanned my face.
“Thank God that plastic is there,” I muttered.
She laughed. “What do you mean? That was a shout-out. He was acknowledging you.”
“He was? I thought he was threatening what he was going to do to me later,” I said.
“Girl, do you pay attention at all during games?”
I shook my head. “Not for a second,” I admitted. Selena just laughed.
On the ice, the first buzzer sounded, and the players exploded into action. Cayden got the puck, racing down the center before the other team had woken up. He whipped it out to the side before getting plowed into by the opposing team, and Asher caught it, sliding effortlessly down the rink, lining up, shooting, and sinking the first goal of the game.
“Well, I have a feeling you’re going to be paying a lot more attention from now on.” Selena laughed again as I gripped my seat, the Hellions fans in the rink erupting with cheers.
The game flew by. In the excitement, I nearly forgot my post and the stakes of the game I was playing with Asher.
At least Trent was spoken for now. Selena had done me a huge favor, even if she didn’t realize it. The thought of Trent’s mouth moving along my neck and leaving marks like Selena’s made me genuinely ill.
I watched Asher, far enough away to be shrouded in shadow behind the spotlight that shone on the ice. He dodged and tackled, showing off his stick-handling skills.
I watched him for longer than I cared to admit. He was violent on the ice, crashing into people and getting into fights. He was sent to the penalty box a few times. I wondered how battered he’d be from his first game back in Hade Harbor, then wondered why I cared.
At the final buzzer, the Hellions were up three goals. A resounding victory. Eve and Lily were cheering; their boyfriends had been front and center in making the victory happen.
“Should we go?” I wondered to Selena.
“Aren’t you going to stick around to congratulate your boyfriend?” Selena wriggled her eyebrows at me, then a sudden blush tinted her cheeks. There were few powers on Earth that could make that girl blush.
“Good evening, I see you girls couldn’t resist the game tonight,” Trent’s oily tone spoke from behind me.
I cringed.
Selena smiled heartily. Crap, she seemed smitten, dashing my hopes that Trent would just be a casual fling for her. I knew she was a frenemy half the time, and she certainly could be a bitch, but I didn’t want to see her make some horrible mistake. It looked like it was too late to save her from the attentions of Trent Fitzgerald, though. She was already under his spell. He lingered just behind us, startlingly close, in fact, when I turned around. I stepped back, flustered by his sudden proximity.
