Page 42 of Make Me Mean It

“Alright.” Marcus lifts both hands, backing off even though the slight pinch between his brows tells me he doesn’t believe a word of it. “None of my business, message received.”

I expect another joke. Instead, his expression eases.

“You good though?”

My fingers still against the edge of the notebook.

“Yeah.”

My eyes go back to the rink instead, landing on Theo with such fucking predictability that irritation crawls beneath my skin.

He’s already looking at me.

Again.

“I’m alright.”

Marcus doesn’t answer, his silence worse.

Marcus stays quiet beside me, but I know that silence too well. Give him another few seconds and whatever he’s turning over in his head is going to become my problem.

I shove lightly at his shoulder before he gets the chance.

“Stop nagging. Go be captain instead of bugging me.”

Marcus huffs out a laugh as he pushes away from the boards, lifting both hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, I’m going.”

He skates back into the drill, slotting himself into the movement of the team with the ease of someone who’s spent most of his life on the ice, and I follow him for all of three seconds before Theo cuts into view.

Looking straight at me.

His head tips slightly, green eyes holding mine with that infuriating little glint that usually appears right before he says something I want to punch him for.

Except he’s too far away to say anything now.

He just looks.

I narrow my eyes at him and drop back to my notebook, flipping it open until the page I abandoned earlier stares back at me.

Words. Actual words. An assignment I need to finish and a sentence that still ends halfway across the page because apparently Theo Knox skating in circles is enough to destroy my ability to read.

I put the pen to paper and pick up where I left off, keeping my eyes there even when the awareness between my shoulder blades refuses to disappear