Page 65 of Monstrous Serpent

The ref and the linesmen swarm in. One grabs Shin's stick and forces it off Nakagawa's throat while another wedges himself between them. Nakagawa puts his hands up and backs away.

I snag the back of my best friend’s jersey when he steps toward the freshman. “Hunt, don't. We're up by one, and I swear to God if you get a misconduct—”

He shrugs me off.

“What the fuck?” I shove his back.

He whips around, nostrils flaring, mouth set, staring right at me. But when he looks over my shoulder, his face pales. The muscle near his jaw is ticcing so hard his whole cheek twitches.

My breath catches, stomach hollowing as I follow his line of sight.

It's the same student section.

My brows knit together. “What are you looking at?”

No response.

“Hunter?”

Nothing.

He's just standing there staring into the crowd, his face ghostly white. “Just can't let that shit Jenkins pulled go.”

My eyes narrow, and I look back at the stands. “Is our little Titan here?”

“No.”

“So why—”

“Let's go. Our shift's over.” Hunter skates toward the bench.

“You're not going to answer me?”

“I did.”

Huffing, I hop over the boards and sit next to him. This asshole wants to lie, fine. Whatever. I don’t care.

Except I do.

Shaw buries one off a cross-crease feed from Rua, and the horn goes off a minute later.

I release an audible breath and stand. “Thank fuck.”

Hunter grabs my elbow. “Got something to do after this. Have Rua walk you back to the dorm.”

My head snaps toward him. “Yeah no. You’re not leaving me behind.”

“Atlas—”

“I'm coming with. Can’t talk me out of it. Not after he blocked us. Not to mention I've been sitting on a windshield bill all week, and I'm dying to hand-deliver it.”

“It's not Jenkins.” His grip tightens on the shaft of his stick, his entire forearm shaking. “Just need to handle something first.”

“Handle what?” I hop over the boards and move in front of Hunter, so I’m the only thing he sees. “Tell me.”

He straightens, grabs my cage, then yanks me forward so our helmets touch. “Drop it. Won't say it again.”

I swallow hard.