Page 72 of Never Bet Against A Hockey Player

“It’s going to be okay,” Gavin whispered, holding me close.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him now that I had them for a little while, I wasn’t going to be okay. For the first time in my life I had let myself believe in a future only for it to slip through my fingers.

How could I survive that?

I prayed they would hate me for cutting contact. It would make walking away so much easier.

No matter how badly it hurt me, I was going to have to walk out there and pretend they were strangers, when in reality they meant the world to me.

Chapter

Twenty

August

This was not how things were supposed to go. We were supposed to be able to fix this for our omega, not send her right back into hell.

It had been two weeks since their mother came home. Gavin had quit the team the next day and she quit her job at the arena.

We’d gone to the diner every morning but Lydia didn’t give much away. She’d promised Dhara was safe for the moment but that we should keep our distance for now.

Dhara had completely cut us out of her life. Like we didn’t matter at all.

As much as I knew that wasn’t the case and that this was all her mother’s doing, it still hurt. This was the second time she’d been ripped away from me.

It was fucked up how fast we were falling apart without her. Conrad still forced himself to go to his alpha classes. I think it helped him keep himself together and I couldn’t fault him for that. He’d come home and practice recipes late into the night, exhausting himself enough to actually sleep.

Lachlan was on the phone with his brother almost every day. He had an entire folder of notes and was keeping our lawyer in the loop.

I’d turned into a full-blown stalker, sitting outside their house every night just to make sure nothing was happening to my omega. I could call the cops at a moment’s notice but it seemed Dhara had fallen in line exactly as her mother wanted.

“Steele, you better get your head in the game.” Coach’s voice snapped through my thoughts. “I understand your life’s falling apart, and I wish there was something I could say to make it better, but there isn’t. You still have a contract. We still have a team that relies on you. So, get your ass on that ice.”

I mentally smacked myself and forced my attention back to the game. It didn’t help. The longer the game dragged on, the harder I had to fight to stay present.

The other team saw my distraction and used it against me. I never saw the hip check coming.

It caught me completely by surprise, sending me sprawling across the ice like a damn newbie.

The alpha who’d leveled me laughed loudly. “I hear you’re all caught up over some fucking omega. Pathetic.”

I shoved myself back onto my skates, red flashing in my vision. I’d never felt like my delta was pushing through the blockers but in this moment he just might.

“Just because your ugly ass can’t get any pussy doesn’t mean you should take it out on me,” I shot back, my mind latching onto this asshole as a way to expel this extra energy. My grin was absolutely feral now and he rose to take the bait.

The alpha growled before charging me. The next thing I knew, he was throwing punches into my pads and helmet. I barely felt them, reveling in the bursts of pain that made it through the fog.

Our teams flooded the ice, ready to avenge their respective teammates, while a swarm of referees tried to drag everyone apart.

Fights happened in hockey. But fights like this earned everyone a long cooling-off period before play resumed. The alphas and deltas that made up the teams couldn’t just turn that aggression off.

Apparently, that fight was exactly what my brain needed. Everything else melted away until it was just me, my instincts, and hockey.

This was a game I’d known longer than I’d known myself. It was part of me.

“Come on, Steele!” Evans yelled as we raced down the ice. He’d locked in, too, and was out for blood after that fight.

The other team had the lead and the puck was firmly in their possession.