Page 190 of On the Breakaway

The silence lasts maybe thirty seconds before the locker room doors open and the team files in. Every single one of my teammates looks miserable as they drop their sticks to the floor outside their lockers.

My stomach drops.

Caught up in myself, I’d forgotten there was still a game happening after they dragged me off the ice.

Nathan rips off his helmet and throws it into his stall, and Liam drops onto the bench with enough force to rattle it. Across the locker room, a few guys swear under their breath, and I hear my name right along with it. I can’t blame them for it. This is entirely my fault.

We lost.

The weight of my mistake bears down on me.

While I was standing in a hallway trying to fix things with Avery, my team was fighting for this season without me.

And they lost.

Now, we’ll be flying back to New York for Game Five.

I stare at the floor harder as if I could disappear right through it if I try hard enough.

Coach Rylan walks into the room last, and everyone falls completely silent.

My entire body braces for the explosion, but it doesn’t come. I look up to find Coach glancing around the room, looking exhausted. The silence stretches while I nearly crawl out of my skin from the disappointment radiating off of him.

“We leave tomorrow morning,” he finally says. “Get some rest.”

I exhale slowly.

Then his eyes land on me. “Grayson. Be in my office in five minutes.”

Fuck.

The room somehow gets even quieter, which shouldn’t be possible. Coach turns and walks toward his office without another word, the door slamming behind him.

No one moves until a trainer filters in, breaking the tension and giving small chatter permission to pick back up.

Nathan finally breaks. “What the hell happened out there?”

I close my eyes, running my hands down my face.

“Seriously.” Nathan throws his hands up. “We’ve played against Woods for years. He’s a dick, but he’s not that much of a dick.”

Liam nods in agreement. “What did he even say?”

I don’t answer because if I open my mouth right now, I’m not convinced I won’t punch another wall.

“Grayson?” Nathan lowers himself onto the bench next to me.

I ignore him.

Across the room, Wyatt is glaring at me. He’s not confused like Nathan, or frustrated like my other teammates. No, Wyatt is pissed. The kind of pissed you can really only ever be when someone you trust wholeheartedly lets you down.

Letting my teammates down feels like shit. But disappointing Wyatt, and letting him down, it’s worse.

“What?” Nathan looks between us, noticing the tension thick in the air.

Wyatt lets out a humorless laugh.

“What happened?” Liam cuts in.