Page 10 of The Chase

UNKNOWN: Hey, it’s TJ. Can you let me know you got home, okay?

That was sweet of him, but on the other hand, it annoyed me. Guys like TJ only wanted one thing, and I already gave it to him. So why did he even care?

I knew exactly what it was when I went home with him tonight. I knew I was just another notch on his bedpost. Tomorrow night, he’d probably have some other woman in his bed. That was perfectly fine. I wasn’t under any illusions that I was different for him. So why did he care if I got home, okay?

I texted back a one-word answer.

ME: Home.

I set my alarm, plugged in my phone, and got under my covers. When I fell into dreamland, I dreamt of my dead boyfriend. I woke up with guilt wrapped around my throat.

My heart still belonged to Charlie, and I didn’t deserve happiness when he was dead. Why did I have to survive when he didn’t?

CHAPTER FIVE

TJ

“Come on, boys, pick up the slack!” Coach LaVoie yelled from the other end of the ice as he punished us for a loss with a bag skate.

Man, I hated bag skate. Now I felt bad my dad and I made Benny do it when I found out Benny was dating my sister. He deserved it, though. He should have known better than to break the code.

I pumped my legs, trailing behind the big left-winger in question. Benny, Noah, and I played on the same line together, but last night, Coach changed up the lines. Me, Mac, and Hallsy didn’t click as well. We all fell apart, leaving Metzy to pick up the pieces guarding the net. Our defense was looking like shit, too, and Riley and Jonesy weren’t connecting right. There had been trade rumors about Jonesy lately that had been messing with his game.

I hadn’t been playing my best. I dropped so many passes last night, and couldn’t find the back of the net. I even got into a fight, which pissed off my sister because she worried about me getting unnecessarily injured. Gotta love her…even when she was a pain in my ass. Not like I was gonna tell her why I fought that clown.

My sister was a curvy woman, and guys liked to chirp me about her weight on the ice. They were even worse to Benny about it because he was dating her. I needed to learn to ignore that stuff, but that was my sister, and nobody talked shit on her. We didn’t need that penalty, and it was probably why we lost the game. The guilt of letting down my team weighed on me.

The team raced around the ice at practice, all of us huffing and puffing until Coach finally gave us a water break. Coach LaVoie was pretty level-headed. He could be a hard-ass like most coaches, but he wasn’t an asshole.

Noah nudged me as I took a drink from my water bottle. “What’s with you lately?”

It had been a couple of weeks since I took Max home with me, and I hadn’t stopped thinking about her. Or the fact I didn’t make her come. I knew I shouldn’t care. I should move on. I should bury myself into meaningless sex like I always did. But the idea of taking home a puck bunny wasn’t appealing anymore.

I couldn’t get the petite blonde out of my head. I wanted to say it was because of my bruised ego, but there was something about her that had her running miles in my brain.

“Nothing,” I muttered.

Noah raised an eyebrow at me. Being on the same line as someone—eating, sleeping, and seeing their junk way more than their girlfriend—meant you knew when a guy was bullshitting you. Noah knew when I was lying.

“Bro, what’s up? You’ve been playing like shit lately!” he said.

He wasn’t wrong.

“Yeah, man, what gives?” Benny chimed in.

As weird as it sounded, I didn’t want to confide in these two. I’d honestly rather ask my sister for advice. Even though Rox would laugh in my face, she would give me excellent advice. Unlike these two knuckleheads.

Riley skated over and sprayed us with ice. “We gotta watch extra video.”

I shared an annoyed look with Noah, who rolled his eyes. Riley loved his stats and watching game tape. He was so annoying about it.

“Are you vying for a coaching position or what?” Benny asked him.

Riley poked Benny with a stick, and the two tousled on the ice. Noah peered at me, waiting for me to say something.

“It’s nothing,” I lied.

“BOYS!” Coach bellowed. “Back to center ice!”