Page 56 of The Overtime Persuasive

Eva’s wearing a burnt orange sweater, her blond hair loose around her shoulders. The second our eyes meet, her whole face brightens. She lifts one hand and gives me the tiniest of waves.

Nothing too big, not drawing any attention from anyone around her. Yet it still hits me like we’re the only two people in the building.

I lift my glove in response, and I’m rewarded when Eva’s smile grows.

Something warm pushes beneath all the adrenaline, and for half a second, I’m back beneath that awning with rain pounding around us. Her hands are in my hair. Her body is pressed against mine. Her lips are soft, and tender, and⁠—

A puck hits the heel of my skate.

“Wake up, Snyder,” Tripp calls as he skates past.

I collect the puck before it gets away and send it toward Owen hard enough to make him knock it aside with his blocker.

Right. I have a game to play.

I glance toward the stands, needing to see Eva once more. This time, I catch Lucy watching me. Her eyes narrow before she looks at Eva, then back at me.

Mental note: Lucy is my twin sister. Eva is her best friend. And at some point, someone will have to tell my sister that I spent Friday night with her best friend.

Holding hands in the rain.

Kissing her while pressing her against a door.

And while I’m pretty sure Lucy won’t care––part of me can’t decide if she’ll be delighted or if I should start looking into witness protection.

Tripp comes around the net and follows my line of sight. The moment he spots them, he raises his stick and waves his whole arm.

Dad points at him. Lucy waves enthusiastically, and Eva laughs before waving too.

What the…I stare at him. “What are you doing?”

“Saying hello.”

“To my family?”

He laughs. “And my landlord.”

My jaw tightens. Of course.

I skate beside him. “Focus on the warmup, Mercer.”

“You were looking up there, so I looked too.” He shrugs. “What’s the big deal?”

“You met my father once.”

“So? He likes me.”

“He likes everybody,” I snap. Too quickly, but I did it.

Tripp’s grin widens. “You’re jealous.”

“Nope,” I say with a shake of my head, but even I’m starting to second-guess myself.

I watch him skate away as the lights dim for the opening ceremony. We line up along the blue line while last season’s championship banner is unveiled high above the ice.

The crowd reaches a level I didn’t know it had. For one minute, I let myself take it in, then the lights come up, the banner disappears into the rafters, and we line up for the opening faceoff.

Across from us, Toronto looks ready to ruin the party. They’re big, fast, and built to make every trip along the boards hurt. They spent most of last season wearing teams down until mistakes came easily. We’ve been watching the replays of their best games, and we know what they’re going to do.