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He’s not wrong, though. I want her because she doesn’t want me. I want her because she’s the one woman I can’t have. It’s been a hell of a long time since anyone offered me some kind of challenge. But Raina is a whole new level of interesting…and infuriating.
Chaz laughs at me. “Maybe it’s good for you.”
“What?”
We walk out of the stadium where we had our practice.
“That she won’t sleep with you. It’s good to be reminded once in a while that even the great Stone Giles is just a human. None of us are above rejection, you know.”
I roll my eyes. “Fuck you.”
Chaz laughs when I swear at him. I’ve done it so much, he doesn’t think it’s special anymore.
“Maybe this is the girl that will finally get to your heart,” Chaz says.
I snort. “Haven’t you heard? I don’t have one.”
“Right, right,” Chaz says with a chuckle. “I’ll see you at the game. And quit being an ass out there. They’re going to start scouting soon. No one wants an aggressive player, no matter how fucking good you are.”
“Sure,” I say. He can’t tell me what to do, but he’s right. If I want to get drafted, I need to stop my shit.
And I want to get drafted so fucking bad. Hockey is everything to me. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I don’t know where I would have been without the sport.
Or the pills and the booze.
But especially the sport.
“We’ve got this, man,” Chaz says. “It’s in the bag.”
“You fucking know it,” I say and wave at him.
Chaz gets in his car and drives off. I dump my shit in my trunk, but I stop to pull out a cigarette. I don’t usually smoke before games, but fuck, this woman has me strung out. I’m on edge, my nerves are alive, and I need something to get it out of my system, either a good fight or a good fuck.
Since the latter isn’t going to be enough unless it’s her, I’ll settle for the former. We’re about to play a game, and I’m planning on making it nasty.
I drag on the cigarette, letting the smoke fill my lungs. The cherry glows bright in the darkness. The spotlights around the empty parking lot make small pools of light, but the rest of it is drenched in darkness. The rest of the team has already gone, but I’ll meet up with them when I’m back on my game again. I’m glad I’m alone for a second, just to pull myself together.
It pisses me off that she’s got me unhinged like this. Even after I have the upper hand, there’s just something about her…
“Well, well, well,” someone says behind me and steps out of the darkness. He’s got a thick metal cast over the bridge of his nose and two dark purple circles under his eyes.
I did that. I fucked up his nose so that his face looks like shit.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask.
I glance around. It’s just the two of us, and I can take him. He stands around in the net all match long, where I work hard. He’s shorter than I am, narrower.
“Are you looking for tips? I could give you some pointers, but to make something of yourself, you need talent.”
I widen my stance and glare at the rival team goalie who had the fucking nerve to show his face here. This is the fight I need to calm down, and I always get what I want. This guy isn’t going to know what hit him.
“You know, I feel sorry for you,” the goalie says. I don’t know his name, and I don’t care.
“Why’s that?”
“Because you think you’re invincible, and you’re not.”
I ball my hands into fists. I can show him exactly what it means to be invincible.
