Page 109 of Fall For Me
“Backcheck, dammit!” I yell.
Cal drops low, cutting off the passing lane, and Jerome flies up at the line to kill the rush. The puck clinks, ricocheting into the corner, and Hayes battles for it along the wall.
“Yes, Hayes! Stay on him! Stay on him!” I pace back and forth.
He digs the puck free with a hard shoulder check and flips it behind the net to Cal during the line change. I glance over at Carter, watching him update the shift on the tablet. Anaheim's first line hops back over the boards for their own shift change.
Shit!
As the game progresses, my brain feels like it’s racing a thousand miles an hour. I take the tablet from Carter and glance down at the screen, tracking matchups and ice time. When I look back up, bodies fly through the neutral zone, sticks clash, and the puck moves so damn fast it’s impossible to track unless you know exactly where to look.
“Jerome, tighter gap!”
Sean drops into a butterfly, and the puck slams into his chest, rebounding dangerously into the crease.
My stomach drops.
“Clear it! Fucking clear it!”
Matt winds up to shoot the puck into our goal, but instead of taking the shot, he drops his stick and throws his gloves onto the ice. He skates over to Aiden, grabbing him by the collar, then spins him around, landing a punch to his face. Aiden's helmet tumbles to the ice. I expected a fight with a game this heated, but I didn’t expect a fight between Matt and Aiden.
Everything happens all at once. Matt yanks Aiden by the jersey and throws another punch. Aiden fires one back, knocking Matty sideways. Then Sean completely loses his shit and skates out of the crease, grabbing Aiden by the front of his jersey and getting in his face.
Anaheim’s forward sinks a puck into our net just before the whistle blows.
Fuck! What the hell was that?
A linesman steers Sean back to the goal, and both Matt and Aiden are tossed into the sin bin.
Great! Now, we’re not only down a point, I’m down a good fucking winger for the next five minutes.
Thirty-Two
Hannah
“Mackenzie!” I yell, trailing behind him into the locker room. He spins around to face me, and I crowd his space, throwing my hands up in the air. “What the hell was that?! You could’ve saved that goal, but instead you left the crease and let them score a fucking point? Not to mention the fact that you almost fought your own fucking teammate for God’s sake!”
“Mi amor,” he starts, but I hold up my hand.
“Don’t ‘Mi amor’ me. For the next two periods, I’m not your girlfriend, I’m your fucking coach. Whatwasthat?”
“It was my fault.” Aiden jumps in, dragging a towel down his face. “Little Mac was about to score on us, so I distracted him.”
Carter’s assessing eyes shoot between the two men as they take a seat next to each other on the bench.
“How?” I ask.
Aiden casts a glance at Sean, his lips pinching together.
“What did you do?” Carter asks.
Aiden doesn’t say anything at first. His eyes volley between his teammates, then he shakes his head.
“Go ahead. Tell him. It’s not like you didn’t tell the whole goddamn world,” Sean snaps.
“I’m sorry, Mac. I . . . dammit!” Aiden shakes his head then glances up at Carter. “I yelled that I fucked Viviana.”
Carter’s jaw ticks, and his face turns several shades of red, but surprisingly, he doesn’t smart off to Aiden in front of the team about it. I can only imagine what’s running through his head right now. Doesn’t matter, Sean shouldn’t have given up a point.
