Page 159 of Puck Me Back to Life

I swallow once before walking across the locker room. “Noah?”

He's sliding his stick into his equipment bag when he looks up. “What?”

I glance toward the hallway. “Could I steal you for a minute?”

His expression immediately hardens. “For what?”

“I just… I'd rather not do this in front of everyone.”

For a second, I think he's going to refuse.

Instead, he lets out a quiet breath through his nose and nods once. “Fine.”

He follows me into the hallway outside the locker room.

The arena is strangely quiet here. The muffled sounds of showers and conversations drift through the closed locker room door behind us while a Zamboni hums somewhere deeper inside the building.

Neither of us speaks right away.

I shove my hands into my pockets to keep them from shaking. “Thank you for coming out here.”

Noah crosses his arms. “You've got about thirty seconds.”

Fair enough.

I nod once. “I know this situation has to be incredibly uncomfortable.”

His expression doesn't change.

“I can't imagine what it feels like getting traded here.”

Still nothing.

“I don't expect you to forgive me.”

“I don't.”

“I know.” I take a slow breath. “I don't expect you to like me either.”

Silence.

“I just…” The words are harder than I expected. “I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry.”

Noah's jaw tightens.

“I'm sorry William died.”

The hallway suddenly feels much too small.

“I'm sorry your family lost him.” I force myself to keep looking at him. “I'm sorry fate decided to put us on the same team.”

For one long moment, Noah simply stares at me.

Then something behind his eyes breaks. “You don't get to apologize.”

His voice is low.

Controlled.